Natural Selection 2 'Dynamic Infestation'

Sulkdodds

Sulkdodds

The Freeman
Joined
Jul 3, 2003
Messages
18,846
Reaction score
27
The people behind the still-excellent Natural Selection (and the pending Natural Selection 2) have revealed their new 'dynamic infestation' system, set to appear in the next game.

The mechanism, utilising technical mumbo-jumbo enough to make Doc Browne exclaim 'great scott!' generates a scary green goo which spreads across walls and floors to icky and worrying effect:

"One of the features that we've been prototyping is dynamically generating bacterial infestation in the world based on what portions of the map the alien team occupies...imagine the environment changing before your eyes as the balance between sides shifts back and forth. In addition to being an atmospheric visual effect, having dynamic infestation gives us opportunities to develop some interesting game play elements."
Click to expand...

What with kimonos coming off and walls coated by weird alien moulds, it's all quite exciting - dare I say arousing? See for yourself by reading the blog and watching the video.

More on Natural Selection here. The original was a brilliant whirl of hard-assed tactics, madcap violence and sheer abject terror.
 
I wasn't a huge fan of the original NS, but I guess you could say that I'm aroused.
 
Sulkdodds said:
The people behind the still-excellent Natural Selection (and the pending Natural Selection 2) have revealed their new 'dynamic infestation' system, set to appear in the next mod.
Click to expand...
Natural Selection isn't going to be a mod anymore, but a real game for which you'll have to pay. They have a Source engine license.
 
This is something I'll pay for, I really loved NS, but the lack of people playing it these days has put me off, I'm hoping NS2 will relight the Plasma Fire
 
Insano said:
Natural Selection isn't going to be a mod anymore, but a real game for which you'll have to pay. They have a Source engine license.
Click to expand...
Source? Then I shall correct it!
 
that looked so f**king cool !! :eek:

-dodo
 
Picture:


NS2_DI_Preview1.jpg
 
Pic doesn't do it justice, the video's where it's at. Next stop on the NS BUS: Coolsville!
 
It's neat, but its "cool" has already worn off.
 
oh thats cool just like in starcraft how the area around zerg bases become corrupted.
 
NS will always remain a masterpiece, and NS is going to have a tough time for filling the expectation, but..then again i would pay just to have NS1 ported to source lol
 
I think it's amasing. It will add so much to the game. Just picture, walking along trying to find a hive, out of nowhere, you see infestation crawling on the walls and floors. The Marines tense up, knowing what is comming. An Onos stomps its feat, you know it's headed their way. A lerk flies through, shooting its spores at the Marines feet. They shoot the Lerk dead, only to look back at the hallway to see 3 skulks charing at you ready to leap, and the Onos right behind....

That is Natural-Selection 2.
 
Qonfused said:
It's neat, but its "cool" has already worn off.
Click to expand...
If you only base that judgement on the 'cool' factor associated purely with the visuals, then yes it may have worn off. But when you think of the positive impact this could have on NS2's gameplay, the 'cool' factor lingers a little longer.
 
I want it to be on a bigger scale.

64-128 player maps.

I know the current community would start rolling on the floor having an epileptic fit at such a thought but where's the market for 6 v 6 clan gaming in tight claustrophobic maps? I want ****ing mech warriors busting into a room of 20 skulks and melting them with flame throwers.

Your thoughts gentleman?

STFU you say?
 
FINALLLY

A Genuinly Intriguing feature in a source game! /dance
 
Mr-Fusion said:
I want it to be on a bigger scale.

64-128 player maps.

I know the current community would start rolling on the floor having an epileptic fit at such a thought but where's the market for 6 v 6 clan gaming in tight claustrophobic maps? I want ****ing mech warriors busting into a room of 20 skulks and melting them with flame throwers.

Your thoughts gentleman?

STFU you say?
Click to expand...

20 skulks?
What about over 9 thousand(!!!) skulks? :|
 
Mr-Fusion said:
I want it to be on a bigger scale.

64-128 player maps.

I know the current community would start rolling on the floor having an epileptic fit at such a thought but where's the market for 6 v 6 clan gaming in tight claustrophobic maps? I want ****ing mech warriors busting into a room of 20 skulks and melting them with flame throwers.

Your thoughts gentleman?

STFU you say?
Click to expand...

That would lag like ****.

Even if it worked, (which would mean the source engine recoded) you would complain that the servers were not filling up enough to make the game fun. Even if NS had a player base of 300 from the start, only 4 or 5 servers would be decent to play in with maps like that.
 
Crispy said:
If you only base that judgement on the 'cool' factor associated purely with the visuals, then yes it may have worn off. But when you think of the positive impact this could have on NS2's gameplay, the 'cool' factor lingers a little longer.
Click to expand...

Indeed, at the blog Flayra wrote this:
In addition to being an atmospheric visual effect, having dynamic infestation gives us opportunities to develop some interesting game play elements. High on our list is having map entities which are triggered when an area becomes infested or uninfested. For example, you could have a computer console that shuts down when overrun by infestation and causes the lights in the room to go out. If the marines clear out the room and fight back the infestation, the system comes back online and the lights flicker on to fill the room. What about abilities and technology which only function when players are on their home turf?
Click to expand...

That sounds very cool, and I can already see myself as a marine wielding a flamethrower trying to burn away the infestation... *drool*.
 
Freebound said:
That would lag like ****.

Even if it worked, (which would mean the source engine recoded) you would complain that the servers were not filling up enough to make the game fun. Even if NS had a player base of 300 from the start, only 4 or 5 servers would be decent to play in with maps like that.
Click to expand...
I reckon the servers could be filled. NS has way more than 300 people who'd play, and we'd just have a few large servers rather than lots of small ones I guess. Also, having the capability for large matches doesn't mean smaller ones couldn't be played too.

Mr-Fusion said:
I want it to be on a bigger scale.

64-128 player maps.

I know the current community would start rolling on the floor having an epileptic fit at such a thought but where's the market for 6 v 6 clan gaming in tight claustrophobic maps? I want ****ing mech warriors busting into a room of 20 skulks and melting them with flame throwers.

Your thoughts gentleman?

STFU you say?
Click to expand...
Give this man a medal, I say.
 
CyberPitz said:
I think it's amasing. It will add so much to the game. Just picture, walking along trying to find a hive, out of nowhere, you see infestation crawling on the walls and floors. The Marines tense up, knowing what is comming. An Onos stomps its feat, you know it's headed their way. A lerk flies through, shooting its spores at the Marines feet. They shoot the Lerk dead, only to look back at the hallway to see 3 skulks charing at you ready to leap, and the Onos right behind....

That is Natural-Selection 2.
Click to expand...

The video didn't get me aroused but this short blurb did.

I hope NS2 has great use of Source's DSP...I want the hallways to echo of screams of the Kharaa!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Sliver
Natural Selection 2 "Gorilla Patch" Out Now
Replies
5
Views
2K
huntingbear
huntingbear
CyberPitz
Natural Selection 2 Closed Beta!
2
Replies
40
Views
3K
Eejit
Eejit
Back
Top