Bingo. The whole point is that the Lambda Complex is still mostly operational, if infested with aliens.
Also, being clean and bright gives it a sense of being on the cutting edge/very high tech/ new. In contrast, the Anomalous Materials lab looks older/more well-used.
It’s not like their first priority would be to ‘mess up the place’ and ‘knock out the lights’ - Especially considering a lot of the aliens where Xen wildlife!!
I do believe Black Mesa is too darkish… but that’s just me.
From looking at the screenshots, I would say that they have the atmosphere just right for their respective chapters.
Except for some of the screenshots for Topside, which could use a better skybox. I’m betting that’s been fixed by now, though, since there was already a discussion about it.
Theres always the brightness option to modify how YOU want to see it…
^win
I remember the main opponents in the Lambda Complex being Alien Grunts and Alien Slaves, critters like Headcrabs played a minor role…
Of course, the LC should stand in contrast to the Anomalous Materials Labs, being much more modern and “polished”, but still there should be more obvious signs that recently something went really wrong - more damage done by weapons/explosions, human and maybe even some alien blood/corpses around the place etc. . And even in the most modern facility not all lights have to be switched on all the time…
Well, I was using exaggeration to make a point. With regards to more corpses I’m all for that as a-salves and a-grunts seem to focus on killing people, and the RC started in the morning there would have been plenty of staff around. In terms of damage to the facility, I think what appeared in the original HL was adequate.
If you think about the whole of the game for damage, Sector C was badly affected surrounding the test chamber, presumably a direct effect of the RC. As you move away from Sector C the facility is in a much better state until the air strikes begin on certain parts of the facility. When you get to the LC, as it’s deep underground it appears unaffected by any air strikes, and it is some distance from the test chamber and there are no soldiers to be seen, if the aliens are concentrating on killing rather than destroying then there damage to the facility would be minimal.
Just the way I see it anyway. At the end of the day though, it is a game, and what matters most is game play, and from that perspective only the Devs can make decisions which affect how a chapter looks, plays and feels.
^You guys do remember that in the original Lambda Complex there were plenty of areas that were blown up, or otherwise strewn with carnage, right? The images on the media section are mainly select locations that show a good representation of the revamped architecture/look for the chapter, there’s still plenty that we’ve yet to see.
Ballsopt makes a good point. If I remember correctly, there is a place where you’re walking down a hall and the hall caves in, and you have to crawl through it, it was the orange side of the L.S.
Aye, I was trying to speak relative to other areas of the facility, but didn’t explain it that well despite a mini-wall of text, and now you mention it there is actually more damage than I’d remembered 
I don’t even know how we went to damage anyway, I only wanted to say how awesome the lighting looks in the LC screens 
Edit: And for that matter in all the screenshots!
That’s a thought - I wonder if there are any rooms or areas in the game where the light is turned on by sensor. I’ve seen it used to great effect in a game or film - the player rounds a corner or opens a door to a pitch black room and a light flickers slowly before suddenly buzzing to life. Hense a horrific scene that beholds them… or not, if you want to add some bathos.
Using light switches is also an underused tool to create tension. I realise that Gordon has the light on his suit, but I’m thinking of the area in Blue Shift where the player switches the light on in a dark room and discovers the executed scientists - good stuff. For some reason, such a simple act of turning on a lightswitch in a game adds a small but important level of interactivity. If the player feels like they can control something so small but so noticeable as a lightswitch, it feels far more like they are there.
I hope they do that, Floyd!
Floyd often has great ideas
Floyd is a pretty cool guy.
eh makes cool ideas and doesn’t afraid of anything
Floyd wins this thread.
I couldn’t agree more- as long as the lightswitch has an animation and isn’t some flat texture. Much more cool, and more immersive.
When you first get there, the scientist says ‘every other entrance has been sealed off to contain the invasion,’ so it makes sense that it would be less dilapidated.
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.
