Posts by Zacker

The theme of the old building and the new building does not really fit together.

Yep, that's the spirit:) There were also none who believed that I could lead a mod when I took over SoW many years ago...

Phillipk, yeah this new map is probably the best one visually. The other maps are all receiving upgrades, but still I must admit that I can't beat that one.

Posty, more original stuff is in the works, but we lack the manpower to make it properly. We are doing what we got the resources to do, which is primarly smaller bugfixes and improvements like the ones you will see in 1.1.

Rd, yep Bluestrike is Ass. Lead Level Designer on the team:) All maps are currently created by him and me.

I would like to recommend that you find some more realistic goals for a mod. It is very hard to recruit talented modders, especially if the mod has a high chance of not getting done.

Beware of the island-in-the-sky syndrome.

Next beta within 2 weeks

Lately we have managed to get many old and nasty bugs fixed, often with great help from the community. We truely appreciate this help as it has really made the beta 1.1 release much closer.

We do now have a fix for every critical bug which we know of ready in beta 1.1. The only thing we have left to do is to get it all together and ensure that no new bugs has popped up.

New map: SoW2_Abandoned

Below is the pictures of the new map in beta 1.1 SoW2_Abandoned. It takes places at a dryed out submarine harbor which now serves as a CoDe outpost.

[Blocked Image: http://sandsofwar.net/screenshots/thumb/4106_1139243837.jpg][Blocked Image: http://sandsofwar.net/screenshots/thumb/8493_1139243839.jpg] [Blocked Image: http://sandsofwar.net/screenshots/thumb/7280_1139243837.jpg]

More pictures of it can be found in the SoW2 maps section in the screenshots area of our site http://www.sandsofwar.net.

Test lead position avaible

As you could read in the last newspost we are currently seeking LOTS of new developers. Now a new position as leader of the beta testers team is open. Most of the other positions are also still open.

We want someone who can lead our team of beta testers and help to improve the quality of the SoW2 releases.

http://sandsofwar.net/index.php?p=jobs

SoW2 server up

The Deadclan has opened a 20 man dedicated SoW2 server. This is very nice as there haven't been a stable dedicated server up for months. This should ensure that you will have a server to play on when we release 1.1.

We do not recommend to play beta 1.0 for now as a CSS update has caused player model problems in SoW2 beta 1.0.

It does not really surprise me if they want to milk it further.

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They really do not have to worry about customer downtime or even customers at all. They can do what they want, when they want to.

Try doing this with a mod, then you will see that it's not like that. We do indeed have to worry about the players.

I really like it, that sunset canyon pic looks fantastic!

I personally belive strongly in that mod teams should release early and often. That is how I want it myself, I want to see a mod early on despite many flaws.

After having tried it with Sands of War I have learned that many others don't feel that way though. There are quite a bunch of players who want even first public release to be pretty solid.

I am pretty sure I would hit it regardless.

Very nice mapping there!

Looks good indeed for that engine. The low quality textures really annoys me though.

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Never played it, what in it is unique?

It's not very unique, the focus for SoW1 and the first release of SoW2 has been on simple action and pure fun. For SoW2 we do have a lot of plans, not totally unique in themself, but innovating in the way we will implent them.

We already started out with having 2 very different gameplay modes in our very first public SoW2 beta. We got both the old SoW classic gameplay along with a new mode called Rally where we combine racing and shooting:)

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I'd rather not derail this into another Mods and Professionalism thread but I really really dislike the use of terms like "hiring" and "jobs"--come on, it's a mod. You make it for fun. There is no money involved. Don't be disingenuous.

I agree on that we should be aware of that we are making a mod and we are that. E.g. my position was once called CEO, but that sounded too profesional imo so I changed it to Project Leader:) Furthermore we do not want anyone to believe that any kind of money is involved. At the top of our jobs page we clearly state that it is mod positions and therefore unpayed.

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How is SoW going? I played the first Source release, how's it been coming along?

It is coming along as always, but way too slow. Our amount of developers working actively on it is rather low. In our next news post we will tell more about the status of Beta 1.1 and show pictures of the new map SoW2_Abandoned.

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Where are the games like, System Shock 2, Paradroid, Elite, Bioforge of our time?

I am working on it, but with the resources we got at SoW it is kinda hard:P

I agree with you and that is also how we are doing it. We are focusing 95% on SoW2 today and as soon as SoW 1.6 is out the one last guy will also move to the SoW2 team. It is impossible for a small mod team like ours to develop two mods at the same time.

The bots are being developed by a 3rd party guy, the author of EPodbot, so we are not using many resources here. We still want to support his great work though:)

I have played Farcry from start to finish and I can say that it is much more than just graphics. It did nextgen the way it should have been done. It had the actually interesting AI and open gameplay which other so called "next gen" titles as HL2 lacks.

Bots

Ever wanted to play SoW1 without being able to find someone to play with? Then this is good news for you, bots are underway!

For some weeks the development has been paused due to a nasty bug, but it is progressing nicely again now. Currently we are aiming for a first public beta of the bot to be released in a month or so.

Below are some screenshots of bots playing in game:

[Blocked Image: http://sandsofwar.net/screenshots/thumb/3105_1138542145.jpg] [Blocked Image: http://sandsofwar.net/screenshots/thumb/5723_1138542145.jpg] [Blocked Image: http://sandsofwar.net/screenshots/thumb/2624_1138542145.jpg]

We're hiring - BIG TIME!

Do you have skills within the areas of coding, skinning, mapping, texturing, modelling or similar? Would you like to get your work downloaded 20,000 times? Then you should think about joining us on the Sands of War team!

We are a DIRE need of at least 5-10 more developers to help making a kickass game out of Sands of War 2. Do not hesitate to contact us. Head over to our jobs page and read about more about it:

http://sandsofwar.net/index.php?p=jobs

SoW 1.6

Our last installment in the SoW1 series is very close to final now. Several areas of it have been done for many months. The 7th release candidate was release to the testers a little week ago and so far it seems to be quite stable and bug free.

Unless any new serious problems occour doing these last days of testing, SoW 1.6 final will be publically released soon.

Our apologies

Our apologies for giving you shelter and help

Our apologies for giving you an education

Our apologies for helping you economically

Our apologies for that you believe in the god you want in our christian land

Our apologies for that we send help to your countries

Our apologies for that we do not require bloodrevenge for the murders comitted on our fellowmen

Our apologies for that we don't run around with explosives when we feel aggrieved

Our apologies for not just doing as your faith wants

But an apology for having spoken up in our own country and after our own laws - that you will never get

I need to get in the newspaper again, so I get some new pics to post:D