As some of you may already know, about a month ago we were mentioned on Slashdot. While this was a great achievement for us, it came a little bit too early for our Beta 1 release, nevertheless both Eihrul and I stayed up all night working on putting together a release candidate so that there was something for the interested parties to have a look at – and the response we got was phenomenal.
We have had alot of new faces since that day, with many well wishes, expressions of amazement and gratitude; which has touched our hearts. We have worked long and hard to make this release the best Blood Frontier yet, and looking to the future it can only get better! So 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 “thirdperson” shooter it was. Based on feedback from the community (which we take very seriously, and 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 on the net. Many may think that 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 that is right, IRC chat support built right in!). The people are friendly and helpful, so if you have any problems just press “T” and chat to them :o)
So, you may be asking yourself at this point; what is so good about this release? Let me give you a run down on what is new and improved!
- Improved Artificial Intelligence. We’ve put alot of work into making the bots alot more useful in matches; they balance teams for you, defend you and your flags, attack your enemies, and exhibit different behaviours depending on their wide range of skill levels. Should you think they’re just not mean enough (and they are mean) try your hand at the superbots by setting botminskill to 101 and prepare to be slaughtered!
- Cool weapons and effects. The arsenal at your disposal has been expanded and improved significantly; try your hand with the new Laser Rifle, lob a Grenade and watch the firey debris fly around, or stare in wonder as the pellets from your gun ricochet about damaging you and your enemies. Our weapons are designed with satisfaction and fun in mind!
- Ragdolls! New from Cube Engine 2, the Lead Programmer Eihrul has kindly backported his awesome new ragdoll effects; making fragging look all the more beautiful and exciting!
- New maps, sounds, and artwork. We’ve gained quite a few new developers on the project recently, many of whom work professionally in their field. Our game now has a catchy new tune, maps have more ambience than ever, and our list of maps has been reworked and expanded slightly. In addition, we have a cool new Laser Rifle which really makes you feel powerful and in the game.
- Extended game and environment controls. Mappers now have access to a wide variety of variables to fine tune every aspect of their environment – from gravity and speed down to the friction, allowing more immersive and varied environments than ever before. Entity linking has been improved and triggers have been integrated into the online system – meaning when you step in front of a door – it will open, whether you are online or offline! This is all not to mention the wide array of variables available to players themselves, from “kamikaze 3″ to “botminskill 101″ to “spawnweapon 6″ – play the game how you want to play it, and fun fun while doing so!
- Polish, polish, polish. The interface and gameplay has been refined to a tee; know exactly what to do and what is happening at any given moment. Move with expert precision with our “look and press jump” impulsing system, which lets you move around at much faster speeds in any direction you want – even sideways or up – and no longer feel like you’re floating in thick goop, the gravity is the same but the player’s weight has been tweaked so you feel like you can actually play (and androids are heavy anyway, right?).
- Much, much, much more.
Well, what are you waiting for? Download, Learn More, Get Help, or Join In today! Have fun with our awesome project, we definitely have a lot ourselves making it – Coming up next: Campaigns and Missions!
- The Blood Frontier Team
P.S. We need your HELP to keep making this game as awesome as possible; the Lead Developer (myself), Quinton “Quin” Reeves toils away for up to 18 hours a day, every day, working on the project. He has been struggling with ancient hardware for a long time due to financial difficulties. Please DONATE to make sure he can keep doing this important job! Visit our homepage at http://www.bloodfrontier.com/ for more information.