How would YOU release Black Mesa?

Black Mesa Archive The Cafeteria
#61

And then… somebody will throw a molotow cocktail into your house :retard:

#62

I expect a Steam release, yes, but I think some sort of “countdown” is in order. Maybe a series of short teaser/trailers released in sequence. Can you IMAGINE the buzz among us of the geek persuasion!

#63

I would release a big trailer with a 2 week out date on it. A specific date. Not a month or year, but a Month and Day date.

Then I would create a rock solid agreement with my web host that on said date, the server will NOT go down.

Then I would contact my lawyer about suing my webhost so that I get paid if the server goes down.

#64

write the binary on a million snakes and release them into the streets of santiago

#65

Two words:

Release it on Mac OSX Only

#66

They’re writing it in Binary? That’s madness! No wonder it has taken six years.

I’m even more impressed now.

#67

I’d pretend that there had been another set of hardware failure, take the site down for a few days, restore it with the download of the complete mod being posted in an obscure thread, and then see how long it takes for people to notice it.

#68

I’m sorry, but I do not ever want to hear that again, that just sounds too horrifying.

#69

Get every file, burn them onto a disk, eliminate every copy on the computers, and put the disc under Gabe Newell’s seat cushion.

#70

when its done[COLOR=‘black’] on time

#71

my way still might be quicker…

#72

Is the option to use steam even available? I thought there was some conversation about them not getting involved. With that in mind should probably use bittorrent. And to create a new poster with the G-man and rainbows and sunshine, saying it’s released! It would be the best thing since the invention of carbonated drinks!

#73

As has been suggested by a number of people, I would use BitTorrent distribution. To elaborate on the details, though, I would prepare the BitTorrent package at least a week before the planned release date and distribute it (by means of BitTorrent itself) to absolutely everyone who presently has access, direct or indirect, to the work in progress. To put it bluntly, I would have it be a formal responsibility for anyone involved with the project to help out with seeding, even if traffic shaping at their ISP means they have to limit their upstream to 20 kb/sec.

I would also prepare a DVD-based installer (it would be, what, three DVDs? or four) and make a separate torrent for each of the discs.

I would arrange for distribution of these files from a high-capacity web server, but I would only release the torrent files for the first two weeks. The vast majority of users will be happy to use BitTorrent to download the files, and the initial seeding provided by the team would be rapidly superceded (“super-seeded”? sorry!) by the community at large.

After a brief delay, those individuals who choose not to use BitTorrent (or perhaps in a few rare cases are denied it by their ISPs) would be able to download the files by a more conventional means, but shifting the bulk of the traffic onto peer-to-peer transfers has the potential to vastly reduce bandwidth-associated costs, even if those costs are being shouldered by volunteers and not the BMS team directly.

Also, there may be individuals or organizations willing to provide a long-term BitTorrent seed on a high-capacity line, so that when the initial hubbub dies off, the torrents remain usable. I wonder if something like Amazon S3 could be harnessed? (NB, though, it has a 5GB filesize limit.)

#74

Yep. That.

#75

I would set up a script where once you clicked on every link on the entire site, and posted in every thread 25 times without double or more posting, it would say “Congratulations, due to having an incredible lack of life, you win black mesa source. distribute as you see fit.”

#76

But they have No Petrol :mono:

#77

I would put it on a USB Flash drive and make a phrophecy that someday the chosen one will arrive and take it to stop the end of the world that would be started by all the infidels who thought that Black Mesa and Gordon Freeman were a giant hoax.

#78

A month before the actual release I’d have two dozen USB drives with the game on them geocached in very countries around the world.

#79

I’d upload it on the main page with lots of build up hype, and then smash the server with a hammer ten minutes after doing so.

#80

I’d set it so that randomly one third of downloaders got Black Mesa, one third got a pirated version of half life source, and the final third get syphilis.

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.