Black Mesa: Critical Mass

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#41

Chapter 2 features:

Chapter 2: Silencer
Chapter 2 can potentially be split into two sections (Focal Point + Silencer)
-Weapons introduced: Martial arts, baton, glock w/silencer (Focal Point). Magnum, shotgun, dual wield glock (Silencer).
-Enemies introduced: Headcrabs, zombies, barnacles, bullsquids, houndeyes (Focal Point). Scientists (armed/unarmed), Barneys, security turrets, retrofitted loader boss (Silencer).
-Player awakens and finds himself in the underground warehouse from Worlds Collide, which is the primary black ops staging area. The operatives are currently setting up shop and are awaiting further reinforcements.
-Team leader has you make your way up the warehouse to the surface where you rendez-vous w/Jacobs (male) and Santos (female) who will escort you to the facility in Silencer.

  • Functionally, Focal Point will be a cross between the Hazard Course and Residue Processing. Players will receive a lump sum of glock ammo at the beginning and very little afterwards, which will force them to melee in many parts against simple enemies. This will help the players get accustomed to the martial arts and baton mechanics and ammo budget for difficult targets (e.g. bullsquids).
    -The warehouse will be themed like Residue Processing with conveyer belts, jump puzzles etc. to teach players basic movement mechanics. There will also be many destructible crates for baton testing.
    -Once on the surface, Jacobs and Santos will accompany you through an outdoor area to the facility and fill in some of the backstory. Jacobs is a bit of a wisecracker but a valuable ally who accompanies you throughout Silencer. His role is similar to that of Alyx in Ep.1. Santos is a no-nonsense hacker who will provide you with intel during the mission.
    -Along the way, you will witness the satellite launched by Gordon.
    -The theme of the building in Silencer is that of a loader manufacturing plant and a radioactive waste packaging facility (for future transport to the Residue Processing plant).
    -Early in the mission, you will eliminate several Barneys and unarmed scientists with your fellow operatives. However, Santos later discovers that your actions have been caught on camera and warns you that you will likely face heavier opposition within the facility (e.g. armed scientists). She places the facility under lockdown while you and Jacobs eliminate all personnel.
    -At the end of the chapter, you will face a loader retrofitted w/security turrets and a modified TOW launcher. This loader cannot be destroyed with conventional weapons and the player will be forced to seek an environmental solution. The loader will chase you as you crawl through vents and ladders and Jacobs is ultimately killed while providing cover fire. Ultimately, you destroy the loader by dropping beams on top of it.
    -Santos then unlocks the facility and tells you to travel to the Questionable Ethics complex for a data retrieval mission. She meets up with her team in Lambda Core.
#42

That’s a pretty cool idea, but facility dedicated entirely to loaders seems oddly specific. They strike me as the sort of thing that would be manufactured by a different business from Black Mesa.

#43

It seems like a lot to dump on the player in the second chapter.

What exactly do you mean by “loader?”

#44

The machine that almost crashes into Freeman’s tram at the leak just before Sector C in Inbound? The thing that Shephard has to allow movement to to pass in one of the chapters? The thing that in Freeman’s Mind, the reaction is “OH COOL A ROBOT! Robots are the only friends I need.”

#45

Oh! My mind skipped.
I dunno, it seems kinda like a thing Black Mesa might manufacture… somewhere.

#46

“canonical”? how could this be canonical

#47

He means it doesn’t conflict with the established lore. Even that of OP4, which is “ambiguously canon” in that it’s to be assumed true unless it conflicts.

#48

So is this moving forward?
The chapter specifics haven’t been updated yet

#49

BUMP

Because, come on, this is too good to fall within time!

#50

Hah, thanks for the bump Serza. The reason why I haven’t been writing for the last few days is because I spent all of my time on the OaR pitch bible and my eyes are fucking exhausted. If you guys want something to read, you can find what I wrote here: https://forums.blackmesasource.com/showthread.php?t=15754… there’s a TON of content in the 2nd-3rd post and in my last post. Some of this stuff is pretty technical and maybe hard to understand if you haven’t played HL OaR in a while, but it should be a fun read w/lots of cool pictures and schematics. It will give you a good idea as to how I think, break maps down and design levels (even though I have no experience whatsoever). Similarly, I wrote lots of shit for Text re: ST_Uncut which you can find in that thread. It gets a little hairy at the end lol but there’s lots of content there.

I still owe Crypt’s team a Hazard Course pitch bible which I’ll probably do before this project but I’ll get back to this eventually. Re some of what’s been said:

It all depends on how you envision my second chapter…if it’s small then yeah perhaps, but I envision it as pretty large. Keep in mind that everything is currently just in the concept stage…who knows if this will ever get anywhere. Ideally, I’d like to split Silencer into 2 chapters but it would depend on how the ambitious modders are. As for loader, someone already posted a good explanation as to what they are.

Nothing that I wrote interferes w/HL lore. It would be better than OpFor in terms of canon because I’m not planning on incorporating Race X, which I personally believe is the ONLY reason why Valve doesn’t consider this game canon.

Again, everything is in the concept planning stages. It doesn’t have to be a “manufacturing facility,” just an area w/loaders, such as a storage warehouse for stuff that’s bound for transport to Residue Processing or an intermediate radioactive waste processing facility for an experimental reactor.

In terms of content for this pitch bible, I do have a little over 1/2 of the chapters planned out in my head and what new enemies to introduce. I just have to put it down on paper.

#51

Y’see, you’re the good kind of idea guy. You’ll write a freakin’ essay as well as the story itself for the mod/game, which is awesome. I can imagine a type of “garage” where loaders and parts are stored. Maybe not manufacturing per se, but definitely with lots of large machinery assembling them, or something. As soon as you’re done offering every mod that pops up on the forums shit tons of advice you should definitely get around to assembling a team for this project. It sounds fun and interesting.

#52

Now THIS… is the kind of effort I wanna see from mod makers

Founded in 2004, Leakfree.org became one of the first online communities dedicated to Valve’s Source engine development. It is more famously known for the formation of Black Mesa: Source under the 'Leakfree Modification Team' handle in September 2004.