I understand that some might be worried, I’m not going to lie I’ve been there myself. As this is a project made by people all around the globe in their spare time I think it’s really hard to set any specific date until you’re 100% sure it will be done by that date. Imagine everything that unexpectedly can interrupt the pace of the process.
You summed it up pretty good. This is also a reason why they chose the silent approach after the 2009 delay.
My vote is that the mod was actually finished a year ago. Raminator just hates the community so much that he/she killed the rest of the devs and enjoys tormenting the community around the only HL1 conversion in existence.
And I know dozens of other mods with the same level of content as BMS that were released after at most two years. Hell, I was still in high school when I heard about this game.
Personally (I know I’m not a dev. If you feel the need to point that out to me for stating an opinion, you’re an idiot) I’d have released the mod and then worked on adding polish. They’re treating it as if the mechwarrior living legends team were wanting to wait until it was absolutely perfect before releasing it. Beta tests abound, I’m glad I can play it, even if it’s missing some polish right now.
Same goes for mektek. and firearms source. And fakefactory’s cinematic mod for HLII (they’ve finished all of hlII, ep 1 AND ep 2 by now)
I still check back here occasionally out of habit, but I lost all hope that this mod would be finished two years ago. I just can’t imagine the devs beavering away and not wanting any praise for showing their work. Screenshots of completed zones are tits. Just add spoiler tags.
I am not exaggerating if I say that Black Mesa is to me the most anticipated game ever. A free mod, can you guys believe that? I’ve learned one thing the past five years I’ve been around here and that is good things comes to those who wait.
This isn’t about life or death. The dev team make a really good job with this and they choose to go with this approach, fine. Let’s hope that we soon will see some indicators that it’s really coming. That’s all we can do for now. Meanwhile let’s show these guys some appreciation, I think both parts would profit from that.
I honestly just wish that people would vacate these forums so that BMS can rest in peace. Think about it. The one thing the remaining members of the BMS community can proactively do is just leave it be and go on without another thought about it. The only light on in this house is the forums, turn it off, and the project can finally fade away as a fond memory. BMS currently only exists as a fantasy in the mind of anyone who thinks there are people actively working to bring this project to life.
There are no new screenshots because there’s nothing to take screenshots of. There are no new news posts because there is nothing to talk about. The devs have split up, moved on to another project, or have indeed become ‘too busy’. Just because noone has formally come up and said ‘yeah parties over’ does not mean its still alive. It does perplex me though that not one head in the BMS developers circle thought to release the source before abandoning the project because everyone would love to have it.
So, if the forum activity were to dip down to 0 (assuming it hasn’t) for the next few months I’m sure someone apart of the BMS staff will think to do something whether that be close the site down for good, release the source, or whatever. Its the only thing the community can do now. Unless you still consider waiting an option.
Troll ?
Just ignore him and he will fade away. There are enough evidences which prove that his statement is wrong.
Whether there are people here anxiously waiting for the mod to be released, or people complaining that the mod hasn’t been released yet, they will still be working to complete it.
The difference is that a positive environment will drive them to complete the mod, while a negative one will only slow things down. And it’s not like you paid to be on this forum or anything, so stop your complaining already.
This was posted a week or so back. So yea, still happnin.
On topic: The Wireds Vaporware awards makes me laugh, Spiderman Broadway show was the best, it’s not even related to computing. Made me lol.
Or C: They don’t want to announce a date in case they miss it. Like with the 2009 update, you know.
I’d rather have a buggy release with the occasional antigravity headcrab or lip-syncing untextured Gman that simply gets updates to the release (doesn’t even need to be patches. I’ll gladly reinstall every time) than the method that was chosen.
Like I said, a good comparison to BMS is mechwarrior living legends. Making that mod took massive community involvement, and they released it imperfect, with an “alpha” tag. Then a “beta” tag. NOBODY complains about a lack of polish, because it’s slowly getting there with updates.
Why is the dev team so small? There are thousands upon thousands of skilled developers who would love to work on this mod, and I’m sure if they really cared about a release, they’d be able to drum up a few hundred developers all on precisely the same brainwave at planethalflife or the like.
It’s like everyone who waited for christinamodel to show her boobs. By the time it eventually happened, nobody cared anymore. Bad news is better than no news.
um… look at past developers too. perhaps not thousands, but there are plenty of hands involved in this project.
troll content exposed
Mythical man month. Check it out. Increasing the number of devs for a project that’s scaled across the globe does not inherently make it get done faster.
And know you know why managers stepped in,to make sure thing get done on time,even if it means cutting things loose and making crappy games…this mod still has time to launch before hlaf-life 3,afterwords…well i am not sure people will care anymore 
.You best start hurrying guys .
Holy crap, you turned it into poetry.
No. No, I couldn’t disagree more. MechWarrior is a multiplayer mod. It’s expected to be imperfect and need balance and tweaks.
Black Mesa is all about recapturing the magic and wonder of experiencing Half-Life for the first time. Sure you could play it as a buggy, unfinished mess. And replay it successively as it got better. But by that time the novelty and mystery would be gone, never to return again. And constantly checking online to see if it’s good yet before you play would be spoiler hell.
When I play Black Mesa, I want a Valve level of polish and mastery to suck me in and immerse me in the game world.
Don’t release this thing until it’s done, and done right. I’m just concerned for when that day will come and if they’re on the right track.
Agreed. I don’t think most of us would still be monitoring the progress of this project if we didn’t agree on some level.
In a way it’s great for any mod/development to get free publicity in almost any form and although “Vaporware” does lean towards negative publicity at least it stands a chance of getting a few more people talking about it. In fact it’s what caused me to come and check out these forums after so many months.
To be honest the article is flawed in so many ways to make it appear far worse than it actually is (Talking about delays, gaps in development etc.) I am hoping to see the game in action this year and I would imagine there are hundreds of people out there that would love to see it too but regardless of the time it takes to release I will be happy to wait knowing that at the end there is a FREE remake release of my all time favourite game.
And as a sidenote XCIV, you are right that the community is keeping this mod alive, but I hope this is because the dev team don’t have the time to do so, and mods like this need the support of a good community to thrive. Therefore walking away in mass is really not a good idea…
Hundreds? I’d say thousands, if not more.
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.