Natural Selection development tools released for free use

Unknown Worlds Entertainment has released the development tool and debugger used to create hybrid shooter Natural Selection 2 as an open source for any Windows PC user to download.

With the tools available, anyone can now create mods for Natural Selection 2. In a recent post on the company's website, Unknown Worlds explained that it is re-evaluating its business strategy and making the tools open to the public.

"As a tool, Decoda is just as important for us as it was when we wrote the first line of code," the post reads. "Our programmers use it every day in the continuing development of the game. In fact, it's so important to us that we want it to improve faster than ever ... we are most excited about what you can do to help make it the best [Integrated Development Environment] out there!"

Unknown Worlds created Decoda in 2007, after which it began licensing it to other game companies.

"Although it was initially an internal tool, we quickly realized that other developers would benefit from Decoda as well," the post reads. "To help fund our company, we productized Decoda and began selling through our website. Over the years we've licensed Decoda to many game studios and its revenue helped keep our company on stable ground even in some of the rockiest financial times."

The company intends to keep developing and improving Decoda, which you can download here.