Natural Selection 2

Natural Selection 2 is a multi-player computer game mixing first-person shooter and real-time strategy gameplay. It is set in a science fiction universe.

Natural Selection 2 is set a few years after the original Natural Selection.

Development Status
A blog is maintained to demonstrate progress on writing the game. The developers are also active on the Unknown Worlds forums.

On August 31, 2007, podcasts by Max McGuire and Charlie Cleveland were released. These audio updates have since been released at irregular intervals. They discuss the development process, funding and focus, and serve as a basis for interviews with other names in the industry.

In Q3 2008 the team announced a switch to a custom game engine named Spark, dropping Source because of a balance between flexibility needed and licensing costs.

On April 9, 2010 a standalone Engine Build became available which included an external map creation utility. . On May 7th, the Engine Build started using Steam as its primary distribution and update source.

The Alpha Test started on July 26, 2010 and can be activated on Steam for users who have purchased Special Edition Pre-Orders.

An official release date for the game has not yet been given.

Development History
The game was officially announced in October 2006. It was to be developed by the Natural Selection creator's newly-founded company, Unknown Worlds. Charlie ‘Flayra’ Cleveland will continue his work on the game and Cory Strader (concept artist from Natural Selection) will also be contributing concept artwork.

On December 1 2006 the first major announcement of a possible feature was announced, named 'Dynamic Infestation'. A video containing an example of Dynamic Infestation was posted on the Unknown Worlds development blog.

On April 7, 2008, Unknown Worlds established an office and hired additional employees using newfound funding for Natural Selection 2. Although work had been taking place up to this point at near full-time, this solidified Unknown Worlds' commitment to the game.

On July 10, 2008, Unknown Worlds announced their move from the Source Engine to a in-house developed engine dubbed "Spark"

Concept artwork is often shown on the Unknown Worlds development blog.

As of October 2009 Unknown Worlds have confirmed plans to support Mac OS X, Xbox 360 and Linux platforms. But, as of February 2010, Max McGuire announced that OS X, Linux, and Xbox support will not be available at the game's initial launch. It was also revealed that Natural Selection has raised over $200,000 in pre-orders and $500,000 through angel investors.

On July 13, 2010, Unknown Worlds Entertainment announced that a private alpha will be released through Steam for all Special Edition pre-order customers on July 26, 2010. It will be updated throughout the game development and eventually become the beta release. The full release version of the game will subsequently follow.

Distribution
Unknown Worlds Entertainment announced that the game will be distributed through Steam. All pre-order customers currently have access to the pre-release editing tools that will ship with the full game, and the engine test. Both were distributed on Steam. Unknown Worlds Entertainment has taken feedback and bug reports from pre-order customers and has updated both of them regularly.

Game Engine
A game engine originally dubbed "Evolution" is being developed specifically for NS2. It has since been renamed "Spark". It is based on code written by Max McGuire, which was originally designed for loading Source engine media (the Source engine was originally the target for NS2 development).

Natural Selection 2's game engine will utilize the Lua scripting language for game logic, allowing for easy expansion of the game's mechanics. Physics support is being provided by several third-party libraries, and will be part of the multi-player experience. The engine also is one of the few to use only dynamic light sources.