They Hunger: Lost Souls interview at Gamecloud

[Sulkdodds]

Just a short update on the highly anticipated (and rightly so) zombie sequel: Gamecloud have interviewed designers Einar Saukas and Neil Manke, who describe it as "not exactly a sequel" and "not a remake" - perhaps the term 're-imagining' would be appropriate. We figure any news on a mod such as this is good news (unless it contains the words 'cancelled' or 'defunct') and there are some very interesting snippets of information: talk of driveable tractors and a "unique and innovative new weapon".[br]

​

[br]You can read the full interview here.
There's more info on Lost Souls here.

 

[Vertz]

First comment woooo

Looking good, nothing better than beating zombies with a shovel, its how I like to spend all my Friday nights.

 

[mbrithoms]

Cant believe they are charging for this rubbish, hl2 models given a makeup job in photoshop, same textures....meh.

 

[Newblade]

Cant believe they are charging for this rubbish, hl2 models given a makeup job in photoshop, same textures....meh.

Have you bothered to read the interview? They say the models are placeholders, and I certainly don't see hl2 textures.

 

[nutcrackr]

Tractor + Zombies

*Maniacal laugh* :naughty:

 

[Sparta]

But you have to pay for it.

 

[h00x]

But you have to pay for it.

I bought quake I want half life for free .... same principle yet I did't see your saying it. - If I'am not mistaken .

There doing a great job and they want to get payed for it can you blame them, I guess Sparta you will be wanting all the Sin Episodes free as well...if you want something for free there is a few other zombie mods out there.

Ill be buying It cant wait

 

[Sulkdodds]

Cant believe they are charging for this rubbish, hl2 models given a makeup job in photoshop, same textures....meh.

Another person who hasn't actually played the original They Hunger then?

 

[Anable]

But you have to pay for it.

I can only hope that was sarcasm. You have to pay for these things now?! No way!

 

[johezah]

I can only hope that was sarcasm. You have to pay for these things now?! No way!

Sure, its not fair we have to pay for anything using HL2. Lets write Valve and tell them we want DoD, Aftermath, Sin Episode, Vampire Bloodlines, Dark Messiah, all of them for free... right?

- J.

 

[Ermac]

this is Going to be a Great mod!

 

[spect3r]

Great interview. Show's some insight to those who are saying they don't want to pay for it.

They hit it right on the head saying that now with making quality SP episodes for Source takes time, dedication and basically everything you have.

Other mods, sure will be great - and free, but they will also take way way longer.

 

[efuxer69]

'Cause my mommy won't give me the money...

But you have to pay for it.

Didn't you read the part where they are trying to bring the game to us at a much lower price than other commerically released games? Didn't you read the part where single player games take a lot more work and time than a multi-player game with only 3 small maps to play? Don't you understand that it's very time consuming to build a story line that doesn't suck where there isn't really a story line for multi-player games? How about the part where they've been working for a year on this in secret and want to afford food and shelter when they are done! Geez, are these 14yr olds with out an allowance who keep crying that they'll have to pay to enjoy hours of zombie smashing/squishing/exploding/shooting? If you don't want to play then don't pay, but I for one am going to be very happy to pay the nominal fee they plan on charging for such a quality piece of work.
BrianM :cheers:

 

[Mith']

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Eeww!! Doesn't look nice at all! (That picture anyway)

 

[mbrithoms]

Another person who hasn't actually played the original They Hunger then?

Never assume sulk it makes an ass outta you and me

of course Ive played They Hunger, but paying for mods is a disgrace, and after all this is a mod, I can bet for certain they aint payed the license fee for the source engine , enter gabe rubbing hands laughing 'Mwahaha now they will all pay for every goddam thing I grace them with on my new money machine steam' you can almost see the light bulb pinging above his head.

dont get me wrong I love valve, their attention to detail and quality is yet to be surpassed but the greed is seeping through and its getting all more obvious every day

 

[h00x]

If I'am not mistaken this is acctauly not a mod but a standalone game, if this is a mod then the Sin Episodes are a mod to ? .... people want to much for free now a days ....

 

[OCybrManO]

The original was near-professional quality, anyway... I wouldn't mind paying for a mod of that caliber.

 

[Teta_Bonita]

I actually would like to pay a small amount of money (5$-10$ is ideal) for mods if it allows them to be developed with much higher quality.
What I don't like is having the same sh*tty mods but being forced to pay for them. :flame:
Fortunately, they hunger does not look like a sh*tty mod.

 

[Pi Mu Rho]

Obviously it's not a mod, as it's standalone. Using HL2 content during development is a no-brainer, as they make handy placeholders while you sort your own assets out.

 

[Wang Tang]

The thing with the payment for mods (or "standalone games", lol) is, that we had quality mods for HL1 we didn't have to pay for (at least I'm assuming this - I'm a mp-gamer, so didn't play any sp-mods for HL1).
If it wasn't for Steam, I think such mods would be free, or they would go retail, which would make it easier for the "No way I'm paying for this mod!"-people to see that the game is worth it's money.
So, imho, people just have to get used to the fact that there will be many more mods coming out in the future, that have to be paid for, especially sp-mods. So don't beat the people who want it for free. Changes are always difficult to go through, even when they only affect such rather nonrelevant subjects like computergames and money

Hope everyone understood what I was trying to say

 

[efuxer69]

Hope everyone understood what I was trying to say

So you're saying that this is like when Napster came out and everyone was like "oh wow, all music is free to me now" and then had to get used to the fact that it wasn't? I think that people don't realize that the original was not free, PC Gamer payed to have it made because it was a piece of markting to them. And lets not forget that it's not really a mod, it's a seperate game using the Source engine really. What we might want to understand is that if we support these kinds of games with our dollars, we might find that small developers can offer us quality games for well under the $50 it now costs to buy new titles at your local Best Buy etc. Instead of bitching about buying something of value, let's try and appreciate that Black Widow is working to bring us entertainment at a lower cost than usual. And from past experience, this game will be very entertaining, at least to a lot of us.
BrainM

 

[Sulkdodds]

Never assume sulk it makes an ass outta you and me

of course Ive played They Hunger, but paying for mods is a disgrace, and after all this is a mod, I can bet for certain they aint payed the license fee for the source engine , enter gabe rubbing hands laughing 'Mwahaha now they will all pay for every goddam thing I grace them with on my new money machine steam' you can almost see the light bulb pinging above his head.

Um, yeah. Well you're the first person who's actually played the original to voice the 'I ain't payin' opinion - nevertheless, I apologise.

The fact is, I don't see anyone complaining about Aftermath costing money. It's using the same engine and mostly the same enemies, textures ect. All it is is new story content with new weapons, right? If you're against paying for They Hunger 2 you're against paying for Aftermath.

If Lost Souls is anything like the original it will be Valve quality. Not to mention that it'll likely be a more estranged from HL2 than Aftermath will be. They Hunger is closer to an actual game than a mod - you have any idea how much work it takes? You expect them to do all of that for free? It's not going to cost any more than a tenner in any case. I'd happily pay that for such a quality Source game.

So I repeat: if it's anything near as good as the original, the developers have as much right to sell Lost Souls as Valve have to sell Aftermath. And I haven't even taken into account that the content we see right now is most likely placeholders...

 

[SimonomiS]

Einar Saukas and Neil Manke, who describe it as "not exactly a sequel" and "not a remake" - perhaps the term 're-imagining' would be appropriate.

Reminds me of Evil Dead 2.

 

[Sulkdodds]

Maybe the innovative new weapon is a chainsaw hand.

EDIT: Or am I thinking of an entirely different zombie franchise?

 

[OCybrManO]

Or am I thinking of an entirely different zombie franchise?

Well, a GIS of They Hunger nets these results (among others):

So, who knows... They Hunger could be about fat ladies that eat cute little animals.

 

[Salamandra]

Mission: Protect the cwute widdle animals from the fat zombie woman.

Fails: You die, Any cwute widdle animals die.

 

[efuxer69]

omgf

So, who knows... They Hunger could be about fat ladies that eat cute little animals.

LOL

"that's great!"

 

[KaiserPanda]

$20 isn't a lot. That's one or two paperback novels. So you're getting a good story, fully worked out in 3D, and you want it for $10? A FeeCee Gamer magazine is $10... Get a job.

 

[Patton]

So none of you have ever paid for an expansion? You won't buy HL2: Aftermath? I PROMISE that they're going to reuse textures and models and architecture in Aftermath. Does that make it not worth buying?

 

[polyguns]

well its true making an sp game is source is tough as hell, but if they wanted easy, they shoulda chosen another engine, but then you don;t get all this free press, which is important for selling esp if your just doing it over steam

for 75% i would expect to see way more origional custom content then just placeholders. getting that custom content into source is the hard part, compile, import, compile, test, tweak.

it may be a while, im sure if they have a whole lot of custom characters, at least 75% done, we woulda seen screens of them ingame by now.

as far as a standalone game, they would do that with valves permission, but i doubt you will be able to buy this without having hl2 on your machine or steam. who knows what the dealio is, i reakon i should read the interview before commenting


still, shovel to the face could be great if done with IMPACT. like you hit im and it flatens their face

 

[Surrogate]

Never assume sulk it makes an ass outta you and me

of course Ive played They Hunger, but paying for mods is a disgrace, and after all this is a mod, I can bet for certain they aint payed the license fee for the source engine , enter gabe rubbing hands laughing 'Mwahaha now they will all pay for every goddam thing I grace them with on my new money machine steam' you can almost see the light bulb pinging above his head.

dont get me wrong I love valve, their attention to detail and quality is yet to be surpassed but the greed is seeping through and its getting all more obvious every day

Greed? I seriously fail to see why it should be wrong to earn money. Valve has a very successful modding community, and i see no error in them expanding their business to it aswell. And yes, i am 100% sure that they're doing this of sales potential, but they're also doing it for their modding community - it allows people without the finances to acquire a license to create and now sell games. I predict that many more mods will come to fruit now that there's a reward in the end, and i feel that it benefits me as a consumer.

Anyhow, concidering the mod - looks nice! Haven't tried the old i'm afraid, was too much of a CS n00b to care back then :| Like their idea about series, sounds like its the big trend these days I think it will help me enjoy the game more - Just bought F.E.A.R, and was done in a day - i get all obsessive with good games

 

[exmodel]

Yeah this mod really isn't looking like something i'd pay for, unless it goes for under 10 dollars and i hear really rave things about it. I've played the originals, and yeah they were pretty good, but i can't say this looks like a substantial improvement as of yet. Even if they get fresher, better looking models, this mod better be pulling off some great new tricks to warrant a purchase from me.

 

[polyguns]

well i looked at the interview, pretty cool. hl2.net didn't post the best screens from it so go checks em out

nothing wrong with charging for this, I just how that they go retail and not steam only. mo mpds aren't as bad for steam only if they want to charge, cause those people have broadband, but if its seriously standalone, and a good game, then they should seriously consider retail.

but they could also use that other thing, vapour, to appeal to others besides steam users.

 

[TeddyBear]

for 75% i would expect to see way more origional custom content then just placeholders. getting that custom content into source is the hard part, compile, import, compile, test, tweak.

it may be a while, im sure if they have a whole lot of custom characters, at least 75% done, we woulda seen screens of them ingame by now.

We first and foremost focus on good gameplay, the graphical content is then to be concentrated on to augment the feeling gotten from playing. Actually "getting custom content into source", as you put it, is as hard as anything else We just thought you would like to have information on what is going on rather than nothing at all, albeit the fact that the screenshots consist of a variety of placeholders.

 

[efuxer69]

So smart???

We first and foremost focus on good gameplay, the graphical content is then to be concentrated on to augment the feeling gotten from playing. Actually "getting custom content into source", as you put it, is as hard as anything else We just thought you would like to have information on what is going on rather than nothing at all, albeit the fact that the screenshots consist of a variety of placeholders.

Ya! So when you guys try and sound like you know what these guys are doing and try and give this game some crap, just remember they can put you down like a stale warm beer!
BrainM:cheers:

 

[mbrithoms]

Um, yeah. Well you're the first person who's actually played the original to voice the 'I ain't payin' opinion - nevertheless, I apologise.

The fact is, I don't see anyone complaining about Aftermath costing money. It's using the same engine and mostly the same enemies, textures ect. All it is is new story content with new weapons, right? If you're against paying for They Hunger 2 you're against paying for Aftermath.

If Lost Souls is anything like the original it will be Valve quality. Not to mention that it'll likely be a more estranged from HL2 than Aftermath will be. They Hunger is closer to an actual game than a mod - you have any idea how much work it takes? You expect them to do all of that for free? It's not going to cost any more than a tenner in any case. I'd happily pay that for such a quality Source game.

So I repeat: if it's anything near as good as the original, the developers have as much right to sell Lost Souls as Valve have to sell Aftermath. And I haven't even taken into account that the content we see right now is most likely placeholders...

Apology accepted my man

of course there going to use the same textures in aftermath, its an extention of the HL2 universe and a continuation of the HL2 story, this 'mod' is not however. At the end of the day and the friggin bottom line is people are getting greedy, yeah the origional was near retail quality and I hold no qualms that this will be any different, but spot the differance my friend, the origional was a free mod built upon the HL engine the sequel is a mod based upon the hl2 engine, but now you have to pay, disgraceful.

you want to talk about quality mods? Desert combat, 700mb's of quality mod; and I dont think any of us have any idea how many days/weeks/months/years went into the making and optimisation of this FREE mod (the way mods should be) yeah they went onto help create BF2 but there still releasing versions of the mod to this day for FREE. and lets name another RED Orchestra (same as above) around 650mb's yet again FREE (the way MODS should be). Show me the receipt signed by this MOD team that payed for the license of the source engine then I will fully fork over my cash, untill then I reserve the right to my opinion which is, mark my words boys and girls every god damn thing that gets released over steam whether its modifications or just third party mods were going to pay for the 'privilege' of getting it via steam or at the least accessing it via steam in the near future, again disgusting.

Mods kept HL alive, and to be honest without those FREE modifications Valve would not be where they are today, because in actual fact they made one game. And if it wasnt for those dedicated teams of people (who are still making those FREE mods today for HL2 ) valve would have dropped off the map many years ago.

Stop being greedy, modifications have never been sold dont start now.

 

[nutcrackr]

Stop being greedy, modifications have never been sold dont start now.

Yeah CS was never sold. I figure if you don't want to pay for mods/total conversions then don't, I'm sure there will be plenty of free mods you can get a hold of. Sure maybe people are getting greedy but you are aware that making games takes an increasingly larger amount of time because of all the content and keeping up with graphics technology. People will make free mods, but if some team spends 2 years creating a masterpiece that rivals a retail product then I say let us pay for this game!

 

[polyguns]

desert combat is the only mod ive ever played i woulda payed for. hell once i played it i never played bf standard again till battle of brittian, which was AWSOME

 

[Sulkdodds]

This is exactly my point. Lost Souls (and Desert Combat too) are far closer to what we expect from a full game or at leat an expansion pack, rather than what's normally expected from a mod.

The original They Hunger was far better than, say, Blue Shift (which you only now get on Steam for free).

 

[Beerdude26]

The original They Hunger was far better than, say, Blue Shift (which you only now get on Steam for free).

But the part where Otis is staring at his donut in the weapon range! Isn't that good? D: