Archives for 2012

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

None of my “real” friends, and by real I mean people I see in real life, play video games. We do other stuff together; we play Frontenis, walk up Anboto or just relax at the beach.

But what I would really like to do is have some friends over and play some SP mods or games and experience the interaction of others who love it as much as I do.

DoorVille is the first in a series of 6 mapping competitions lasting ten days each. The objective was to select ANY locked door from HL2, Ep1 or Ep2 and give the player a chance to find out what’s behind it.

Locked doors are a very important part of all Half-Life games. They control the player’s flow through a level.

Sometimes they tease you with a glimpse behind some glass, other times you hear sounds, but in all cases they are telling you “You are not wanted here!”

Well, now that is changed. Dare you find out what’s behind the door?

A few weeks ago I was contacted by Joe Hunter, who made Smart Decoy. We chatted about the mod and the modding scene “back in the day”.

Naturally I asked what he was doing now and was pleasantly surprised to hear that has made a free online top-down MMO action shooter called Tunnelers.

Not only does it look pretty damn cool but it’s actually free to play.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so the video below must be worth at least 10,000!

You may have noticed that there is a new design for some of the site.

I have worked on creating some new display options when viewing the content.

In most case, you can now view the maps and mods (and other content too) in three ways: excerpts, thumbnails and lists.

The video below explains those three options and the benefits of each.

Although this is a few weeks old now, I decided to make a video tutorial of how to use the Personalizer and how to get the kind of results that will interest you.

Below is that video!

Starting in a small office you must keep moving in the hope of finding an escape route.

Moving forward is actually the hardest part in this mappack, as you way is contantly blocked and you must solve the “puzzles” to move on.

Back in October 2011, I read this article called How Valve experiments with the economics of video games posted on GeekWire.

I wanted to write something about it but one thing got on top of another and I completely forgot about it, that was until two other articles appeared, one of which I currently can’t find link to, about Valve pricing policies.

Here is a short video explaining the new Reviewed or Not Reviewed feature now available on PP.

Sound is out on the webcam, sorry.

A simple chamber, with a few solutions.

Use the Light Bridge to gain access to various switches.

How fast can you do it?

Today I managed to spend some time with Yves Richard AKA Richman, the author of Hazardous Course 2 amongst others and we chatted about the mod and its difficulty etc.

We also talked about the kind of Half-Life players left around and the problems of mapping for Source.

Yves said he would drop by, so if you have any questions, please feel free to post them as comments and hopefully he can answer them.

You are stuck.

Stuck in a room with no obvious escape.

That is until you realize you can remotely control a manhack.

Use the manhack and external cameras to release yourself.

Five years ago I wrote an article called Hammer Made Easy, asking for more or less what Valve are releasing in a few days.

I don’t claim to have been the first to ask for it, and definitely not the last, but it’s pretty damn cool to see it finally arrive.

The biggest problem will be finding the good ones to play and I am sure some gems will be overlooked.

A series of short missions, each with its own gameplay style.

A tactical assault, a box-moving puzzle area, a parachute drop, another tactical assault and finally an arena-style mission.

It’s tough, so be prepared for a difficult 30 minutes of playing.

The Maunsell Forts were built during the Second World War to help protect the UK from air and sea attack.

They were small fortified towers built in the Thames and Mersey estuaries.

As much as they are very interesting, visually, architecturally and historically, I don’ think you should rushing to copy them. For me, the most useful aspect is one of inspiration.

I am very pleased to say that I finally managed to finish the mod and therefore conclude the interview.

I am sure there were a lot more questions I could have asked but I didn’t want to press my luck.

Allow me to thank MyoHyo for responding so quickly to the questions.

You must attack a moon base.

Destroy the lasercore, kill the enemies but you MUST keep Barney and the scientist alive!

Then escape, or do you?

MapTap 2.1 Now Available

This release contains a new feature. The file and right-click menu item now has a link to “Open review page”. This will search PP and open the post of the map you have highlighted.

It should work perfectly, but if you have any issues, please let me know via Email.

In addition, this release gives the column widths better spacing.

Current MapTap users should be notified of the update the next time they start the application.

Refuge in your apartment is no longer an option.

It’s time to flee. But not quietly out the back, oh no!

Go out with all guns blazing.

Reach the port and you may finally find freedom.

I’m torn. Torn between incredible admiration for such amazing work and frustration & disappointment with the outcome.

I started to write an article about how I felt G-String was bad for the community but then I realised that only presenting the negative aspects was unfair.

When you have played as many SP maps and mods as I have, and many of you have, then most of them just blend into one forgettable mix.

That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy them at the time or they weren’t fun to play, it’s just that there’s not enough difference between them.

Caught in some sort of temporal and dimensional gateway, you must use logic and care to escape.

What seems obvious at first may not be what you think it is.

Your world is about to get turned upside down and inside out!

I think we would all agree that as games have progressed, so has the amount of interaction between the player and the game.

In Half-Life 1, you could push creates around, shoot shit, press buttons, open doors and had interaction with the environment.

You play a scientist going about his day as Black Mesa suddenly becomes infested with aliens.

Find any weapons you can and try to reach the surface.

Watch out for enemies, they come from all around you!

Good Luck.

I love Steam. Really, even from the beginning and Valve are always updating and improving it but I just wish I could sit down with the guy/gal or team behind the user experience and chat with them.

I am sure they know how much more it could be and they have a planned improvement programme but I just want to have a few things now.

So, here are 7 Things I wish Steam would allow me to do.

Don’t forget to add your own in the comments.