Some of you may have heard about the leaked Half-Life alpha released to the public a few years ago, which included early versions of some of the Half-Life levels- as well as items which never made it into the final game, such as cut chapters, cut weapons, cut enemies, and so on. Seeing Half-Life in its alpha state got me thinking: if Valve had stuck to what it had originally had in mind for Half-Life, what would Black Mesa look like then? How would the maps of the alpha look if redesigned in the more versatile Source engine and redesigned in a way that would make more logical sense? So I have decided to re-map the 15 alpha maps in the style of Black Mesa (they might not be quite as good, but I’m trying to bring them as close to Black Mesa quality as I can), adding in various improvements to them along the way. I might have a few questions about mapping, as I am not without areas in which I could use improvement. But enough introduction, let’s take a look of what I have in mind for this small project.
The Maps
[font=‘Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif’]If you were paying attention in my introduction, you’d know that this project involves re-mapping and improving the 15 maps released in the leaked alpha of Half-Life. However, this won’t be 100% loyal to the alpha, as many areas need improvement. Be it an issue with realistic design, or poor level design in general (some of the levels are somewhat mazelike, and I don’t want the player to be confused about where to go next), the alpha maps are in need of some serious work. You can also expect an improvement in continuity- some of the alpha maps had no clear connection to the next level. Most of these fixes won’t be too large, like a connection from the Security Complex’s C map to A map, or a connection from the end of Alien Research Labs to the start of Communications Center. However, I am planning to add an original C map to the first chapter (The Portal Device), which will establish a linkage between it and the Office Complex- as well as integrating two areas seen in early Half-Life concept art. Another thing that will have to be added to the maps is health and ammunition pickups. Since I’m not an expert on pickup placement, don’t hesitate to tell me your ideas on how I could improve the placement of items around the map. Furthermore, I am only planning to remake the maps included in the alpha at this point. If all goes well, I may also start mapping some of the chapters that were going to be in the alpha, but didn’t make it in (such as the early version of Blast Pit). Don’t count on anything at this point, but if I decide to work on the missing chapters, I’ll let you know. Finally, if you see something, and you think it needs improvement (or you just have an idea), tell me! I am fully open to your suggestions.
The Team
At this point, this is a one man project. However, if you think you can help me out, just tell me. I’m not setting a quota for team members, but I would say about 5 mappers maximum- one per chapter including me (Quick edit: It would probably also be a good idea to have people to run detail work on the maps), so it shouldn’t matter what your area of expertise is. And who knows? Maybe I’ll have a team, maybe I won’t. If I have a team, it would mean that this could be released sooner, but if I don’t have a team, I’ll manage. My only criteria is that you have a fair amount of knowledge of Hammer editor (that is, if you would like to help with the mapping). You don’t have to be phenomenally good at making maps (although if you are, that’s great!), just fairly good. It shouldn’t really matter how you ask me- ask on the post, send me a message, it doesn’t really make a difference. Just remember that if you are helping with mapping, I might feel it necessary to make some changes to your map- however, as good teamwork goes, you can also make changes to the maps I make, should you find it necessary. But hey, that’s how development works. If the black mesa team can properly work together, I don’t see why we shouldn’t be able to (okay, there might be a few reasons why we might not be able to get along, but I’m hoping that we won’t have to deal with them).
The Release
I can’t say much for a release date around now- it all depends on who’s working on it, as well as motivation. However, I will say that you can expect a release in two parts- the first part will feature chapters 1-3, and the second part will feature chapters 8-10 (as for chapters 4-7,as I said earlier, it will depend on how well the rest of it works out). At this point, my plan is to finish working on the first part before moving on to the second part. However, that plan might change depending on the number of people working on the project. If I’m nearing a release, I’ll let you know.
Hope that wasn’t too long. Let me know what you think, and I’ll get back to you (someday).[/font]
or in your case, “implement the alpha levels in Black Mesa”).
