Video Tutorial Re-vamp
The Interlopers video section has been neglected for a long time so with that in mind I have given it a much needed update.
Firstly there is now a dedicated 4-part Beginner's Guide that takes you from opening a new map right through to compiling your first room. All newbies should start there.
Secondly I have re-recorded all the other tutorials, combined sections of previous videos into each other and also created brand new ones.
Yet another update that keeps Interlopers your favourite editing site. Enjoy.
By Blink on Monday, May 28 | Comments (14)
Infiltration Complete
The Infiltration mod team have released an update on their website detailing their release date and average game play time.
"The work on Infiltration is completed successfully. The results of the Beta-tests allow an estimation of the approximate playing time of about 4 hours for average players. Infiltration will be released in the middle of June and up to the release date further pictures and information will be announced. Moreover the english translation is finished and will be implemented, so that the english and the german version of Infiltration will be released at the same time. An entire new gallery can also be found on our website! "
By Shr3d on Sunday, May 27 | Comments (14)
Black Mesa Update
The folks over at Black Mesa have released their 10th media release after much anticipation from their fans. This time around we get both multiplayer and singleplayer level screenshots, a skinned model and a bullsquid animation video.
"Many thanks to all the voice actors who applied to be on the team! From the hundreds (yes, hundreds!) of applicants, the team have chosen nine very talented voice actors who will bring Black Mesa's characters to life! In addition to the voice actors, several new members of the development team have joined us!"
They're also holding an auction for a PC so if you're interested check that out.
By Shr3d on Sunday, May 27 | Comments (29)
New Team Fortress 2 IGN Preview
The folks over at IGN have brought us another bag of preview goodies to look forward to. This time, the preview describes all the nine different classes that will be included in Team Fortress 2.
Valve and IGN had their different opinions on the classes, like the sniper for example.
"Valve says: Nobody beats the Sniper at long-range combat. With a little time to find a perch and dig in, he can significantly slow an enemy advance. If knocking the helmet off a Soldier at 400 paces sounds fun, then the Sniper is the class for you."
IGN says: The six maps included in TF2 were designed with all nine classes in mind. That means you can expect multiple sniping perches, making the sniper a valuable asset in every match. The Sniper's shot can be charged, so that a single shot (even if it misses the head) can prove lethal. The only trouble is that the fully-charged shot created a laser point visible to the enemy.
For a full read of the story go here.
By Shr3d on Friday, May 25 | Comments (18)
Steam reaches 13 million accounts
Another little news gem in the inbox from Mr Lombardi:
"MAY 23, 2007 - Valve® today announced that Steam, the Bellevue, WA based company's pioneering PC platform for digital content, has surpassed 13 million active accounts. With over 150 games in a broad selection of genres and dozens of other PC applications, movies, and demos available, Steam has become a leading destination for millions of gamers around the world.
The activity of online gameplay via Steam averages over 7 billion player minutes per month. And, staying true to its roots of offering automatic updates for PC games and applications, Steam has served its growing audience a total of over 2,500 updates since its first release.
What began just a few years ago as a solution for auto-updating Valve's multiplayer games has evolved into a platform used by many of today's leading publishers and developers. This summer, more major publishers will announce that they are bringing their games to Valve's platform, using it for electronic distribution and including it in their retail product releases in order to take advantage of features such as anti-piracy, server browsing, marketing promotions and more.
"We've approached the development of Steam the same way we treat our online games; we release something we've tested, we internalize the feedback, and then we release new features and functionality based upon the feedback received," says Gabe Newell, president and co-founder of Valve. "In Steam's case, we have millions of customers who are gamers and dozens of customers who are developers and publishers. In the past year, we've added over 100 new titles from third parties, grown to over 13 million active accounts, and introduced new features such as Guest Passes and Free Weekends. This growth has taught us a lot and inspired many additional features and services that we'll be releasing later this year."
By Blink on Wednesday, May 23 | Comments (21)
Insurgency - New Site + Trailer
Looks like releasing a trailer is the trend at the moment, and the Insurgency boys know how to do it:
"It's been a long time coming, but the pieces are finally coming together here at Insurgency mod. I'm pleased to say that there's a real buzz of energy and excitement between the Developers and Testers that you can really feel. This is because we're very close to the release of the mod! (June '07)"
As well as checking out the new site design you can also watch the downloadable video or give it a quick look on YouTube.
By Blink on Wednesday, May 23 | Comments (23)
Nuclear Dawn Update & Video
The Nuclear Dawn guys have come out of their silence and released a little progress update and also a short and snappy trailer:
"One of the new philosophies since Nuclear Dawn underwent new management has been to minimise efforts spent on hype and maximise those spent on the mod code, assets and design. Whilst we may have stuck to this approach a bit too stringently in recent months that hasn't stopped Ventral and Sam from putting together a short teaser that should give you brief glimpse of what is to come..."
You can download their video or if you're in a rush, watch it on YouTube.
By Blink on Wednesday, May 23 | Comments (15)
Orange is the new Black
"Half-Life 2: The Black Box is no more. The package, which was to offer Half-Life 2: Episode 2, Portal, and Team Fortress 2, has been officially cancelled by Valve. The Orange Box will be the only collection offered when Episode 2 releases this fall. Priced $10 higher than the Black Box, the Orange Box adds the original Half-Life 2 and HL2: Episode 1."
The orange box will be available for purchase on PC ($49.99USD) or PS3/Xbox360 ($59.99USD).
So officially the orange box will contain:
Half-Life 2
Half-Life 2: Episode One
Half-Life 2: Episode Two
Team Fortress 2
Portal
Source.
By Shr3d on Monday, May 21 | Comments (50)
News Round-Up [Mid-May Edition]
Perfect Dark Source
Perfect Dark Source is a remake of Perfect Dark (N64) on the source engine. It is a multiplayer total conversion. Players currently can choose from 3 player models and several weapons, which are highly detailed. The mod is overall fun and visually stunning. For a preview there's a video up on moddb and you can download it here or here for a bigger list of mirrors, more suited for global gamers than just USA's.
Steam delivers ATI drivers
Most of us have been pestered before joining a source game to update our drivers. Well, thanks to VALVe, we can be even lazier!
Gabe newell commented.
"I'm pretty excited about finally getting some display drivers - the ATI announcement included that - where rather than having the situation they have right now where they literally tens, close to hundreds of display drivers out there on people's machines, that everybody will have the most current, the most up-to-date driver, automatic bug-reporting and things like that. That's a nice step forward."
Source.
Jailbreak! 0.3.1 out
A fun source mod named Jailbreak! has reached v0.3.1. Basically, two teams are pitted against each other to kill (at the same time imprisoning the dead players in their enemies jail) each other. Imprisoned (dead) players can be freed by their teammates who can run to their enemies jail and free them. The objective is to trap all the enemies and execute them in style. It's basically Guantanamo Bay with gravity guns and a load of fun. Check it out here and you can download from one of the mirrors here.
Paranoia, paranoia...
THE most graphically stunning half-life 1 based game is paranoia. You can view a video preview of their first actual in-game video in hi-res or low-res. These guys have given Half-Life 1 based mods a new graphic standard. Recommended viewing.
Zombie Master from 1.0.1 to 1.1.0
Zombie Master is an RTS/FPS style game where players are pitted against zombies that an invisible entity (controlled by one player- the zombie master) controls. Players are placed against slow zombies, fast zombies, massive beast zombies and flying spitting zombies (you have to see it to believe it). There are shotguns, rifles, mac10's, pistols and several melee weapons to choose from currently. Be sure to give this mod a go, I highly recommend it for the fun factor. Moddb recently covered this mod in a review so be sure to check it out. Otherwise, download links can be found here or a direct mirror is here.
By Shr3d on Saturday, May 19 | Comments (20)
HL2 - Awakening Release
Another single player mod has hit the web and that's always good in my opinion. Awakening puts you in the shoes of Adrian Shepard as you romp about various levels:
"The events in this game happen a bit before Gordon arrives in City 17, the player will start in black mesa-ish base thats still resistent to the combine occupation, from there it will bring the player to a quarry, a soviet submarine base and into the basements of a older citadel where the combine stumbled on ancient alien technology."
Check the site for more screenshots and download links.
By Blink on Thursday, May 17 | Comments (35)
One Heavy Interview
The folks over at VALVe have decided to grace us with another TF2 goodie. This time, they are showcasing the various improvements in facial animations they have added to the source engine but they're doing it with style and humour.
"We are pleased to announce that the next generation of facial animation technology for Source will be released in Team Fortress 2. By leveraging the rapid pace of advancement in PC graphics, videogames can now match and actually surpass the facial animation used in feature film and broadcast television production. We've released a video of this real-time, in-game, in-engine facial animation in action..."
Check out the full quote here and head this way for the video.
By Shr3d on Wednesday, May 16 | Comments (29)
Resistance and Liberation Media Update
Been awhile since we've heard from the Resistance and Liberation guys, but clearly that hasn't meant nothing was being done:
"A big hand for Ryan and Tim for generating such awesome looking artwork, as well as Toni, Mike, Stefan, Rick U. and Ricky W. (who has since resigned due to the desire for more time with his family) for keeping the momentum in the mapping and environment props departments up (also well-detailed by these screens). Not to leave Andy out, he's been busting his hump to finish full-body awareness, stomping bugs and adding some other tasty features we're not quite ready to announce yet."
There is a load more media to peruse on their site.
By Blink on Saturday, May 12 | Comments (4)
Steam News - May 11th
Another update from the Valve crew, this week touching on previews of their much awaited releases. I do wish Valve would stop hiding the links in their news updates though:
"This past week, PCGamer UK and CVG (Computer and Video Games) ran a few stories on our upcoming games. They had nice things to say about their initial impressions of Half-Life 2: Episode Two, Portal, and Team Fortress 2. They also wrote a piece on their trip to Valve, which touches on some upcoming changes to Steam."
If you want to check out the rest of the release or maybe play hunt the link, you can find it here.
By Blink on Saturday, May 12 | Comments (8)
Natural Selection 2 Maps
I spotted this at Mapcore regarding Natural Selection 2:
"Hey guys,
That's right, we don't need mappers. That's because we're planning on buying the maps from the community.
We're going to give everyone a technology release (NS2TR) with materials, sounds, the .fgd, mapping guidelines and some of the core NS2 tech (dynamic infestation, commander mode, etc.). Then everyone can start creating maps and we can buy our favorites from you for release in the game.
We're working on the NS2TR now and are focused on releasing it as soon as it's going to be valuable for you!
Thanks,
-Charlie"
So if you guys want to see some of your maps on a comercial product, its better to start looking at Natural Selection
By BaRRaKID on Wednesday, May 9 | Comments (54)
Steam News
Sorry for the lack of news updates lately, been a bit busy. To catch us up is the latest offering from the Valve boys:
"Right now, we're working hard on putting the final parts of Episode Two together. Early on during development we spent a lot of time working on concept art of key areas of the game, so that everyone on the team could share a vision of what the final game would look like. The three pieces below are some examples of that work. Once the game is released you'll be able to see how these concept pieces were eventually turned into the final product."
Also if you're really interested there is some extra news about game discounts, you can read the whole thing here.
By Blink on Monday, May 7 | Comments (13)
Star Trek: Enterprise TCW Media Release 12
The Enterprise team hit us with yet another cracking release, including a video of a new effect that seperates this mod even further from 'HL2 themed' projects:
"Progress on the mod is steady, with most of the work done being done on mapping, models and textures... a new tune from Basstronix features in the video. 2ndDeer's first model is in the Source engine as shown below. Heaps happening behind the scene though you would not know with the amount of posting on the forums.. lol.... the main thing is that we are moving forward..."
For more info and media click yourself this way.
By Blink on Monday, April 30 | Comments (22)
Gamespy previews Portal
And the previews keep on rolling in. Gamespy has played and previewed Portal, the Source based puzzle game shipping with Episode 2.
"After about 45 minutes, we'd completed about half of Portal's puzzles... but that was the easy half. The game isn't expected to be too long (the count currently sits at 22 puzzles, and that could increase before launch), but Valve promises the levels get far, far harder to solve as you get closer to the finish. However long it takes, Portal is a unique experiment for a game set within a first-person shooter environment, and we're looking forward to finishing it when it releases as part of the Half-Life 2: Episode Two package this fall."
Read the entire article at www.gamespy.com
By Spas12 on Saturday, April 28 | Comments (5)
DOD Community Assembled Map Pack is out!
I've been thrilled to have been a part of this top secret project over on the DOD side of things for the past few months. Now that it's wide out in the open, I figured I'd post up the news here for my loper brothers.
A big congratulations to the first 3 mappers out of the gate! May there be many more packs to come!
The Community Assembled Map Project (CAMP) is pleased to announce our first release: CAMP1 Pack. This first pack includes three maps representing a nice cross-section of play styles and looks and are considered to be some of the top Day of Defeat: Source custom maps available today. Although the CAMP team is wholly responsible for the content of this release it would not have been possible without the assistance, encouragement, and support from our friends at Valve.
Each map in this, and subsequent releases, has been tested for exploits, errors, accurate scoring and all have been re-worked during this process by the original level designers and/or their authorized backup. The CAMP team itself is a diverse set of level designers, server operators, league managers, modelers, and long-term community members who worked together over the last month to bring you CAMP1.
Every CAMP release will include high quality maps that explore different game styles as we hope to bring new vitality, interest, and variety to this great game! CAMP1 can be downloaded from the list of fine communities below, all of whom will be featuring the maps in their server rotations. Please patronize the communities that have helped with this significant effort!
Find the Steam news release here.
By JakeParlay on Friday, April 27 | Comments (8)
GameSpot Interview Erik Johnson
GameSpot have had a word with Erik Johnson about Episode 2 and also grabbed a few screenshots in the process, I thought this bit might interest us level designers:
"...And we've built a new particle system into Source. This has put more of the control of our visual effects directly into the hands of the artists, resulting in the most graphically sophisticated game we've ever made."
Read the full thing here.
By Blink on Wednesday, April 25 | Comments (12)
1UP Left 4 Dead Video Preview
As if you couldn't get enough Left 4 Dead previews, there is another one courtesy of 1UP.com, this time showing a lot more actual in game footage and some interesting comments from Mike Booth about the AI Director.
You can check it out on GameVideos.com.
