“Ghost In The Machine is an experiment in gameplay scripting that allows the player to modify their environment by “hacking” into the security system of a Combine citadel.”
Ghost In The Machine is an experiment in gameplay scripting that allows the player to modify their environment by “hacking” into the security system of a Combine citadel. In a unique blend of puzzle/stealth gameplay the player must covertly modify turrets, disable force-fields, and eliminate guards in order to retrieve en experimental Gravity gun hidden deep within the citadel.
The “hacking” mechanic is simple and intuitive, and allows for some interesting visuals not usually found in Half-Life 2. When using the security system, the player sees a 3D visual representation of the citadel that he can navigate and use to solve puzzles, while evading firewalls and antiviral programs. Changes in the world are reflected in the security system in real-time so the player can use it to gain knowledge of enemy patrol routes.
- Title: Ghost In The Machine
- File Name: hl2-ep2-sp-ghost-in-the-machine.rar
- Size : 18.62Mb
- Author: Evan Kawa
- Date Released: 12 May 2009
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- Copy SP-GhostInTheMachine.bsp into your Half-Life 2: Episode Two Maps folder.
- Launch Half-Life 2: Episode Two
- Open the console and type map SP-GhostInTheMachine.
- Press enter/return or click the Submit button.
- Play and Enjoy.
Please Note: Panoramic images only are available in full screen mode. You can either open one by click the image link above or by saving it to your computer and then opening it.
With your cursor on the image, press and hold your left mouse button and move around the image. Use your mouse wheel to scroll in and out of the panoramic.
Click on the thumbnails below to open a 800 pixel wide image.
WARNING: The screenshots may contain spoilers.
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PlanetPhillip (2298)
andyb (1013)
Mel (801)
Goddess Alyria (424)
Stef (391)
Jasper (322)
AI (311)
piledriver (311)
Kasperg (278)
Grey Acumen (255)
17 June 2009 at 6:14 pm
WOW! I LOVED this map. This could definitely be made into a completely mod, it adds a whole new dimension to potential puzzles.
The technical implimentation is very slick, took me a little while for my super stupid brain to work out how to solve the first puzzle, a bit less for the second one, which is really the best of the lot, and they kinda got easier after that.
It’s a beautiful Citadel-type environment, if a little sparse. It’s great fun to get the Super Gravity Gun too, don’t understand why it isn’t used more often.
Gameplay other than the puzzles is normal and the backtracking is frustrating only because I want to play in new areas.
This author is going places.
5 Words Or Less Review
Tron sucks compared to this!
17 June 2009 at 7:25 pm
Ack! It’s just a map that should be copied into Ep2 and not a stand alone mod. I hate opening Ep2 just to play a map pack and I always forget these maps, unlike the mods which is on my Steam list, so they are hard to forget. (It’s not that hard to release proper map packs as mods, just find a similar mod and copy the required files and edit as nessesary.)
Regardless, this looks like it is a very interesting map, a rare piece of imagination in the HL2 SP modding scene, from what I can tell from the screenshots and descriptions. I’ll post my opinion on it when I have played it.
18 June 2009 at 4:05 pm
It’s always fun to use the Super Gravity Gun. It’s a must play for sure. Not so happy with the ‘hacking’ – find the number and use the keypads. Innovative scripting (no idea what that is, just copied it from the author’s notes!) but strangely dated too.
18 June 2009 at 11:40 pm
Panoramic Image added. Full screen only. Almost 3Mb, I decided to go for quality rather than speed. Sorry to low speed users.
19 June 2009 at 11:18 am
Reminds a little of TRON – but definitely playable. In the the halflife world, original too!
19 June 2009 at 4:46 pm
Is it just me or do you (or the game) just randomly input codes for forcefields & sentry guns until it either opens or you die ?
I can’t seem to be able to choose what code goes in .
19 June 2009 at 5:32 pm
The codes you need are printed on the wall by the security point when you play in normal view. Took me a while to figure that out!
19 June 2009 at 6:03 pm
Thanks Philip ,I saw the codes but I can’t seem to input them ,whenever I use the use button on the keypad (in the game ) it lights up whichever numbers it feels like I can’t choose which I want to input .
20 June 2009 at 6:26 am
the buttons light up certain ones around them — just use the code as printed on the wall, aim your curser at the middle of those specific buttons, and it should work for you
19 June 2009 at 8:14 pm
The virtual work concept is almost as much fun — and arguably more innovative — that the telekinesis at the end of Mistake of Pythagoras. I’d still like to have seen more combat, and once you figure out the mechanics, the map is brutally short. I’m giving it a must play just for the concept!
20 June 2009 at 3:37 am
My only qualm is that there was no reliable way – at least that I was aware of – to exit the virtual-reality realm. Otherwise, this is a great concept; reminds me of Neuromancer and HL1’s The Edge of Darkness.
20 June 2009 at 6:27 am
press “f” to exit cyberspace, at least that’s what showed up on my screen
20 June 2009 at 4:32 am
Sry, But I could not figure out the cool cyber space puzzles, which looked super awesome. Besides that point, this map looked awesome. I’m gonna learn from that combine architecture and see if I can make brushwork like that. I still reccomend ppl play this.
23 June 2009 at 7:01 pm
the puzzle with the 2 guards crossing the bridge. i used cybermode to turn off bridge control but the 2 guards don’t fall. is there something else i should be doing or is it a bug?
23 June 2009 at 7:18 pm
MAke sure that when you turn it off they are actually walking along the energy bridge.
23 June 2009 at 7:15 pm
forget my last comment. i worked out i had to switch out of cybermode once i switched it off.
as for the map nice effect and well used. pity short map.
23 June 2009 at 8:56 pm
Yea,I had to figure that out too.Still cant turn the sentry gun off thou.I dont like the way the keypad works.I’ve tried it about 50 times in the last 3 days so I give up for now.Going camping for a few days instead.
23 June 2009 at 9:36 pm
Wow, very nice, I luv it.
I’ve already seen this idea for a virtual world which has the same basic geometry as the real one and were you can see enemies paths already in Tron2.0 and I guess in Ghost in the shell, so it’s not really innovative.
But what this to one of my favourites was the fact of how it was realised. Just perfectly. The style and shapes look really the same.
The only thing that bothered me was that there were only simply “search the code” puzzles, wanna see some more complex puzzles which alter to the others in the same map. Also I missed a key to switch out of cyberspace.
I wanna have loads more of such maps!
23 June 2009 at 9:39 pm
oh, have just seen that I need to press f to get out, didn’t see any hints about that?
26 June 2009 at 8:32 pm
I didn’t see it either.
27 June 2009 at 10:14 pm
It comes up on the screen every time you go cyber in the top right corner in pretty big letters
08 July 2009 at 5:42 am
I had no trouble getting through this mod and managed to get pass all the force fields to the SGG, also figured out quickly that you need a pen and paper for this one.
However, I was never fully confident that I was always doing the right thing and just followed my nose at times, if any one tells me I missed a whole chunk of this mod then I would not be surprised.
I enjoyed the play through and thought that it was well designed and laid out with some interesting graphics, the balance between sorting out and inputting codes to the following Combine encounters was just about right, any more decoding would have taxed my boredom level.
HOF mod, I am not sure but defiantly worth mentioning in dispatches.
06 September 2009 at 3:25 am
Fascinating map construction indeed! From a technical point of view, wonderful.
I got about 4 puzzles and then input the correct code and got continually zapped. Of course that was the end of that. Accordingly, Gameplay is where I take issue with this one, hence the rating.
12 January 2010 at 9:58 pm
Except for some VERY minor issues, this mod is an excellent proof of concept piece. I actually like how it implemented the idea of cyberspace far better than what Neuromancer did.
Unfortunately, its incredibly short length keeps it from being seriously considered as anything but a proof of concept. It took me barely 10 minutes the first time I played, and could probably be done in less than 5 minutes if you played efficiently.
Other than the short length, another issue is that there isn’t much forgiveness. I decided to bug the guards on the bridge before i turned the bridge off and ended up with one chasing me back to the console that I needed to use to turn the bridge off. Once there, he wouldn’t go BACK to the bridge so I had to either reload, or maybe lead him over to a turret that I could then turn on him. Even then, it seems like if an enemy comes into sight of the console you’re working from, they won’t see you while you’re in cyberspace, which is actually too convenient for my tastes. Realistically, you should still be at the console, so if they get into sight of it, they should shoot at you and interrupt your connection.
The only other problem i had was that they used the flashlight button for you to manually eject yourself from cyberspace. This apparently left the flashlight unable to work normally. Anytime I turned it on it would immediately turn off. I would have rather seen the author use the reload button for ejection, as you don’t have any weapons while you’re in cyberspace. If implementing this concept is going to break the flashlight then that’s going to severely hamper its ability to be used in future mods.