Black Mesa: Source Update

We've written to VALVe and have not received a reply. Although they have confirmed they know of us, so we're taking this as an "O.k" to go ahead from them.
 
Meh. You know what? I've seen better mods remaking Black Mesa for HL1 than this. Only one screen seemed to interest me; I hate to sound so negative, but apart from hi-res textures it doesn't seem they're taking advantage of the engine at all. :| It's just all so bland to me.
 
I did feel a little let down too actually.

I was really looking forward to this cause I wanna replay HL1 but HL: S looks like shit. I'm just hoping it looks a bit better later in development
 
To the person that commented on the newscript: It isn't "fixed", I just use a workaround that I figured out.
 
IMO it was a rather bad desision to release these fairly "weak" shots.

You won't get a second chance of making an first impression, and people will always remember the worse stuff. I think it would have been smarter to have waited and finish 1 map in the detail you want to archieve with all the new textures and stuff, and made shots of that for PR, instead of what you have shown now.

It not a bad thing of keeping your development under wraps untill you have something worthy to show that will do your mod's PR image good.
 
I hope the damage model is the same from half-life 2. Where i can shoot a grunt a few times and they die, not release almost half a clip of ammo. I really hope it's more of a half-life 2 experiance and not a pretty half-life 1.
 
1.5 years to release?! What!?!

And also. Did you guys fix the annoying scratchy voices that were in the original HL?
 
Well, we wanted to release work to the community which we felt was good. Also, in response to Kage Prototype, can you please direct me to another Half-Life 1 remake team, as the only one I have seen turned inactive some-time back. Another thing is to remember that Half-Life 1 is like a guidline to us: one that if we don't follow, we simply won't be able to run off and bring all of Source out to play. When it all comes down to it, we wanted to release work to let the community know we have been working quite hard on development. Some areas are slow, yes: but overall this is a very ambitous project and such is not to be forgotten. There are a lot of high-hopes and of course, high expectations by many people.

We aren't development pros, but we're also not at the bottom of the pile either. We're a bunch of enthusastic gamers who want to see a better job of Half-Life 1 done then what Half-Life: Source gave it: simple.
 
Kalashnikov said:
Well, we wanted to release work to the community which we felt was good. Also, in response to Kage Prototype, can you please direct me to another Half-Life 1 remake team, as the only one I have seen turned inactive some-time back.
Click to expand...

I said remaking Black Mesa, not remaking Half-Life (some mis-leading word-usage on my part with "re-making"). But still, I honestly think these screenshots look worse than some HL1 mods. There's just no creativity, they're so bland and boring. I'm sorry if you take offense to that, but that's what I see. Evidently a lot of people like what they see, I just don't agree with them.
 
Alright, thats understandable about word usage: I tend to do it many times as well. As said, they're works-in-progress and we plan to have the final product very shiney and a ribbon :). Yeah, I did take the comments a little offensively, but being our first media release, the community shapes our attitudes and ideas about the next release and the future: so every comment is taken with care. I enjoyed today, it gave us a good sense of what everyone is looking for in a mod: I just got a little on the grumpy side :(.
 
awesome-o!

looks like they have a lot of work to do though
 
I like what you've done so far, personally. Keep up the good work! I can't wait to see it in redone textures and models.
 
W.I.P. shots, but we take criticism fairly and with an open mind.
We already have new ideas for the next media release. Thanks HL2.net! :)
 
I think it looks wicked, and from the sounds of it, they have a good idea of what to enhance and what to keep in game. I hope there are a few instances where the source physics are implimented into environmental 'puzzles', or better yet, you're given situations where you have the option of barricading a door to buy you time, or something of that nature.
 
SixThree said:
Looks great! The Grunt's kneepads look a little low, but that might just be me :)
Click to expand...

Kneepads should be just below the knee itself.
 
MysticalMrBob said:
Did we ever know how long it took Gordon to teleport in the very beginning? Things could have started rapidly decaying......who knows?
Click to expand...
Erm .......... This kind of hyperthetical reasoning could you lead you to practically any conclusion you want if your imagination is so inclined! The point is that black Mesa somehow seems to make more sense as a modern facility with all the latest technology & equipment. Seing it the way it's portrayed in those shots doesn't seem right. The rusted, Decaying look works well in HL2 because most of the game is built around that idea i.e. Mankind being slowly 'eroded' by the Combine. It just seems to work well & make sense. Problem is those textures do look smart & most of the mods we've seen so far use them quite a lot.

In any case it's good to hear from a couple of the people involved with the project who have already said that the textures have just been lifted from HL2 to fill in until new texteres have been created. I look forward to seing what they come up with.
 
Nice pictures but thees Grunt model and Xen concept is really different than original.
 
Lol don't listen to all these weasels. They expect perfectness in such short time. Much like Half-Life 2, which needed more time definately.

You guys are doing a great job. The only thing I have a problem with is the electrical things need a model and the NP boxes don't need the NP logo on em (I think the HL boxes had the BM sign). But I know you will take care of that stuff so I'm happy :)

Awesome Hgrunt, awesome M4. Keep up the good work!
 
I actually like to hear negative feedback, it's more constructive.

As my colleagues have said we are early in development, and we really needed to show off some media images to fill the last few spots on our team.

We are taking note of all comments and will work on them, we don't want to ruin the experience for anyone, although theres always someone to complain :)

Keep them coming.
 
Really great stuff there...looks promising with more work.

I'm interested in knowing if you have started work on any other models of HL1 enemies, like assassins, houndeyes, gonarchs or the most eagerly waited the garg. I'm sure you have talented people in your team who will make some great models for these? Have they begun? I know it will take time to get onto these things!
 
The garg is underway, the others are still in concept stages though.
 
jheaddon said:
I actually like to hear negative feedback, it's more constructive.

As my colleagues have said we are early in development, and we really needed to show off some media images to fill the last few spots on our team.

We are taking note of all comments and will work on them, we don't want to ruin the experience for anyone, although theres always someone to complain :)

Keep them coming.
Click to expand...
You ask for it :p

-> I loved the feeling in HL1 that everything was abandoned some days ago and not everything was dark like in other games. Everything was very clean and very much light etc. That made it so scary (for me). Also that you weren't alone (Barney and scientists) made it so good for me.

I saw your earlier post where you've said that you are getting custom textures, but I really hope you guys use them right.

Good luck!
 
If you're going to be making any significant changes, I think one thing you should attempt to do is try and make Black Mesa seem more busy, before the incident... it just felt a bit empty to me. It would be good to try and convey a 'hive of activity' sort of place, have lots of scientists going back and forth, busy busy... It seemed like Gordon was the only person actually doing much work that day
 
Even though they are WIP shots they still tend to give a fairly good picture of the final product, unless you decide to redo the brushwork and overall design. Right now it looks really mediocre and unoriginal and those areas will really not become a lot better by adding more detail to the existing architecture or design.

The areas look like they have been done in a matter of hours without much regard to a defined theme, purpose or design. It looks more like HL 1 than source at the moment, which is not a good thing. It just doesn't look ambitious at all.

It's never good to rush things and try to get something shown to the public. It's just bad PR and you just gave your first impression, which is vital if you want to get more talent onboard. Saying that something is WIP doesn't really make a difference, it's more like an excuse and a cliché.

I'm sorry if I sound blunt but that's my honest opinion.
 
The problem we have with making the levels more like nightwatch's black mesa, is that people are going to be saying we're are deviating to far from the original, we've had it before and we're going to have it again. We're walking on a very fine thread and on either side we have people telling us we need to do this and that, and the other side saying we should do this and that instead, doing one thing makes the other side mad and vise versa.
 
Wow, a re-done Half Life 1 that doesn't suck and is free. Now, why did i get silver :angry:
 
If HL:S sucks, then you have issues with your perception. Valve clearly stated that it was just a conversion pass of the original. To remake it would have taken almost the development time of the original.
 
Kester_ said:
The problem we have with making the levels more like nightwatch's black mesa, is that people are going to be saying we're are deviating to far from the original, we've had it before and we're going to have it again. We're walking on a very fine thread and on either side we have people telling us we need to do this and that, and the other side saying we should do this and that instead, doing one thing makes the other side mad and vise versa.
Click to expand...

Nightwatch is just one interpretation of Black Mesa. The point is that right now you don't really have a theme of your own. You have to extend the Black Mesa universe since source gives you much more freedom to make Blake Mesa feel and look more alive and realistic. Crispier textures and rounder surfaces won't do it. You need to work a lot more in creating more depth to the surroundings. Most of the detail has to be incorporated in the design itself and by detail I mean something that adds purpose and character to the surroundings. Adding model props is of secondary value.
 
Stratesiz, cheers for the comments.

What you have to see is that, we also did not wish to relese media shots this early. We just couldn't tempt the last few team members without it, which we really needed to proceed.

Also, i seem to remember that NightWatch's early map shots weren't too far from our own, and look at them now! Not that this has much to do with anything though.

But like Kester said, we get a tonne of requests to keep the levels looking the same, which really doesn't give us a whole lot of room to work with. We want to keep the community happy, which is afterall, why we are making this. But at the same time, make something unique and 'pretty' :)

Any suggestions would be most welcome.
 
Why didn't these guys just start with Half-Life: Source and build on top of it? Seems an aweful waste of time to try and recreate the entire game from scratch.
 
Mountain Man said:
Why didn't these guys just start with Half-Life: Source and build on top of it? Seems an aweful waste of time to try and recreate the entire game from scratch.
Click to expand...

Um, wouldn't that be copyright breach?
 
as much of a copyright breach as making it themselves.

Half-Life: Source is ported straight from HL1 so copying that across wouldn't help, the level architecture itself would be dated. Rebuilding it will let them use Source closer to it's capabilities
 
GonzoBabbleshit said:
as much of a copyright breach as making it themselves.

Half-Life: Source is ported straight from HL1 so copying that across wouldn't help, the level architecture itself would be dated. Rebuilding it will let them use Source closer to it's capabilities
Click to expand...
Exactly Gonzo, we wanted to rebuild the levels just as much as the textures, the models, new animations, et cetera. We want to make something we would enjoy: and outdated architexture isn't apart of it :p
 
Looking pretty good there dudes, not too sure whether the Cargo Containers couldn't do with a different skin from the one used in HL² though. But otherwise pretty slick. As for size of the levels, as long as the principal is there then redesigning/resizing them shouldn't really matter that much. The original game was designed within the limitations of it's engine, it seems illogical not to take advantage of the greater freedom source provides in that area when reinterpretting the design.
 
OMG... black mesa... the vending machines... :D
 
Hehe the vending machines will be redone :)

We have a small community project running for people to design the labels of the soda cans in them. We'll select a few and put them ingame.

Just to let you know, we are changing host at the minute, so our forums will be down. We're trying to resolve this at current, keep tuned!
 
Hey guys its great news to hear a team is redeveloping black mesa - the half life should be.

Ill be checking back here often to see what develops
havent seen the screenies yet - your site is down.

-- Some stuff id love to see redone --

1. The osprey and other armoured vehicles
- a bit too cartoonish in HL1

2. Scientists
- make it look like their were more than just 5!

3. Females
- hey! did someone say black mesa is a sasuagefest?

4. New areas of black mesa
- expansion is good!

5. Unseen aliens!

thanks for hearing me out guys! good luck!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

BabyHeadCrab
Black Mesa is probably the best Half-Life game.
Replies
3
Views
1K
Shem
Shem
bbson john
Hi everyone. I am new to this forum!
Replies
11
Views
6K
Tollbooth Willie
Tollbooth Willie
B
From Warren Spector to Arkane Studios: Half-Life 2's cancelled Ravenholm episode
Replies
2
Views
10K
Clan Wolf 2
Clan Wolf 2
B
Gabe Newell's AMA summary (January 17, 2017)
Replies
1
Views
24K
Gerzowktz
Gerzowktz
B
Who's left or joined Valve in recent history
Replies
4
Views
32K
MFL
MFL
Back
Top