Hey all,

In case you haven't noticed already, there is now a "CHESS" link up at the top of the forum.  This is a pretty fully-featured chess system for games between community members.  Here's how it works:

To enter the CHESS system, first click the CHESS link at the top.  You will then be brought to the main Chess mod screen.  This has all kinds of status information.

To play a specific person, Click the "Challenge" link near the upper-right of the Chess page.  If you simply start typing someone's username (it will recognize it regardless of tag), they will eventually come up in the box; after hitting enter, a screen will come up allowing you to set a few basic rules for the challenge, and then click 'Challenge' to send the challenge to them.  If you don't care who you play, you can just click "Create Quickmatch", which will show up in the Quickmatch screen on anyone else's "Challenge" page.

Whenever you have been challenged (or really, when any chess-related event happens other than someone moving in a game), you will receive a PM.  To turn these off and/or change how the chess board appears to you (etc), simply go into the settings page (again, in the upper-right hand corner of the chess mod).  The rest of the categories such as current matches, finished matches, and Leaderboard are pretty obvious.

Have fun playing everybody!

Hello all.  We would like to announce some big changes in our clan's leadership structure. 

The following changes will be in place immediately.

squishy has been promoted to the position of [IAM] Council.  Congratulations to him!
AAADrummer has been promoted to HoN Division Leader.  Congratulations to him!
AGTMADCAT has been promoted to NS Series Division Leader.  Congratulations to him!
Kc2000 has been promoted to join Wings as a Co-BF Series Division Leader.  Congratulations to him!

We would also like to commend Eddy for his time as Co-BF Series Division Leader.  A special thank you to him!



We hope you'll join us in congratulating these members on their promotions to these positions.  We expect to see some great things from these guys as well as their divisions, which will help bring more people to our community and clan.

Alpha is out!  Woohoo!

As many of you already know, Alpha keys were sent out to those that pre-ordered the special edition around 9 PM EST last night.  Most people have received their keys by now.  If you have not, try this link: http://bit.ly/tQ3EY

With that being said, NS2 is in an alpha stage.  The fact that we get to see this game at this level is exciting, but it does come with some responsibility.  You have to remember that this is the first build of the ALPHA stage.  The fact that anyone could connect to a single server last night straight up shocks me.  Our job now is to discuss features/find bugs and report them.  So, I figured we could get some solid conversations going here with people that are interested in following the development of this game from square one all the way to the final release (and to infinity and beyond).  So with each update, I'll hope to post what has changed and we can continue our discussion until the game really speaks for itself.  The official bug/suggestion method is to visit http://getsatisfaction.com/unknownworlds and provide your information.  However, here at [IAM], we can have our own discussion as our excitement continues to build towards the release of a completed NS2.

So, some of my observations from last night's FIRST alpha build:

-My game loaded up a lot faster than the engine test did.  I was personally unable to get into any multiplayer servers, but quickly hopped in a lan server and began to fool around.  A lot of people are having connection problems so this probably will be one of the first bugs they address.

-The alien commander is completely new and it seems that there are multiple types of resources now. 

-The gorge belly slide is awesome and surely will get you around quickly, albeit in straight lines. 

-The builder bots are interesting.  I wonder how much that will isolate the commander from their team.

What else did you guys notice?

A friendly reminder.  If you want to be in the alpha - you have to buy the special edition version by Monday, July 26 (alpha release date).

http://www.naturalselection2.com/buy

Something else you should know is that when we release alpha 1 at the end of this month, we are also discontinuing the NS2 Special Edition and all-black marine armor. It will no longer be available after this date, ever. Also, players that order NS2 after July 26th won't be able to play in the release date alpha. Here's an in-game shot of the limited edition black marine armor:

If you've been on the fence about ordering the Special Edition, you now have two weeks to decide. If you have the Special Edition, you will be able to choose your armor when you play - possibly at the Armory, like the rest of your weapons and equipment!

See the full announcement post for more details about the alpha release: http://www.iam-clan.com/natural-selection/ns2-news-feed-ns2-alpha-date-set!/msg2978/#msg2978

NS2 Alpha date set!
13 July 2010, 1:22 pm

As you all know, we strongly value our ties to you, the community. When we released NS v1.0 after 18 months (games were easier back then!), in some ways that really marked the beginning of the game's development, not the end of it. Over the course of five or so years and around 20 versions, the game changed remarkably. Some may argue it actually changed too much, but I believe the "spirit" of the game was always preserved. Maps, abilities and balance changed, but teamwork, depth and atmosphere remained. It's also much more gratifying to work on a game that people are playing, and many bugs and issues that would be hard to track down ourselves are revealed instantly under the communal magnifying glass of many thousands of players.

So releasing new versions and taking feedback is in our blood. Even though NS2 is a commercial game, we pursued this approach with our developer blog updates, early tools releases and engine test. This is especially helpful for us making a PC game, because the few computers we have around the office are not nearly enough for compatibility testing. We've also used this "open" approach to help run our business and stay independent - by giving out stuff earlier, we encourage people to buy earlier, which means we can fund the company without having a publisher involved. Remaining independent is not without its drawbacks, but was the right choice for us and has allowed us to build a proper sequel worthy of the original.

Human dominance

Honestly without you, the NS community, we wouldn't be here today. Both because we wouldn't have the money to continue and because all the work wouldn't be worth it. When we needed your support and we started our pre-orders, you were there to buoy us up again. Over 90% of you opted to spend extra money on the Special Edition and for that, we can't thank you enough. We promised to give you special supporters something in return, and we're finally at that point.

So it's with great pleasure that today we take the next step in our open development and partnership with you. On Monday, July 26th, we will be releasing the NS2 Playable Alpha to all the Special Edition pre-orderers, on Steam. Like with NS1, this is not the complete game, this is the first of many versions. Here's what you can expect on that day:

NS2 Alpha 1 content

• One of our shipping maps (ns2_tram), plus some smaller "test" maps
• Marine, with Rifle, Pistol, SwitchAx, Grenade Launcher
• Skulks, Gorges, Lerks and their basic movement abilities and weapons
• Marine armory "buy" screen for purchasing new equipment
• Alien evolution menu for choosing your lifeform and upgrades
• Basic marine and alien commander interfaces including MACs, Drifters
• Much of our final sounds, artwork, animations, etc.

Lerks, hydras and skulks, oh my!

We will be adding new weapons, upgrades, commander abilities, maps, etc. throughout our development to v1.0. We expect to patch somewhere between 1-4 times per month. Sometimes we'll need to tweak balance, other times we'll need to take a step back and make a bigger change, but it will be a work in progress. The fact that we're shipping on Steam makes the updating progress much easier for us.

Please keep in mind that this version of NS2 will not be the ultimate super-fun game we're striving to create, it's "alpha" for a reason! While much of the game and systems are finished, we've had to work extremely hard to get to this stage...and I don't want to describe how much work we will still do over the next two weeks! This is an alpha and parts of it are rough. However, we know that the game will get better, and better faster, with your help.

In-development shot marine commander mode

Something else you should know is that when we release alpha 1 at the end of this month, we are also discontinuing the NS2 Special Edition and all-black marine armor. It will no longer be available after this date, ever. Also, players that order NS2 after July 26th won't be able to play in the release date alpha. Here's an in-game shot of the limited edition black marine armor:


If you've been on the fence about ordering the Special Edition, you now have two weeks to decide. If you have the Special Edition, you will be able to choose your armor when you play - possibly at the Armory, like the rest of your weapons and equipment!

This has been a long road for us and we're excited to finally give you something you can play!  Now if you excuse us, we have some work to do...

See you on the other side.

Source: Natural Selection 2 News

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