I don’t know if he’s past the point of no return in designing B2 but you know what may be really cool to add to that night time vista is to have a continues convoy of trucks, hummers and LAVs in the far distance to show the HECU are arriving in force now. Just throwing that out there. Probably wouldn’t really work but…
Maybe you can add something that marks the arrival of the Black Ops. I just don’t know what.
That’s why I was mentioning it, but I don’t think there’s any scale models of the other vehicles.
It just occurred to me on top of it that it could also be a good closing/opening sequence with something similar to when you first go toe-to-toe with the helicopter in HL2 (The big ass loch in Water Hazard before you get the gun, you gotta go through that construction sight with Metro cops everywhere), but with the Apache instead. It could be an awesome way to force the player back underground and disabling the tram they’re on.
They arrived on the helipad in app, there’s a couple of hours between Gordon launching the rocket and getting to that particular point. I’d be all for it if it was in OP4, but here, it’d make no sense.
Edit: There IS a parked helicopter there, it could be used and still make sense.
It’s hard to think of ideas here that wouldn’t detract from Surface Tension. Ugh. And this will be a neat little addition too…
It might be a neat if there were some battle going on the in the far distance, one that the player could see but couldn’t interact with. Bleh.
^ Well, you can’t blow either of them up (I doubt the player would have enough MP5 nades to do it) it’s a sound idea, but I hate to have it empty too. I mean, it does make sense, you wiped out a large number of soldiers just recently in addition to the squad who was guardin’ the Rocket. Command’s prolly pissed at Gordon at this point, why not?
A vista showing the mass mobilization of the military in preparation for the battle in Surface Tension? Man that would be utterly amazing to see. I’m not sure where or if it would fit in anywhere though. Also if this is done, I’d like a scene where a landed Osprey lets off a ton (24 - 36, based off real-life capacity) troops, who fan out and enter the base through several doors. Just 'cause that’s cool! Also if there’s animations for it, I would love to see some V-22’s in forward flight mode zipping across the sky.
Actually though, what about Security Stations with monitors where we could watch little events (like the above) unfold from the safety of a monitor. Nova Prospekt did that, and those were pretty cool. I always enjoyed watching those. OAR always did feel like the Nova Prospekt of Black Mesa to me.
If not then don’t mind me, I’m just letting my imagination run wild with the idea.
^ Y’know the more I think about it the more I think it’d be pretty epic, all things considered. Having to deal with the Apache overhead would also be pretty bad ass if it doesn’t get too out of hand. We’ll see what Text has to say about the idea in the morning I suppose.
The activity in the distance sounds like an awesome idea, if there is space for it. Not too fond of having to deal with an Apache at point though 
Perhaps flashes of artillery fire on the horizon with apaches and ospreys flying over your head, flying towards it all XD
Or just do it with ambient sounds. Distant gunfire and barked orders, engine noise, helicopters, artillery…That sort of thing.
Maybe we can see an apache flying FROM A DISTANCE going away with vorts shooting lightning to it. Vorts lightning in the dark looks cool. Still make it not too easy to notice like the harrier take off in ST Uncut.
EDIT: Maybe not too much aerial vehicles, it’s like the HECU are losing as much as ST.
I think there would be a fine line with a lot of those ideas between it being cool or having it completely distract the player from what the chapter is really about which is the rail system. I would save the ooh and ahh’s for later on honestly. What makes coming out of that pipe on surface tension so cool is that you haven’t really gotten to see any vista as amazing as that yet including the jets that come in and bomb the building down across the canyon. If you’re throwing too much of that sort of distant attractions into an outside vista way earlier than what will that do to ST?
I concur with jessiestorm88. Some of the suggestions sound great, but don’t fit in comparatively with the mood set in HL’s OaR. They are a little too over the top and distracting from what I think Text wants to convey. Not so much “busy and loud” but more “calm and quiet” (except for the snipers). I think he wants us to hear crickets instead of gunfire and to soak in the desert nighttime ambiance and visuals. I could be wrong, though.
Plus, I thought the idea of the outside area was supposed to be to take a breather for a minute and just enjoy the atmosphere. If you make everything a warzone, it takes away from that. Of course, I could totally be wrong on all counts.
Maybe just an occasional Osprey flying overhead to drop troops off elsewhere in the facility. Gives the feeling that “Things are getting serious” without OMGWTF XPLOSHUNZ everywhere.
Maybe a toned down version, occasionally seeing the tops of Humvees, M35’s, and LAV’s as they speed down a road above, (you’d be at the foot of the cliff), plus some Helicopters.
It is a breather, but more from the confined spaces than from war. It doesn’t even need to have much fighting, just movement/activity, because at this point in time it hasn’t appeared to escalate to all-out-war, though you can show the buildup as the HECU are starting to realize how challenging the enemies will be and are upping their game. The timing is good because soon afterwards you come across a hanger with blackops units and an ambush and soon after that you exist QE to see humvees and choppers.
If by “past the point of no return,” you mean “haven’t even started B2 yet,” then yes, I’m past the point of no return. One of the “downsides,” I suppose of having contracted my friend to write this song is I need that turntable scene to be complete before the song is complete, and any mapper will tell you it’s not worth just completing one section of a map - I might as well devote my time to finishing and polishing the whole thing. As a result, I’m going to finish and polish B1 before I even move onto starting B2. Because the core layout of F/G in B2 isn’t really going to change much, however, most of my issues with B2 will probably be technical (I’ve never been particularly brilliant with displacements). It should be much quicker than B1, overall, especially because in a week’s time all my essays will be handed in and completed, and I’ll have a free 2 weeks of no work.
My plan was to have a slightly more subtle atmosphere suggesting of a lot going on in the background, but the outdoor segments are mostly going to be quiet.
I was definitely going to have a convoy of vehicles go by, with their lights lighting up the distant road, kicking up dust behind them, but it will be VERY much in the distance, very quiet and subtle. There will also be distant explosions every now and then with perhaps a light or two at very long range. I may have a helicopter or two fly by (not directly overhead, but again just far enough out to be noticeable but not over-the-top). In other words, most of the scripts will be in the distance, giving the impression that stuff’s still happening, but not too intensely. The mood will be quiet night with the occasional distant boom, a stark reminder of the war going on.
Pretty much correct. The warzone will be in the distance, and noticeable. Just not in-your-face.
Working on B1 currently, it’s going well. Just lacking in unique ideas for the turntable room, but they’ll come to me eventually.
EDIT: I know some of you were dubious about the altered lighting scheme for the B maps, but it looks pretty good in game, thematically. Did a very quick compile today just to check out how it looks. Results:
Please don’t comment on anything but the lighting, this isn’t even 40% on the way to Alpha yet. It’s too bright, I know, I’m going to reduce the number of lights by about half, but you get the GENERAL idea.
It’s alright.
It’s a nice break from that depressing orange in the rest of the chapter.
Actually if you look at some of the pre-release screenshots for the chapter the lighting they had was pretty good before they decided to change it all to that really intense dark red/orange.
You might try going for something like this (the color isn’t nearly as intense as it is in the current chapter)
Or maybe even this if you wanted to keep the lighting closer to just a plain fluorescent white.
(the lighting in these shots remind me of F.E.A.R. for some reason)
Also, to give a clear message to the player that they’re in a different section of the materials transport system for the B2 maps, you might add labels to various sections of the track throughout the maps if you haven’t thought of that yet. The BM devs had a lot of detail in the chapter originally which you can see in the pre-release screenshots but they took a lot of it out.
I don’t suppose these flat bed models are still in the game’s files anywhere?
