In the two weeks since the release of the engine test it's been super busy around here; this week we wanted to give you an update on what exactly we've been doing.
Just like when we released the first version of the editor, our first step has been to address any crash bugs that showed up.
Most of the crash reports from the built-in reporter were related to situations where the graphics device was lost. This happens when you alt-tab away from the game in fullscreen mode, or when the screen saver comes up. This week Kurt added proper handling of these cases in the engine. This was a complex change so we plan to release that next week after some more testing.
In addition to the crash reports, with this release we've also been using Get Satisfaction to get feedback on the problems you are having with the engine test (the praise is nice too!) One of the more common issues is performance, so Max has been working on improving that, especially on lower end graphics cards or when running at high resolutions. We're also working on adding in support for multisample anti-aliasing (MSAA).
We've been keeping a close eye on the community's modding projects and we have a few things planned for the next patch to make life a little bit better for them. The biggest thing for modders will be the documentation on the Lua scripting API exposed by the engine. The first release of the documentation won't be complete, but hopefully it will help explain some of the less obvious features.
One of the cool community projects we spotted in the new NS2 mapping forum is SgtBarlow's in-progress map. It's looking really fantastic and we can't wait to munch some marines on it!
In addition to improving the performance of the game, we're also working on improving the performance in the Spark Editor. Currently the Editor doesn't take advantage of occlusion culling or other optimizations in the game. We're working on converting the Editor to the game's system and having everything unified.
That's what we're working on and have planned for the engine in the near future. Meanwhile, Charlie and the rest of the team are working towards the Natural Selection 2 alpha. We'll have more information on that for you in the coming weeks.
One step forward to a release. Keep it up!
(buried)
One big leap for NS2, one small step for indie games :)
thats insane!! imagine how the map, and the game for that matter, would look with DX 11 support o.O
Looks amazing so far. I can see a huge step in mapping just from this. Now let's just get this far with modding.
Imagine all the people without directX 11 support.
Imagine the option to turn on/off DX11.
Remember how OpenGl has had HWtessellation since oh' six.
Sweet and neat. I can't wait for the release of this game, I will do anything I can to buy it, but I can't promise.
Impressive!
would love if thirdperson was implented ^-^
Good job, now I need to buy this game. cause I love mapping. /sigh I should have bought it with overgrowth.
RELEASE IT NOW!!!!!!(i just can't wait :D)
Can't be source! Yes it is! pwned! lol
dude, wtf?... It's Spark Engine!
Are the feet gonna reposition while turning in the future? Hardly necessity, just a nice little bit of polish.
What's that about Source? The only link this has to Half-Life is this game's predecessor.
The music in the game is lacking. I could do NS2 justice...
One goddamn sexy map
@Jeffman12: no, NS2 is on Spark Engine. THe first Natural Selection was a Half Life 1 mod, but this one is an indie game.
Yes Awesome_ninja is right: we're using our own engine ("Spark"), not Source.