Sven Co-op: Pleasing Taste, Some Monsterism

New Job Positions Open, Apply Today!
30 November, 2005 | by Sniper

We're looking for more professionals to work on the Half-Life and Half-Life 2 versions of Sven Co-op. Unfortunately, some of our team members have gotten sucked away to the gaming industry. In other words, they're now getting paid for what they do best.

Current openings are as follows:

3D Artists, 3D Character Artists
Requirements:
You are able to work efficiently with 3D Studio MAX, Softimage XSI, or Maya software.
You can rig and/or UV unwrap characters for skinning.
You can make low-poly props for environments.

3D Animators
Requirements:
You are able to work efficiently with 3D Studio MAX, Softimage XSI, or Maya software.
You have experience working with weapon and character animations.

Submissions
Applicants should choose any of the following. One of each is not required:

Portfolio of your past or current work.
Website with visible art.
Demo reel of your skills.

Send any of the above work examples to: sniper@svencoop.com

At the very least, if you're interested in "getting into the industry", we're a good place to start. The type of tasks you'll perform will introduce you to what's expected in the real world. Last but not least, you can always place us on your resume' for past experience.

Sven Co-op v3.5 News, SC3.0 on Vapour, etc.
27 November, 2005 | by Sven Viking

50 Comments

This is my first time using the new news system, so apologies in advance in case this doesn't come out right :).

First of all, Sven Co-op v3.0 is now available on Vapour - an application for installing mods and keeping them updated (similar to Steam, but free to all mod authors). The Sven Co-op build on there has been updated with the most recent HLSP support files from the Files page, as well as a new Steam icon. Check it out at www.vapour-online.com! Though we still recommend using the official SC executable for first-time installations due to some install complexities (registry entries for the MP3 editor and such), it's handy for keeping Sven Co-op up-to-date, repairing corrupted installations, etc.

Just one word of warning: If you have newer versions of any of the original 3.0 files (custom models or ripented versions of maps, for example), using the "Validate Mod" option (and possibly "Update" as well) will overwrite them with the default versions.

Important notes for people installing Sven Co-op for the first time via Vapour:

If you want to play the original Half-Life storyline maps in Sven Co-op, you need to run the \SvenCoop\hlsp_lan.bat on the server machine to install support for these maps. If you need to uninstall HLSP support for extra disk space, use hlsp_support_REMOVE.bat.
The Vapour installation of Sven Co-op comes with high-definition content enabled by default. If you're getting low framerates, run the Content-LowDef.bat file found in your SvenCoop\ directory. (You can use Content-HighDef.bat to switch back if desired).
Run SvenCoop\mp3list_generator.exe and browse to the location of your SvenCoop\mp3.txt file to add MP3s to your Sven Co-op playlist. There's an example MP3 in SvenCoop\MP3\
If for any reason you happen to be playing on a non-Steam version of Half-Life, run sc_files_WON.bat.

In the last news post, Sniper posted a screenshot as a clue to a previously unannounced feature in 3.5. As many of you guessed, the feature is the ability for players, allied NPCs, and enemies to be revived from (near) death" (similarly to the way Alien Slaves revive each other in 3.0).

Medic grunts can revive both players and NPCs. I've been testing it in Osprey, and it makes things pretty interesting -- The rush to kill a medic before he finishes reviving an enemy HWGrunt, for example.

Players can revive each other as well using the Medkit's alternate fire mode. It uses 50 medkit ammo, and revives players at half-health.

Here are a couple of screenshots from 3.5 internal testing, by the way. The first shows an undocumented feature (read: bug) that we thought was pretty funny: Sven Co-op kung fu. Sadly, this has since been fixed, and will not be in the final release :).

The next three shots show a player-allied Tor running around on Osprey (...as well as a glitch or two). He used one of his powers to dynamically teleport in the Alien Grunts you see in the background.

We're still looking for someone to finish up a few of Tor's animations, by the way... if you have 3DSMax and are interested in helping, please send Sniper an e-mail with details.

Some Progress
15 November, 2005 | by Sniper

124 Comments

The website's news-script is back online after about 2 years. We finally sorted out the problem with our server admin. This'll save us time having to update the news archives by hand. We're running with Coranto now, and that allows us to integrate the news with our forum.

Anyway, to test out the news-script forum integration, we're posting a new image from v3.5:

A Sven Co-op v3.5 game feature is being shown in this screenshot. Post your guess in the comment thread. The winner will receive a big box of nothing. Good luck!

Regarding Sven Co-op's Development: If you have modeling experience, and would like to join the team, please send a portfolio of your work to sniper@svencoop.com. We're in need of 3D Artists and 3D Animators.

In other news, we've been listed in Valve's Third Party Games Browser for Steam, along with some other respectable Half-Life Mods. That's pretty cool. Thanks Valve!

Also, we're getting really close to internal beta testing for v3.5 Bronze. And later yet, we hope to look for a larger audience of beta testers. v3.5 Bronze is still a ways off, but as we make further advancements we'll be sure to post about it.