It should be pointed out that the original article is a bit off - Both Nexuiz and Alien Arena have had steady, if not increasing playerbases over the last couple of years.
That said, a new version of Alien Arena is being released this week. This game has made major improvements in gameplay, content, and engine in the lastest releases, and it continues again in version 7.21
Alien Arena is a game that was built from the Quake2 and Quake3 sources, but bears very little resemblance to either of these games by now. This game looks, feels, and plays much more like Unreal Tournament 2004 that the Quake series. The game still incorporates much of the Quake physics, while adding UT style dodging, alternate firing modes, and a weapon set that has been tweaked and balanced to perfection. Alien Arena also has a wide variety of game modes, such as Cattle Prod, CTF, All Out Assault, Team Core Assault, Duel, and Deathball, as well as incorporating a load of built in mutators to alter the game mode such as instagib, class based, rocket arena, etc.
The engine has received a great deal of attention since June, and has been extensively rewritten making use of GLSL shaders to achieve effects like parallax/specular/bump mapping, as well as realistic water shaders. There has also been much optimization of the code and improvement of basic particle effects. It has been made into a lean, clean, deathmatch machine that plays very well online, with clean, solid, and proven netcode. Antilag options have also been added for those who prefer that sort of thing.
A number of new maps have been added, as well as some of the old standbys being reconstructed to meet the new standards this game has set for itself. The level of detail and polish is something that IMO stands out in a big way. You won't find boxy levels with misaligned textures or boring walls in Alien Arena.
Best of all, despite all of the enhancements, the game is still very scaleable, and can be made to play on very modest systems. Even with the additional detail, the performance far exceeds that of last year's versions.
Alien Arena has a solid, very dedicated player base that is friendly and always eager to help out new players.
http://red.planetarena.org/ - Alien Arena 2008
Consistent style, smooth gameplay, and the game is very configurable, capable of running on older hardware, or if you have the horsepower, capable of running very nice effects. There are tons of modes of gameplay, all suitable for kids of any age. Great, friendly community that always welcomes players of any age into the mix. Gameplay is very well balanced, and easy to learn.
I guess I should also point out, that Sepht did do a good job with this article, and while I am not totally happy with his views on Alien Arena, he does make some good points, and things that we are actually working on to improve for our next release.
I had in fact "dropped it" a long time ago. Unfortunately it's quite apparent Cheapy/Leilei has not, and made that much clear by showing up here with his numerous insults and jabs.
Take some of your own advice then - concentrate on Tremulous(which btw I think is a great game and have always had the utmost respect for the work that went into it) and stop worrying about what goes on with Alien Arena.
As far as people reacting badly to me, well it appears it's just you and Cheapalert/Leilei/hsein-ko that have the issues with me personally. If you want to discuss this privately in email, then please let's, because this public pissing contest has gone too far IMO.
Timbo, I have never had a problem with you in the past. There is no need to start some "war" over a game review.
That is *not* some promotional shot, and I had nothing to do with it. In fact as I saw, it was a "joke" shot posted on an Anti-Alien Arena thread on your forums.
Please get your story straight before flaming, thank you.
Also, where does the article *denounce* Tremulous or any other game? Joe Barr saying he now considers Alien Arena to be the best of the freeware FPS games and mentions he now likes it better than Tremulous is *hardly* what I would call an endightment of your game.
I wasn't singling you out as someone who posted criticism, and I never said Alien Arena was alone it getting it.
As far as players coming and criticizing, that is perfectly fine. That's not what I was referring to, and I think you know it.
You know, I expected this kind of bitterness from Leilie/Hsien-ko, but you? I really didn't think you'd go there.
First off, let's get something straight here. When Tremulous was reviewed by this same guy last year, you didn't see *me* posting links to Alien Arena and trashing Trem. Since day one, I have had to deal with this type of thing, with an enormous ammount of negativity thrown at me. Every single time Alien Arena got any kind of press, the communities for other games came out of the woodwork and started posting links to their games and trashing this one. Nothing has changed. Now Alien Arena gets a review that certainly ruffles some feathers out there, and maybe understandably so in the Tremulous crowd, and all I've seen all over the net is immediate posts about how much Alien Arena sucks and doesn't deserve being written about(making me wonder if they even tried this version of the game). Of course this happened the last release too when we reached the front page of Digg. I find it pathetic. I've put up with alot of crap from other game communities, so lets not get started on "who started what".
As far as how much I work on the game, you have no idea how much I work on it. Maybe the 400 commits to SVN in the last 3 months or so would give you a clue. I suggest you browse it. http://svn.icculus.org/alienarena
Nothing is sadder than the leader of Open Arena making it a major point to spew his negativity all over this story. Nothing. Good going Leilei, cheapalert, Heisen-ko or whatever you wish to call yourself these days.
It'll end when the jealousy and bitterness ends I guess. Witness this story. Alien Arena gets good review, makes headline news, and what do you see? People posting about how such and such game is better and putting a link to it. It *is* pretty sad, and quite a shame really.
Alien Arena has -
Real time lighting, real time shadows, bloom, reflective water, flares, per pixel lighting via bumpmapping, excellent particles and effects, shaders, etc and etc. Certainly stuff that puts it well beyond 1999 specs.
Play the game before making comments on the supposed "quake 2" engine.
Posted by a true Warsow troll. What jealousy. Pretty much anyone pimping another game here is someone who's part of another game community.
And no, this game is better than Warsow, it's not even close.
Slashdot Mirror
It should be pointed out that the original article is a bit off - Both Nexuiz and Alien Arena have had steady, if not increasing playerbases over the last couple of years.
That said, a new version of Alien Arena is being released this week. This game has made major improvements in gameplay, content, and engine in the lastest releases, and it continues again in version 7.21
Alien Arena is a game that was built from the Quake2 and Quake3 sources, but bears very little resemblance to either of these games by now. This game looks, feels, and plays much more like Unreal Tournament 2004 that the Quake series. The game still incorporates much of the Quake physics, while adding UT style dodging, alternate firing modes, and a weapon set that has been tweaked and balanced to perfection. Alien Arena also has a wide variety of game modes, such as Cattle Prod, CTF, All Out Assault, Team Core Assault, Duel, and Deathball, as well as incorporating a load of built in mutators to alter the game mode such as instagib, class based, rocket arena, etc.
The engine has received a great deal of attention since June, and has been extensively rewritten making use of GLSL shaders to achieve effects like parallax/specular/bump mapping, as well as realistic water shaders. There has also been much optimization of the code and improvement of basic particle effects. It has been made into a lean, clean, deathmatch machine that plays very well online, with clean, solid, and proven netcode. Antilag options have also been added for those who prefer that sort of thing.
A number of new maps have been added, as well as some of the old standbys being reconstructed to meet the new standards this game has set for itself. The level of detail and polish is something that IMO stands out in a big way. You won't find boxy levels with misaligned textures or boring walls in Alien Arena.
Best of all, despite all of the enhancements, the game is still very scaleable, and can be made to play on very modest systems. Even with the additional detail, the performance far exceeds that of last year's versions.
Alien Arena has a solid, very dedicated player base that is friendly and always eager to help out new players.
Get the game at http://red.planetarena.org/
http://red.planetarena.org/ - Alien Arena 2008 Consistent style, smooth gameplay, and the game is very configurable, capable of running on older hardware, or if you have the horsepower, capable of running very nice effects. There are tons of modes of gameplay, all suitable for kids of any age. Great, friendly community that always welcomes players of any age into the mix. Gameplay is very well balanced, and easy to learn.
I've said it before and I'll say it again - they ruin the internet.
I guess I should also point out, that Sepht did do a good job with this article, and while I am not totally happy with his views on Alien Arena, he does make some good points, and things that we are actually working on to improve for our next release.
I'm not going to bother about some of the things I feel are erroneous in Sepht's assessment of Alien Arena - it's the man's opinion and he's entitled to it. I will however, leave you all with something to make your own minds up with - especially in regards to the graphics/engine of the game. These shots are taken with the game as it currently stands in SVN. Alien Arena 2008 is set to be released likely in late winter 2008, and you can see here from the shots what it will look like. http://cor.planetquake.gamespy.com/arena/aa2008/aa2k8_1.jpg http://cor.planetquake.gamespy.com/arena/aa2008/aa2k8_2.jpg http://cor.planetquake.gamespy.com/arena/aa2008/aa2k8_3.jpg http://red.planetarena.org/
I had in fact "dropped it" a long time ago. Unfortunately it's quite apparent Cheapy/Leilei has not, and made that much clear by showing up here with his numerous insults and jabs.
Take some of your own advice then - concentrate on Tremulous(which btw I think is a great game and have always had the utmost respect for the work that went into it) and stop worrying about what goes on with Alien Arena. As far as people reacting badly to me, well it appears it's just you and Cheapalert/Leilei/hsein-ko that have the issues with me personally. If you want to discuss this privately in email, then please let's, because this public pissing contest has gone too far IMO.
Timbo, I have never had a problem with you in the past. There is no need to start some "war" over a game review. That is *not* some promotional shot, and I had nothing to do with it. In fact as I saw, it was a "joke" shot posted on an Anti-Alien Arena thread on your forums. Please get your story straight before flaming, thank you.
Also, where does the article *denounce* Tremulous or any other game? Joe Barr saying he now considers Alien Arena to be the best of the freeware FPS games and mentions he now likes it better than Tremulous is *hardly* what I would call an endightment of your game.
I wasn't singling you out as someone who posted criticism, and I never said Alien Arena was alone it getting it. As far as players coming and criticizing, that is perfectly fine. That's not what I was referring to, and I think you know it.
You know, I expected this kind of bitterness from Leilie/Hsien-ko, but you? I really didn't think you'd go there. First off, let's get something straight here. When Tremulous was reviewed by this same guy last year, you didn't see *me* posting links to Alien Arena and trashing Trem. Since day one, I have had to deal with this type of thing, with an enormous ammount of negativity thrown at me. Every single time Alien Arena got any kind of press, the communities for other games came out of the woodwork and started posting links to their games and trashing this one. Nothing has changed. Now Alien Arena gets a review that certainly ruffles some feathers out there, and maybe understandably so in the Tremulous crowd, and all I've seen all over the net is immediate posts about how much Alien Arena sucks and doesn't deserve being written about(making me wonder if they even tried this version of the game). Of course this happened the last release too when we reached the front page of Digg. I find it pathetic. I've put up with alot of crap from other game communities, so lets not get started on "who started what". As far as how much I work on the game, you have no idea how much I work on it. Maybe the 400 commits to SVN in the last 3 months or so would give you a clue. I suggest you browse it. http://svn.icculus.org/alienarena
Nothing is sadder than the leader of Open Arena making it a major point to spew his negativity all over this story. Nothing. Good going Leilei, cheapalert, Heisen-ko or whatever you wish to call yourself these days.
Give it a rest Cheapalert.
It's not spyware and it's not too difficult to uncheck the Toobar option during install.
It'll end when the jealousy and bitterness ends I guess. Witness this story. Alien Arena gets good review, makes headline news, and what do you see? People posting about how such and such game is better and putting a link to it. It *is* pretty sad, and quite a shame really.
Alien Arena has - Real time lighting, real time shadows, bloom, reflective water, flares, per pixel lighting via bumpmapping, excellent particles and effects, shaders, etc and etc. Certainly stuff that puts it well beyond 1999 specs. Play the game before making comments on the supposed "quake 2" engine.
Uh, that was in reply to the person posting about how great warsow supposedly is. Check your threshold level, you'll see that.
Posted by a true Warsow troll. What jealousy. Pretty much anyone pimping another game here is someone who's part of another game community. And no, this game is better than Warsow, it's not even close.