Zero Hour Preview: A Seven Hour War short

[CPShArp]

You can view the comic here: http://www.facepunch.com/threads/716497-Zero-Hour-Part-1



Hey everyone, I've been working on a comic that takes place at the beginning of the Seven Hour War. Its being made using gmod and the story revolves around Adrian Shephard, the guy you play in Opposing Forces, who has come out of stasis.

Since Valve hasn't done the seven hour war yet this isn't canon obviously, its one of those 'what if' things so please don't get mad that Shephard is in this...

I thought you all might be interested in this so I posted it here. Anyway here's wallpaper stuffs, enjoy.

 

[kacation_man]

didnt the 7hour war happen long before the citadel was kersploded?

 

[knut]

Those are some goddamn giant Striders.

 

[CPShArp]

didnt the 7hour war happen long before the citadel was kersploded?

Indeed, this takes place in a different city where the combine are emerging out of a portal storm. I just used city 17 for the wallpaper cause it fits in nicely.

 

[Shift]

Those are some goddamn giant Striders.

Agreed rofl.

 

[Ennui]

It's good to see you're spending your time making crappy wallpapers that don't make sense rather than working on your machinima.

 

[CPShArp]

It's good to see you're spending your time making crappy wallpapers that don't make sense rather than working on your machinima.

Just a simple promo mate, ever heard of a trailer?

 

[Fiberawptic]

It's good to see you're spending your time making crappy wallpapers that don't make sense rather than working on your machinima.

LMAO, wow, thats not very nice

 

[Ennui]

Yeah, a trailer is video. This is a wallpaper. A wallpaper with City 17's destroyed citadel in it (despite the 7 Hour War taking place years and years prior to that event), Striders that are a mile tall, and generally screwed up lighting and contrast.

Promos are to make people buy things, you're not selling this, why worry about a promo when you could be much more productive and work on the thing you're promoting instead? Particularly when your promo elicits comments like these rather than praise.

edits: yeah, fiber, call it tough love, if someone doesn't jump all over him he will never change for the better

 

[CPShArp]

Yeah, a trailer is video. This is a wallpaper. A wallpaper with City 17's destroyed citadel in it (despite the 7 Hour War taking place years and years prior to that event), Striders that are a mile tall, and generally screwed up lighting and contrast.

Promos are to make people buy things, you're not selling this, why worry about a promo when you could be much more productive and work on the thing you're promoting instead? Particularly when your promo elicits comments like these rather than praise.

edits: yeah, fiber, call it tough love, if someone doesn't jump all over him he will never change for the better

City 17 being used is meant to create a backdrop for the setting and overall atmosphere of the story; it is not being used in the actual story obviously. Considering the Combine overthrew humanity's military in under 7 hours it wouldn't be absurd to consider that Striders were once a mile high at the time of the 7 Hour War. It would make sense that they are the size they are in HL2 because humanity is under control and there are no more wars so having mile high behemoths roaming around City 17 would not be necessary. If you feel that the lighting and contrast are screwed up thats fine, I like criticism

Of course I'm not selling anything, but I love half-life so I figured people on this forum would be interested in this...maybe I was wrong. Since this is my first time on here and the short is for my Facepunch Studios account I decided to make this promo wallpaper. The Black Mesa Source mod is free yet they make wallpapers + trailers so what's the problem?

 

[Mech Man]

Considering the Combine overthrew humanity's military in under 7 hours it wouldn't be absurd to consider that Striders were once a mile high at the time of the 7 Hour War.

That my good chum would be tactically suicidal. Consider this ; striders that are "a mile high" would be bigger targets , no? And what advantage would they have? Almost none , in fact the only possible advantage that could have would be a bigger blast radius on their singularity cannons / warp cannon / whatever cannons due to the actual weapon being larger , but that would also have its disadvantages. Also they would have a very hard time targeting opponents as they could just weave between the striders legs.

Edit : why do you think the striders are at the height they are now? So they can duck under objects and be
manoeuvrable yet retain a good view of the battlefield.

 

[altceva]

Considering the Combine overthrew humanity's military in under 7 hours it wouldn't be absurd to consider that Striders were once a mile high at the time of the 7 Hour War.

Is that your excuse for bad Photoshop scaling? Come on, you can do better than that. Do some other wallpapers, and for the photo manipulation try using other images than the ones we can recognize in a split second. That's the citadel in City 17, it doesn't "fit in nicely", period.

Goodluck in doing more stuff, practice more.

 

[CPShArp]

That my good chum would be tactically suicidal. Consider this ; striders that are "a mile high" would be bigger targets , no? And what advantage would they have? Almost none , in fact the only possible advantage that could have would be a bigger blast radius on their singularity cannons / warp cannon / whatever cannons due to the actual weapon being larger , but that would also have its disadvantages. Also they would have a very hard time targeting opponents as they could just weave between the striders legs.

Edit : why do you think the striders are at the height they are now? So they can duck under objects and be
manoeuvrable yet retain a good view of the battlefield.

Not necessarily, they would be bigger targets but their height would give them an advantage in open warfare. Like you said their view distance would be significantly greater giving their warp cannons more range. As this was a war to bring down humanity's military the Combine would need a powerful edge to counter humanity's defenses and given the time period between HL and HL2 we can assume humanity had modern day defenses such as tanks. jets, helicopters, and the like. Also regarding the legs, that's what the Hunters are for.

The striders are the size they are now cause their original purpose has severely diminished because the war is over. Now the Combine are just fighting rebels; infantry units. A large tripod tank would be pointless in an urban setting like City 17, their combat role has changed from battle tank to patrol unit.

Is that your excuse for bad Photoshop scaling? Come on, you can do better than that. Do some other wallpapers, and for the photo manipulation try using other images than the ones we can recognize in a split second. That's the citadel in City 17, it doesn't "fit in nicely", period.

Goodluck in doing more stuff, practice more.

Excuse? It is meant to merely set an underlying tone of terror and disaster that the 7 Hour War created. I could have scaled them smaller but I felt it would be too relating to the HL2 setting. You're entitled to your opinion I respect that, perhaps I could have chosen a better image than City 17...but since it is an opinion the "doesn't fit in nicely, period" is not needed.

 

[Barnz]

Does it have Stern in it?

 

[Fiberawptic]

Is that your excuse for bad Photoshop scaling? Come on, you can do better than that. Do some other wallpapers, and for the photo manipulation try using other images than the ones we can recognize in a split second. That's the citadel in City 17, it doesn't "fit in nicely", period.

Goodluck in doing more stuff, practice more.

heh, actually, i gotta admit, it was actually a pretty damn good excuse

 

[Jintor]

Excuse? It is meant to merely set an underlying tone of terror and disaster that the 7 Hour War created. I could have scaled them smaller but I felt it would be too relating to the HL2 setting. You're entitled to your opinion I respect that, perhaps I could have chosen a better image than City 17...but since it is an opinion the "doesn't fit in nicely, period" is not needed.

Ok so your best method of creating an underlying tone of terror is glaring continuity errors and ridiculously huge striders. GG.

 

[CPShArp]

Ok so your best method of creating an underlying tone of terror is glaring continuity errors and ridiculously huge striders. GG.

Yes. I'm pretty sure you'd be shitting your pants mate if one was walking toward you

 

[SamuraiKenji]

Oh sure shitting your pants....with laughter that the huge mother****er can't hit you to save it's life

 

[Mech Man]

But seriously guys lets at least give the guy a chance. Who knows , maybe the end product will be pretty good.

 

[CPShArp]

But seriously guys lets at least give the guy a chance. Who knows , maybe the end product will be pretty good.

Thank you, I had a feeling this promo would be a bad idea lol.
So much harsh criticism here, not that I have a problem with that but it seems like the criticism is aimed at me directly like I did something wrong.
Maybe this is just how all new members here are treated, such a shame.

 

[Nomad]

Thank you Mech. I was wondering when someone would help the guy. Although, I'm neutral on this.

 

[Jintor]

We're allowed to call people out on stupid decisions.

It's in our contract.

 

[CPShArp]

We're allowed to call people out on stupid decisions.

It's in our contract.

Haha good one that's like SO funny and mature...

 

[Jintor]

Because your reply is incredibly mature, OP.

 

[CPShArp]

Because your reply is incredibly mature, OP.

Hey I've been pretty reasonable and mature in replying to most posts in this thread, I only called out your maturity cause you just HAD to post something like "we are allowed to say you make stupid things cause you make stupid things"...

 

[Fiberawptic]

Less talk Sharp, more work on machinima. Thats the problem with most people that come on here saying they are gonna make a half life movie or mod or w.e. They just create little promos and talk about it all the time, that they never even get around to working on it. SO they never make it....

 

[Jintor]

Hey I've been pretty reasonable and mature in replying to most posts in this thread, I only called out your maturity cause you just HAD to post something like "we are allowed to say you make stupid things cause you make stupid things"...

That's right, keep replying. You're only diggin' yourself a deeper hole.

 

[G(ordon)-man]

I have nuthin' to say. You are trying hard and have lots of motivation to make it but at the same time you make simple errors (city 17, striders) and try to pass them out as new combine things. Keep up the work and we'll see.

 

[Sandspider]

Those are some goddamn giant Striders.

It's called perspective dude

 

[McGooTheWise]

I'm not so sure what is so exceptional about this guy that we have to treat him as if he were dirt, or as if it would matter so much if he was. I remember being treated the same way when I joined, and I still am, weather it's just because of my personality or because I'm annoying, I could give a rat's ass, but enough is enough. If this guy wants to do his project, let him. If he ****s it up then others will let him know it, but there's no reason to be quite so rude to him and scrutinize every itty bitty detail as if it were a colossal error.

Yes, the striders are oversized in the WALLPAPER, and he did have a really bad excuse, but backing him into a corner, and making him feel outcasted for such a dumb reason is what is really immature.

I'd like to see where you go with this, man. It has great potential... Maybe even to be made into a mod.

 

[Mech Man]

It's called perspective dude

No , no it is not. Perspective would be if they were being viewed from a certain angle , such as if the picture was looking at the striders from below which would make them look bigger. Anyway , I agree with Van. Despite some mistakes we should wait to see how it turns out before making a final judgement.

 

[knut]

It's called perspective dude

No, the Striders are generally giant. Much larger than Striders we have seen and fought before. Check the sizes of the ruins and cast your mind back to when you, as Freeman, stood watching City 17 burn. You can see streets, buildings, rowhouses and apartments from there (albiet ruined, on fire and clouded in smoke) and in no way would a regular strider dwarf them like they have here.

If the maker of this short wants to have large Striders, that's fine. It's his creation, he can do what he wants with it. All I'm concerned with at this point is how much it catches the eye to see Striders much larger than the one's we have battled with in previous titles. If perhaps they looked different in aesthetic other than a simple enlargment of the file, then maybe I could see that you have gone out of your way to create something new - to give an entity a reason for it's new look by actually creating something new in itself. But that's just me. When Episode Two revealed the Hunters, they didn't just scale down a Strider, did they? When Valve decided that they wanted select headcrabs to move faster, or inject poison into the player, they didn't just add new attacks and speeds to regular headcrabs. You follow?

The same can be said about the fact you are using City 17 as a backdrop. Yes, it's a ruined city and the Seven Hour war had some ruined cities or something, but you can't use an environment people have played in a Half-Life timeline because it doesn't sit right. You can say it's this, that and the other all you want - people are going to see it and think straight away ''no, that's City 17...''

Don't take harsh criticism wrongly. Crit is the best postitive to have.

 

[CPShArp]

Less talk Sharp, more work on machinima. Thats the problem with most people that come on here saying they are gonna make a half life movie or mod or w.e. They just create little promos and talk about it all the time, that they never even get around to working on it. SO they never make it....

Whoever said this was a movie? Its going to be a comic...I just said it was gonna be a short, I didn't necessarily outline how it would be presented.

I'm not so sure what is so exceptional about this guy that we have to treat him as if he were dirt, or as if it would matter so much if he was. I remember being treated the same way when I joined, and I still am, weather it's just because of my personality or because I'm annoying, I could give a rat's ass, but enough is enough. If this guy wants to do his project, let him. If he ****s it up then others will let him know it, but there's no reason to be quite so rude to him and scrutinize every itty bitty detail as if it were a colossal error.

Yes, the striders are oversized in the WALLPAPER, and he did have a really bad excuse, but backing him into a corner, and making him feel outcasted for such a dumb reason is what is really immature.

I'd like to see where you go with this, man. It has great potential... Maybe even to be made into a mod.

Thanks for the comments man, everyone will be happy to know that using larger striders in the comic as portrayed in this wallpaper will be difficult from a technical standpoint (anyone who plays gmod will know) due to the fact that the maps aren't high enough. So I'm dropping the tall strider concept. However I still want to portray them as significantly different somehow from their HL2 counterparts. I'm open to any ideas if you guys have any.

 

[CPShArp]

No, the Striders are generally giant. Much larger than Striders we have seen and fought before. Check the sizes of the ruins and cast your mind back to when you, as Freeman, stood watching City 17 burn. You can see streets, buildings, rowhouses and apartments from there (albiet ruined, on fire and clouded in smoke) and in no way would a regular strider dwarf them like they have here.

If the maker of this short wants to have large Striders, that's fine. It's his creation, he can do what he wants with it. All I'm concerned with at this point is how much it catches the eye to see Striders much larger than the one's we have battled with in previous titles. If perhaps they looked different in aesthetic other than a simple enlargment of the file, then maybe I could see that you have gone out of your way to create something new - to give an entity a reason for it's new look by actually creating something new in itself. But that's just me. When Episode Two revealed the Hunters, they didn't just scale down a Strider, did they? When Valve decided that they wanted select headcrabs to move faster, or inject poison into the player, they didn't just add new attacks and speeds to regular headcrabs. You follow?

The same can be said about the fact you are using City 17 as a backdrop. Yes, it's a ruined city and the Seven Hour war had some ruined cities or something, but you can't use an environment people have played in a Half-Life timeline because it doesn't sit right. You can say it's this, that and the other all you want - people are going to see it and think straight away ''no, that's City 17...''

Don't take harsh criticism wrongly. Crit is the best postitive to have.

I appreciate the constructive criticism, thanks. I see where you're coming from with how it would be bland to simply make the striders bigger instead of making them different. Also I'll look into other maps I have that are city like, however I might still use some parts of City 17 from Episode 1 because of its destroyed nature.

 

[knut]

Oh yeah, by all means use buildings, maps and other such objects for the comics. One ruined building is another ruined building, it's just with things like that pretty famous scene, it doesn't translate from one story to another.

Good luck!

 

[Mingag]

Despite what most other people in this thread said, it looks awesome
I love stuff about the 7 hour war. Anyway about you wanting the striders to look different than they do in game, maybe you could somehow add armour to them? It makes sense that the striders would need to be far more effective during the seven hour war, considering they have a whole planet to take over.

 

[Zephos]

I think for the most part Sharp has responded maturely to the criticism and as such I think you guys are being a tad overcritical/harsh in responding. Give the guy a break.

Anyway, though the heyday of Gmod comics (I'd assume Gmod is being used for these comics?) is long past, I wish you all the best.

 

[Pesmerga]

Ennui is a brick wall to stop people who don't really care enough.