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Alien Swarm: She thought they said "illegal aliens" and signed up.

EchoEcho ski-bapba-dapModerator mod
edited November 2010 in Games and Technology
Alien Swarm: Originally a total conversion mod for Unreal Tournament 2004. Me and my buddies still play the crap out of it on LANs.

Now: It lives again!
Alien Swarm is a game and Source SDK release from a group of talented designers at Valve who were hired from the Mod community.

Available free of charge, the game thrusts players into an epic bug hunt featuring a unique blend of co-op play and squad-level tactics. With your friends, form a squad of four distinct IAF Marine classes. Plan your attack using an unlockable arsenal of weapons with countless loadout configurations against a wide variety of aliens. Blaze your way through an overrun, off-world colony, eradicating the alien infestation in environments ranging from the icy planet's surface, to a subterranean lava-flooded mining facility.

Along with the game get the complete code base for Alien Swarm that features updates to the Source engine as well as the SDK. Alien Swarm adds 3rd person camera, depth of field, improved dynamic shadows and a wide variety of gameplay additions to the Source engine.
  • Tactical, 4 player co-op action game with a top-down perspective
  • Complete game code and mod tools
  • Unlock persistent items by gaining levels
  • Over 40 weapons and equipment with countless loadout configurations
  • 4 unique classes and 8 unique characters
  • Matchmaking, Steam Cloud, Steam Stats
  • 64 achievements
  • Tile-based map generation tool
  • Powered by Source and Steam

Get it here soon!

Gameplay trailer

vebu6a.png

Echo on
«13456761

Posts

  • undeinPiratundeinPirat Registered User regular
    edited July 2010
    Echo wrote: »
    Alien Swarm: Originally a total conversion mod for Unreal Tournament 2004. Me and my buddies still play the crap out of it on LANs.

    Now: It lives again!
    Alien Swarm is a game and Source SDK release from a group of talented designers at Valve who were hired from the Mod community.

    Available free of charge, the game thrusts players into an epic bug hunt featuring a unique blend of co-op play and squad-level tactics. With your friends, form a squad of four distinct IAF Marine classes. Plan your attack using an unlockable arsenal of weapons with countless loadout configurations against a wide variety of aliens. Blaze your way through an overrun, off-world colony, eradicating the alien infestation in environments ranging from the icy planet's surface, to a subterranean lava-flooded mining facility.

    Along with the game get the complete code base for Alien Swarm that features updates to the Source engine as well as the SDK. Alien Swarm adds 3rd person camera, depth of field, improved dynamic shadows and a wide variety of gameplay additions to the Source engine.

    Get it here soon!

    (more shit to follow in OP.)

    Oh shit, so in three days this is free to get? Goddamnit Valve stop being the most amazing company on the planet.

    undeinPirat on
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  • Casually HardcoreCasually Hardcore Once an Asshole. Trying to be better. Registered User regular
    edited July 2010
    Did someone just said Game On?

    Cause, I think someone should be saying 'Game On' right about now...

    Casually Hardcore on
  • BlueDestinyBlueDestiny Registered User regular
    edited July 2010
    Heh, lots of good memories playing this back in the day. Some of my friends are gonna be real happy to see it back again.

    BlueDestiny on
  • PeewiPeewi Registered User regular
    edited July 2010
    I've never heard of Alien Swarm before. I think it's pretty amazing that Valve comes out with a free game out of nowhere.

    Looking forward to playing it when it comes out on monday.

    Peewi on
  • Undead ScottsmanUndead Scottsman Registered User regular
    edited July 2010
    To be fair, this doesn't seem to be "Valve making a free game" so much as "A couple of guys who work at Valve made a mod in their spare time, which Valve is now distributing through Steam for free like they do with other mods"

    Undead Scottsman on
  • FyreWulffFyreWulff YouRegistered User, ClubPA regular
    edited July 2010
    Oh man, I was still using a GeForce 4 MX 440 when this was all the rage in the forums
    To be fair, this doesn't seem to be "Valve making a free game" so much as "A couple of guys who work at Valve made a mod in their spare time, which Valve is now distributing through Steam for free like they do with other mods"

    I believe Valve hired the team. (read the first sentence of the quote)

    FyreWulff on
  • CanadianWolverineCanadianWolverine Registered User regular
    edited July 2010
    Yeah, wasn't this a Unreal Tourney or something mod originally?

    I can hardly wait for it to go live :)

    CanadianWolverine on
    steam_sig.png
  • DracilDracil Registered User regular
    edited July 2010
    Oh good. The last time I tried to play this all the servers seemed to be in Europe or something. Not good considering the friendly fire possible (oops, I just flamethrowed you and your ammo blag blew up!)

    I'd definitely like to play this again. They've been working on a sort of sequel for years (Alien Swarm: Infested) but progress has been *really* slow. Or maybe this IS basically AS:I! (It was originally supposed to be a retail game)

    Dracil on
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  • The Count Of Midget FistoThe Count Of Midget Fisto Registered User regular
    edited July 2010
    Is that why we've never heard anything about Alien Swarm 2? Because they team got hired by Valve?

    The Count Of Midget Fisto on
    In Low Orbit Over Budapest
  • Undead ScottsmanUndead Scottsman Registered User regular
    edited July 2010
    FyreWulff wrote: »
    Oh man, I was still using a GeForce 4 MX 440 when this was all the rage in the forums
    To be fair, this doesn't seem to be "Valve making a free game" so much as "A couple of guys who work at Valve made a mod in their spare time, which Valve is now distributing through Steam for free like they do with other mods"

    I believe Valve hired the team. (read the first sentence of the quote)

    Uh, hence the part about "A couple of guys WHO WORK AT VALVE made a mod in their spare time"

    Undead Scottsman on
  • StericaSterica Yes Registered User, Moderator mod
    edited July 2010
    Yeah, this was by Black Cat wasn't it? This was a BADASS co-op mod for UT2K4 that I played the fuck out of. It was hard as nails and is best described as a top-down Killing Floor with an actual goal to reach rather than surviving waves.

    Like Natural Selection, I figured this would be a Source sequel that would take forever to get out. I recall their Sudoku game released as a way to raise funds. Good to see it's still around.

    Sterica on
    YL9WnCY.png
  • Undead ScottsmanUndead Scottsman Registered User regular
    edited July 2010
    Okay, just to get some stuff straight (because I'm confused now.)

    Alien Swarm: Top-Down action game, originally a UT2004 mod, the follow-up "Alien Swarm: Infested" was going to be a Source engine mod, but the guys who made it got bought by Valve and now it's a full-on stand-alone free Steam release.

    Natural Selection: A hybrid FPS/RTS, originally a Half-Life 1 mod, the follow-up "Natural Selection 2" was going to be a Source engine game, but they later decided to make their own engine. They're the ones who released the Soduku game to help fund NS2.

    Undead Scottsman on
  • FaranguFarangu I am a beardy man With a beardy planRegistered User regular
    edited July 2010
    Oh man.

    I'm there.

    Farangu on
  • StericaSterica Yes Registered User, Moderator mod
    edited July 2010
    You're right, the Natural Selection guys did the Sudoku (it's still on steam!). It's easy to get confused when two mods featuring alien bugs vs. marines were originally being brought over to Steam but delayed for many years.

    Sterica on
    YL9WnCY.png
  • DeepQantasDeepQantas Registered User regular
    edited July 2010
    Best video I could find of the old Swarm. Can you feel the co-op?
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwwPJ-KiN7c
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4qMW8g8BQs


    e:
    And yeah, this game is Alien Swarm: Infested or Alien Swarm: Source by Black Cat Games. Two years ago the core team was hired by Valve to finish the game.

    DeepQantas on
    m~
  • urahonkyurahonky Registered User regular
    edited July 2010
    This sounds awesome. I will keep my eye on it.

    urahonky on
  • EchoEcho ski-bap ba-dapModerator mod
    edited July 2010
    Funny thing is, when that Alien Breed remake came out a few months ago I went "damnit, I was hoping for something more Alien Swarm-like".

    I <3 you, Valve!

    Echo on
  • PeewiPeewi Registered User regular
    edited July 2010
    Looks like Steam doesn't just have the trailer, but also a gameplay video.

    Peewi on
  • EchoEcho ski-bap ba-dapModerator mod
    edited July 2010
    ...yeah, that looks like Alien Swarm alright. Guess why I chose this title. :P

    Echo on
  • ZekZek Registered User regular
    edited July 2010
    So this is a full on sequel and not a remake, right?

    Either way this is pretty awesome, it looks like Valve decided to give it away as a seed game to encourage non-FPS Source development.

    Zek on
  • Kris_xKKris_xK Registered User regular
    edited July 2010
    Fuck, this looks awesome.

    I love me some coop.

    Kris_xK on
    calvinhobbessleddingsig2.gif
  • Xenogear_0001Xenogear_0001 Registered User regular
    edited July 2010
    Oooo, this looks good.

    Xenogear_0001 on
    steam_sig.png
  • NarianNarian Registered User regular
    edited July 2010
    So an even better looking/playing Alien Swarm is being released for free on Steam?

    What's the catch!?

    Narian on
    Narian.gif
  • subediisubedii Registered User regular
    edited July 2010
    Narian wrote: »
    So an even better looking/playing Alien Swarm is being released for free on Steam?

    What's the catch!?

    Objective: Get more customers.

    Solution: I'll just leave this here game on this fishing hook and yoink... Oh look, I caught another wallet, that's the twentieth one today.



    That would be my guess anyway. What better way to show off the marketplace and the community system than with a coop shooter that has all the steamworks accessories and achievements?

    subedii on
  • EchoEcho ski-bap ba-dapModerator mod
    edited July 2010
    That, and the whole "open SDK with tons of examples and code". Not only is it a free game, it's an excellent entryway for modding Source stuff.

    Echo on
  • NEO|PhyteNEO|Phyte They follow the stars, bound together. Strands in a braid till the end.Registered User regular
    edited July 2010
    Had fun with the ut2k4 version back in the day, will be good to give it another go with a price tag that means mah friends can play too.

    NEO|Phyte on
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  • AegeriAegeri Tiny wee bacteriums Plateau of LengRegistered User regular
    edited July 2010
    This game was absolutely great. I used to play it with my friends in an internet cafe. Was pretty good fun. Except for one of my friends always shooting me in the back. That wasn't cool.

    Aegeri on
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  • Lord YodLord Yod Registered User regular
    edited July 2010
    Shit yes. I made the last thread on this game, very glad it's actually happening now.

    Lord Yod on
    steam_sig.png
  • BurtletoyBurtletoy Registered User regular
    edited July 2010
    So, this is just like Crimsonland, right?

    Burtletoy on
  • subediisubedii Registered User regular
    edited July 2010
    Burtletoy wrote: »
    So, this is just like Crimsonland, right?

    No it's objective based with you travelling through the levels. Not really about surviving waves like that.

    Also, I'm amazed someone other than me remembers Crimsonland.

    subedii on
  • DracilDracil Registered User regular
    edited July 2010
    I remember Crimsonland too. A shame they never got around to finishing Crimsonland 2.

    Dracil on
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  • Xenogear_0001Xenogear_0001 Registered User regular
    edited July 2010
    I still have Crimsonland and play it every few months--I love that game.

    Xenogear_0001 on
    steam_sig.png
  • BurtletoyBurtletoy Registered User regular
    edited July 2010
    Well the only reason I ever heard about it was from one of the PA guys in the news section, so I figured there would be a few people here that knew of it at least.

    Burtletoy on
  • RandomEngyRandomEngy Registered User regular
    edited July 2010
    Was interested in the original but never got around to buying UT2004. Definitely going to give this a shot on Monday, provided I'm not wrangled by my roomates to watch The Wire.

    RandomEngy on
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  • PeewiPeewi Registered User regular
    edited July 2010
    A while ago I discovered that you can't add friends or use other community features in Steam if you don't own a game on it (and the free HL2 DM promotions don't count), so unless they change that, I could see a few players being turned away from the game.

    If I didn't already use Steam, I certainly wouldn't be pleased if I was told I had to buy something to add people to my friends list for a free game.

    Peewi on
  • Xenogear_0001Xenogear_0001 Registered User regular
    edited July 2010
    RandomEngy wrote: »
    Was interested in the original but never got around to buying UT2004. Definitely going to give this a shot on Monday, provided I'm not wrangled by my roomates to watch The Wire.

    You should do what your roommates are suggesting, even if that comes after playing this for several hours.

    Xenogear_0001 on
    steam_sig.png
  • EdcrabEdcrab Actually a hack Registered User regular
    edited July 2010
    I never played the original UT2k4 mod but this looks right up my alley!

    Edcrab on
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  • Mr.SunshineMr.Sunshine Registered User regular
    edited July 2010
    Game code and mod tools included, eh.

    m410442a_60010699001_enshboxfront_445x319.jpg

    Make it so.

    Mr.Sunshine on
  • alset85alset85 Registered User regular
    edited July 2010
    Peewi wrote: »
    A while ago I discovered that you can't add friends or use other community features in Steam if you don't own a game on it (and the free HL2 DM promotions don't count), so unless they change that, I could see a few players being turned away from the game.

    If I didn't already use Steam, I certainly wouldn't be pleased if I was told I had to buy something to add people to my friends list for a free game.

    But they can accept invitations from the other person so it's just an anti-spam measure.

    alset85 on
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  • PeewiPeewi Registered User regular
    edited July 2010
    alset85 wrote: »
    Peewi wrote: »
    A while ago I discovered that you can't add friends or use other community features in Steam if you don't own a game on it (and the free HL2 DM promotions don't count), so unless they change that, I could see a few players being turned away from the game.

    If I didn't already use Steam, I certainly wouldn't be pleased if I was told I had to buy something to add people to my friends list for a free game.

    But they can accept invitations from the other person so it's just an anti-spam measure.

    Really? As far as I remember, when I tried to play HL2 DM with a friend that didn't already use Steam, his friends list window just said that he couldn't use friends without buying anything.

    Even if you're right, it doesn't help if two people that don't use Steam want to play this free game with each other. I guess Valve could just not care because it's free.

    Peewi on
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