CS Nation has gotten some information from the Latest "Gamer Informer" magazine which has started to arrive to subscribers. 

Single Player Details

• Stand alone, full-priced retail release
• GLaDOS and Chell return
• Portal 2 takes place well after the events in Half-Life 2
• Portal 2 takes place hundreds of years after the events in Portal
• The labs are in various stages of decay with plant life taking over many areas of the facility
• The AI cores (seen previously at the end of game cutscene in Portal) have been tasked with rebuilding the facility
• One such core, Wheatley, serves as a preliminary guide at the start of the game
• Wheatley, fed up with his rather limited lifestyle promises to aid Chell in her escape if she helps "him"
• Wheatley will be carried through some of the earliest areas of the game and can be used to open various areas of the lab to bypass obstacles
• Chell encounters GLaDOS rather early on in the game: "Oh, it's you. It's been a long time. How have you been? I've been really busy being dead. You know, after you murdered me? (...) Okay look, we both said a lot of things that you are going to regret. But I think we should put our differences behind us. For science. You monster.
• Chell no longer sports the orange jumpsuit
• "Vital Apparatus Vents" are tubes with strong suction that Chell can use to her advantage. Place one portal at the suction area and another near some debris that needs cleared and a vortex of objects is sucked out of the room through the portal.
• Tractor beams are new and can be used to help Chell reach otherwise unreachable areas
• "Projected bridges" are translucent bridges that can be redirected through portals
• "Paint" has been added and does react to the physics of a portal
• Orange paint rockets Chell at high speeds
• Blue paint acts as a trampoline like substance and can even be used to coat cubes to send them bouncing around
• Aerial Faith Plates act as spring boards to send Chell flying
• Redirection cubes have reflective sides to bounce laser beams at angles
• Weighted Storage Balls
• Due to the state of the facility, GLaDOS is often forced to send you behind the scenes of the test chambers to make your way to the next area
• Erik Wolpaw, Chet Faliszek, and Jay Pinkerton (National Lampoon) are the main writers on Portal 2
• Music will play a bigger role this time around. Players will find new songs throughout the game through various means.
• Jonathan Coulton will be involved

Multiplayer Details

• Separate, full-length co-op campaign
• Play as one of two bipedal robots
• One is made of a personality core, the other is made from a turret
• Each player will have a portal gun (yes, four portals at once) with either player able to use the other's portal when needed
• Either split-screen or online play with a picture in picture option to see what your partner is doing
• Co-op maps will be more difficult than the single player maps due to the nature of communication and bouncing of ideas off of partners

Status Report:

Busy week is very busy!

We have overhauled a lot of the story elements in Visage because we thought that they were a bit spoiled and unoriginal. Milo, Henri and Jesse smashed their heads together and came up with a very original and well thought-out story. We're still keeping a lot of the old stuff, but only the goodies! The game hasnt changed that much though, and we can assure you that this version of Visage is five thousand and eight times better than the last one! We're estimating that we are about 25% done with Visage, this will be one hell of a year for us!

More details on what's been changed will be revealed sooner than later.

Media release:

These screenies are given to you by our mappers, Milo-rd and Schoft!

Welcome to the Abyss

Oh, I almost forgot! Here is a melee weapon for you guys!
Made by our talented modeller: Andreas Stavaas

Vacancies:

Organic modeller:
Must be experienced with Z-brush, 3dsmax, Maya, Mudbox or an equivalent program. Must know how to unwrap models as well as to skin them. Knowing how to animate and compile models is a huge plus but is not required.

Programmer:
Knowledge about writing code in the language of C++ required. Must have worked on at least one other Half-Life 2 modification. Must be open to be called 'Spike', 'Doc' or 'Scooter', at all times.

We already have one programmer, if you apply for this position you will be the secondary programmer. Knowledge of how to cook ravioli is a plus.

Hey ! After about 1 Month and Half of Mapping and Scripting, SMOD Troopers Beta 0.9 is finally out to the public ! Get it now !

Filefront LINK : Filefront.com

To download via MODDB, go in the downloads page of the mod.

Remember to join the SMOD Troopers Official Steam Community Group here : Steamcommunity.com

Have fun ! I hope we'll meet in game !

The developers would like to thank the Empires community for their unending support and feedback during these past four years. While it may have been a rough ride the past two years, we are glad that we have such a dedicated fanbase standing beside us. I am certain that godfather Krenzo feels pride in knowing that his mod has survived for four years. (Actually, its roots are in BF1942, making it over six years old!)

But development hasn't ceased yet. The new development team and its artists and mappers (Soundspawn, arklansman, Brutos, HeadShotMaster, Keef, Empty, Dizzyone, MOOtant and Beerdude26) are working hard on the new version of Empires, 2.25. Several developers who will be moving on have also chipped in for their last version (Kane and Kylegar in particular), so make sure to give them the credit they deserve. Of course, we wish the best of luck to all developers who are moving on to start up new (undoubtedly successful) projects or aid existing ones.

Luckily, the community will always be here to give us feedback in all shapes and sizes for features, bugfixes and crashes, but also to discuss what makes Empires tick and see how that itself can be improved. We appreciate all this immensely.

See you on the 2.25 battlefield soon!

P.S.: We are still looking for talented texture artists and modelers. Join the official Empires Mod forums and send a PM to soundspawn if you would like to apply.

Hello again!

As I said in the previous release, we will often give you little updates too keep you hardcore fans happy!
How better to start off this update than to hail the newest members of our team!
PsychoAlex - Coder
Klifsnider - 2D Artist, Level Designer
Ashura - 3D Artist
Ashley - 2D Artist
General_Kansegar - Level Designer

Assuming that the server will be 32 - 64 people, we can take a estimate at what ratio the troops will be with the Romans:

16 people: 1 Centurion (1st in command), 1 Optio (2nd in command), 1 Signifier (standard-bearer), 13 Legionaries (base unit).

Oh, and don't worry; everything is being mapped according the clearest historical sources.
The next update will present in the same way 16 people in the Gauls. Of course, the server does not need to accommodate 32 persons.

We want everyone aware that the Romans did not always have a rectangular shields.

Only since the 1st century AD. Our mod is in 58 BC - 44 BC, when Romans wore oval shields. All the time our team is working on the maps.

It is difficult to state how legionaries looked like during Julius Caesar's conquests, and unfortunately, there are few historical sources, which are not exactly reliable or clear. So as you can tell, we have to guess a lot of the time. Thats why Ancient period modding is so hard! The World War mods have it easy ;)

We are also working on our new website, which we agreed to publish soon, although it is not yet finished.

Finally, we need to somehow communicate with you, so if you want some more details and a place to hang out with other Ancient Rome fans - the website is the place to be!

Website - www.ancientromemod.com

Now, we have three screenshots to show you:

Gallic round shield (one variant)

This time, not oval, but round. Expect a wide variety of shields that are both round, oval and even hexagonal.

Gallica lancea

Weapons most used by the Gauls.

Hands

With this model we will have different hands for the various factions and units.

Sadly, this is all we have for you this month, but don't worry, we are always working on content for the mod and well hopefully be able to drop another gorgeous update on you within the next 2 months! Feel free to comment and add suggestions.

So I hit a big milestone today, bringing the second level to alpha and subsequently reaching the half-way point in the project! It took me roughly two months to complete this, which is not bad considering the first level was almost 6 months in the making! To celebrate here are some screens:

Overall I’m very pleased with the results, although technically it has been quite a struggle, in comparison to the first level this one is utterly huge, I broke the Source engine quite a few times in the process of building it to the level of detail you see here. Performance is also looking great, currently on par with the first level, and for those of you who are wondering, if you can run any OB/L4D game then you will most certainly be able to run this. Right now I can run it at 30-40fps, 1900×1080 on my humble laptop with only a 9600M GPU with everything maxed out.

Anyway I’m already looking forward to starting the next level, the caves under the island, I think it will be a truly unique setting where I can really break out the eye candy and play with some interesting art styles, which will be a refreshing change compared to the wide open environments I have been working on previously!

Anyway hope you enjoyed the update!

Open Alpha a1.0 released the previous week, this news post will look over some of the feedback given, present a new gamemode with gameplay footage and Saturdays event!

Don't know GraviNULL yet?

You've missed out then, but no worries you can check out the release newspost here and Saturday, March 6th 2010 around 2pm until 5pm EST there will be an event for GraviNULL, this will surely bring in a few people to play with on that day!

A look back on the alpha release.

So the Open Alpha released last week, been quite a blast, but as seems normal with Multiplayer SourceMods not available on Steam nowadays, what little server population there was died out fairly quickly.

I have yet to see a downright negative comment about the mod, there´s a fair bit of critiscm but with general positive sides being mentioned of the mod as well.

Let´s go over some stuff said:
- Chaotic gameplay in full servers:
Argumented along with it is that you can just fire balls at random and still hit people, this is very true, now let's take a full server in for example TF2, take a Soldier, Demoman or Heavy and start shooting wildly in the general direction of people... you will hit people! Does it make you win the round? Certainly doesn't!

While I admit lowering the limit to 8-10 players instead of 12 may be a good idea, the chaotic gameplay can have it's fun sides and skilled play will still allow you to triumph over those randomly spamming balls.

The mod's too hard!

Well, the gameplay is different from what you may be used to.
There's a couple of things that can help you get better:

• Take advantage of being able to see what your enemies are grappling, when they grapple onto something that isn't moving, their path should be relatively easy to predict, try and aim your shots where they are going, or force them to choose a new direction by scaring them off with a red mines.
• Blue mines are weak... when you end up face to face with someone. Shoot a red one for massive points and damage!
• Blue mines serve two purposes, the less obvious one is to use them to force an enemy to try and evade it so you can force him to lose speed and choose a more predictable path, prepare a red mine that is shot towards his most likely next position.
• Firing a mine pushes you back a bit, you can use this to propel you away from danger or slightly steer yourself in area's with little mines and grapple anchors in reach.
• Holding right mouse when firing a mine allows you to almost instantly grab it, the initial pull of the grapple beam will negate the push back of a mine launch and can be very usefull for quick getaways!

- The mod quickly grows boring:
Well, it's just deathmatch and we're aware it won't last you lot long, do realize that there's a couple of tricks to use to give the mod more depth, but still a deathmatch remains a deathmatch.
Read on for how we plan to make the mod more interesting for longer periods!

Progress report:

Development of the next release of GraviNULL is underway, this will be an Open Beta release, with custom mine models and possibly player models/gravity gun model as well.

What it will also bring is new gamemodes, the first of interest is Puzzle Mode, this will be an experimental gamemode with probably not more than 1 or 2 maps built for... singleplayer only.

These singleplayer puzzle maps are planned to be playable through a menu similar to the portal Challenges window.

In the puzzle maps you will have access to grapple balls(Companion Balls anyone?) which can be grappled and absorbed like mines, but is not as lethal. You'd use these to solve a variety of puzzles and to be able to move around.

This is still in baby shoes, but promising progress is being made on this by the talented mapper: GuessMyName.

He made the grapple anchor model for the Open Alpha version and had a Work in Progress map, which was no where near ready when GraviNULL released, the Open Beta should be seeing at least 1 puzzle map coming from him! So that'll be interesting.

If singleplayer puzzle mode proves a success, more complex puzzles for a co-op mode will likely follow.

The other gamemode coming to the Open Beta is Hazard mode.
Hazard mode was mentioned in a previous newspost under the name of Time Trial.

What is Hazard? Why call it that?
Hazard mode maps are obstacle courses, with some or most of these obstacles being lethal(hazardous) Players will be trying to get from Point A to Point B in one piece. It's similar to a race, but there's no laps and there will not be as much chances to whiz around a track at insane zero gravity speeds.

A more race like mode is planned, but not for the Open Beta, to differentiate between the two gamemodes Hazard will not be callled Race.

Hazard will not be called Time Trial either, because Race, Hazard and Puzzle will be playable in singleplayer mode in Time Trial mode. This means each of these seperate modes could be played in a way that you try to beat your best time on a round.

Hazard will be playable both online against people, likely in a racing like way(get to the finish first to win first place, second and third there win second and third place getting lower points) and playable offline as Time Trial mode, trying to beat your best times.

To close the topic of Hazard mode, here's a video showing some early gameplay:

GraviNULL Closed Beta: Hazard mode gameplay video - Mod DB

Looking for players to play the Alpha with?

Well you're in luck, DOLBYdigital from Social Modding Club will be hosting an event Saturday, March 6th 2010 around 2pm until 5pm EST.

This will be a chance to play with the developers and ask any questions you have + get schooled in the art of balls mastery.

For more information check out the newspost.

Use a timezone converter if you don't know what time exactly the event will be.

hey guys so yea the beta is almost done so when its is finished i put it on the site but REMEMBER this is A BETA it will now have the voice acting or any addons like the hud is changed or something like that the voice acting will be in the v2 of the mod any the hud change might be in the v2 of the mod ok

Hey everyone.

I've been thinking about the Beta more and more as it begins to approach. I have decided that the Beta will include a public download link right here on ModDB as well as the one or two Beta dedicated servers we will be running. The goal of the Beta testing is to get feedback as well as find any bugs in both Engines and Maps. We are completely open to criticism and changes and will do the best we can to incorporate suggestions. This is everyone's chance to help shape the future of this mod and we'd really appreciate it if as many people as possible tested. The testing will begin either tomorrow (Friday) or Saturday. I will make a post included an off-site download link from our current website (actually hosted on the company website) as our speeds are higher and I'd just prefer it. For the record, if Puzzlr goes well, I have plans of purchasing a domain and creating a Wiki for it. Puzzlr will remain a supported mod for as long as I can keep updating it and it'll continue to include new maps, materials, models, engine updates, and more. I have to go, but remember to keep an eye out for the Beta.

Thanks,
Aaron Weiss
Lead Programmer

Source2d is a multi-player 2.5D like no other. Combining a death match games and with many of your favorite games likes "Super Mario Brothers", "Sonic" and "Donkey Kong" into one whole game, is the formula to get Source2d!

What makes Source2d different to other similar games?

Source2d will offer many game features that are in development right now!, Source2d provides the player with the choice three game modes!

• Death-match - The classic game mode, Death match! Play on a team or All vs All :) This will support up to 32 players with of course, lovable bots.
  
  Only three or two maps will be made since this mode is relying on the Community. Although, we will keep you updated on this game mode.

• Adventure - What on earth is this? Why play anything else other than the Adventure mode! Entertain yourself on this Single player AND Multi-player game mode! Adventure follows a basic side-scrolling adventure made by users and the development team.
  
  The development team will take on creating a community story line that you, ModDb create. You get the ideas, we will make it. This will be announced shortly.
  
  What do you mean its Single Player and Multi-player?
  
  Well. Simple, you can either play by yourself without any help, or, you could LAN up with your friends and take on-board a Co-Op Adventure!
  
  Co-Op can be used via LAN or Internet with a Max of four players.

• Minigames - What type of person would I be if I didn't add this feature into the game? A bad one at that.
  
  Have you ever wanted to play Donkey Kong in 2.5? Well.. Who said you couldn't? You can do exactly that with Source2d! Jump over barrels or maybe why not watch each other die in maps where surviving, is funny!
  
  We only have a short list for maps at the moment, this will sure expanded after release. Well, here they are:

• Donkey Kong (Jump over barrels and save Princess .Echo (He doesn't know about this yet))

• Super Mario (Collect the most Coins)

• Death Run (Finish the map, dodging paths that could easily make you die without falling be hide)

• Space Invaders ( One person is the Invaders, the rest, defend like you have never before)
  
  You could trust me, any Mario Party game or any 2d game can be integrated into the engine.

Besides the Game Mode, what other features are intended?

With endless possibilities, we have limited the primary features to this, while everything great is on the secondary list. Here they are:

• Global high score system!
• Global banning system!
• Fully working Single player and multi-player support!
• Fully working Camera and functions!
• Extra Scripting System to extend the game even more!
• Players death changed to be more amusing. Such as players flying off screen, hitting the camera and etc! All done by using the physics system!

These are the highlight features, but hopefully turns out well. If you would like to suggest a feature, please read below more "Contacting the team".

A few extra notes!

Source2d offers a whole bunch of miscellaneous features. You can get rewarded for pwn @ll th0se n00bz!

Like everything good, you will have to wait for this rebel mod to come out; the first private release is set soon. If you'd like to stay informed, watch this modification and contribute, you may be selected as a private beta tester as well as invite your friends!

Helping the team!

The mode is hopefully going to be living off the user base. So, feel free to create modifications for this Source modification!

If you would to join the development team, view the job tab just next to images to get started. If a job you are interested in isn't shown, please contact matt.shirley@itsthatmatt.com (and also matt.shirleys@gmail.com since first email may not work) with some questions and information about the job you are looking for. I will be happy to answer and consider you on the team. I don't bite, I will take as many people on board!

Contacting the team!

If you would like to contact the team, please email;

matt.shirley@itsthatmatt.com as well as matt.shirleys@gmail.com in case of server problems! Question me as much as you want, I don't mind :)

Thanks for reading, I hope I have convinced you to support Source2d!