Modding HL2 for a game without guns?

[clarky003]

I'm not saying the idea is bad... in fact I quite like the sound of it; I just don't think it would really work.

I do agree with you , it seems a bit far fetched when you put it that way. but the source engine could very well bring it home, and atleast touch on the scary aspect of it, with its characters, and enviroment., but I do agree it would be a game that would have to be highly tuned, with no margin for any error if it was to get close to being any good. The characters would have to be highly believable. possibly set up better than valve have done theirs. :naughty: .. and introduce a more complex converstation and reaction system where voices would be recorded, and conversation would be more varied and spontanious.

 

[Venmoch]

Venmoch, wouldn't that idea be a smidge more scarey if there wasn't actually a physical hunter ? Something like Final Destination where death just seems to happen, but with a hint of something controlling it would be better in my opinion... once you've seen something it takes away some of the fear.

Thing is how do you say you've seen the hunter. If you have a large amount of dark areas you minimise the amount of time you actully look at the nasty or even making the nasty a lot faster than you think. If the player only captures glimpses of something, or sees a shadow somewhere its going to cause a scare. I mean Clock Towers bad dude is a guy with a pair of hedge trimmers, not very scary you'd think but many people were scared as he suddenly appeared down this hallway you were running down.

I think I may just have to experiment with this idea a little when HL2 comes out. Have the player caught in some bvlock of flats or something being hunted by something not quite human......

 

[The Dark Elf]

I think I may just have to experiment with this idea a little when HL2 comes out. Have the player caught in some bvlock of flats or something being hunted by something not quite human......

Like the Landlord?

no really, just call your mod "the landlord" and do it in the style of those very strange sci-fi channel films. I don't remember the name of one now, that was set in an apartment block and was weird as hell.

Would fit too, the Landlord. There's the carpenter, the dentist, probably the icescream man, the tax inspector etc. hehe

 

[Yakuza]

From a writers perspective, if iam going to like your charcters your going to have give me a reason to care about them. One of the reasons why we like our chracters is because we make the suffer. Just think about that.

 

[clarky003]

heres a good reason for you to like them,, they may end up being based on real life people, and you know how madly in love with celebrities some people are. Infact I wouldnt want to do it anyother way... like I said this would be targeted at a Most haunted fanbase. but that doesnt disclude anyone else who is intrested in the context of the game, and its characters.

 

[Kadayi]

whoa, now if you aiming for a coop kinda thing then that would so 0wn!

Source can basicly do anything you tell it to really, except make my tost ;(, so yeah you can make it without guns

The only issue with Co-op is that you would have to devise it so each part was sequential for all involved, as you can't have two game levels running at the same time. Subsequently this means that any individual scenerio you design has to exist within the size and scope of one game level and it's entity limits.

 

[Kadayi]

Reminds me of that old MTV show.. Forgot the name.. :|

You mean FEAR with the teenagers in the old abandoned Prision complex? That was quite good. If I recall each contestant had to carry out particular tasks at night in the complex for cash prizes, like sit in the electric Chair for an hour with the lights off etc

Not entirely sure how it could be translated....but it's an idea

 

[Venmoch]

no really, just call your mod "the landlord" and do it in the style of those very strange sci-fi channel films. I don't remember the name of one now, that was set in an apartment block and was weird as hell.

Would fit too, the Landlord. There's the carpenter, the dentist, probably the icescream man, the tax inspector etc. hehe

Well it'll be more of a "Could It Be Done?" rather than a full blown mod. And while I'd rather not do the cliche "Investigating Police Officer" or "Unfortunate Bystander" it may just work for the purposes of a demonstration.

 

[clarky003]

it may just work for the purposes of a demonstration.

now thats a neat idea to try out if your looking for feedback from development in an area that could be a bit difficult

i wouldnt mind trying a demonstration developement to decide if a full game got produced.

 

[G-Dub]

Hi, I've never posted in the editing forums before, but I know you are in the UK too, and wondered if you had ever been to Borley Rectory (the most haunted place in the UK). I assume you know of Borley. Where in the UK are you?

I just thought it would make a good level that's all.

 

[clarky003]

Hmm Borely, havnt visited the place, but if its the most haunted place in the UK im sure its totally worth going there to check the place out. and will probably end up getting some serious publicity on TV if thats the case , as for modding in this Genre, the more scary places, the better. Im in Birmingham, the most haunted place is Dudley around here. the Station Hotel. and Dudley Castle.

 

[G-Dub]

Sorry, why would you get publicity?

 

[The Dark Elf]

Sorry, why would you get publicity?

Why not?

A mate of mine is always in the local paper and the local news from doing his fanfilms. He's currently working with a couple of ex Dr Who actors on his next film infact. He was also on some radio show in London with that John Culshaw last year because of it.

Anything is possible.

 

[G-Dub]

I thought he might have meant "I'd get publicity because nobody's ever been there", or something, oh I dunno what I was thinking, I'm weird like that... anyway it's a cool place and got my first scary experience there a few weeks back. I've been a handful of times but this was the first time it was proper scary, and not just group histeria (spelling?) :O

 

[clarky003]

hysteria? im not sure either, lol.. yeh its actually alot of fun, I stayed with my family in a house down in Mark in Somerset, and it was great when we found out the place was haunted , lol ,well it was sort of exiting, ,, orbs on digital pictures, but my dad was skeptical of the pictures which where totally weird... then we freaked out one night when me and my bro where downstairs while the parents went shopping, we heard someone's footsteps on the upstairs landing like someone just walked across it into one of the rooms and then it stopped, we where in the kitchen at the time... :O we poo'd our pants, there was no one but us in the house.. makes me get goose pimples just thinking about it.

you should of seen my brothers face, we froze and we both said 'who's that' to each other at the same time.

 

[The Dark Elf]

hysteria? im not sure either, lol.. yeh its actually alot of fun, I stayed with my family in a house down in Mark in Somerset, and it was great when we found out the place was haunted , lol ,well it was sort of exiting, ,, orbs on digital pictures, but my dad was skeptical of the pictures which where totally weird... then we freaked out one night when me and my bro where downstairs while the parents went shopping, we heard someone's footsteps on the upstairs landing like someone just walked across it into one of the rooms and then it stopped, we where in the kitchen at the time... :O we poo'd our pants, there was no one but us in the house.. makes me get goose pimples just thinking about it.

you should of seen my brothers face, we froze and we both said 'who's that' to each other at the same time.

hehe creepy

 

[clarky003]

yeh it's pretty freaky, asks the question.. how can you hear someone's footsteps who isnt there..? I dont know how some people can completely dismiss the paranormal as mass Hysteria. lol.. when its quite clear that it is an absurd answer to keep everyone in a reality check.. but id say it's mostley the case of the fact that we have limitations to the senses. but how that tells people that theres nothing beyond our 'biological' perception , is again beyond me.

loading ... ending mini rant..

 

[Yakuza]

heres a good reason for you to like them,, they may end up being based on real life people, and you know how madly in love with celebrities some people are. Infact I wouldnt want to do it anyother way... like I said this would be targeted at a Most haunted fanbase. but that doesnt disclude anyone else who is intrested in the context of the game, and its characters.

Dont get me wrong, I think you are on to something fabulous. Just from what I have been readin it doesn't seem to have any real goal. So my question would be, what are you thinking to keep people interested.

 

[blahblahblah]

wow...I just read this thread and that has to be one of the most original game/mod ideas I have seen in my 6 years of computer gaming. You should really try to flesh it out, I think you could make it work.

My 2 cents on what this experiment/mod/game should have...

- Sound should be your biggest focus. I think that is what will make or break this mod.

- You should try to have some sort of purpose to the game. Maybe have the person investigate the myths around those haunted places. Maybe not to solve the mystery, but to learn about it. Something like an adventure type game.

- Make the pace of the game go real slow. Try to make some sort of penalty (heart attack from an unexpected scare maybe, or hallucination, or adrenaline rush?) if a person is just prancing around, you would need something to make sure the pace of the game stayed as slow as possible.

- Definetely need to make this single player or coop at the most. I think for this type of game, you want an intimate experience. Not to be dumbed down by too many people.

 

[clarky003]

thanks blahblahblah, its nice to see this idea has captured some experianced modders and gamers, that post has clarified everything , cheers, I totally agree sound will have to be top notch. and ambience, lighting... and as for the actual target of the game I was very much thinking along the lines of adventure. . find peices of information and put them together for a clearer picture on the place that your exploring and its history, 'past murders' how people died etc,, and it would be triggered by a spiritualist medium telling you about what he can sense, and that leads you to different rooms, etc to find perhaps a secret cubby hole in a stair case that contains evidence perhaps of a dead childs toys, kept in a chest.

. and the poltergeist and spiritual activity is another objective, and that would be to try and catch something on camera. earning your way through by providing as much activity as possible on tape,/ camera. setting up trigger object experiments, and placing motion detectors. and remote locked off camera's, that you can check out after when youve finished.. by a feature that can access all the recorded footage after the game. if you can program that into sources already amazing live video camera outputs.

 

[Yakuza]

thanks blahblahblah, its nice to see this idea has captured some experianced modders and gamers, that post has clarified everything , cheers, I totally agree sound will have to be top notch. and ambience, lighting... and as for the actual target of the game I was very much thinking along the lines of adventure. . find peices of information and put them together for a clearer picture on the place that your exploring and its history, 'past murders' how people died etc,, and it would be triggered by a spiritualist medium telling you about what he can sense, and that leads you to different rooms, etc to find perhaps a secret cubby hole in a stair case that contains evidence perhaps of a dead childs toys, kept in a chest.

. and the poltergeist and spiritual activity is another objective, and that would be to try and catch something on camera. earning your way through by providing as much activity as possible on tape,/ camera. setting up trigger object experiments, and placing motion detectors. and remote locked off camera's, that you can check out after when youve finished.. by a feature that can access all the recorded footage after the game. if you can program that into sources already amazing live video camera outputs.

All right clark, I have to give it up to you. I can see it all now and this idea of yours is pretty awsome.

 

[galoot3000]

very nice idea, even better than "Half Life 2 in the Hood", god save us now.........

 

[clarky003]

' takes a bow ' thanks, guys, your responses have filled me with confidence to go forth and become an awsome Dev who will someday bring you a game like this, and bring it to you competantly