Black Mesa Source Media Blow out!

[Tagaziel]

It's not very Half-life.

Define Half-Life music.

 

[99.vikram]

Define Half-Life music.

It's a genre of (pretty good) techno where the first 10 seconds have to suck, and the last 10 seconds have to be a mess of incoherent noises.

 

[Cheomesh]

To be honest, I never played HL1 with my CD in, so I never heard the sountrack for it.

 

[Iron_cube]

And you basically never played HL1 on steam?

Cause the songs are in the game now.

 

[Absinthe]

Define Half-Life music.

The music of HL1 complemented the game's mystery and sense of solitude. There were thick swirling pads and distant reverberations of foreign noises. The intro itself was a vast palette of synthesizers bleeding into each other with alien touches and effects. It was tailor-made for sci-fi. Recognizable instruments like pianos only functioned in quick, tense bursts or low rumblings. When the game changed pace for the marine sections, while the music obligingly quickened tempo and developed actual beats and guitars, it still never strayed too far from its original sensibilities.

What's available to hear on their site doesn't evoke any of this IMO. It's too pristine and human. I imagine it leading into contemporary conflict or a war drama. I caught a few posts on their forum about making the soundtrack more "emotional"... whatever that means. And while it does have emotion and is well-produced, it just seems geared in the wrong direction. I thought the Half-Life OST was emotional, but in a frightening and paranoid sense. It even had a sort of otherworldly beauty to it (ie. the portal room to Gonarch's lair). The music for BM:S is good, but I don't think it fits.

If I had to boil it down to a few lines, I'd say that it doesn't have enough of the "strange" factor. It sounds like it's trying to be cinematic and carefully orchestrated when it should be more experimental and abstract. While I also love the HL2 and episode soundtracks as well, I think they deviated too much as well. Portal got it nailed though. That's the kind of music that should permeate the HL universe, recreation or not.

 

[Ennui]

The music of HL1 complemented the game's mystery and sense of solitude. There were thick swirling pads and distant reverberations of foreign noises. The intro itself was a vast palette of synthesizers bleeding into each other with alien touches and effects. It was tailor-made for sci-fi. Recognizable instruments like pianos only functioned in quick, tense bursts or low rumblings. When the game changed pace for the marine sections, while the music obligingly quickened tempo and developed actual beats and guitars, it still never strayed too far from its original sensibilities.

What's available to hear on their site doesn't evoke any of this IMO. It's too pristine and human. I imagine it leading into contemporary conflict or a war drama. I caught a few posts on their forum about making the soundtrack more "emotional"... whatever that means. And while it does have emotion and is well-produced, it just seems geared in the wrong direction. I thought the Half-Life OST was emotional, but in a frightening and paranoid sense. It even had a sort of otherworldly beauty to it (ie. the portal room to Gonarch's lair). The music for BM:S is good, but I don't think it fits.

If I had to boil it down to a few lines, I'd say that it doesn't have enough of the "strange" factor. It sounds like it's trying to be cinematic and carefully orchestrated when it should be more experimental and abstract. While I also love the HL2 and episode soundtracks as well, I think they deviated too much as well. Portal got it nailed though. That's the kind of music that should permeate the HL universe, recreation or not.

The fact that Absinthe just explained, to a T, how I feel about the HL soundtrack is the reason I want to have nasty, nasty gay sex with him.

All I'm saying is to give them some creative space.

If they wanted a lot of creative freedom, maybe they should have decided to apply their talents to an original concept rather than remaking a game that came out nine years ago...

 

[Cheomesh]

And you basically never played HL1 on steam?

Cause the songs are in the game now.

No, only Blue Shift. I played HL1 back when I was in friggin middle school or something.

 

[Stene]

I remember Half-Life: Source having much more tracks playing than basic HL1, they maybe added them later to levels.

 

[Van Kayne]

Well, I'm seconding the concept of releasing it in stages like Minerva. Maybe by Chapter? Anyway, so far I think it's looking pretty damn good.

 

[redruM]

I'd hate for it to be released in stages, unless it would only be 3 parts or so. 19 parts (one for each chapter) is way too much imo, it's better to download one huge file and be able to play the whole of HL seamlessly, rather than have to download 19 small files and always launch em seperately.

 

[Narvi]

It won't be released in chapters. The map work is too spread out for it to work like that.

 

[LandStander]

This may seem like a stupid question but this game is going to run off of Half-Life 1 and not 2, right? I only ask because it doesn't seem like they are merely upgrading the engine as much as they're changing some sections and game design choices as well.

 

[Narvi]

Er.

They're using the Source engine.

It's not a SD mod for Half-Life.

 

[Link]

A naked lapdance is less of a tease than this mod team. Do fricking want! Fricking noaw!

 

[AciD]

Moar screens!

 

[dragosbr]

When will the game be released?
And it will be free?

 

[nurizeko]

Vapourware. :imu:

 

[MJ12]

This is excellent news, cannot wait!

 

[AciD]

1. When its done
2. Free

 

[MJ12]

I would like to help with Character Artistry if I can?

 

[kacation_man]

1. When its done
2. Free

I've been hearing that forever now!!! I want to hear of some kind of estimated date or a goal to meet or something!?

and I personally think they should try to "sell" it to Valve or something to be released with EP3 or something because it looks amazing and i would be more then happy to pay the full $50 price tag a normal pc game has for this copy of half life.

 

[Narvi]

I would like to help with Character Artistry if I can?

It's a bit late for character concepts...

But here. Have a link to their forums. Look around, read the stickies.

 

[Cheomesh]

Ah so you'd rather have it for 50 rather than zero?

Capitalists love you. Never die, pl0x.

 

[Operational]

Vapourware. :imu:

I have a theory that they spend all year on some media, which they then release in time for MOTY. The hype attacts people to their site, who view the media and vote for them as "Best upcoming mod". They win it and move on to making more media for next year. Their goal? To do as little work as possible while getting as many awards as possible.