In BMDM, I think that it would be a great idea to have some sort of game mode based on TF2’s “Mann vs. Machine” mode, where a team of players fights against waves of HECU/Aliens. Possibly, like in MVM, the players could get “money” with each kill which lets them buy powerups (possibly health packs and ammo?). The objective would be to either to survive all waves and/or prevent the HECU from reaching an objective (maybe killing scientists that you are protecting).
Thoughts?
Maybe as a mod, but I can’t see anything like this happening officially.
Sounds like an awesome plan! I wish you good luck with this fun project. 
If keeping it in-universe is any concern at all, it’d make sense for players to be marines playing against a horde of aliens. Or guards, at any rate. If not, I guess a HLDM-style random mix of scientists, guards, G-mans, Gordons and gun-toting zombies would do.
But honestly, if the devs are going to bother to do something as elaborate as this and not only a deathmatch, it wouldn’t hurt it to give it some in-universe context (as TF2 did with MvM), and make it Marines vs a horde of Aliens (or Guards against a horde of Marines or Aliens, but I think that’s stretching it a bit.)
A horde mode can be a difficult thing to do, though, with many new systems to be developed. But even a simple thing would do: “Players are marines, the objective is to stay alive as long as possible, here is some infinite ammo crates, and right there is the spawn-point of the aliens. Have fun.”
Oh, I love this mode in Team Fortress!
It would be fantastic if someone was able to do the similar thing within the Black Mesa game. It would be much more serious here, of course. But even more enjoyable still
Yeah, once DM comes out I might look into creating a game mode like that. I don’t have much experience in Source, but I do have a decent amount of experience in other engines. It depends on how a game mode is created for DM.
On second thought, do you think this could be possible with singleplayer? Hmm.
They probably won’t use up their development time for this, but at least the singleplayer enemies should be compatible with multiplayer and then somebody can make a coop mode, just like Cooperation against aliens or puzzle maps on HL2DM (BTW I have nostalgic feelings about playing that game, was so good T_T)
Well, it could be like the Left for Dead games or Alien Swarm, if you want to do it that way. You CAN play cooperatively with other people, but otherwise it’s just you and a bunch of NPCs.
…Against the world, ya know. :freeman:
i don’t really get this…bots/npc’s are so far below human opponents in terms of intelligence and predictability, seem to me it would get pretty boring after a few plays. Mind you, I never liked L4D either
That’s why it is about putting a small, tactically-positioned human team against a HORDE of AI. If it’s too easy, just add more enemies. It’s lazy design, and putting in a horde mode is pretty much jumping on an easy bandwagon… but hell, it is a fun game mode.
To fit the game into the Half-Life story and give it a sense of progression, without actually spinning a narrative with unique maps and objectives and characters, you could have the alien spawns gradually increase in number and strength (possibly using a Left 4 Dead Director-esque AI), and have audio files programmed in for a central radio, which correspondingly gets gradually less calm.
Well, remember the scene in Forget About Freeman or Surface Tension (I forget which one) where they keep cranking out troops until you blow up the helicopter? If you don’t get rid of the copter right away, that stage is friggin’ HARD. What if we expanded on that idea, and had strategic “entry points” for the HECU to get dropped in.
I also like the idea of aliens slowly pushing out the HECU, as well as the players. To tie in with the story, I guess the aliens would eventually kill the players, ending the round and conquering that section of BMRF.
…Don’t do that. That would be a horrible way of ending it. Just… don’t.
I don’t mean in cutscene form or anything, just except it would be a “survive as long as you can” type thing instead of “survive XX waves.”
After fifty waves, three Gargantuas get spawned.
VOX: GOOD. LUCK. PLAYERS.
That’s 'a way tah dew it!
Serious idea or not, it’s actually a pretty decent one…
Why not let the ‘regular’ waves drop energy cells (of some sort), so that you can charge up some kind of generators or tesla coils at the end, to kill the final wave (the Gargantuas).
This would ‘encourage’ players to collect the drops, to be able to finish the final wave, as well…
Don’t let the Gargs spawn all at once - one after another or spawn one, then the other two.
The coils could also have downtimes, so after they’ve killed one of the 3, they need to recharge (0%-100%).
This’s just an idea, though - probably unoriginal, but I’m sure pretty much any of you come up with better ones. 
Almost doesn’t sound repetitive, I know…
Variation could help this problem, much like in MVM.
(Spawn a ‘buffed’ enemy every now and then, etc.)
Yeah, a “boss” type wave at the end would be pretty awesome. Gargantuas are tough though, because all of the Gargantua death sequences are scripted (at least I am pretty sure they are). We would need to come up with something that was scripted, but would be a different experience every time.
The generators sound pretty scripted to me. Just like the escapes in the Left 4 Dead games.
Yeah, except the gargantuas don’t really have much variety in them, which doesn’t pose much of a challenge after the 3rd, 4th, 5th time going through the map.
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.