More Media!

Submitted by natedgreat3 on 16 Dec 2006

As promised, the Black Mesa team is proud to present "Stage 2," the final stage of our media release. This time around, you'll see some new and updated media shots in many areas. In response to community critiques, we've updated the Glock and Mp5 weapons, the outdoor area at the start of Residue Processing, and the Gargantua render. We also have lots of new material to give you, including a high poly model of one of our grunt variations, more shots of Blast Pit, Anomalous Materials, Lambda Core, and an animation of our Houndeye. Several updates to the site have also taken place, courtesy of our new dedicated web designer, Brett Alton.

 

The Black Mesa team has made the decision not to release any ingame videos for "Stage 2." We are going to save this footage for a much more opportune time, to be revealed in the coming months. You'll thank us for it later, we promise!

 

The number of job applicants since the previous media release has quadrupled, and we've already hired several! Your talents are greatly appreciated, the more people we get on the team, the faster the project gets finished! If you think you've got what it takes, please don't hesitate to apply!

More Media!

Submitted by cman on 27 Nov 2006

Welcome to the new Black Mesa! After almost a year of media silence, the Black Mesa Team is proud to present what we have been working on during that long period of time. All of our older media has been replaced with updates, just days old. We have finally picked winners from the community projects in our Public Forums, have updated our FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) to reflect new questions, and have updated our Job list with new positions.

 

It's been an interesting year for the Black Mesa Team. As we have gained more team members and development has really settled into place, we've been simultaneously increasing the standard and the speed of our work. Various models, such as the marine, were scrapped and new ones created (the old models not meeting our new self-standards). Throughout most of the year, we have been getting our assets functioning ingame and have started the playtesting process. This stage doesn't work all too well for releasing media, hence the media silence.

 

Unfortunately, not all went well for development. Over the course of the year the team had to endure an internal alpha leak, the hacking and subsequent deletion of the entire public forum database, multiple hackings of the public forums after that, and just recently, the deletion of the public website and the team's FTP account (with over 2 gigabytes of source files on it).

 

To combat these hackings, the team switched servers to GamerNode, a world-class gaming website that has graciously agreed to host Black Mesa. Under GamerNode's servers, the team enjoys greater security and more bandwidth. Our current website was also re-constructed for us, courtesy of GamerNode.

 

Now, onto the media. We are excited to be presenting you with new content in almost every area. We have categorized the media into sections, clicking on each thumbnail will further expand into all available media we have for that area.

 

We hope to never again have a period of time where media and updates are scarce. And to prove it to you, we've got "Stage 2" of the current media release coming up before the end of December. Keep your eyes open for that!

animation sample

This is the remake of the first game, right? If so, this is the mod which i'm looking forward to. I have a HL2 copy, but since i don't know anything about the background story, it doesn't atract me much.

Edited January 3, 200719 yr by karka

Awesome. I forgot about this one. (w00t)

animation sample

My beloved friend the houndeye has returned.

Awesome, I tried to play the original in order to get the backstory of HL2, but the graphics were just too ugly to play.

This is the remake of the first game, right? If so, this is the mod which i'm looking forward to. I have a HL2 copy, but since i don't know anything about the background story, it doesn't atract me much.

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Yeah, it's the original game with all the assets re-rendered from scratch for the Source engine.

backstory

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^_^

This is the remake of the first game, right? If so, this is the mod which i'm looking forward to. I have a HL2 copy, but since i don't know anything about the background story, it doesn't atract me much.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yeah, it's the original game with all the assets re-rendered from scratch for the Source engine.

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:joy:

I love the detail on this model: look at the id badge. :D

I hadn't heard about this.. damn this is great news!! I hope they do a good job, it would be beyond awesome to play the old Half-Life with the new engine.. sratch that, it would be the coolest experience in my entire gaming career..

 

edit: the screenshots are almost bringing tears to my eyes..

Edited January 4, 200719 yr by Rosbjerg

So the same ****, only prettier.

uhh, whats the big deal ?

So the same ****, only prettier.

uhh, whats the big deal ?

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Well, I guess if you didn't like the first one enough to think it's worth replaying, then the updated graphics aren't going to entice you, now, are they?

Wow, that zombie... thing is pretty creepy.

it's strange that Valve haven't jumped on this before.. they could've made a lot of money if they'd updated the old game.. especially now, since the franchise have only gotten more popular..

These guys are known by Valve (Valve had them change the name from "Black Mesa:Source"), from the Planet Half-life interview:

Planet Half-Life: Have you heard any reaction from VALVe software, concerning the project? Do they like your improvements or has Gabe Newell vowed to swallow your souls?

...

Carlos Montero: Valve has always held firm that they knew someone was going to do what we are doing. Their overall reaction just seems to be to sit back, and see what we do with the project.

And some more info:

Planet Half-Life: How close to the original source (pardon the pun) material are you planning to go with Black Mesa?

 

    Montero: As far as story goes, we are sticking to the original's storyline as closely as we can. However, there are lots of things that happen in the game that aren't quite so important to the storyline. Small NPC interactions, scripted sequences and the like are being reworked to live up to the standards set forth by the Source engine, with much more character and environment interaction, as well as more engaging and believable characters.

 

    As far as environments, we've all seen the screenshots thus far. The general ideas, visuals, and designs of areas are kept, but every area is receiving a vast visual upgrade, in terms of detail, believability, and realism. There is an extraordinary amount of effort put into defining each chapter visually, and into really nailing the essence of what that chapter was and breathing much more life into it.

Building on the strengths of Source (don't forget, multi-threaded, soon):

Planet Half-Life: What about AI? Will you use HL2's system to it's greatest extent or will you opt for something simpler?

 

    Montero: We will definitely be taking advantage of HL2's AI system to enhance the way our enemies move, think, and fight the player. We've put a lot of thought and planning into how we can utilize and build upon the HL2 AI to enhance each and every one of the enemies that the player will encounter.

And, the best bit I've read:

Planet Half-Life: Are there any major, original additions?

 

    Spencer Rose: Yes. In terms of level design, many new areas or sequences will be featured. These won't replace the original Half-Life areas, but rather will enhance upon them. Some of these additions or changes are noticeable in most of our level screenshots - Things look similar, but yet they are changed or different to look more realistic or logical. In terms of code, we have some interesting things up our sleeves, but we don't want to get into that just yet... expect more information on that as we get closer to our release.

(w00t)

it's strange that Valve haven't jumped on this before.. they could've made a lot of money if they'd updated the old game.. especially now, since the franchise have only gotten more popular..

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They did release Half-Life: Source, which did have some updated lighting and water effects.

 

I guess they decided against redoing models and whatnot, as the original versions held sentimental value or something to that effect. This was in conjunction with the idea that they'd like to move forward with the company, rather than remake old games.

 

 

As for the franchise only getting more popular, that may be true, but there sales of the original game are among the best all time for the PC.

but isn't their continued good sales due to CS?

 

anyway - at least someone is doing this! when I first saw the Half-Life: Source (not long ago) I thought they had remade it from scratch - and was quite dissapointed..

The original game still continued to sell after Counterstrike (and Day of Defeat) went retail.

Edited January 4, 200719 yr by alanschu

I too thought it was just HL:S, meh ill be sticking to my DoD and CS, yet to have acctually bought HL2, yeah ill get around to it, when I get out

This could very well turn out to be the best fps this year.

Suddenly, I feel the symptoms of nostalgia coming...

"

Well, I guess if you didn't like the first one enough to think it's worth replaying, then the updated graphics aren't going to entice you, now, are they?"

 

I liked it quite a lot, but I played it once already. Just changing the graphics is en't getting me excited.

Wait, didn't Valve actually do Half-LIfe 1 with Source?

Wait, didn't Valve actually do Half-LIfe 1 with Source?

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Yes, but it wasn't as complete a conversion as this Black Mesa thing.

 

This looks awesome. But will they do Opposing Force, too?

 

Hey Gorgon. What's up? Is Mistress Lair around? Y'know, you registered immediately after me... and it was almost 3 years ago now. Wow. Nostalgia alert.

 

And hey, Josh works at Obs now. Coolio, but you guys hurry up and make a game that ain't a sequel, eh?

 

Wish I had my original version of HL. My favourite FPS along with Deus Ex 1 and System Shock 2 and Giants: Citizen Kabuto.

 

Edited January 4, 200719 yr by Krezack