Blood Frontier "Beta 1" Officially Released

qreeves writes "Here it is, for the whole world to try out — the official Blood Frontier 'Beta 1' release. Compared to our last release, 'Alpha 2,' the game has taken a dramatic turn from the slow and clunky 'third-person' shooter it was. Based on feedback from the community (which we take very seriously — no idea is too big or too small) we refined, polished, and extended our gameplay to what we consider to be the most fun Free and Open Source First Person Shooter out there. Many may think it does not compare, visually, with some of the other shooters out there, but what we lack in art, we more than make up for in gameplay. So, give it a try, play against our new and improved Artificial Intelligence, which is giving even the most seasoned of players a run for their money now. Or, hop on our master server at play.bloodfrontier.com, where there is usually someone either playing, or watching from our IRC channel in #bloodfrontier on irc.freenode.net (yes, IRC chat support is built right in!). More information is available at our website."

Comments

More Information.

[Zephiris]

It's a good thing the website (allegedly) has more information, because the post contains absolutely no useful information if you've never heard of whatever this game is or is supposed to be.

Is it bad to ask how it got on Slashdot's front page, when it's basically a cut-and-paste advertisement, rather than descriptive and useful information?

Apparently, you're some kind of android, and have to go around killing zombies. ._.

Re:More Information.

[Zephiris]

Actually...it IS a cut and paste advertisement (see first two paragraphs).

here we are again

[Acord]

We do take user feedback really seriously - so feel free to make suggestions you've always wanted to see in an FPS. This version is much more bug free than the last release, and we now have MAC BINARIES available for download as well as the usual tasty Win/Lin flavors.

Re:here we are again

[c0rdawg]

https://sourceforge.net/project/platformdownload.php?group_id=198419 There you go, a download without javascript. And I'm sorry about your paranoia with javascript, that will probably become a lot more difficult as more and more websites move to "web 2.0" and fill themselves with javascript/ajax...

Re:here we are again

[quadrox]

The GPs insults notwithstanding, he does have a point. A web page as simple as yours does not require JavaScript. There are times when I decide that I just won't unblock a given website because it's not worth the hazzle and security risk. This is especially true if I'm not even allowed to get even a glimpse of the websites content before turning on JavaScript.

Of course, people like me and the GP are probably a minority, but still...

I would appreciate an explanation of how your site came about to require JavaScript, but I don't want to waste your time if you are as busy as you say you are.

Re:here we are again

[qreeves]

Quite happily, I certainly don't mind responding to an intelligent question. A quick glance of the source code should even fill you in.

I have had to bring a bunch of non-contiguous Sourceforge apps into a consistent interface, something which they still keep failing to do adequately. So I use a bit of javascript to dynamically resize the frame based on the browser's dimensions and provide a bit of feedback as to what is happening in the blurb bar.

The other part I guess would be Piwik, but it has a non-script fallback so should be less of an issue if you have it turned off. None of this is any worse than 99% of websites already out there, and in my opinion it's quite tame, and as I said, it is improvised and someone with more knowledge on how to make a consistent interface with something as clunky as Sourceforge is welcome to come talk to me. Just for the record, no, I am not looking for answers like "don't use Sourceforge", last time I tried that Slashdot killed my VM and cost my friends a crapload of money.

No no no no

[RenHoek]

I would love a nice open source FPS, but why do they all look like Quake 1? Have you seen recent shooters? I don't want the whole "a million shades of brown" anymore.

Re:No no no no

[zaf]

Colors aside, why do they all have to play like Quake 1? How about some fresh ideas like we've seen from Valve recently.

It looks like you guys have done good with getting the engine running, now bring out some creativity beyond "futuristic shotgun, futuristic rocket launcher, futuristic plasma gun" and put some interesting mechanics that really give people a different experience.

Good fun

[ndazza]

I've had a lot of fun playing this since the last slashdot story, if you're an open source FPS player you really should check it out. (If you're a "regular" FPS player, one more game on your PC won't hurt either. Hey, it's free!)

Re:Crappy Site

[qreeves]

You're welcome to stop being an Anonymous Coward and help make a better one. We moved everything over to SourceForge after we get knocked off the internet last time, as a result we have had to improvise.

Re:Just a warning.

[qqtortqq]

While I don't know about the sauerbraten community, I have hung out with the dev team of Blood Frontier for a long time not only for the up to date info on the game, but for the comradery and great chats we have. There is a real community surrounding this game, and I feel that your statement couldn't be further from the truth.

My Challenge to Slashdot Users

[qreeves]

I've noticed quite alot of misinformation and negativity from the users of Slashdot, and I must say that I am quite disappointed by it. Geeks are supposed to be intelligent people with thought out answers and responses, and it seems to me everyone who comments either did not bother to try the game at all, or find some other off-topic fault to complain about.

I have worked in Open Source for a decade now, and this is the reason most developers become jaded and rude to their users - nothing else. You all want Free and Open Source Software, but where is your empathy? What do we get out of it other than an earful of crap? Please wake up to yourselves and do something to benefit the community for once, rather than idly making rude remarks to inflate your own sense of ego.

My challenge to you all is this: Actually play the game and come up with some constructive criticism. Otherwise, please just ignore this post and move along.