GES Update: March 2008 news

It has been a while since our last official news release, and it's time to let you guys know what has been going on with the mod. Let's get the big news out of the way. After much discussion and deliberation, we have decided to skip the beta 1.5 release and go straight to Beta 3. Not only is 3 a bigger number than 1.5, Beta 3 signifies the switch to the orange box SDK, and a complete recode of the mod from scratch. Now before the “oh noez, 3 more years until release” start, we are approaching the development of Beta 3 a bit differently.

Frankly, we are sick of buggy releases just as much as we are of not releasing at all. The solution we decided on was to release smaller chunks of polished material much more frequently. While we aren’t going to announce any concrete schedule, our goal is a release every few months. Not only are we starting the coding from scratch and carefully building up a stable codebase, but in the meantime the artists are recompiling every single prop, weapon, character, and weapon in the mod and revamping the work that we aren’t happy with. Special attention will be paid to weapon balancing and tweaking to get them feeling more like their GE64 equivalents. In addition, the weapon animations are going to be significantly improved. The first release is going to take a little longer than successive patches, as we need to build up that code base with enough features to be fun to play, and enough content to make it worth playing. After that we will release patches every few months with new features and content.

We don’t want to wait until we match the content currently in beta 1.1, and we don’t think you do either. So we’re going to release as soon as we can, and successively release content in patches until we meet and exceed what is currently in 1.1.

Not only will you be able to look forward to a stable platform and new and revamped content, but you won't have to buy the orange box to play it. Valve has released the Orange Box SDK Base as a completely free download, and it has already been integrated into the Beta 3 code. That means you don’t have to own the orange box, only a sdk base game just like it has always been. Just download the Orange Box SDK Base, and you’ll be ready to go. Click Install to launch the installer from your browser, and after the 10mb download, you'll be all set.

A solid codebase is well under way, spearheaded by KillerMonkey and Anthony. Many of you have already read Anthony's programming blog and know the kind of crap he is dealing with. Now you know what it is for. Dozens of props have already been recompiled and revamped, and the character and weapon departments are starting to gear up. The Facility map is the first map to be recompiled, and beta testers have been going through it with a fine tooth comb over the past week. I'm a bit amazed how they can find the tiniest little glitches that most of us would never even see during a normal game. In addition, the biggest visual changes have been to the Runway map, which you'll see below. SharpSh00tah is almost done tweaking this map, and he is also starting on the initial layout for the Streets map. We've also got Temple, Silo, Caves, and Egyptian in active development and in various stages of completion. On the music front, Audix is kicking ass on some new tracks, and we're also working on a few sound effects for the maps.

As you might have guessed from the title of this update, we are also switching to monthly updates to better match our development schedule, supported by the developer blogs for extra info in between.

Click HERE to read the full update and see new renders, map screenshots, music tracks, and more.