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Spilling the Beans posted by Dan Menard on May 6, 2008, 07:45 PM
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Release is near. We're putting the absolutely final touches on the maps and we hope to announce a release date next week. This week we've started to update our website in preparation for the big day, so you will notice some changes to the sidebar.
We've also added a brand new "Meet the Staff" section to our website with quick info and interviews with everyone on the team. If you read it, you would know the team consists of: 3 Dans, 3 Pauls and 3 Michaels... no joke. It's an interesting read, so get to know us a bit better before downloading our game  .
As part of this title, we're starting to release our manual. We'll be releasing new sections every week. This week we're bringing you 3 of the help screens featured when you first join a server. These are quick reference cards for new players to understand the tactics and strategies of a game of ES. It should give you a glimpse of how the game works. There will be 3 more next week.
We're looking forward to release as much as you are. Expect more info soon.
Dan
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Screenshots! posted by Dan Menard on Apr 29, 2008, 03:45 PM
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The team is inching ever closer to our final release files. We are putting the final performance optimizations in and getting our linux server compiled. We'll be confirming a release date once all files are locked and ready to go. This week we're bringing you some great map screenshots from the NGM side of es_nebular. This map is rapidly finishing up and has some great looking spaces in it.
Many more screenshots in the gallery.
We'll be posting detailed profiles of everyone on the team soon on our Meet the Staff page. We're also slowly updating the site in preparation for release. We will be releasing sections of the game manual week by week along with in game screenshots and video.
Dan
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ES Feature Locked posted by Dan Menard on Apr 20, 2008, 07:06 PM
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A few of you may have noticed the lack of news lately. I can assure you it's only the calm before the storm. After our large scale beta test today, we've feature locked 3.0. This is the start of the home stretch toward release of Beta 3.0 and marks a huge milestone for the team. From now on we're simply going to be polishing and testing the game to death to make sure that when it reaches you, it will be the best gaming experience the ES team can deliver.
It's been a long road, and I can assure you that 3.0 will be nothing like anything you've ever played before. We'll be releasing manuals and information as release gets closer and closer, but I think everyone on the beta team will agree when I say the game is a blast.
We'll be releasing 3.0 with our whole new gameplay, two full space scenarios (es_aethra and es_nebular, both balanced to death), a total of 8 totally different ship classes, completely rebalanced weapons. ES brings teamplay to a whole new level. In fact here is a quote from one of our beta testers:
"I realized today that I have never, ever looked at my personal score in this version of ES. Do you know what this means? Eternal Silence has reached the holy grail of online team-based gaming. I think the reason for this is that the game makes teamwork very tactile, so I become absorbed in my team's objectives."
As a bonus, here are a couple of renders of two new turret models we added to the game just recently. Both are modelled by Tweek and skinned by Safemilk, and I have to say they did a swell job. These turrets will shoot at you from corvettes and capital ships.
 
Expect more news very soon. We're on the home stretch, it won't be long now!
Dan
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Meet the NGM Bomber posted by Dan Menard on Mar 18, 2008, 12:54 PM
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And we're back to our regular schedule. As we continue on our road to Beta 3.0, we're presenting you with a new ship this week, the NGM Bomber. Similar to its UTF counterpart, the NGM bomber is specialized at taking down corvettes and dealing serious damage to capital ships. This ship model was made by tweek and skinned by Sapien. This marks the last tactical ship to be featured in 3.0, so we now have a full line up.
We're continuing this week with heavy testing of the internal build, ironing out the last of the gameplay balancing we can. 3.0 is still a little ways off, but you can bet that it will be quite an experience when it's released. We're still looking for many talented mappers to fill up our mapping requirements, so if you have what it takes please contact us by PMing me (link above this news post). I'd like to give a shout out to some new team members who have entered our ranks recently. Daniel "Safemilk" Williams, a new addition to the art team, as well as Reap3r, one of our beta testers who has just been promoted to Beta Lead, we welcome you both.
Come back next week for more great media and updates from the ES Team.
Dan
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