None of the thumbnails show…
(I was saying something about the images themselves working and not working, but they appear to be working now)
I can see them.
Also, I was wandering through the Hazard Course today, and took some images.
What I’m picking out are small details, I’m not saying this has to be a complete copy of HL1’s Hazard Course, but I’m just picking them out.
I hope we can have subtitles in Hazard Course, I spoke to Chris, and this seems likely.
Sounds, a lot of them are going to be recreated, so we need to speak about that when the time comes, which is still quite a while away.
I never noticed this scientist before today, I originally looked at him so fast that I thought it was the Gman, but then when I went back to have a proper look, it seems that it’s a scientist examining you.
The images were broken cuz the files were still uploading. (you guys are quick!) All should be well now.
That might explain it ^^
I’ve been going over the first map quite closely, and have concepts drawn up for the first 3 rooms; just need to get them uploaded. I also have the reasoning behind those concepts if you really want to hear it.
I hope that the “signal your suit to make a duck jump” line has been changed b/c it kind of breaks the fourth wall
Yeah, found that line a bit odd… Then again, you’re still telling the player to be pressing keys, so you’re bending the limits either way.
IMO, it should be able to actually help players who are new to HL2 and BM, but obviously updated to reflect the capabilities of source, ie the box pushing puzzle is kind of redundant and needs to be updated to fit in with the ability to hold and stack objects. As most people are playing it for fun/nostalgia factor they won’t worry about learning how to duck or jump, but it’s important to cater for the new players too.
Perhaps a physics puzzle demonstration? Assuming you have a physics puzzle in BM…
Better without definitely. You might be able to get away with quiet ambient music, but the whole point of the HC is that it’s a normal day in a relatively normal facility. There’s no suspense or fear there. I’d say go nuts with the ambient sounds though - the facility needs to feel alive, so ambient machinery noises could almost replace any music.
I agree - a push / pull a crate puzzle wouldn’t be taking full advantage of what the source engine brings and what will be present in BM. And while it will be played mostly by people who have played these games before it must still be capable of teaching new players.
Basically “^ this”
Does someone want to have a go at devising a way of teaching the more advanced physics?
Edit: I know I’ve got some PMs to reply to - I haven’t forgotten you 
lol
Something I just thought of, it might be kinda cool to put Gman somewhere in an out-of-the-way observation post talking with a scientist or watching you through the glass.
I see what you mean, but like in HL1, when you put on your suit, music started playing, so unless the scientists are hippies that integrated music players into the HEV suit, then it seems music can be played in various environments.
I agree with the machinery sounds though.
It can but that doesn’t mean that it should. The music played when you put the HEV suit on was only used in Anomalous Materials, not the Hazard Course itself. As far as I can remember there’s no music whatsoever in the HC, because it’s a training exercise, not the actual game itself.
Yeah, true. I know what you mean.
What I was thinking was something along the lines of an introductory song. Maybe some ambience in the background, but mainly machinery.
I’d say no music, but ambient sounds all the way. The atmosphere should be that of a working facility and just another day on the job.
Also I think we need more doors around the course, especially where the suit is, the long jump module, and key areas that may need to be accessed for maintenance etc. Otherwise, how are the staff supposed to maintain the course and equipment in and around it, and what if you were injured, how could they come to your aid?
The sections with the pipes, the jumping and the crouching, the observation area should probably be done as a single control room, not as four separate rooms. There’s also what appears to be an observation platform running along the outside of the glass in those stages, perhaps a door should be added to make it accessible to the staff?
I always thought of the HC as the place where all of the R&D was done on the HEV suit which would have been done years ago when it was first designed. The reason it looks the way it does is no additional funding has been provided for maintaining the test facility and now it is just used for new recruits to get use to using the HEV.
So there is no reason why it has to be haphazardly thrown together or just as unused space that someone said ok this will work. It would have originally been constructed to put the wearer and the suit thorough it paces. Once the design was approved and production began the funding was cut for maintaining the test facility. The facility is now only been marginally maintained by a small team of maintenance guys that have been forced to improvise repairs.
Originally I see the course as being constructed similar to concepts show in Portal. Only now paint is chipping metal is rusting and stuff is breaking down. I think with Black Mesa’s earlier projects no expense would have been spared. I get the feeling that through mismanagement and poor business decision are what got Black Mesa into the problems they are in at the start of Half-Life. The security system is on the glitch again. Not all the safety procedures are being fallowed because everyone is being pressed for results so the company can get back in the black after so many failed projects and excess spending.
So it should like it was hot shit once upon a time but now is just a shadow of it former self.
I don’t feel the Hazard Course is a HEV testing ground. Designing, developing and testing such a suit requires far more than the resources that appear to be available on the HC. You’d need controlled sources of radiation, controlled temperatures, humidity, inclines, treadmills, obstacles, ballistics testing, ways to repeat everything… No, I think the HEV was developed in the same labs that usually do that stuff. What you don’t get in those labs is the ability to instruct a user to make full use of their shiny new suit, and hence the Hazard Course was born.
Have you ever played through the Hazard Course? It’s blindingly obvious that it’s not a purpose-built arena to test the HEV suit. Even in Gold Src’s poor graphics it’s clear that the rooms that you go through and even use for the tests are part of the infrastructure and maintenance of the Black Mesa facility.
@ Tick Tock