Mod idea - looking for feedback

Half-Life Series
#1

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Hey guys, I’ve recently come up with a new, single-player game idea to be modded in Half-Life 2 called Saint Eleutherios (SλINT[/SIZE] ELEUTHERIOS[/SIZE]). I’ve basically copy/pasta-ed this from a thread I have on the HL2 forums, but apparently people are more about looking than commenting there, and I’m really looking to get some feedback (negative/positive… w/e). Anyway, I’m not going to go too deep into detail, but I thought I’d share some key aspects with you folks to see what kind of interest, if any, the community would have in this game. The game is going to be centered around Adrian Shephard (OH NOS, NOT TEH ADRIAN) sometime between the Seven Hours War and before the events of Half-Life 2. The setting of the game is going to be rather unorthodox, as I plan to set it on a Greek island, probably in the Aegean, but maybe elsewhere. The island’s name is going to be Saint Eleutherios and will feature a monastery with the same name. The island is going to be fictional in that it doesn’t actually exist, but it will have historical features from the real-world as well as the Half-Life world. The reason I think I can get away with this location is that the storyline is going to hold that the island has seemingly gone unnoticed by the Combine, as the inhabitants went underground after the 7-hours war. That is to say, until the events of the game take place.

Why a Greek island, you ask? Firstly, I myself am Greek, and I’ve always wanted to set a game in that locale as I feel that it is greatly, greatly under-appreciated (at least in the modern sense–games based in ancient Greece are different). Secondly, I really liked the look of lost coast, and I want to bring some of the elements of that depressingly short level into a much better developed story. Also, having the story based on a community that has tried to remain hidden from the combine–foreign occupation–all these years brings a new, interesting twist to this post-apocalyptic society, while also noting that the combine are not omniscient. Lastly, and coupled with the previous point, there are a lot of historical themes that can be brought in to greatly enhance the story by setting it in the Mediterranean.

The allied character list, thus far, includes ex-police, townsfolk, members of the clergy (monks/priests), ex-military and scientists.
The three main protagonists will be a female that accompanies Adrian (she may or may not be cut, though), a Greek soldier (not sure if he’s going to be a PFC equivalent or Corporal, leaning toward the former for the sake of Adrian’s rank) and a priest (either an Archimandrite or a Bishop, but leaning toward the Bishop). There will be more, less-important characters as well.

The enemy character list, thus far, includes combine soldiers, snipers and elites, hunters, striders, combine dropships and gunships (and maybe, but probably not hunter-choppers), headcrabs, zombies. Enemies I’m considering are: ant lions (for the beach[es]), combine advisors and the toxic zombies/headcrabs.

After an introduction with the G-man, the player is going to start off on a narrow beach, which is at the bottom of a cliff. I’d also like to note here that I plan on including G-man Easter egg sightings. I want the game to still have the feel of being a part of the Half-Life series, just with a unique twist. He is going to have to figure out how to get up the cliff. As a quick aside, yes, there will be a knife and monkey-wrench early on. He will eventually have to work his way through a monastery/catacombs and to the main village of the island. From the village, the player will have to work his way to a ruined castle. Also, I’m currently thinking of releasing the game as the parts are finished, or at least do that the first couple of times; there will probably be 3-4 parts total. That’s about as open as I currently want to be with the plot, sorry guys.

Weapon list (so far):

  • Knife
  • Monkey-wrench
  • Glock 17 or H&K USP
  • A M1911 Colt .45 ACP with lower mag capacity, but higher stronger damage. (A modeler from an old mod that I worked on is letting me use his from that game. It’s skinned and ready to go).
  • The player will have a choice to choose from one of the two following weapons (He comes across the MP7 first, though)
  • MP5 - acquired from the police department in the town.
  • MP7 - acquired from fallen combine
  • Again, the player will have a choice to choose from one of the two following weapons (He comes across the G3 first, though)
  • G3A3 (or A4) w/ M203 grenade launcher - acquired from soldiers. It will have longer reloads, stronger recoil (making sustained fire inaccurate) and smaller magazine capacity (20), but will be very accurate when fired as single shots or in very short bursts and you’ll be able to carry more than 60 rounds maximum (probably more like 100-140). It will also feature a scope.
  • Overwatch Pulse Rifle - This weapon will be less accurate overall, but better at sustained fire as it will have lesser recoil than the G3. It will also be able to file energy balls, which will be particularly useful against hunters. Maximum carry ammo will be 60 and reloading will be as quick as HL2.
  • Some sort of shotgun, the type is still to be determined. May end up leaving it as the SPAS-12, or possibly Father Grigori’s double-barrel.
  • Squad Assault Weapon (SAW) - this is iffy, it all depends on the in-game balancing.
  • Rocket Launcher - Either RPG-18, M7A2 LAW or FIM-92 stinger. I’m leaning toward the stinger, as it has a guidance system.
  • Grenades - I’m thinking of just leaving them as-is.

The two different types of main battle rifle and sub-machine guns may later be dropped.

A note on the scientists: these scientists will not be from Black Mesa, but Aperture science. Their presence on the island is going to be directly linked to the ruined castle, and will play strongly on the Black Mesa/Aperture rivalry–in fact, that’s the reason they were interested in the castle. Now, they’re in hiding on the island like everyone else. Also, they will have a very strong impact on the storyline as well as the game-play, as some Aperture technology will be introduced.

So, that’s about it for now, guys. Feel free to ask me questions, though depending on their scope, I may not answer all (or any) of them. However, I’ll probably answer most. Also feel free to give me suggestions. A lot of this is still tentative and open to review.

tl;dr - I think HECU Marine is a pretty cool guy. eh kills aleins and doesnt afraid of Greece…

#2

LIES

#3

You should see the text document I have for the mod so far, but you won’t. D: I guess I meant I wouldn’t go too far into detail about the storyline; I should have clarified. Best feedback I’ve had so far, though. :pirate:

#4

Sounds pretty interesting, is this going to be fully voiced? When you said an intro with the Gman, I wasn’t sure that’d work out well without being voiced.

#5

Whoa, wall of text…
Good luck with it :slight_smile:

#6

I plan on it being fully voiced, yes. The project is a little audacious (ok, maybe very), but is still very flexible. If something ends up being impossible or simply too difficult to include, then it will probably be dropped.

#7

Read it all. Sounds neat.
What’s your estimate on how long the mod will be? And how big is your team?

Bc it sounds like a labor of love no doubt with all the custom textures, guns, props, maps, and ideas you’re planning on implementing into this.

#8

I came up with the idea a couple of days ago. XD My team so far consists of myself and another level designer that I used to be on a mod team with, but he has another project in mind and doesn’t really want to commit, yet. I’m hoping to get a team of 6-8 quality members, and I’m trying to get into contact with some of the people from the now defunct mod that I previously worked on. Though, I’ll take any help from anywhere, really, so long as they know what they’re doing and cool with the basic premises of the story.

I plan on releasing the mod in parts as each is finished, or at least a couple of parts. Notable if/when the first Chapter is finished, I’d want to release that on its own. There should be plenty of suspense built up by the end of that chapter. There will probably be 4+ parts/chapters and the storyline is pretty forgiving as far as expanding it goes, so I’m not exactly sure on final length. I currently probably have a good 5-8 hours of game-play written up (it’s hard to just gauge it by words, especially since the possible puzzles are very early in their development).

As far as new textures and props, I’m probably going to try and keep those to a minimum, or at least redo some of the existing material to better suit the mod. The churches are going to require some nifty texture work, as will the characters and weapons. The town itself is probably going to include white-washed with blue buildings (as I’m thinking of setting it in the southeast-ish Aegean as of right now, but I haven’t completely discounted the Ionian Sea). Guns and characters are probably going to be the most significant modeling workloads–the characters are going to play an important part in the game so I want to give them adequate attention.

#9

Always try to keep the project as small as possible, most people don’t realize the immense amount of work that is required to make even a simple game/mod. Experienced developers know this. Mods usually start out with grand ideas, but in the end they fail because it’s just too much work. When there’s no plan, no end in sight, people lose motivation and the mod will die. I have experienced the problems myself. The biggest problem with (ambitious) projects is the lack of planning which leads to loss of motivation in the long run (which I believe is the no.1 reason why so many mods die).

Also (my personal opinion), if you’re starting a mod project it should be a requirement that you know how everything works. You should know the basics of modeling, unwrapping/texture mapping, animation, effects, sound, programming/scripting and so on. This gives you an idea of how much work has to be done.

Always break down the process into small steps. Don’t start with the idea that you want to make a whole array of chapters. It will fail. Start by simply making one level. Let your entire team focus on just that one level, it’s a realistic goal to start with. You will find that making even one level (with custom models, textures and so on) takes a LOT of time and effort. Starting small will get you results more quickly, your team can show-off each others work which boosts motivation.

That’s just way too much. You and I both know that, this is the kind of length a professional studio would aim for. If you’re going to start with 5-8 hours of play time as your goal then you’re going to get overwhelmed by the HUGE amount of work. Followed by loss of motivation. Followed by death (the mod).

Smart move. Try to adapt your mod so that you can utilize as many shipped game assets as possible (for example, don’t start a mod that is staged in the far future (Star Wars kind of future) knowing that Half-Life 2 contains almost no game assets that you could use for such a setting).

Try to avoid custom weapons/characters for now, if you really want custom weapons then make sure you keep the list as small as possible or just re-skin weapons that ship with the game you’re modding. As a modeler myself I can assure you that making custom weapons is a very time consuming process. If you only have a few modelers that have to make all the weapons, environment models and the characters then they’re likely to become overwhelmed.

#10

I grouped these points together because I want to address them in the same fashion. This is exactly the reason why I want to release the mod in parts. The first part would mostly just get the storyline partly out there, and feature some nifty coast, churches and terrain. It may or may not even include the intro, as the intro is a bit ornate–it probably won’t. The first part will probably be somewhere between 20-30 minutes of game-play, something akin to lost coast’s play time and even scenery, to a degree. Only a portion of the new characters will be in it, and even less of the new weapons. As far as the new weapons go, just the knife, monkey-wrench, pistol (not the M1911) and possibly the MP-5, though probably not. You won’t get to the town in the first part at all, let alone the eventual castle.

The point of releasing this is to put out a teaser, essentially, that just lays the basics of the story-line down and lets fans know we mean business, and to give the team a much simpler goal that will hopefully keep the momentum going. I’ve been in a failed mod, it was a complete redo of Enemy Territory and we actually got pretty far along, getting to a functional, internal alpha, a few maps and a lot of guns/players/vehicles. The problem was, though, that there really wasn’t an end in site. We weren’t sure at what point we’d want to have a beta, or even release any of the material. In fact, the release date was probably whenever he had it completely finished. We never ended up “finishing” anything, though. Momentum waned and it even got to the point where the engine we were working on was getting outdated. The decision to switch to the source engine was made, and the mod quickly died soon thereafter, as that was a big step backward in our development. This is why I want to focus on each of the parts individually, finishing them and releasing them as we go along and hopefully keep the momentum rolling. Will it work, I’m not sure, but I think it’s a decent approach that addresses some of the problems we had in the last mod I worked on. I guess I should have explained what I exactly meant by releasing it in parts.

So, roughly, while the project’s end goal is vast and ambitious, there are much narrower, consecutive goals in place to split it into fairly independent parts.

While I don’t know how to model, animate, program or really do much other than create textures and design levels, the mod team I was on had around 20 members, and I was on it long enough to get a feel of the work involved in all the other stuff, having spoken to members in other “departments”. I wish I knew more, but I don’t, and I’d be perfectly fine with allowing someone else that has more overall experience to run the production end of the mod if needed, so long as I get to keep a semblance of control over the story-line.

Thanks, and that’s my goal. Being able to maybe use some things from Portal will also help in that regard.

The only new weapons planned so far are the monkey-wrench, knife, maybe a spear gun, pistol, M1911 (though we had a very nice high poly and low poly one that was even animated for the mod I used to be a part of, I’m going to ask if I can recycle it) an MP-5, G3, probably not a new shotgun, a rocket launcher and maybe a SAW (ditto on the machine gun as we made a MG-42 that I can use as a MG-3. I think we even had the sounds for them finished). We also had nice MK-2 grenades made. As I said earlier, they–as well as the character models–will be made as needed for the parts, unless a modeler finishes before schedule and has some time to spare. Again, only a portion of the characters will be needed for the first part. I also want to see if some other ongoing mods might want to share.

Please don’t think I brushed your points aside, I took them to heart and I thank you for them, but I just wanted to further clarify some things to see if I already had them addressed. So you’re a modeler, eh? Care to help me out? :retard:

#11

Make a list that describes all the things you need for the first chapter, for example if one of your modelers wants to know what to make it would be useful if he had some documentation showing exactly what models have to be made.

At the moment I can’t, I have projects going in UDK, IW engine, Source engine and some modeling projects for my portfolio. When I join mod projects I usually just freelance and make a couple of models / other game assets then leave and look for another mod (I’m actually building a portfolio for a job). I usually don’t join new mods so maybe in the future you can pay me a visit. :stuck_out_tongue:

#12

Crap, so another 5-6 years of waiting for another mod ? No thanks!

#13

the story looks nice. i liked the little rebel-“pit-stops” around city 17. the desperation of the people, their trying of saving the little of what was left of humanity both physically( and mentally(staying human in your head)

your story seems to focus on this aspect, this desperation but also the hope that lies in the every day struggle of surviving. i really liked that about half-life though i found sad that you didn’t get to know more of the background of the people that are getting you outta city 17 or help you during the game.
i would like to see a deeper insight into the struggle of the “normal” rebels. maybe their try to preserve a little culture or history of mankind. maybe a school where things are taught we all think obvious or not worth mentioning, maybe some faults in the teachings(or people’s view on history, where the player encounters them) to show the decaying of knowledge and culture. Or a room where pieces of art, books, music and sculptures are stored and a historian keeping them secure and unharmed(i could imagine a funny character here). things like that.
maybe i got the story wrong though, from the little you wrote.

before i forget: as gordon you were helped by all those people around city 17, many of them dying just to get you to safety like you were some saint(well actually you were/are i guess). to have a little contrast to that I could think of your player character as a little closer to the normal people, have them interacting with you a little more, maybe a liiiiiitle bit more talkin in general. maybe i overread it but do you plan on giving the player a voice or another way of communication?

#14

First off, thanks for the feedback and suggestions.

It’s funny that you mentioned the hope thing, as I chose the female protagonist’s name to be Elpida because it’s an actual, but it also means hope in Greek. I plan on most, if not all, of the character’s names to have a significant meaning. I am also planning to do quite a bit more in character development, but that’s if I get proper voice actors and it’s actually feasible for the mod.

Do note, though, that these aren’t normal rebels. The combine have never been to the island before; this is their first time seeing them face to face, though they were aware that they existed. Their goal before the combine arrival was to keep going unnoticed by them to protect what is left of the community on the island, and not really confronting them. They’re rebels now, though, and they always planned to be in case the combine did end up coming one day; they even have some preparations set up for if/when that day ever came. I like your historian idea, I might have to include one for some more comedic value earlier in the game. Later in the game, the Aperture scientists will also provide some dark humor.

I plan on keeping Adrian closer to the people as, when it comes down to it, he’s just a regular, low-ranking guy that was in the military. He’ll especially connect with the soldiers that he meets on the island. As far as Adrian talking goes, I initially thought I was going to have him do so, but now I’m not so sure. I’m still weighing the pros/cons on that one. As a side-note, I’m also debating on there being kids. It’ll probably be too much work to bother with, but this isn’t set too long after the Black Mesa Incident. Plus, there is no suppression field on the island. I plan on Athens being a City 17-like place, so I wonder if a suppression field there would have an effect on the island.

My main goal is having the mod possible to be completed, and well, at that. Some detail may regrettably end up needing to be sacrificed for practical reasons; that’s another reason why I don’t want to let too much of the story-line out.

#15

okay that makes it clearer. my (quite obvious) main point is that this kind of story needs emotion. it needs to be clear what (general) situation the people are in and what different emotions they have while encountering the situations the storyline puts them in.
from what you said i would have to think of a tension, a nervousness in knowing that anytime the combine might kill them all, the hope that this might never happen and sort of a defiance against the combine expressing itself in belittleling(belittleing/belittling? infinitive=belittle) them maybe?

how are they able to disguise their existence?(cuz u know, the combines are quite advanced in technology things) had they just luck?
how is the island sustaining its needs like food production?(underground facilities with huge farms lighted by UV-lamps, could look awesome, especially if a fight would happen in there) or (farms with “puny” corn scattered across them for making clear they don’t live in luxury and wealth, except if they are intended to do)

this are questions i would ask myself. maybe they should be answered in the mod to give it a believable athmosphere. most rpg(or story focused fps)-games live from a certain plausability in their own ways. maybe i’m just too picky about the “logic” things

i don’t want to tell you how you have to do your thing(cuz u know it’s your thing :smiley: ). my suggestions are merely thoughts that jumped into my mind when reading what you’ve planned so far. i don’t “demand” anything of what i’ve suggested.

#16

How do you plan on having Adrian put on the island? Is Gman just going to put him there, or have you thought of a way to explain why he’s there. It doesn’t seem to make much sense to me that you chose Shepard, other than the fact that he’s a pretty popular character in the HL universe. Did you ever consider just making the character a normal inhabitant of the island?

#17

The Combine are not all-seeing, as evidenced in the HL2 series where they lose Gordon repeatedly in their very own capitol city. There are also plenty of rebel bases scattered that they don’t seem to find, also near to their city. The islanders mostly keep indoors and underground. Since the community is much smaller than it once was, they’ve presumably looted the super market and are using some of the long-term shelf-life food to supplement their own (outdoor) farming/fishing/etc. Every decently populated Greek island has farmers and fishermen on it.

As far as the Combine, they weren’t at all interested in the island until right before the game happens, and even when they did take interest in it, they presumed it was uninhabited. As for your first paragraph, I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it.

I have a whole intro written up for his placement on the island which is going to involve him being teleported to different places. It doesn’t necessarily go into detail as to why Shephard is sent, aside from the G-Man telling him that he and his employers made the decision. Presumably this is because Adrian is all around better equipped to handle the situation, specifically all the alien lifeforms and because the G-Man can count on his discretion. Also, a lot of aspects of the game are going to be very militaristic. He’s going to be with a local squad for a good portion of it.

#18

Interesting idea. While I don’t necessarily recommend you use Shepard, (A good many mods have tried, and failed, using him, plus there’s no guarantee he won’t be brought back in an official game) if you can make it work, go for it!
As for weapons, if you’re doing replacements instead of new weapons, then it should be a simple matter of changing the stats of the existing ones via weapon scripts for alpha and beta testing, then getting replacement models later on.

Anyway, best of luck, this idea is definitely at least a good base, likely more!

#19

Eh, even if Valve does use him later, I don’t really think it would affect this story all that much, or vice-versa. I’m not going to have the G-Man say: “you have not done anything since Black-Mesa and you will do nothing else after this”, or anything like that. I do see how there could be some minor problems, though. As for the weapons, that’s what I was thinking. The new weapons are going to be somewhat similar, so if they’re not finished by the time I want to release a part, I can just use the stock ones as a filler for now. However, the first part isn’t going to feature many new weapons.

That aside, thanks for the kind words. :3

I’ve also had a really good music producer join the team a couple of hours ago, so we’re not at an army of two. Sure, music isn’t the first thing that needs to get done, but it will be important and at least I’m starting to get somewhere.

#20

Sounds like a good idea; I’d love to help with it someway, maybe with writing or something. [Edit: I also have extremely limited experience with source level design, so I could possibly make some minor contributions there.]

I myself have a concept I’d like to make a mod, but rather than doing it myself, which is virtually impossible even with a team, I’ll probably write the plot into a story.

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.