This Fall: Natural Selection 2

By: Derek Yu

On: May 27th, 2009

BREAKING KOTAKU EXCLUSIVE! Natural Selection 2, the sequel to the popular multiplayer Half-Life mod, is slated for a Fall release on Steam, according to its developers. The original game blended FPS and RTS mechanics and featured two very different playable teams – the alien Kharaa and the human Frontiersmen. NS2 will maintain the same basic mechanics, but with some new features (and obviously much prettier). It’s now running on an unnamed proprietary engine, with Valve’s Source engine having been dropped due to the cost of licensing.

This is great news, as the development has been through some rough times, with its creators selling a Sudoku puzzle game to make ends meet at one point.

(Source: Alec Meer, via Rock, Paper, Shotgun)

Posted in FPS, Mods / Hacks, Previews, Steam, Strategy, Videos, Windows | Tags: UnknownWorlds

Kibble

Aw yea. ;D

Loved NS1. <3
toastie

Awesome! Awesome! Awesome!

I am so looking forward to this. Their decision to go with a custom engine was pretty shocking to me at first but following their updates, it’s become pretty clear that they’re on top of their game.
shipwreck

Huzzah! It’s about bloody time. I can’t think of a game I loved more than NS.
b.crecente

DEREK YU, Yu will PAY FOR THIS.
heavyweaponsguy

No gameplay footage? Meh…
Flamebait

I’ve played Natural Selection more than any other game (1-2 thousand hours), so I should be excited, right? Actually, I doubt they’ve achieved much at all. Certainly not enough for it to be released this Fall. There’s been a severe lack of in-engine media since they announced the project. For the first year or so of (announced) development that was forgivable, but time keeps passing without even a trickle.

Not impressed with the teaser. It showcases inferior aesthetics to most of what we see in the original. Looks more like a campy Doom 3-alike than NS, which is unfortunate considering NS pulled off the “marines vs hive aliens” atmosphere better than any game before or since. The onos’ carapace in the teaser is extremely inorganic, for some reason.

Haven’t read all of their plentiful writing on the game’s design because I’m not anticipatory enough to, but what I’ve seen rubs me slightly wrong. Obviously they’re aiming for more depth, without which it wouldn’t be a sequel, but are they steering the mechanics in the right direction? Guess only time will tell. Hopefully the new site will start to showcase more of their work (and they’ve gotten more done than it seems). Right now, Aliens: Colonial Marines is far more interesting to me.
http://mile222.com aeiowu

flamebait, you’re really filling out your namesake aren’t you?
Ezuku

The balance in the original was something I thought they struggled with, and I hope they can improve on it here. For eg, I remember that early game, marines were pretty terrifying with their ranged weapons and ability to out damage skulks. Something wrong with aliens sneaking around, prepared to run away from the ninja marines at first sight lest you end up feeding them.

But the original was pretty innovative, and I’m truly excited to see a sequel.

Good memories
wormguy

I loved NS. Haven’t played it in a while though, maybe this will convince me to. However, I have been pretty worried about the development of NS2 because information has been so sparse for several years. Hope this turns out well!
trav

I tend to agree with flamebait.

While I loved the original and hope that the sequel matches up to it, I’ve seen little evidence to convince me that it will.
A trailer that contains little to no in-game footage is usually a bad sign
I was also struck by the non-organic look of the Onos. Not sure if I dislike it or not.

Lets hope it’s worth while though
trav

also I suspect the non organic look of the onos is a symptom of minimizing polygons by putting those harsh angled bone plating things all over it
headcrab.

Does anyone else think the interior of that base is totally channeling Starcraft: Ghost.
Skofo

Looks sweet! =D Reminds me of Tremulous.

> Itâ€™s now running on a proprietary engine, with Valveâ€™s Source engine having been dropped due to the cost of licensing.

Just FYI, the Source engine is proprietary as well. Perhaps you meant custom-made?
Ezuku

I’m confused, that’s in game footage, right?

It just looks like your typical movie / game teaser these days. Show people absolutely as little as possible (usually brief flashes of content interrupted with white text on a black screen that says things like “This fall”, “Premier”, and “Sequel to the best whatzit of 2008”) so imagination makes it perfect.

Very possible for it to be all good.

And the Onos may just be the art style they’re going for, maybe they’ve shifted away from the “organic” look for it (since it’s supposed to be ridiculously well armoured and all). That said, trailer didnâ€™t look all that great.
tamat

Onos FTW!!
AdamButcher

I think it looks awesomesauce. Never heard of NS and when I looked up the old mod, it looked, well, damn old. Atmosphere? What atmosphere?

If I had the internet/graphics for these sorta games I’d be toitally excited.
AmnEn

I loved the first one, played it quite some time but ultimately, the game has turned into a documentary to me. Documentation of how a good game can be utterly ruined by paying too much attention to its players.
Listening in on the Clans really has brought a couple of bad decisions onto NS. As a result, I’m only intrigued by NS2 if it EXCLUDES several things from NS1, last but not least the barely concealed Deathmatch Mode.
Bad Sector

I liked the graphics in the video (it was made in-engine from what i’ve read in another site). I never played the original because i dislike RTS games and this FPS+RTS blend doesn’t sound interesting to me.

On the other hand, i always thought kiwifruits to be disgusting but once i tasted one they became one of my favourite fruits :-P
Flamebait

@Ezuku:”The balance in the original was something I thought they struggled with”

They did, constantly. Every update things would get fixed and others broken. You can never expect a game to be perfectly balanced, but the problem is they never even got it close enough. Hopefully NS2’s mechanics are built to be more condusive to balancing.

@trav:”also I suspect the non organic look of the onos is a symptom of minimizing polygons by putting those harsh angled bone plating things all over it”

Nah, especially since they clearly have normal mapping, to make curved armor wouldn’t strain their poly budget. It’s gotta be a design choice, albeit not necessarily final.

@Skofo:”Looks sweet! =D Reminds me of Tremulous.”

That’s because they’re both spiritual successors to Quake 2’s Gloom mod (which I’ve never played). I didn’t like Tremulous at all.

@AmnEn:”the barely concealed Deathmatch Mode.”

Somehow I forgot about that. You’re absolutely right, they should leave that brain-dead killfest rubbish out (should never have made it in the first place). If they insist on including a simplified noof mode, it shouldn’t follow the abysmal example of co_.

@Bad Sector:”I never played the original because i dislike RTS games and this FPS+RTS blend doesnâ€™t sound interesting to me.”

You know, it’s only an RTS for *one* person. For everyone else it’s a tactical and mildly strategic FPS.
Flamebait

Argh forgot the important one, @AdamButcher:

“Never heard of NS and when I looked up the old mod, it looked, well, damn old. Atmosphere? What atmosphere?”

I don’t recall NS ever looking good in stills. Watch these ( http://www.unknownworlds.com/ns/trailers/ ). Fair enough if you don’t like the atmosphere, but claiming it’s weak or nonexistent is pushing it.
alspal

oh wow this looks like the most exciting game ever! The way that monster bashes the door open.. amazing! My mind is just exploding.
Games != Mona_Lisa

I’ve never played or even heard of the original until today. The premise is intriguing, and even loosely reminds me of StarCraft (which I sort of enjoy in the way a crack addict enjoys crack). Obviously I don’t know how much like SC it would be having never played it… but I digress. It’s all sounding pretty neat, but the one thing that turns is that it’s primarily a multiplayer game. I loathe the human race, and playing games with it is not my cup of tea.

I know there’s nothing that can be done about it, just proclaiming my disappointment in what otherwise looked like a very interesting mod/game.
Ezuku

The problem with the balancing in the original was that it was *very* firmly balanced around (I think) 6 v 6. Anymore and the humans get a massive advantage due to global upgrades (commander buys 1 upgrade, entire team gets it), any less and the aliens get a huge advantage (due to cheap individual upgrades). And the problem was that most public servers understandably tried to have as many players as possible, which led to aliens losing more than their fair share of pubby games.

Also, combat was a nice, welcome diversion, a bit of a training and introduction to the real game. It also stopped people obsessed with kills playing the normal mode. That said, with the balance… *shudders*

“I have jetpacking marines in my base, and you’re forcing me to respawn as a skulk. I then have to sit still for eternity to transform into something which gives me a decent chance vs them while they nade spam me to pieces. Kthx.”

I really felt that the marines were recieving all the love sometimes, and most of the remotely good stuff the aliens had ended up nerfed.

Also, please no uber shotgun in this game, no grenade launcher, no jetpacks… very cool, but broken concepts. Nothing is less unfair than marines than being better at close combat than the close combat exclusive aliens, being able to kill them without even needing to see them (via motion detection), and fly out of reach and pepper them from afar.

Don’t get me wrong, it was a lovely game, but I thought there were just a few broken concepts that made it impossible to balance. I hope they don’t make the same mistakes in the future.
Ezuku

Actually, scratch everything I just said, I want to play it again. Are there people still on the servers?
Scott

Good source is dumb.
ZombiePixel

Cave story rip-off!
http://infiniteammo.ca Alec

I played the original all the time back in the day…

Can’t wait!
Morre

I can’t wait to try this. Pre-ordered :D