January 2010 news update from the mod team working on the Warhammer 40,000 themed Half-life 2 multi-player mod Exterminatus. This month we've been re-working weapon some animations, adding HDR lighting to the maps, tweaking the game play and testing the mod. Happy New Year!
We've captured some fresh footage from the test games to give you a taste of where were at. EX has been holding up pretty well in our closed tests. So well in fact we've decided to release Beta 5 to you guys our loyal fans.
We're not quite ready yet though. We need to put together an installer, find a bunch of places to host it, some servers to run it and update the manual. Exterminatus Beta 1.0 coming to you on Saturday the 30th of January 2010. We'll make another news post on the day with all the juicy details.
Awesome! Can't wait!
I'm going to give you some serious advice for both your sake and the public. Please find beta testers outside of your development team. It will benefit you more than you will know. I can tell just by looking that most of your testers probably consist of your development team which isn't a good idea for your own sake.
We're doing it already! A public beta is being released next weekend. I'm also setting up the EX forum to channel the public feedback from the beta.
Don't worry, it sounds like this guy doesn't have any idea about what the biggest advantage of mods are.
(Instant Incremental Public Feedback)
Keep up the development!
totally awesome **** guys!
awesome guys cant wait
you need to work on that animation it's it frankly in my option terrible more specifically the alien walking and running animations
As i've posted several times before, none of us are experienced animators. We've specifically had to learn the basics of animation just to get to where we are today.
I hope the public beta will help us find more experienced volunteers to contribute to the mod.
Perhaps you think you could do better Dr.Worm?
Actualy, I disagree, the animations are not perfect but they aren't terrible.
I have to disagree as well. I can't say they are good, but they are definitely not bad. I will leave it as "could use improvement".
Really as a first big public release, WITHOUT an experienced animator, I think they did pretty well. The animations that need to be there are there, and as soon as they get a full animator on the team the quality will increase on all fronts.
Love the idea of this mod. It reminds me of tremulous and the hidden combined. Those poor little space marines stand no chance >:D
We did ok, theres a pile that need to be re-done to improve them and a pile of new ones need to be made for bits and pieces.
We do hope we can get a good animator on board to help with it, until then its something we all have to live with.
But at least it works.
Great idea, gameplay looks great, i used to love 40k when i was younger, hope it all works out for you (:
Time to kill xeno with a bolter mwahahah
Yeehaw!! Time to smash some filthy xenos!! I'm waiting and ready to serve!
Huh... I thought this was dead for a while...
Just out of curiosity, what other races from 40K do you plan on doing (if any)
None, its a Tyranid Vs Space Marine mod. No other races are planned.
Warhammer 40,000 and Source? LOL
i think it would be really awesome if you guys a few months from now added some maps where it is Eldar vs SM instead of just Tyranid vs SM
Given that the mod is Space Marines Vs Tyranids the percentile chance of that occuring is nil.
Sorry to disapoint
I really want to play that now.
Hmm. Will this be using one of the older books for Tyranids as a base for the creatures and their abilities/weapons or will you be taking the newest book into account?
Either way it looks good considering.
Also. ( I know you guys answered this at some point but I really cant remember what the reason was behind it. ) Why just space marines and Tyranids? ( Was it not something to do with Spacehulk? Bleh cant remember. )
Anyways, I look forward to playing this... especially as a Lictor :P ( I like the idea of attempting stealth kills and ambushing marines :P )
We started on this long road sometime after the 3rd edition of codex:tyranids came out (I believe the 5th edition is due soon), but being an oldskool 'nid collector, I blended the designs of the 2nd and 3rd ed codexes together. With some adaptations for better FPS play that's the style of tyranids you be seeing in EX on the 30th.
Learning from pitfalls of the Rival Species scattergun approach the team decided to focus on just 2 of the many 40k races, to get more depth and quality. Imperium and Tyranids were selected by popular vote (Orks were a very close 3rd).
Is it just me or do the Space Marines look like midgets instead of 7-foot tall men injected with geneseed?
Thats because there going up against 12 foot tall alien killing machines, perspective of scale.
Once you see one of the IG bodies againt a marine one it becomes a bit clearer.
Is there an approximate time when you will release the mod?
I'm aiming for about 12 noon GMT, it could be a couple of hours either side depending on how things go.
Is there anyway to boost numbers in-game?
Maybe you could make a steam community.