Alien Swarm Free on Steam.

[Broadsword]

ALIEN SWARM

Free On Steam

Login To Steam To Download

As of Monday the 19th July Steam will release the free to play 4 player coop Alien Swarm game for download. The entire game is free and comes with source code and SDK for developing the game further. Alien swarm has been developed by members of the modding community directly employed by Valve.

You can watch the video and download the game here: http://www.alienswarm.com/

From Steam :

About the Game

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

System Requirements

      Minimum:
          o OS: Windows® 7 / Vista / Vista64 / XP
          o Processor: Pentium 4 3.0GHz
          o Memory: 1 GB for XP / 2GB for Vista
          o Graphics: DirectX 9 compatible video card with 128 MB, Shader model 2.0. ATI X800, NVidia 6600 or better
          o Hard Drive: At least 2.5 GB of free space
          o Sound: DirectX 9.0c compatible sound card

      Recommended:
          o OS: Windows® 7 / Vista / Vista64 / XP
          o Processor: Intel core 2 duo 2.4GHz
          o Memory: 1 GB for XP / 2GB for Vista
          o Graphics: DirectX 9 compatible video card with Shader model 3.0. NVidia 7600, ATI X1600 or better
          o Hard Drive: At least 2.5 GB of free space
          o Sound: DirectX 9.0c compatible sound card

[ProducerTactics [P.T]]

Loooks really good for a free game... can see a few drunk nights on this

[SkytracK]

I like the word FREE

[Slib]

Normally on steam you can pre download it........but not this time

[Broadsword]

Im downloading now, but boy its slow. Anyway how about a play test of this game. I will be willing to give it a go Wednesday night if anyone who has it wants to join in. Don't know how or if there is hosting with the game but if we can host (its only four player) then I don't mind hosting.

[Broadsword]

It's downloading the dedicated server for it as well.    Hope this means we can self host a game like we did with F.E.A.R. !

[Slib]

downloading......... @ 30 fuckin KB's!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[drlegg]

downloading now :O)

[SkytracK]

Downloading now aswell at 1.2MB/sec cant beat early mornings

[rapljwop]

Played it with some of my mates. After, I tried to play with Legg but it would have been good if my internet connection hadn't cut out so many times (about 6-10 in 15 minutes and then some after those 15 minutes)

[Broadsword]

I will try to host a session tonight, as I said the dedi software was there as well to run a stand alone dedicated server.

[Broadsword]

Well im running a dedicated server for it, try and connect if you are a community member you should see iOGC www.iogc.co.uk.

[Broadsword]

OK  so the dedicated server software that shipped with Alien Swarm crashes my hub/connectionm! However making a regular game for just friends through the game itself seem to be fine.

Played a little with Slib, Dave and chad this evening. For me moving from FPS to Top Down view was hard at first but I'm gradually getting to grips with the weird controls. Connecting to each other was straight forward enough using the "Invite friend" tab. Each player then gets a choice of 8 characters to chose from, Tech, medic, officer and marine 4 men & 4 Women. From there you can alter your weapons and loadout. As you rank up you get a better choice of weapons, speed, sticking together and supporting each other is the name of the game, wander to far off on your own and your bug meat !

Enemy's come thick and fast and from several angles, so back to back fighting comes to its own with dropped meds and ammo you can hold out for a while, progress by placing a Tesla Tower or Remote Turret to cover your exit while you fight on to the objective. Techs are set tasks while decoding doors or uploading however they are vulnerable while this is happening and can't fight back. Everyone has a limited supply of either meds or ammo but rationing the box's looks crucial, get to a big fight without ammo and meds and your chewed.

Theres great potential in this game and it will not be long before we see new levels, mods and locations. This game was developed directly by members from the modding community, employed directly by Valve / Steam. So you know some love has gone into making this little Gem and you can see it in the detail of the levels, voice acting and polish to the game. It seems to run lag free when hosting a server on your own machine through the game. However I will need to look further into why the dedicated server software is crashing my Hub and dropping my connection.

Look forward to a few Bug Hunting expeditions real soon.

[drlegg]

Ok I have downloaded this game last night in 50 mins with a max 200kbs,I played the practice offline mode last night which was ok, and played today with avenger and jon..(As jon said he kept losing connection) So I and avenger played for a while before i had to leave..this was good fun and set to hard mode we not get to far before we all died..I can host a pvt game or public game with no issues.....