Author’s Notes
“Dawn’s Early Light is a single-player map pack for Half-Life 2, spanning three continuous maps. My map is the first, and involves a member of the human resistance assaulting a Combine facility, only to be part of an event that releases hordes of zombies into the Combine-controlled city. We stuck with the Half-Life 2 visual style and universe for this map pack in order to fully utilize the game assets already available to us.
A major part of this project is working with other Level Designers in order to maintain consistent visuals, especially when it comes to accomplishing seamless level transitions. Even seemingly smaller details, such as the time of day that the events take place in, affect the decisions that we make while creating our maps.
The main thing that I learned from working on this map pack was how to properly populate a 3D game space with fun, scripted enemy encounters. I learned that something as simple as where an enemy attacks from can mean the difference between a player being frustrated or excited about the gameplay experience. Also, along with the Nitrate mod that I worked on, I became very proficient with the Hammer editor and learned how it differs from a subtractive editor like UnrealEd.
Basic Details
- Title: Dawn’s Early Light: Combine Facility
- File Name: hl2-sp-del-combine-facility.rar
- Size : 3.96Mb
- Author: Steve Massey
- Date Released: 03 December 2005
- Notes: All text taken from the author’s website, all images PlanetPhillip originals.
Files
Screenshots
Click on the thumbnails below to open a medium size image. WARNING: The screenshots may contain spoilers.
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13 Comments
I really enjoyed this small but varied map. It’s exactly the type of map style and gameplay I like. Nothing too adventurous, yet it still makes the environment seem interesting. I’ve made this the current Play It Now! mod.
It’s possible I have incorrectly named this mappack and it also seems other authors were involved. Once I clarify the details, I’ll update the post.
If you were one of the author’s and can provide corrections please comment and I will correct the errors.
Good map being veried in content, well designed and worth the download and play time.
Another good one from the SMU guildhall i enjoy it too back when i play it.
What a fantastic map!
A scripted opening sets the scene well; the architecture is varied and interesting and it’s less than 4MB!
I really hope we see more from the author soon.
What are you waiting for?
I was very impressed with the mapping and architecture of this mod. I was even impressed with how the graphics looked brilliant even if you don’t have a great video card. That’s always a plus for me!
Even though you encounter many enemy engagements, I found them quite easy and reached the end too soon only left with wanting more. I would recommend a hard difficulty setting if you’re looking for more of a challenge.
My Recommendation:
Ahem, sorry but… where the BSP file should be copied to, exactly?
THX
You need to put it in …\steam\steamapps\yourusername\half-life2\hl2\maps
(if you have SMOD installed you can put it in …\steam\steamapps\SourceMods\smod\maps and play with enhanced special effects)
I will try that Jumbles, I guess it gets loaded to the smod ingame chapter menu?
I tend to do the smod thing a lot with custom maps. Very neat challenging stuff usually.
Mel, you have to use the console to load the custom maps in smod though. Just type “map” and a list should popup.
I’ll try this one sometime this week. Looks great.
Fairly well-done… like phillip says, nothing revolutionary, but some of the levels were very nice. My favorite was the last level, where you fought with combine soldiers on a transparent floor; made for an interesting battle. Worth a playthrough.
As goddessalyria noted above, this isn’t a difficult mappack, but the lack of challenge is made up for by excellent layouts and story. A great little addition to the HL2 ibrary!
Hey guys, I’m really psyched that you all seemed to really dig my map! It was one out of three maps made by different students for a map pack a map pack when I was going to The Guildhall at SMU. Despite what I say in the description, I consider this map a stand-alone work.
A month or two after I finished Combine Facility up, I got a Level Design gig at Infinity Ward and we’re currently putting the finishing touches on our game, Call of Duty 4. I’ve gotten my hands dirty on both the SP and MP sides and (from a biased point of view) think you should all buy it and check it out when you get the chance!
Thanks again!
Steve
Excellent!! Now that’s the way to make a good mod. This one is solid fun from start to finish which unfortunetly isn’t nearly long enough. But this one is quality. The author made sure it was flawless and everything flows perfectly. The action is good without any spawning enemies to overwhelm the player. The lighting is good but I did turn it up. I also turned down the settings as it was a little sticky at first. After that it runs great. This has a tricky little ending that took me a minute to figure out. I will only say that the answer is on the floor your on. I went down and back up a couple times before figuring it out but it’s real simple once you do. Great little mod and I can’t wait for the full version and really hope it’s real long and has the same high quality throughout. Good job!