Half-Life is 20! - Xen Trailer!

Black Mesa Archive News & Developer Updates
#41

21 (years) go into 1 (game). Hmmmm :huh:

I am curious. Will the release of Xen come with any additions or improvements to the rest of the game?

And, holy crap that trailer. That trailer was absolutely amazing, and it has me incredibly excited.

#42

I’m a bit curious. Is the team (or part of the team) intending to stay together after Black Mesa? Just wondering whether you brilliant people have any plans for other games in the future.

#43

“We’ve been rather busy in your absence, Mister Freeman.”

Color me impressed. As a jaded gamer and hardcore fanboi that’s never 100% happy about anything… this is about the most legit thing I have ever seen.

I still hear this music in my head though :slight_smile:

#44

it will come with more pizzas

#45

I legit screamed with excitement. I’m SO hyped it’s not even funny. AMAZING WORK EVERYBODY!!!

#46

Amazing trailer, love the old Xen vibe with the exotic new look.

Looking forward to Q2 2019

#47

Eh, now I just wonder three things…

  1. From the trailer we can see Xen has a very high completion degree, but why you guys still need over half a year to finish it, what does it lack exactly?

  2. And for the Q2 2019 release, is it a formal release or a beta release?

  3. At last, I’m curious about what the system specs do you use in the trailer? Will it be higher than the current system requirement? I’m afraid I can’t run the Xen part in the highest effect at that time.

Thanks! Keep up your hard & amazing work, CC!

#48

The team intend to stick together post BMS and work on something new and original.

  1. The trailer exclusively shows ONLY the Xen chapter and the first map of Gonarch. Nothing else is shown. The other stuff is less finished, though most of it is in the art phase at this point. We will provide a more detailed per-chapter breakdown of our progress in December.

  2. Not sure yet.

  3. Xen may end up requiring slightly higher than our current system specs, we’re not sure yet. We have a significant chunk of early 2019 blocked out for optimising our assets, engine and maps. We’ll have a better idea then. Current Xen maps run on par or slightly worse than the ST:U maps, but the ST:U maps had extensive optimisation passes and were SIGNIFICANTLY less detailed than Xen. So that’s a good sign, most likely.

#49

That is great to hear!
I have a small question regarding the music in the trailer - is it one of the new Xen tracks by Joel Nielsen or was it made exclusively for the trailer? Either way, it’s really good!

#50

It’s a new song from Joel Nielsen, made for the trailer. He’s doing all the Xen music/sound, as always. It could never have been anyone else!

#51
  1. I almost cried. Fantastic work, everybody. I can’t wait to see the finished product.
  2. That music! Joel, as always, you are a master. It never ceases to amaze me how good you are at what you do.
  • (Though sadly, the song gives me Hunt Down the Freeman flashbacks, mostly because of the vocals. When I hear it, part of my brain is seeing that cringe-ass HDTF prologue. Solution: Probably to just never watch any part of HDTF ever again, and when those Xen levels come out, to play them until the association switches. Those both sound like good ideas anyway. :stuck_out_tongue: )
  1. Only real criticism: The Gonarch looks kind of…bad. Not graphically bad; stylistically bad. It just doesn’t look much like good ol’ Gonarch to me. It’s mostly the sac; it just looks wrong somehow.
  2. What’s up with those houndeyes? Are they on steroids or something? Not that it’s necessarily a bad thing — honestly, they look pretty cool, and it’s dope as hell to see a houndeye going up against a bullsquid! In all, it’s quite exciting to see this houndeye variation. I just hope there will be something in-game that explains/justifies it.
  3. Did I mention that I can’t wait to see the finished product? Seriously, looking at the environments, the details… I can hardly believe my eyes! Such beauty. This is basically a game unto itself.
#52

Awesome! Seeing as the song was made specifically for the trailer and isn’t featured anywhere else in Xen, do you reckon that there is a chance that he will upload this track to his YouTube channel or website sometime in the future? I’d love to have a version without the trailer’s SFX!

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#53

In Half-Life’s Xen, Valve expanded the range of headcrab enemies to showcase their life cycle (babies and Gonarch). This may be something similar, as the exploding houndeyes look quite small and the knockback houndeye is about the size of a bullsquid. I guess we’ll find out next spring!

#54

I woke up to this today. Rise and shine, Mr. Freeman indeed. Excellent work, ladies and gents!

#55

How long were you asleep?

#56

Hey, there’s an idea! Maybe you’re right!

And hah, I didn’t even notice there were two variants shown. Man, it’ll be cool to see multiple types of houndeyes! Can’t wait!

#57

Cooler if valve later uses them in another half life game and counts black mesa as canon. But who am I kidding valve no longer makes games.

#58

First bug report of Xen:
When the tentacle impales the bullsquid at 1:04, the illumination of the area changes. Some green fog gets applied to the level.

#59

I really like what I’ve seen so far. It looks a lot more interesting and varied than the original levels were - well worth the wait in my opinion. Keep up the great work!

#60

Are there any Xen in Engine Wallpapers?

If not, Would you kindly release some?

Awesome work.

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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.