Natural Selection 2

[Khendon Sevon]

So, I've been following this project for a long, long time. I was a big fan of the original Natural Selection (a half-life 1 multiplayer mod).

If you don't know anything about NS, it pits marines against aliens in a mixed strategy-fps land of amazement. Honestly, it's insanely fun.

What truly stands out about Natural Selection 2 is this: they built their own engine and it looks SICK. They basically got away with two programmers--they must be insane code gurus--one being an extremely experience engine programmer and the other a gameplay guy.

Check out the teaser, all done in-engine :)

http://kotaku.com/5271215/unknown-worlds-triumphantly-teases-natural-selection-2?skyline=true&s=x

[Crusader]

This looks awesome. Just 2 guys you say?
That's freaking amazing!

[Khendon Sevon]

Well, two programmers :)

They have concept artists, and level designers, and animators, and modelers (mostly out sourced); but, regardless, for a single guy to program an engine like that? Unheard of.

[Crusader]

The particle system and lighting really looks great. Is there any footage of actual gameplay on the web?

[Khendon Sevon]

Nope, they're being very closed-lipped about everything, and I can't blame them.

They almost didn't make it this far--they had to develop side projects to get them enough money to start it up, then they had to get angel investment to get enough money to finish up the project.

There are some cool screenshots and videos on their development blog, they show off their rendering, lighting, etc.; but, no gameplay.

From the looks of it, their engine is very, very scriptable (it's using LUA); so, they should be able to add, remove, and modify gameplay features with relative ease.

I pre-ordered. I want black marine armor when I play :)

Just wish they were releasing for 360, too.