Minerva Mod Episode 1!

[Varsity]

Did they just turn up the HP or was the AI improved? (I notice it takes two magnum rounds to down one hitting center mass instead of just one.) Was this due to Source's last update? They just kept throwing the damn grenades and creating diversions so others could go behind me! This was what I remembered from HL1 grunts and Farcry, thinking about it the plot reminded me of Farcry as well.

It's all done with the normal, unmodified HL2 AI. Look in the folder, there's no code. It uses the default HL2 DLLs. It's all clever mapping and HP/Damage tweaks.

 

[BabyHeadCrab]

absolutely brilliant

 

[guchi]

The text messages dont show up for me
It happens in hl2 too, the chapter names dont appear...

Well Ill have to wait to play this untill I can fix this problem...

 

[Asknoone]

That was fantastic.

 

[hehku]

That was great! And just one load, for a level this huge?

AI really did feel better than in original. Overwatch kept retreating to the complex hallways and then surprise me from behind when I went looking for them.

Level design at indoors felt more like real world than HL2 did. I don't know which one did it better: in HL2 you had just one direction to go (or that was what it felt like), but in Minerva it was easy to get lost of directions.

And damn it was scary. The mood was awesome, I just kept hitting F6 just to feel safer. I was almost relieved when it was over, but still wanted more.

One thing that distrubed me was that at the beginning you really didn't know who you were and what you were fighting for. Were you Gordon? Or some random rebel? Or overwatch soldier? Or weren't you supposed to know?

Best since the original.

 

[DoctorWeeTodd]

I have encountered some difficulties though, for some reason my ammo display is moved up to the center right and doesn't accurately show them.

And no decals show up except blood.

 

[Asknoone]

I have encountered some difficulties though, for some reason my ammo display is moved up to the center right and doesn't accurately show them.

When that happens, you gotta restart Steam usually. At least I do.

 

[jondy]

The only thing that could've been better was the transition between the water/fog and the skybox. Oh well.

 

[Rafa 5.0]

so how does this link to "Someplace else?"

it said it's a continuation of that series?? did anyone play that?

as far as this one, spot-on great, AI kept kicking my arse :thumbs:

 

[]-UnderTOW-[]

Was about as fun and interesting as a cup-n-ball...

 

[jondy]

Was about as fun and interesting as a cup-n-ball...

Hokay..

 

[DoctorWeeTodd]

so how does this link to "Someplace else?"

it said it's a continuation of that series?? did anyone play that?

as far as this one, spot-on great, AI kept kicking my arse :thumbs:

It's supposed to be episodic content. This is the first of them, they'll update with new maps and story content every now and then, but for now this is all we have.

EDIT:

Spoiler

So was your contact supposed to be a vortigaunt? (She?) referred to "human rebels" which I find strange and there was all that poetic speech that was used.

 

[Kadayi]

Had a brief bash nice opening, will delve deeper laters. GJ to the makers I say

 

[dogboy73]

Just finished it. not bad at all.

My only gripe is that once you get inside everything is a little cramped making combat a bit un-interesting. You had that a lot in HL2. Especially during Anticitizen one. I think HL2's combat could be improved with slightly more open areas & obstacles to use as cover (for both the player & the Combine).

 

[jimbo118]

ooh downloading sweet....

 

[1Luc1]

I have idea....

Would be nice to see instance or beside the messages some face with you can see takling. That would be cool.

 

[Varsity]

I have encountered some difficulties though, for some reason my ammo display is moved up to the center right and doesn't accurately show them.

hud_reloadscheme

 

[Sufferin-rebel]

that aint happen cuz its meant to be a mystery, I played the HL1 mod which had oddly enuff this tranmission thingy.. and one thing i love about this mod.. WAVES!!

 

[Insano]

I loved the fights on the beach

 

[boglito]

Kickass indeed.
VALVe quality, and that says a lot.

.bog.

 

[Ferroque]

In lieu of anything constructive: Metastasis= TEH AWSOEM!!!1!!one

EDIT: Oh, and-

Spoiler

I think the messages are coming from a Durandal-style AI; that would fit in with the "you humans" comment and the "it is sweet and honourable to die for your world" message.

 

[Surrogate]

Aww Took me 10 minutes to play through Didn't even had any idea where i was going... Must have walked right past all the attractions :\

Poor stalkers by the way - and nice music to the setting aswell.

 

[Llama]

that was easily as good as the level desighn for hl2...awesome. TRULY FRICKIN' AWESOME

 

[Ferroque]

Oh, I found the fact that the island was a single map to be damn impressive.

 

[sp0tz]

great mod... enjoyed playing the first chapter, waiting for second chapter now...

 

[Murray_H]

Excellent mod.

Perhaps Valve should take a leaf out of this team's book and implement waves on the shores of HL2

 

[jimbo118]

just finished it, i echoe everyones comments, great work, only 14mb too so everyone can play it...

loved the pacing of it, the atmosphere was fantastic, nice to see a mod not plagued with headcrabs and zombies, the headcrabs bits that were there made me jump as i wasnt expecting them

loved the setting, wouldnt be out of place in hl2 itself, the last battle was great too with the music pumping, awesome, great work, best mod yet, the lighing in the underground parts was nice too, who needs dynamic lighing when you have great work like this.....

 

[GonzoBabbleshit]

The text messages dont show up for me
It happens in hl2 too, the chapter names dont appear...

Well Ill have to wait to play this untill I can fix this problem...

I have this problem too...I've never had any of the titles in HL2 either.

Anyone have any idea how to stop this? or start it as the case may be

 

[Sui]

This mod really made me remember how great the HL2 engine is.

At one point, near the beginning, I dashed onto a platform suspended above water, saw the magnum- ran straigh into the crate it was lying on and knocked both of them into the water. I cursed, and just at that moment, combine troops flooded around the platform. I knew there were leeches in the water, but I took my chances with finding the gun and dived in. Before I splashed through the shimmering surface, I caught a glimpse of black amongst the grey rocks; the revolver. Splash. As I swam, desperately, tawards it- bullets could literally be seen whizzing past my head. Breaking free of the liquid I squeezed the trigger once, twice, thrice; grabbed my crowbar, dashed over to the remaining combine soldier standing amongst the corpses of his comrades and smashed his mask so hard his limp body collapsed down with them.

That, to say the least, was awesome.

 

[Cargo Cult]

Huge thanks for all the comments - I've spent the last hour looking through forums, seeing what people reckon to the map. I'm really enjoying the plot speculation, too - and would love to see more of it.

Some of you are getting very close, others are completely wrong. But in fascinating ways, of course. Carry on!

(Oh, and any Marathon and/or Halo references are purely intentional. The map was originally nicknamed 'Flatulent Geographer' for a start...)

 

[French Ninja]

MINERVA takes its cues from games like System Shock 2 and the ancient Marathon series.

W007! :cheers:
Im going to try it out now.

 

[guchi]

Well, I played it anyway, even without the texts its a great map!

I didnt even notice the waves where new, they fitted so perfectly that they had to be pointed out

 

[dogboy73]

Huge thanks for all the comments - I've spent the last hour looking through forums, seeing what people reckon to the map.

You are responsible then? Nice one. So good to see some SP content. My only gripe (as you've probably already read) is the inside locations feel a little cramped (as was a lot of HL2). I really think the combat would benefit from more open areas. The map looks fantastic though & it does play well as is. Pretty full on in parts which I like.

How long have you been mapping? I'm anxious to have a crack myself but the learning curve seems pretty steep if your new to it. Also, I don't really have a huge amount of time to invest in learning new tools/software.

 

[Captain M4d]

Wow. Amazing single-player mod. Minerva reminded me how awesome HL2 single player is. Everyone needs to download this one. I can't wait until the next episode. The ending was quite a cliffhanger.

 

[TyrantII]

Love the mapping and feel you have, only a few gripes:

-Have a voice over added to the text, it's bad, especially when it comes up while fighting, and is just hard to read. Just use your own, but scuffle it in a sound editor, make it sound "changed", as it seems OUR benifactor isn't quite ready to show his true self just yet.

-Don't just end the episode, as yes I wanted more, but I was dissapointed. Episodic content should have a complete story within the episode, that also ties into the entire series. Much like a TV show, you need to have the player work for something (other then continue on down the shaft). Some sort of climax, realization, ect.

Not bashing the story, so far so good, but I just felt cheated when I unexpectidly saw to be continued.

 

[wilka91]

At the end of the level I was like "WTS!!!"

way too short!

 

[GonzoBabbleshit]

How can people say it was too short?! For just 1 map it was really long, and it ran well.

Yeah, sure it's just 1 map but if you check the website and look at the 'team' who made it you might realise how good this really is!

 

[Sulkdodds]

That was amazing. Very nicely designed to promote fight-or-flight gameplay; I ended up hitting and running at the Combine squads, dashing about like a badger on speed, escaping here, throwing grenades into there, dashing down here to ambush the soldiers from behind only to fall into a trap myself. This was especially well done at the village area and in the final battle as you try to reach the lift. Defeated the elites with my last hand and SMG grenades (one of each) but there were still soldiers closing in behind me as I dashed through the blast door.


Uh, plot speculation:

Spoiler

What it seemed like to me is that you were a former rebel who'd betrayed your people and just decided to go it alone, survival of the fittest, to hell with liberating Earth. 1. Athena/Minerva says "your human rebel friends." 2. The "dulce et deccorum est" followed by "but you gave all that up, didn't you?"

"You'd be in there if it wasn't for me" led me to suspect that somehow this thing had saved me, my character, from Combine captivity.

I'm going to take a vauge shot in the dark here and say I suspect that you're forced to work for Minerva, much like Freeman for the G-Man, and Minerva her/his/itself I reckon is an AI of some sort. As for the Combine pilot, I think it was just that he was bribed or somehow persuaded to drop you, but did it too early because he didn't want to risk his own neck.

Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but near the beginning you're told "you will be my bastard Perseus." (is that right?) In greek mythology , Perseus was guided by Athena to kill Medusa. Hmmmmmmmm....

EDIT: Oh yeah.

Spoiler

Athena = goddess of wisdom/strategy. Hmmm.

 

[dogboy73]

Blimey yes! didn't quite realsie what people were saying when they mentioned it was one map i.e. no loading. Fantastic! Just shows we can be done in a relatively small area. There's a lot of game there when you consider it's 1 map, 1 load.

When designing maps is there a size limit you can work within to avoid the need for a load point?

 

[Z|insane]

If you played the first part you would see that this... being was against the violence against vortigaunts / alien grunts yet wasn't either of them as it called them the local species or somthing like that and continually said that it would rather use stealth instead of violence, and that if you ever met it again it hoped that you would use communication instead of violence...

It also states its the reason why we were able to access the teleporters.. so seeing it in such a deranged / angery state in this episode.. was interesting. Can't wait for the next episode.