I like it when some parts are situated outdoor of the map!
Honestly I like the current layout with the large outdoor section. The warehouse that you come up into on the tram looks like it could potentially house a really cool fight. It’s a bit hard to say keep or nay without knowing more about the alternative, though. If you did scrap it and start something new for that area what exactly would you have in mind other than just indoor? What would be inside exactly and how would you fit the vista into the new design?
Just a reminder to Text and anyone else that there’s a detailed walk-through with pictures and videos of the half-life On a Rail levels on page 10 if you need to quickly get an idea of what’s being re-imagined with these levels without having to boot up half-life.
https://forums.blackmesasource.com/showthread.php?t=15754&page=10
C2A2F and the first part of C2A2G are the maps in question here.
Looking back on them there’s really not all that much to work with. I think keeping the outdoor area is the most practical as it’s already created and it could turn in to a lot more work to start this section from scratch.
It would be nice if you could squeeze the ladder with tripmines and a turret sensor under it in this section somewhere. Maybe as a side area beneath that warehouse or another building in the outdoor section. Or did you already plan to put that part somewhere?
Also I can’t remember if it has been discussed already or not, but would it be possible to make that large crane operable like the ones in Half-Life 2? If so you could potentially create a nice little ambush by having a large shipping container or some destroyed vehicles purposely placed on the rail by the H.E.C.U. blocking the trams path.
When you ride the tram up to the roadblock the ambush could start and you would have to fight the marines in this outdoor section. Afterwards you would have to operate the crane and move the roadblock off the tracks, or I guess you could get in during the fight and squash some marines with a flying shipping container. The idea of a fight in this area seems interesting as there’s a good bit of cover for the marines and they could be a bit more spread out than usual. It’s possible that while designing the fight you will get the inspiration of what to add or take away from this area.
What was your plan in terms of enemy encounters for this outdoor area?
Wow what the fuck
Okay. Now for the matter of the actual topic.
Will ‘being faithful to HL1’ make the design more functional than what you already have? If not, do you think you can work with it and make it more functional? If the answer is ‘no’ again - stick to what you’ve already got going.
I know you know this, but functional designs are the best.
Okay, most people seem to like the existing layout. So I reckon I’ll keep it. I’ll definitely have to redesign my current 3d skybox though - it’s no good.
Thanks for the offer, but I reckon I’m alright without it - there’s plenty of stuff I can bung in the background already.
I suppose you’re right. F and G in HL1 were both very bland in terms of setting, though the layouts themselves were alright. I reckon what I have at the moment is probably good enough.
The section with the ladder and the tripmines is already there, I just didn’t show it. It’s in the indoor area immediately following this outdoor segment.
As for the crane - I don’t think I’m gonna make it operable. It’s just not…HL1-y enough for my liking. Plus I don’t really know how to do it (though I imagine it wouldn’t be too difficult). I don’t really think it’ll add to the gameplay much either aside from being a massive gimmick.
In terms of enemy encounters, I haven’t fleshed it out massively yet. I think the warehouse would be the PERFECT housing for a HECU vs Alien battle, but I think at this point there may very well have been enough of those, so I might stick with a basic alien fight, with maybe the HECU bursting in on you towards the end. It’ll be a neat little change to the typical fight with the HECU where the aliens normally decide to interject at the end. The HECU breaking the windows in the ceiling and rappelling down from an Osprey or something could be awesome in the middle of a fight. I am a little worried at this point that I might be overloading the chapter with large scripted moments, so again, I may end up just sticking with an alien fight.
In terms of the outdoor area, nothing is certain yet. Where you see the army tent there’ll be a TOW just like there was in HL1, and the Marine will fire it at you. As for everything else, that’s up in the air. I’d like to have a Sniper inside the Surface Tension styled building you see, but again, I need to play around with it first. Everything else I’ll leave until later on in the dev cycle.
Um, what exactly is your objection to the quoted sentence?
As for functionality, the current design is perfectly functional, it’s just hard to work with and I’m not so comfortable without outdoor natural landscapes. Maybe that’s a good thing though, I gotta learn at some point I guess.
Nah, it was merely an expression of disbelief.
Well, is it hard enough for you to quit and start from scratch? I’d rather see a well made functional design than an HD rehash of something that’s 15 years old. The question really was, sticking to HL1 ‘rules’, can you make it better than what you are showing us now? I see no reason of downgrading and taking an easier way out without trying to finish the current design.
Disbelief at…?
As for whether I can make it better by sticking closer to HL1, I don’t know. I don’t have a magic ball that can see what each finished product will be. And I’d hardly call the current layout a “rehash,” seeing as it’s basically different in every meaningful way aside from the path the tram takes.
Anyway, I’ve already determined I’ll probably stick to the existing layout, with perhaps some modification to the surrounding area to have it be more sensible. So yeah.
You actually coming back to OAR it before graduation. Come on, it was never meant as anything serious.
Good to hear. I didn’t think you would have a lot of room to make it ‘different in very meaningful way’ without making alterations to original tram path, but you’ve had more time to think about the HL1 layout, hence all the asking.
EDIT: Hold on, did you actually make a “HL1” version beforehand? If so, my apologies. I can’t really remember and/or wasn’t really reading very thoroughly.
My bad, I wasn’t terribly clear.
I’ve finished my exams, and university is finished. I have no more work left to do at uni. I don’t graduate until I get my results on the 15h July. So I’ve finished, but not graduated.
As for the HL1 version, no I didn’t make another one beforehand. This is the first one. The only reason I was thinking about changing it is, as I said, because I’m not 100% comfortable about working with it. Nearly everyone seems to like it, so I’ll keep it. I can make it work!
Thanks everyone for your feedback. It’s helped a lot.
Strange. I’m getting mine sorted on 1st of July and the ceremony is on 9th. Do you have a lot of people on your course/ in your department?
All I can offer is:
Your pic immediately did remind me at this:
Why not some of both? You could still mix up up by maybe having the tracks go through cave-tunnels or trenches (like Black Mesa Inbound, but scaled down).
What about HECU vs Security Personnel? We see the aftermath a lot, and sometimes we fight alongside one guy, but we never see military personnel crack down on the guard’s resistance first hand. Obviously the Soldiers should win, that’s what’s implied throughout the game, and having any Guard’s survive would be awkward since they can’t follow you and won’t have anything interesting to say.
Maybe you could make this a major logistics hub? Instead of buildings, container stacks, like in the picture below. You could also have train tracks or train-friendly tram tracks (containers are seen on flatbeds in Power Up and the very end of On A Rail) in this area. You could even some some monorails with those MATRANS trams on them, like we see in BMI. Maybe you could also see some train tracks in the vista?
The HL2 crane doesn’t fit very well imo. That type of crane was most popular at harbours, and fell out of favour in the 50’s due to containerisation, although the design lived on as the Crawler Crane (like a bulldozer but with a crane on it). I would also say to replace the HL2 crane with a wide-radius Tower Crane (pictured below), maybe some mobile Gantry Cranes (pictured above).
You can also use that container texture I made once if you want it, I know I personally won’t need it for anything. If you want any thing done to it (resize, split into sections, etc) I can do that as well.
If it works, this sounds like a nice idea.
You said it all. I think too that making this open area a major logistic hub would be an excellent idea to complete the original Mat. Trans. rail network. Also if you consider the freight yard of Blue Shift, adding a railroad to unload freight trains directly on the material transport trams would be more than logical, as opposed to having a yellow robotic loader outside when such equipment should be more fitted for transports inside the facility (though if you still leave one here you should had some kind of special entrance for it, like in Inbound and Opposing Force’s 2nd chapter). If you want to go that way, I’ll suggest you take a look at Blue Shift’s 4th chapter, Captive Freight. That can procure ideas on what to expect for railroads in open areas.
For the battle idea between soldiers and guards, well this idea sounds tempting, but I don’t really think it would last long. Still, I wouldn’t mind having a bunch of slaughtered guards inside a security office, with doors that were seemingly barricaded before the soldiers stormed in (a bit like the security office in OaR Uncut’s A1 map). Maybe add to it gunshot sounds before entering the area, and some comments from soldiers after cleaning the place.
EDIT: forgot to add, those blast doors leading outside the warehouse are too heavy for such type of building. I would see them more fit to close the tunnel leading from the facility to this warehouse, and suggest to replace them with some kind of metal curtain.
Container jumping puzzles?
Probably not, but I thought of Uplink too for this part. The containers area could be just to detail the map a bit, though I wouldn’t mind some jumping puzzle to access a ammo stash. Still, that part could also be just outside the playable area, as a close vista for example.
Bingo.
Hello guys! Although I’m new to this thread, I’ve been following it since the beginning. You, Text, did an excellent job making ST Uncut, and, as such, there’s no reason why OaR Uncut wouldn’t be as high standard as ST Uncut was.
Now that you are back on OaR, I would like to point out that I’m a little concerned with the current layout of B2. Since when you are first told that you must get to the surface in the original HL, you have that urge to see the daylight due to the claustrophobia of the dark rooms combined with your loneliness. When you get to the surface for the first time, in “We’ve Got Hostiles”, you don’t have much time to enjoy it, since the tension of the HECU forces takes you back to the underground facilities. The only time you can really enjoy it is in “On A Rail”, when you’re about to launch the rocket. Therefore, I think that adding more outdoor areas before the launching kind of spoils the “Oh, the surface!” feeling, as intended in the original game.
As I said, it’s just a little concern. Apart from that, I love how OaR turned out to be on your hands. I really enjoyed the new layout of B2, and I hope you’ll do a great job. I’ll try to be more active around here. 
To be fair, in the original game, you got a whole fraction of a map to enjoy the surface before getting involved in combat prior to the rocket launch. In Black Mesa as-released, you’re in the middle of a heavy battle the moment you step outside, and it doesn’t end until around when you launch the rocket.
Are you talking about the sniper section? If so, yes, you’re right. But my “little concern” is actually that the B2 map, in the original game, is still OaR: claustrophobic. Still, as you pointed out, you get a heavy battle as soon as you get outside, so more outside areas kind of gives a balance back [to BM].
He’s talking about when you reach the surface in We Got Hostiles.
No, Felipe was right.