Black Mesa Source

[Bjossi]

Duke Nukem did go gold, in the end.

 

Also keep in mind that 3DR were an incompetent developer and couldn't do in 14 years what a competent developer could have done in 3-4 years or even less. The BM team is a group of volunteers, it was obviously going to take a while to remake an entire, big commercial game from scratch.

[Koockaburra101]

What I have a hard time understanding is that they actually said it would be out before the end of 2009 a few months before it arrived. Does anyone know what happened for it to take so much longer? I understand estimates can be off, but it seems unlikely there could be such a large gap between expectations and reality without something big happening in that time.

[Blue]

What I have a hard time understanding is that they actually said it would be out before the end of 2009 a few months before it arrived. Does anyone know what happened for it to take so much longer? I understand estimates can be off, but it seems unlikely there could be such a large gap between expectations and reality without something big happening in that time.

Such as an Engine update.

 

If it weren't so far along, I bet they'd delay it again to support the new 2011 architecture alongside Portal 2. However as it stands, the actual SDK update for 2011 has yet to be released and what little we do know about it is still in Beta (see Portal 2 Authoring Tools).

[Bjossi]

Not to mention that Valve have a tendency to break stuff with each update. Raminator on BM forums said that the newest SDK (2009?) does not support their custom shaders.

[someguy101]

I think DN:F will come out first- oh wait.

[Blightmare]

 

I wouldn't mind it so much if you'd actually said something useful.

[Pinkie Pie]

There are several reasons why there's such a large gap after 2009. But the biggest is - they just didn't make it. They apologized and regretted it, but they missed their deadline. In light of this, they decided that next time they set a release, they'll DAMN well make it. And because they felt so bad, they decided to look over their - almost - finished project and realized, there was a lot they could improve on. So that's basically what they're doing. Some levels were completely redone, different changes were made, and along with this they decided to release frequent updates and media like most other mods. In doing so however, they came to a startling realization - people bitched. Not the people who complained about them not making the release date though, their anger was justified. It was the idiots who complained about other stuff. For example, their YouTube channel had videos of them just testing mechanics, and, while this should've been APPRECIATED, people bitched that they weren't 'good enough' to be uploaded, like they deserved and earned 'better' videos. It got to be so bad that eventually, the BM team resorted to their year or so long silence. However, their forums are still being used and they even had a recent Steamcast.

 

But basically, the only hints I've seen of release are that it'll be released two weeks after the soundtrack (note that the soundtrack went gold some months ago) and that they're somewhere between 50 and 100%. What percentage exactly even the devs don't know. And that's all we're getting until it's released. However, they do answer questions on the forums. (though almost every question has been asked at least once)

[mehdawg654]

My biggest worry about Black Mesa Source is: Will it be amazing throughout, or a hodge-podge of varying qualities of work?

 

I'm afraid it won't mesh right.

[Chuckthe2nd]

[Alyxx Thorne]

I've lost interest in the mod by now, to be honest. HL1 is fine as it is even on the GoldSrc engine. I don't see why there is need to remake it.

 

Basically I see it as a total waste of time and resources on something that's not even their own property and idea, instead of making something new and original, like Rewolf attempted with the Gunman Chronicles mod.

 

I don't need mindblowing graphics to play HL1. Maybe the graphics whores out there who can't look at a game unless it's Battlefield 3 or Crysis want it, but for me, it just seems completely worthless.

[Pinkie Pie]

I hate to say it but that attitudes kinda short-sighted. They didn't start the project just so Half-Life can have better graphics, they did it so they could relive Half-Life in a way that Valve might've done, had they had the Source engine back then, and it really shows. It's not just better graphics, it's better everything, redoing levels that don't make sense, even cutting out parts that don't really matter and adding new stuff in. This isn't Half-Life: Source with better graphics, this is something new entirely.

[Alyxx Thorne]

Well... so far all I've seen are some screenshots of unfinished levels that look like prettier carbon copies of the original HL1 and tons of promises.

 

The whole thing seems dead to me.

[BTGBullseye]

It's the difference between a level with a texture of something in an odd position on a wall, and a level with a an object set against the wall in a logical manner.

 

It's an increase in detail without losing the wider picture, and it does look to be extremely fun if they ever finish it.

Edited March 21, 2012 by Guest (see edit history)

[Chuckthe2nd]

You might could call it "Half Life: Director's Cut Edition". They're just translating the original game to appeal to a more modern audience (read: sub-15 year old graphics nuts). And like Pinkie said, they're taking all the little things that were potentially irritating in the original, and fixing/streamlining them. Not to mention, I personally still think it's pretty neat to see a 2012-quality recreation of Half Life, if only from a graphical standpoint. Even if Black Mesa can't live up to the original, it'll still be cool to see what these guys have done with it.

[Pinkie Pie]

I think it will, and more. I mean, the guy who's doing G-Man and the security guard voices ALONE tell me this is gonna be amazing.

 

I also find it hilarious that almost every Source mod I see on Moddb there's always a comment with a thousand likes that says 'Fuck Black Mesa THIS IS WHERE IT'S AT' then maybe after a month with no updates from the new mod, that same person says 'Dead' or something similar. It just blows my mind how impatient and naive people are.

[Kirkreng]

To be fair small mods with usually unorganized teams can often break up out of nowhere, so making sure followers of that mod know development is still going is a lot more important than on a big budget AAA title. Something, in my opinion, the Black Mesa crew have failed to do.

[Alyxx Thorne]

My main problem is that I fear they are just making empty promises, and promises they won't be able to deliver on. Without a good project leader you're going to end up with a lot of internal problems during development.

[BTGBullseye]

They have had a lot of problems already, but they are still making some progress.

[mehdawg654]

Meh.

 

All I really ask for is a half-competent remake of Half-Life, and from the metric ass-ton of screenshots that got leaked, that's apparently what I'm getting.

[Alyxx Thorne]

I really dislike the model designs of the characters, especially the scientists. It really doesn't look anything like the original designs. The weapon designs are quite good however.