Black Mesa Source Media Update

[bbyybb]

Incase no one actually goes to their website, there was a very nice development update with some good shots.

http://www.blackmesasource.com/

I was suprised no one else had seen this yet.


Cheers.

 

[Asuka]

Insane. As iv said before, these guys NEED to get PAYED. This is stupid all this work nothing in return. These guys are pros. Simple as that.

 

[WhiteZero]

Wahhh!! I love the new shot of the lobby.

I really wont be suprised if VALVe hires these guys to replace crappy HL:S

 

[pomegranate]

I'm not actually seeing the new media, though the Updates page describes them. Any one else getting this?

edit: Well, if anyone else is having this problem, Planet Half-Life has the new pics as well.

 

[jerkasaur]

this is probably one of the greatest media releases, since there are 3 threads for it...
great work bm team.

 

[DiSTuRbEd]

I really wont be suprised if VALVe hires these guys to replace crappy HL:S

I don't think they will.

Insane. As iv said before, these guys NEED to get PAYED. This is stupid all this work nothing in return. These guys are pros. Simple as that.

Making a mod just to get hired by a certain company, generally fails, I won't point out which mod tried so, but they failed. And saying the guys are pros, well if they were, they'd be making their own game wouldn't they?

 

[jerkasaur]

you mean they aren't?
*HATEHATEHATE*

 

[Sathernut]

I eat meat pies with sauce.

 

[Angry Lawyer]

you mean they aren't?
*HATEHATEHATE*

Get OFF my phrase.

Also, even if they legally could buy Black Mesa: Source, I very much doubt that, even though the work's pretty high quality, they would. Laidlaw likes to keep creative control on the storyline. Using a third-party mod as storyline could completely screw over Laidlaw's vision, especially with BM:S's new angle of re-imagining, rather than remaking.

Editshens: Hence the reason Valve asked them to take "Source" out of the title.

-Angry Lawyer

 

[Crispy]

Black Mesa - News and Media Update

I wrote up an item and sent it to news@hl2 the second it got posted in the Black Mesa mod profile on the ModDB. But they weren't having any of it :dozey:

Finally the artists formerly known as Black Mesa Source have heard from Valve regarding their ambitious recreation of Half-Life for the Source engine. The bad news is that Valve have asked them to change their name from 'Black Mesa: Source' for legal reasons involving Valve Software intellectual property and trademark issues. The good news is that they were only bothered about the 'Source' tagline, so the mod will be known simply as 'Black Mesa' from now on. But perhaps more significant is that the team has not been asked to halt development, which an optimist might even interpret as Valve's 'seal of approval' for the project.

In a news and media update released on the Mod Database, the team celebrate their first anniversary and reflect on a productive -but at times problematic- year. However, the celebration is rounded off with the completion of their move to new hosting and three new map screenshots from the singleplayer and multiplayer modes. You can still find the Black Mesa mod at http://www.blackmesasource.com

 

[SimonomiS]

Insane. As iv said before, these guys NEED to get PAYED. This is stupid all this work nothing in return. These guys are pros. Simple as that.

Would you be willing to pay to download the mod then?

 

[G-Dub]

I certainly would. Look at the change

EDIT: that's awesome that they basically got Valve's approvement Go "Black Mesa"! :thumbs:

 

[Ennui]

Valve isn't going to pick them up... they would rather mod teams made original content. It looks good though.

 

[Kalashnikov]

We don't have any intentions of pushing towards Valve buying us. We started from day one saying that we were doing this for ourselves and the Half-Life community. We weren't in the business of making Valve feel good. We're here doing what it is we're doing.

We strive for a high-level of quality with our work, which is reflected in our media.

 

[Max35]

Get OFF my phrase.

Also, even if they legally could buy Black Mesa: Source, I very much doubt that, even though the work's pretty high quality, they would. Laidlaw likes to keep creative control on the storyline. Using a third-party mod as storyline could completely screw over Laidlaw's vision, especially with BM:S's new angle of re-imagining, rather than remaking.

Editshens: Hence the reason Valve asked them to take "Source" out of the title.

-Angry Lawyer

I thought the mod team expressed their views on keeping BM as close to the original as possible storyline-wise. Could be wrong. But I could see why they did ask them to remove "Source" from the title, especially when the mod isn't complete yet. Maybe Valve will go over the completed version, and then decide to sell it over steam if it meets their approval, creatively, etc.

 

[DiSTuRbEd]

EDIT: that's awesome that they basically got Valve's approvement Go "Black Mesa"! :thumbs:

LOL Okay if you think so.

 

[Crispy]

Valve won't pick it up:

A because it undermines, to some extent, the man hours and quality of work they weren't able to put into a Source release of Half-Life.

and B because, as they say, it isn't original and would be unlikely to sell enough copies to justify its distribution. It doesn't sufficiently fill any niche apart from a very narrow band of interest. In some ways, for instance, once everyone has played through the singleplayer, Black Mesa may only enjoy a fleeting period of play, much like Deathmatch Classic. I think Valve have learnt from DMC that specialist ventures don't quite merit the amount of development time involved, even if BM is being wholly developed by a third party.

However much some people don't like the idea, Black Mesa has already proven that it will be completed to a suitably high level of quality. It's not the sort of project that would outsell mod-turned-games with unique selling points, but it will provide an enjoyable experience, and most importantly it is giving invaluable experience to the modders involved. I can already see that at least 4-5 members of the team could use their work at BM to move directly into a position in the Games Industry if they so chose.

 

[Angry Lawyer]

And C creative control. Laidlaw would be rather angsty if the mod was purchased, because all mod teams assert unproven story points, and if people are buying the mod, people will take it as canon. Which means someone other than Laidlaw would have changed what they thought were minor details, and completely screwed over Laidlaw's creative vision.

But yus, a lot of the BM team could go straight into the industry with the portfolio they've built. Unless the maps are optimised in a shite way.

-Angry Lawyer

 

[Ome_Vince]

What kind of polycounts are they aiming for, for the final versions of their models?
For i asume the grunt for instance is so high-poly that it will be used to create normal maps and for extra detail.

 

[jheaddon]

Yes the renders of the grunt (old) and the garg are for the normal maps to bake on to low poly versions.

The poly counts for the characters are pretty much the same as HL2's, maybe a bit more on some but nothing extensive