Uplink Remake

General Development Source 1
#1

Black Mesa: Uplink[/SIZE]

Overview
I’m recreating the Half-Life demo (HL: Uplink) released by Valve in early 1999. The demo featured content that was scrapped from the original storyline. Some might consider it canon with the story, others don’t. What matters though, is that many people enjoyed this short episode and that’s the reason why I am remaking Uplink for Black Mesa.

I’ve been making Half-Life maps since 1999, mostly for Sven Co-op (HL1), Team Fortress Classic (HL1) and Resistance and Liberation (HL2). I released my own MOD Land of Legends (HL1) in 2009. My own project An Open Window (HL2) was discontinued after a long break from mapping. After playing Black Mesa, the mapping virus got me again and I wanted to create something people can enjoy and I enjoy making.

The project
I’m the only person working on this project in my free time, doing mapping, models and textures. I’m working in chronologic order, creating the remake while playing through the original to stay as close to it as possible. However, I’m updating areas to todays visual possibilities and change gameplay accordingly, adjusting it to the new environments. Black Mesa: Uplink will not be integrated into the original storyline or extended.

Charity
I have decided to dedicate this project to a charity. Every year, the Dutch national radio station 3FM is collecting money for the International Red Cross. 3 DJ’s from this radio station lock themselves up in a glass house without food between the 18th and 24th of December. During this week they host a radioshow 24 hours a day, showcasing the many initiatives to collect money for young children in third world countries.

So if you enjoy the work I’m putting into this MOD and you have a little to spare, please think about donating for a good cause. Since their website only accepts Dutch bank accounts, I’ve set up my Paypal account to accept donations. In return, I will do my best to get this MOD done by the 18th of December, so it gets full exposure during the fundraiser week. Whatever sum has been donated before the 24th will then directly go towards the 3FM Serious Request event. I really hope I can use this hobby of mine to change some lives out there. Thank you!

Download
Installer version
Zip version

#2

:slight_smile:

#3

It’s a nice start

#4

really nice

#5

That looks really, really good! Keep at it, I’d love to play it. Maybe someone could even patch it into Black Mesa as a part of the storyline.

(not an official patch, of course, mod-for-a-mod type deal maybe)

#6

I like it so far! T’is a little dark though.

#7

Nice to see some competition for Uplink! :slight_smile:

Good luck with it.

#8

Lighting looks off.

#9

It looks great! Can’t wait to see more, I love Uplink :slight_smile:

#10

I’ll just repeat myself there:

I made that in about 2 hours, so there is still a lot of tweaking left to be done. Mostly I do those things in the final art pass, so any upcoming screenshots won’t resemble final quality.

Thanks for all the comments so far!

#11

It looks great, but I think Tripmine studios (OBM and GD) is already working on Half-Life uplink. But I don’t see why we can’t have two different remade uplinks.

Edit: I would like it with BMS assets and Textures better anyway, so good work.

#12

How many attempts were there to recreate Uplink, 4-5?
Each failed or is “when it’s done”

#13

Hopefully my attempt will be succesfull. I’m doing this in my free time, so it depends on my work schedule, how fast I can get it done. My strategy is to complete all the geometry and basic entities as fast as possible and then start tweaking details, lighting, effects, dialogs, gameplay and such. That way people can start testing it quicker.

Here are some screenshots of what I worked on today. Again, these are [COLOR=‘Red’]VERY EARLY WIP screenshots. Sorry for the highlights there, but in my experience people don’t read and then post comments that make me go facepalm. Onto the before and after shots:

Comments and feedback are appreciated! Just remember: very very early shots… stuff is not ready yet. Thanks!

#14

:slight_smile:

#15

I like it, keep the good work buddy.

#16

Awesome, but, i just keep two or three texture for the six or more who you have in the monitors of the control room, like the black screen, the blue screen of death and the BM OFFLINE, cu’z that look so fake with the AM labs map in the screen.

#17

Thanks for bringing that up. I hadn’t considered the canon yet. I’ll make sure there will be all Lambda Reactor Complex references. I might have to make a few new textures for that.

I’m not sure in how far Uplink is canon to the story of Half-life, but maybe I can make some references to the original chapter. Maybe camera screens of windows through which you can see known parts from HL.

#18

Looking good so far. Would you be willing to do the same thing for this that Half-Life: Uplink Addon did to the original? The Uplink addon mod added Uplink as another chapter into the original Half-Life, with the level transition being Lambda Core portal #7 and its exit portal.

#19

That would be interesting, although the question is wether Uplink still fits into the storyline. It was cut from the original game in a later development stage and then released as a demo. However, it was heavily revised, so I’m not sure if it would fit seamlessly into HL. But let’s not worry too much about that yet… I need to get it done first :stuck_out_tongue:

#20

Good effort so far, I’ll be watching this.

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.