Sven Co-op: Pleasing Taste, Some Monsterism

Forums are back online
24 July, 2002 | by Sniper

Just a quick news post, the forums are back up in working order.

Feel free to visit them and start posting now!
http://www.svencoop.com/forums

Forums are down, Mod expo stuff, and more!
23 July, 2002 | by Sniper

We've run into some trouble with the forums, and they're currently down until the Sven Co-op website is transfered to the new and faster server. There apparently was some trouble with the database while the website was transfered. Please note that we are still on the Smidge.com Network, we haven't moved to new hosts. We should be fully on the new server later today or the next few following days.

I wasn't able to attend the Half-Life Mod Expo, but we seemed to do quite well. Sven Co-op is on the first half of the 40 second video clip available here:
http://webcasts.netfire.com/2002-07-22.html

In the video clip, you can see Ryan Ash. You may know him as DeathBog, the creator of the various model replacement maps including Sven Co-op RPG 1 and 2(#2 will be out with SC 2.0 Final) and the Mega Monster Massacre map. He was briefly able to explain the basic idea of what Sven Co-op is.

NOTE: On the second half of the video clip, you'll suddenly be switched to Frederick Bode. He has nothing to do with Sven Co-op! He's CO-Leader of the Monkey Strike modification for Half-Life. A lot of people thought that he was Sven Viking, but that is not the case. It was important that we clear that up. Sven Viking doesn't appear anywhere in the video clip.

Sven Co-op 2.0 Final has been progressing well, and we hope to have it released "soon" :) We need to wait for Deathbog, Mad Jonesy, NivekDev and Sven Viking to return from their trips before we can continue progressing towards the release of 2.0 Final, although a large portion of the work is complete.

For now, you might want to check out Valve's Mod Expo page for Sven Co-op, or join us in the Sven Co-op IRC Channel.

Expo, and stuff
20 July, 2002 | by Mad Jonesy

Those of you somewhat confused by Sven's last news post probably deserve a slightly vague explanation.

Its that time of year where mod team members fly off around the World on their various holidays. See if you can spot the odd one out:

Myself - Samos, Greece

NivekDev - Texas, USA

Sven - Texas, USA

DeathBog - Texas, USA

The timing of these particular holidays is interesting because they co-incide with the CPL event, featuring the Mod Expo in Texas, USA on the 22nd of July. If you're not quite aware Sven Co-op is going to the expo, then well, we are! Little Sven Viking is currently flying over to the USA from New Zealand for the event.

Check his forum post here for the lowdown:
http://www.svencoop.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=7931

And check out this article by Elited.net all about the Expo:
http://www.elited.net/editorials/modexpo.shtml.

Overall, it should be a fantastic event, thanks to Valve to organising it and putting us in with a great line-up of other mods. Should draw quite a crowd.

Anyways: Yep, 2.0 Final is sort of late. Yes, I know I said it would be released a while back and I'm sorry. Stuff like this holiday of Sven, Nivekdev and Deathbog's has forced us to help them pack for it and make various arrangements.

Keep in mind though, that this version of the mod is definately worth the wait (same as with all the older versions) and its by far the happiest I've ever been with Sven Co-op.

As part of our preparations for the new version, we've made a number of site updates, including a large and comprehensive Monster Guide, this features all of the HL monsters and new 2.0f monsters and stuff, go read:

http://www.svencoop.com/monsters.php

You can access it later from the menu by clicking the 'Monster Screens' option.

As well, myself and Mutant (formally of Creepsworld Sven Co-op) have been busy updating the map list page to add descriptions and add the updated maps.
Go read right here:
http://www.svencoop.com/maps.php

Both those pages are being updated for 2.0f and aren't quite ready, but you get the idea.

If you're running out of things to do while you wait for 2.0f, you can always check the Map Showcase on the forums. With over 100 new maps now posted in the section, theres a lot of maps that have not yet been posted on the main site. So go visit Map Showcase.
If you don't feel like playing all the bad maps, then Best of Map Showcase ensures quality. Recent Highlights include Toon Run and Sledge by forum Nutter/Moderator Turrican!!

Thats about it for the News, I'm soon to be flying off to some exotic Greek island to laze about in the Sun on a beach, drink and swim for a fortnight, while Sven, Nivek and Deathbog get to sit about in some stuffy, sticky, BO-filled hall in order to do their bit for Sven Co-op. I salute them!

News temporarily removed
11 July, 2002 | by Sven Viking

News temporarily removed. Check back later for further information.

First Shots from They Hunger Co-op
4 July, 2002 | by Sven Viking

Here are some screenshots from an preliminary test of They Hunger co-op. Please note that these shots DO NOT represent the quality of the final version... they don't look that bad, though, imho :). Also note that we /are/ busy trying to get 2.0 Final released... Commando and Jonesy had some spare time while waiting for some other 2.0F content to be completed.

Blue2k (who worked on Part 3 of the original They Hunger) has joined the conversion team, by the way. We're also working fairly closely with Neil Manke himself, as far as planning goes.

Hangar 16 has posted a whole bunch of exclusive screenshots from the latest 2.0F playtest. Umm, just so you can't say that you weren't warned, they do include what you could call 'map spoilers', though... one shot shows a possible ending of the completed svencoop2.bsp, for example.

Just so everyone knows, postal donations mailed after this point can't be guaranteed to get here in time for their senders' WON IDs to be added to 2.0 Final (they may have to wait 'til the next release to gain access to the bonus features). Not that there was an absolute guarantee before, since there could be delays or such... you know what I mean, though.

As mentioned in the last update, a preview version of 2.0F was sent to Valve for consideration for their fourth, annual Mod Expo. Valve say they'll be selecting the mods to be shown as soon as possible -- they're just waiting on some other preview builds.

The Mod Expo is to be held at the CPL Event in Dallas, Texas, on the 22nd of July.