Operation Black Mesa (Opposing Force: Source)

Half-Life Series
#1

Just to spread the world to those who do not know yet, there is a group named Tripmine Studios that is doing the Opposing Force: Source named Operation Black Mesa mod.

You can find more info here: MODDB

They are also doing the Blue Shift: Source named Guard Duty
You can find more info here: MODDB

They stated in Facebook that by the end of the year they will put the mods in Steam Greenlight, they will put Operation Black Mesa first and then Guard Duty.

FB Page

#2

Lots of people here are aware of the OBM/GD team merger. Are they any closer to releasing?

#3

I think they’d better take their time, like the BM dev team.
A lot of stuff looks really neat already, but some of it still a bit half-baked.

Also, they should cooperate with the BM dev team and use their standard assets.
Because some maps will be converging anyway. What’s the point in reinventing the wheel?

#4

As far as I know, no one knows.

#5

Whilst I appreciate their view that they want to do it all on their own, I hope the map layout will at least mimic BM when it comes to “shared” areas like the transit system or dam, that way the games could be packaged together to form a whole, as it were (not literally, but they’d fit in the same way HL and its original expansions did)

#6

It would be really cool if you could choose between “Half-Life”, “Blue Shift” and “Opposing Force” in Black Mesa when clicking New Game. Provided they all use the same assets/general art direction.

#7

Actually, I think they will do it. As you can see here https://media.moddb.com/cache/images/mods/1/8/7379/thumb_620x2000/ba_tram3_260004.jpg this palce resembles the equivalent place in BMS (https://www.newsteack.com/images/BlackMesaSource/blackmesasource03.jpg).

Some things like the textures might seem a bit much like from Half-Life than from BMS, but the layout is the same. Maybe it’s an early WIP.

tl;dr I think this will happen.

#8

I’d probably find it hard to enjoy them if they didn’t feel like the same location that Black Mesa created. Would be perfect if assets/textures and the art direction was similar or shared.

#9

Agreed 100%

#10

They have said that even if the opportunity arises, they would likely refuse and do it their way. They may mimic Black Mesa in the areas that overlap, but they want to be known for their work, not how they used Black Mesa’s assets within their work.

I agree that it would be nice for continuity to have all three linked like that, but Tripmine and Black Mesa Devs aren’t working together at all last I heard.

#11

Well, it actually does seem they have the capabilities to pull it off.
They even stated they would live up to Black Mesa standards, if not set them higher.

Very brave. Very brave indeed.

#12

Yeah there are a couple reasons why we don’t want to use the assets. The main ones being that if we were to use the black mesa assets then we would basically just be replacing a lot of stuff we already have, taking black mesa’s hard and amazing work as our own is one. Another is that most people on the team are not only making OBM or Guard duty for your enjoyment but also for portfolio pieces. So just using Black Mesa’s stuff would be counter productive to the whole making things on our own deal. But we are doing our best to mimic certain areas and assets used in areas that the player sees in Black Mesa so that there is still a sense of continuity. The dam for example, as of right now the outlying building that is on the left side of the dam in Black Mesa isn’t anything like the one we have so that will most likely be changed soon.

#13

Wow thanks for the info.

#14

No problem if you have any other questions feel free to ask I will answer to the best of my abilities and knowledge.

#15

I JUST CANT WAIT! : P

#16

are you part of the development team of OBM and GD??

#17

We aren’t dead yet, I understand your feeling of pessimism though I mean we had a period there where we were worried that it might die ourselves but that was sometime last year.We only slowed down development at that time but never completely stopped.Since then we have picked up pace extremely. We have got a lot of new recruits to the team some of which are in the game design industry themselves. We actually have someone working on the site right now so should be up fairly soon,so don’t dig our grave just yet.

#18

Thanks for sharing!
Seems fair enough.
Certainly looking forward to what you will come up with.

#19

Brilliant. :slight_smile: Thanks for letting us know.

#20

That’s great news! And hopefully, with you guys making both GD and OBM, there will be a strong sense of continuity available and the games will be able to be played as if they were a single package, whilst at the same time having slightly different angles on things.

I look forward to these mods as much I did (and do for Xen) Black Mesa. Soon the whole HL series will be in the same engine.

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.