There are a lot more shadows and a lot less general illumination in the mod’s rendition of Black Mesa.
I was watching the media when I realized it. There’s black everywhere, in contrast to the original Black Mesa.
Was this made in order to make the game scarier? Maybe it was for realism…?
Maybe it was a better engine?
Realism mainly. They’re utilizing a technology capable of handling such things. I also take it as artistic license as that’s what’s more appealing to most people.
Source engine allows them to render environments realisticly, in the sense where BMRF will make…Sense.
Be thankful there isn’t a brown overlay ontop of it all.
:3 color correction win.
There is no colour correction in the mod either.
I believe that was a reference to “real is brown.”
The Lambda Labs are even way too illuminated (and clean), as far as I can tell from the screenshots… at least for a place overrun by aliens.
This.
I have to say, I really like how OAR’s lighting is looking in particular, the darkness adds a much more claustrophobic look to the tunnels. Big improvement from that static blue lighting that didn’t even look dark in goldsrc.
I personally love the lighting in the Lambda Labs in the released screens… gives the impression of a relatively new facility doing cutting edge research 
!
Also ^ The OAR lighting is awesome too
I love the new illumination/shadows.
It gives a much greater feeling for the ambience of the game.
It’s not like the HL1 engine isn’t capable of making similar lighting, it’s just that at the time, compiling such complex lighting would take a lot more time than it takes with today’s computers and so the idea was to keep it simple and well lit overall, so as to save development time.
IMO.
Its a more advanced engine which means a better lighting system and more detail in the environments which both contribute to more shadows.
I love it.
It’s a conspiracy :freeman:
But now that you mention it…
The Lambda Complex looks too HL-ish. I mean, yeah, it’s a high-tech complex, but it’s overrun by aliens, right?
Exactly… unless the aliens were running really carefully or belonged to a janitor race with a sense of order and cleanliness…
Guys of COURSE its dark.
ITS BLACK MESA.
Hurr hurr.
I like the way the Lambda Complex is. It gives me a sort of “Hey, this part of the facility is still operating” feeling.
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.