About the % of the project?
just dropping in to show my support for this 
<3
Video’s uploaded, I’ll make it public once I’ve put together the media release. Should only be 20 mins or so.
The tension is exhilarating
I’ve been refreshing over and over… Its been almost 40 minutes now…
Video is live!
It’s a very rough and unfinished version of C2A5H, much rougher than C2A5F was when I released that video. It still has some apparent bugs. But I’m happy with the way it turned out and wanted to show off my progress! This was a much tougher map to get right than the previous one and I put a lot of work into getting this right, and I hope you’ll think I have.
Unedited version upload has started.
Let me know what you think. Did you like it? What could I improve on? My maps wouldn’t be half as good if not for community feedback so I aim to please!
Onto the photos!
looks fucking awesome!
One remark though: I seem to remember that in most places in hl1/2 turning a valve meant having to keep ‘use’ pressed down until the valve has turned fully. It makes more sense, IMO.
I feel kinda bad for watching your videos. Less surprise when I actually get to play 
There’s a few things I noticed in the video.
-Those HL2 window textures and door textures don’t look like they fit in with the BMS assets properly, and the HL2 keypad especially comes off as looking rather jarring.
-There’s a distinct lack of soundscapes and ambient noises. They’re probably not there because of the WIP status of this, though.
-The dead HECU soldiers you come across don’t have any bodygroups, which ends up giving the weird effect of making it seem like they were barely equipped with anything. (Helmets, gasmasks, holsters etc.)
Still, I definitely like the work so far, though I do feel as though things are still pretty choppy. Hopefully that’ll be dealt with by the final version.
Great work!
Damn fine work. Just two notes: You can use your suit zoom while you’re firing the .50 cal, so you can make use of it for better aim. (dunno if that’ll be fixed in the next release though)
Just an additive for the Manta’s laser, if you want why not use a repurposed Gulon gun decal for the aftermath of it hitting the ground?
Thank you. I used the valves from Black Mesa’s “Forget About Freeman” for the valves on my map, so it certainly isn’t inconsistent with the rest of Black Mesa, though you are right.
Only one of the window textures (and that’s one of the less conspicuous ones for sure) was one that I chose myself. All the others were used by the dev team during various parts of Surface Tension. It isn’t inconsistent, I don’t think.
Soundscapes are a product of WiP. They come near the end, or at least that’s how I design it.
I didn’t realise you could do that with prop_ragdolls. I’ll look it up. I thought you had to manually place stuff which they “died with”.
I think the way Black Mesa gives their ragdolls set/randomized bodygroups and skins is through use of the character_manifest, they did that with their dead scientists, atleast.
The character_manifest would be a great thing to use for this in general.
Another way to do it is to set up a trigger so that once the player crosses it, the ragdolls named for it will go under “SetBodygroup” and obtain the bodygroups associated with the number you use. Just be careful with that method though, one of the bodygroups is a cigar that pops up alot, so you may have to test the numbers you use first.
I still feel the doors and keypads could do with some changing. Maybe use one of the BMS keypads instead.
YOu know that second wave you added? When you get to the 50-cal? Instead of them just exploding in, it might help draw the player’s attention to have another manta fly by, pooting out a couple green portal-y beams, and have the aliens explode in where they hit.
Also, for getting to the roof from the bathroom? Make that whole little area [the two bathrooms and the adjoining hall] filled with xenoflora (you’d be able to make that hallway extremely sexy, instead of extremely filled with locked doors) and put another jump-pad in the other bathroom.
Just finished watching the video and I have to say, even in pre-alpha it looks pretty fucking awesome.
A couple of details (besides the obvious):
Once you get done with setting everything up, I highly recommend using something similar to the gulon gun decal after it fires and you hit a wall for the manta’s lazer across the street. It’s basically a line, if you can change the particle’s (or decal whichever it is) color to something similar, it’d add just another added detail to the battle I think. Over all, again, you blew me away with your work. Great job.
The marines around the tank in the beginning battle, they should spread out and be in a formation slightly near to the tank so:
- they don’t get killed by the concussive force released by its main gun. You should check in units how far the thing travels and make that a no-go zone for the grunts.
- so all of them don’t camp behind the wall.
I won’t spoil the garg chase for myself if you decide to get that out there.
The manta flying by, yes. The pooting, no. The one that flew over in the osprey map before C2A5F didn’t, so there’s no reason to.
I want to add on this. I felt as though the second wave of xenians was supposed to occur while the HECU soldiers were still alive and fighting the first wave. Maybe have a few soldiers jump out through a previously locked door or from where the player originally came from to combat some of the aliens, while the rest of the aliens continue to focus on you.
Also could use a delay, rather then one giant “POOF ALIEN ATTACK!” like it is now.
Still, fucking beautiful. I’m not sure if I should watch the whole thing though, don’t want to spoil any more puzzles you might have.
Of course you could also make them make more sense and change things that won’t make them readily obvious to people who watched those videos.
Also btw, you should really test your maps with the default skill.cfg to see how the alien battles hold up on the stock black mesa settings.
Also, regarding the satchel pipe: The door where the soldier is needs to be closed again after he tosses it in. You can have it blow back open with the explosion, but in order for the blast to be as directionalized as it is, the door must be closed.
Also, if a player didn’t know it was coming, the time between the door opening, and the soldier tossing the satchel in… If the player had been going forward the entire time, there would be absolutely NO time to back out. Adding another second or second and a half as the door closes, before it explodes, would make it clear that “oh shit, a soldier, oh shit a bomb, gotta get out of here” not “Oh, a soldier, and OH SHIT KAOBOOOO”
Oh and one more thing: The ledge crawl to get into the building with the barney… While watching it, when you were looking at the window earlier, it wasn’t really apparent at first glance that the top floor windows were any different than the bottom floor windows. A bright light, be it construction, or even just a flickering fixture, by the window would help the player mark it as a goal. Then they’d have to figure out that they have to go through the steam puzzle to get to it.
Amazing as usual.The only flaws I see are with the consistency and “realism” things:
-there is a ladder inside the furnace pipe , that thing would melt in normal conditions 
.
-Pipe should be smaller, with enought space to crawl inside, it may be the video, but it seems you are able to stand inside it.
-The room where you find the guard, the road that leads to the gates where the (destroyed) tank is, has sandbags and trucks parked in the middle. A tank could not have passed trough that.
Also, I dont know if it is too late on the development, but in the original half life, you enter this map from high ground, having a better view of the ongoing battle.
Appart from that, I find it really fun to play on it 
Looking awesome!! On the outside of the gasworks building, perhaps you could have some signage or lettering like some of the other ST buildings, something like “GAS PROCESSING 04”. Also, some more industrial looking pipes and towers coming out of the building might help reinforce that look. But otherwise it’s looking very grimy and industrial, I like it!
Oh, final suggestion: And this is a really little one. Might not even be necessary, as it would just be forcing impatient players to stand still for a moment. Now that I’m about to say it, it just seems stupid. But I’mma put it out there anyway. The stairs down to the Barney room, make them collapsed, or make them collapse.
Uh… I already kind of forgot my original reasoning. Nevermind, ignore me!
Just saw the C2A5H video. Excellent work! Some quick points:
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Make sure that the marine-throwing alien grunt actually attacks players once they see him roaring once or twice.
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The tank-killer manta should come in from the left as this is the one the harrier is not chasing.
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The addition of the sniper to the rooftop is a very nice feature, but make sure that he’s killable with something like an RPG or machine gun grenade in case players don’t want deal with him (or don’t know how to avoid him). Having a dead marine with an RPG launcher or an RPG crate near the hatch would be a logical solution, especially since this is a war zone area.
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Players should have to hold the use key when turning the red valves as this is consistent with their appearance in previous levels.
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Consider removing the heat blurring effect during the satchel scene. Getting a clear view of the marine and his satchel drop is an iconic moment and players need to see him clearly so they know that they need to run. Make sure he closes the tunnel door as well.
6. You mentioned that your alien grunts have had a significant health boost so make sure that the battles are still tipped to the aliens’ favor once the health settings have reverted to BMS settings.
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More xen fauna in logical positions (e.g. near second jump pad, alien spawn points)!
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In the furnace room, consider making the final set of pipes wider so that it’s easier for players to find and walk over. That way, you don’t need an invisible wall to keep them from falling, which would detract from the realism.