Archives for August 2009

• Please note that these are publication date on this site, NOT the actual release date of the maps and mods

We chat about the mod’s creation, its development and its bad points, along with some other topics. At just over 33 minutes there’s plenty of joking round in addition to some serious discussion.

This interview was recorded over 4 separate Skype calls and as such you may notice the editing. I also would like to apologze for some of the background sounds. I didn’t realize how sensitive my microphone is!

There’s little doubt that Research & Development is one of the greatest mod ever made for any game. It’s beautiful, thouyght provoking and fun to play.

In fact I think it’s so good I started to wonder whether it would spawn “clone” mods. WIll other mod authors start to create similar mods? Maybe, but more importantly I hope it makes authors realize that puzzles can be so much more interesting.

So, do you think it will spawn more puzzles mods?

Gordon arrives on a single carriage to provide support for daring resistance operation in City 12.

You objective is to lure a Strider into the open so that it can be destroyed and studied.

Of course, the Combine have other ideas. With a few rebels you set out to try.

This was due to be part of a 4-part mappack but is now available as a single map.

The map starts just after you have found and released Dog from a Combine storage area.

Your objective is to get him and yourself to the chopper to be extracted.

This is a Russian mod, with English subtitles, that lets you play as Gordon Freeman before that fateful day.

As the name suggests it takes you through your induction and some training.

There’s no combat, but you do need to use your crowbar to help a fellow scientist.

On a recent broadcast of Podcast17.com Emanuel said he prefered no voice acting to bad voice acting.

That got me thinking What do I prefer? To be honest I’m not sure. Of course the continual problem with these types of poll questions is that it really depends.

This is a rescue mission. You need to rescue Uriah, a Vortigaunt.

Be careful though because if he dies the mission ends. In fact you have to protect him from himself because he is very brave.

Can you get him out of his cell and lead him to a Portal? Good Luck

I want to talk about consciousness and gaming. I’ll touch on a number of areas and all of them deserve more depth and detail than I’ve given them. The purpose of this article is to explore some ideas and hopefully be the catalyst for some interesting discussions.

So, let’s get started.

Where are you? Not where are you sitting but where is your consciousness? Is it purely in you brain or is your brain a conduit from which it accesses the physical world?

This mod continues from the end of Pyramid and sets the player in a world where the sea is rising.

You encounter almost all of Half-Life 2′s enemies and a great outdoor area.

There is some interesting backtracking and even a bonus map if you are lucky.

For the very first PP Podcast I am joined by Matt Glanville AKA CrowbarSka, maker of Union and the soon to be released Corn Of The Dead.

We discuss 5 selected mods from July 2009 and also chat a little bit about viewpoints. The show lasts just under 38 minutes.

I hope you enjoy the show and please don’t hesitate to provide feedback about the format etc.

This was the first entry for my DM2SP competition. It re-converts the DM_Lockdown map back into an SP map.

However, it adds a small group of rebels to rescue and escape via a helicopter.

There’s even a simple puzzle to drop the forcefield.

This is an updated and extended version of Slums.

You are disorientated and lost. You regain full awareness in what looks to be a storage room in an apartment block.

Work your way through a variety of environments to find your way to freedom.

Let’s start with a definition.

Clearly we don’t “need” to even play games or mods but the question is asking what you do once you have the ability to move onto the next part of the game and after you have finished exploring for ammo, health or other goodies.

This map was originally made for HL2 Deathmatch but due to its nature it is possible to play it in Half-Life 2 or even Garry’s Mod.

It takes place in a drydock and the player has the ability to start certain physics effects.

It can be a resource hog, although being a few years old now most players shouldn’t have much trouble running it.