One of Hostile Sector's goals is that each player should be able to customize their soldiers and give them a unique look. If you have ever played collectible games like Warhammer 40k you probably know that half (or even more?) of the fun is in giving your units some character.
Hostile Sector recently got the basics for the customization framework in, and in the pictures you can see the soldiers happily posing with some head gear, weapons and custom uniform colors. For launch there will along with this also be various uniform types to further distinguish your soldiers.

Items like this will be available either by collecting them on missions, or you will also be able to buy them in the in game store.

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Now, the world in Hostile Sector is not exactly round either, but at least it contains height features. And more importantly, it's not merely a cosmetic feature, but provides important gameplay as well, some features more obvious, and others less.

Higher features block sight. Naturally, you can't see through solid ground.

Steep slopes block movement. A very important feature for level designers, since it allows a basic way to channel gameplay throughout the scenarios.

These are the two basic features that you get "for free" with height differences. The following are less obvious, but provide additional depth for a turn based strategy game like Hostile Sector.

Slopes cost additional points to move in. On covert missions, movement in slopes has the advantage of flexibility. If you encounter an enemy below you can choose to take advantage of the higher ground and move up, or if an enemy is spotted above, you can move down and try to lose line of sight.
The disadvantage is that slopes are cumbersome to move in.

Higher ground means longer line of sight. High ground is good for lookouts and long range weaponry, as they have an increased chance of getting the drop on enemies.

So, as you can see, height creates interesting tactical opportunities, and is by default a good and balanced gameplay feature. The advantage of being positioned there, is balanced by the difficulty in getting there (and sometimes getting out of there).

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It's been little more than a month since the last development update, and with good reason. During that time, the Hostile Sector client went from being 2d only, to 3d, and i'm glad to present you the first development shot of the game.
The transition was done using the jMonkeyEngine framework, a state of the art community driven scenegraph.

So, while the game engine as a whole has been on the back burner for a bit, having a 3d client means almost endless opportunities, and a lot of features that would be hard or almost impossible to implement in 2d, all of a sudden becomes very easy.
That said, there are still a few things to weed out in the new client, before implementing any large features. Coming up is a new sight system, replacing the current linear fall off one, with a new one, better taking terrain, and current light conditions into consideration.
The image below depicts a few heroic soldiers approaching a crashed helicopter in one of the single player missions. Night time makes it hard to see very far, but they've still managed to spot a hostile patrolling the area.

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To start off, i'm going to tell you a bit about the next big project from Mindemia. It's called "Hostile Sector" and is a persistent, team based and turn based tactical and strategic browser game. Simple, enough?
The tactical part is inspired by isometric tactical games of old, and anyone who's played games in that genre should feel right at home. The strategic part comes from the fact that there will be a multitude of territories to conquer, each benefiting the controlling team, and a hierarchial group system that will allow players to form command structures. Add to this a system where both soldiers and weapons are customizable, and you have "Hostile Sector" in a nut shell.

In addition to target anyone interested in playing strategic and tactical games together with other people, online, "Hostile Sector" is designed to allow a group of players that may not have several hours to spend each day, to still be able to feel that their actions contribute to their team's accomplishments.

The other good news is that alot of the framework is already in place, and the game is currently in closed testing with a limited number of people.

Stay tuned for more info, or "like" it on facebook to receive more news about "Hostile Sector" as it becomes available.