Blogs - PrivateSnowball

After scoundreling about Mod-DB and looking at all the other cool mods on here (ie; those outside of the Goldsource/Source community), I got to thinking that perhaps I should move on with modding. Yes, I've had fun making maps for GoldSrc and Souce engine games, but I've found those engines to be very...limiting. Perhaps I'm just not around the right people, and need to find new connections? or perhaps I'm not digging deep enough...?

Either way, I just want to make fun games, and I've found Half Life to be a good place to start, but not satisfying of my creative ambitions. Engine-wise, Half Life (and even HL2) are, in my opinion, very one-dimensional. What I mean by this is, there aren't enough options to create, to build more. Look at games like Battlefield 3 and Killzone 2. You'll find there are lots of menus, customization options, dynamically-changing gameplay...all sorts of cool stuff I rarely if ever see in both the Half Life series and/or the various mods for those games.

Don't get me wrong, I still play the Half Life games along with said mods, and would enjoy working on more mods for the GoldSrc and Source engines; I just see more depth in other engines and software. Then again, I also have a sub-par understanding of coding, outside of it basically is the whole fucking game, so maybe I'm not digging deep enough.

If anyone would like to help me, further inform me, etcetera of anything mentioned here, please do. The saying goes, "better grieved than fooled."

Back in June, I was chatting on Steam with Joebama when my laptop froze. Being the impatient person I am, I immediately turned off my computer, hoping t would just reboot the next time I turned it on.

Big mistake.

Long story short, I'm back to using a piece of shit desktop with an Nvidia 4600 graphics card and 256 MB of RAM. Anything higher than Goldsource games are out of the question until a) this computer gets upgraded, or b) I get access to a better machine.

Not too long ago, my buddy TheCoolGman decided to bash the fuck out of Andreas Rondberg's latest creation, Cry of Fear. Gman did not like the mod at all, so he went on the mod's page and spammed the damn thing to hell and back. Andreas (on his account, "Rumpel", though not spelled exactly like that) and his legions of fans attacked Gman, and a shitstorm of unnecessary drama occurred.

So what is my take on this? I honestly wish all of it would just stop. For starters, I actually liked COF, but the reaction to Gman's criticism was rather immature, if you ask me. Rumpel brought it to Bloodbath Software's mods' pages, and while it did eventually fizzle out there, the bullshit still persists.

Rumpel: Just ignore people who are critics. Do what you want with yourself, and keep up the good work.

Gman: Stop perpetuating the drama, and stop trying to draw me into this by constantly doing things like showing me videos/pictures/etc that make fun of Cry of Fear. And stop asking me to make an ED article on Rumpel. I don't want anything to do with this, and even if I did, not only would I have trouble making an article worth a damn, but I don't want a slander lawsuit on my hands.

That's it. That is the last I want to speak of this shit.

In recent days, I have found myself aspired to re-continue projects that went nowhere. A spark of energy has awoken in me, inspired by the desire to Create, and to be productive. With a better understanding of things, and with friends to support myself and each other, I feel the need to go out and be creative and let my inner self loose.

The first project will be some mapping: namely, my incomplete Narcosynthesis which was based on some screen-shots from the original version of Team Fortress 2 (then titled Valve's Team Fortress). It will be a desert-based map, in which two teams- red, who is based in a village; and blue, who is based in a coal mine just across a bridge from the village- battle to capture each other's flags. Secondly, the next map, which may or may not come into fruition, dependent entirely upon whether or not my friend blueprints the map, will be titled Bronson Beach, which may or may not be, to some degree or another, entirely my own creation, and may be a task undertaken by my friends Gman and Joebama. Time will unfold, and determine for me if I shall take part in accomplishing the dreams of a friend.

Third in line, which, again, is dependent upon the above-mentioned friend's cooperation, will be a podcast of sorts. An official theme, or, at the very least, a basic idea of what to discuss, has not been officially formulated yet, but it should be considered that a lack of a specific topic (ie; a podcast about health foods, or Half Life modding, or politics, etcetera) may very well be the centerpiece of the podcast, with such a broad range of topics giving it its own spice, if you will.

Fourthly, and lastly, will be a map inspired loosely by Grand Theft Auto for Half Life (and/or one of its many mods, in particular, my eyes are on TFC for this one) in which vehicles can be hijacked, driven about, and parked at will in a large urban/suburban-themed map. Think Mecklenburg with those scooters from that one map for Counter-Strike (in the desert, where I believe there was also a large tank you could move around freely, unlike the tram cars from subtransit or the pickup trucks from axl_suburb_b5, which follow a fixed path). One way I intend to accomplish this is to decompile Axl Suburb, and find a way to make freely-moving vehicles in a map.

All in all, I have a lot of set goals for myself, all fairly realistic. All I need to do is to put them in motion, which is entirely based upon my shoulders. Anyone wanna help?

As some of you may know, I am friends with Joebama, TheCoolGman, and IngSoc (the latter being the creator of Overturn, with the former two helping develop the mod). With these relationships, I was able to get access to a certain set of files enabling me to get my hands on an unfinished version of Overturn. With this in mind, I want it to be known that I will be reviewing an unfinished version of the mod, and this review is not to be taken as a critique of the final product (which doesn't even exist yet).

Overturn is a horror mod for Half Life, taking influence from the games that pioneered the FPS genre, such as Doom and Quake, as well what appears to be influences from other games, such as Resident Evil and, of course, Half Life. The eerie, grotesque atmosphere the mod resonates with is excellently communicated by the setting and the themes of the mod; taking place on board an old, rusty ship, of which you are constantly reminded of by the red lights and rusty textures often splattered with blood of those unfortunate enough to come on board.

When I first started up Overturn, I am greeted with a splash screen that sets the stage for what is to come: a corridor, red and rusty as per the game's theme, blotted with a bloody hand print, red as the gruesome environment in which the mod takes place. I loaded the game up only to start off with a screeching noise, that of a zombie. After ascending a small ladder, barely chest-level in height, you find a door with a laser beam. After pressing a button, the doors open as the beam dies, where I was greeted with more trickery, commonplace in Half Life, requiring you to think and search, as well as be wary of threats.

I came across one problem, however. Should you die, you are placed in a choke-point in which you cannot move (I'm sure this can be fixed by simply relocating this particular entity in Valve Hammer Editor), and also, if you look around and turn on your flash light, you notice one particularly black texture actually having the AAA_TRIGGER texture (the one with the pink lambda symbols). I sincerely hope IngSoc addresses these two issues, as it would be a shame for his excellent mapping skills to be stigmatized by a handful of minor technical errors.

That brings me to my next point: the maps. Riddled by the thematic red characterized by the eerie feeling the mod aims for, the levels are well laid out and perfectly coordinated, with architecture that assimilates the various halls and rooms of the ship into one which makes you feel...lonely. The horror is well calculated here, forcing you to let your guard down when you need it up, and vice-versa. The maps do not look like something a beginner mapper would make, but almost like something Valve themselves would have came up with. The maps have been polished up and every bit of detail has been applied to each and every corner, wall, console, computer, hallway, door way, where ever you may find yourself, and whatever you may see.

All in all, Overturn, despite one or two errors here and there, does a great job combining influences from old-school first person shooters with a thematic atmosphere. This is a game you will remember for it's eerie red lights, the rusty floors and walls, and the handful of other things that make this game almost like an official Half Life game rather than a mod made by some loser with basic knowledge of C++ and Valve Hammer Editor.

NO ONE GIVES A DAMN ABOUT THEM.

DOWN WITH RICOCHET.

FUCK RICOCHET.

RICOCHET IS A STEAMING PILE OF HORSE EXCREMENT AND ANYONE WHO ACTUALLY ENJOYS THAT PIECE OF SHIT EXCUSE FOR A COMPUTER GAME IS A SUBHUMAN SCUM OF SLIME WITH NO SENSE OF INTELLECT.

After comparing screenshots between Half Life 2 and Killzone 2, I saw similarities in the styles portrayed in both games: a gritty, urban atmosphere in a land ruled by totalitarian soldiers clad in full uniform and body armor and all. Furthermore, said adversaries bear stylistic similarities in the sense that (1) they are both "beyond human" and (2) their uniforms are notably similar (gas mask, full padding, etc). From these notations gave me something I myself could probably put into motion: Why not make a Source mod based on Killzone?

Maybe call it "Killzone: Source" or something within that sort. I could do the mapping, as well as give the modelers some idea as to what might fit well into the mod. Also, I was hoping to make some of the weapons based on those of the 2007 E3 beta for Killzone 2, and not necessarily those of the final game that got released in stores...chiefly, because of the secondary fire being utilized (like in the first Killzone) while maintaining the aesthetic appeal of the final game itself.

Imagine, how cool might the Killzone world be in the Source engine?...Okay, fine, not as cool as it would in PS3 graphics, but it certainly wouldn't be too shabby an idea in my book.

(Imagine things of this scale in the Source engine...holy crap!)

That aside, I am being dead serious: If there are any modders (code writers, modelers, etc) willing to enact my idea, I will SERIOUSLY make maps for this thing. I am somewhat well-versed in using the Source SDK for mapping, and I do have experience making maps for Counter Strike: Source (see below for the only example I've put on the internet).

Gamebanana.com
(NOTE: This is not the greatest I can do, but it does show I can do atleast something.)

My group, BloodBath Software, is currently in the process of finishing up a Half Life mod, Overturn. Although I myself will not be taking part in this mod, Joebama will be, and I am excited to see the whole thing take off. If this mod is a big enough success, it will easily pave the road for an idea I've based the majority of my other blog posts on that me and Joebama have been discussing for some time now.

I can't wait for Overturn to come out, because 1) I'd be happy to try out mods for people and to play this mod, and 2) when it's over with, the project between me and Joebama will begin (TFC2: Brothers In Arms).

Joebama even said so himself, "the coder we got is amazing, he created the Raven City engine. And we have a model hacker, and a lot of us map, so the only position we may have to fill is an actual modeler...but when TFC2 comes around, that's when we'll hire a modeler...what we plan on doing is we'll [finish] overturn, then begin TFC2 as we wait for feedback, and after TFC2 we'll work on Overturn 2. At least, that's the plan."

Of course, Overturn was already in development long before I was a member of BloodBath Software (which only came into fruition in August 2010), so my first actual project will be TFC2. I personally don't think I'm entirely ready to make a single-player mod yet, because it all revolves around accomplishing a set list of goals, as opposed to a multiplayer mod, where you can do whatever you want and just run around shooting things.

In the end, time will decide. Provided I get a decent experience from TFC2, I just might help out IngSoc (the creator of Overturn) make Overturn 2.

Z0MG PL0X Z0MG PL0X Z0MG PL0X Z0MG PL0X Z0MG PL0X Z0MG PL0X Z0MG PL0X Z0MG PL0X Z0MG PL0X Z0MG PL0X Z0MG PL0X Z0MG PL0X Z0MG PL0X Z0MG PL0X Z0MG PL0X Z0MG PL0X Z0MG PL0X Z0MG PL0X Z0MG PL0X Z0MG PL0X Z0MG PL0X Z0MG PL0X Z0MG PL0X Z0MG PL0X Z0MG PL0X Z0MG PL0X Z0MG PL0X Z0MG PL0X Z0MG PL0X Z0MG PL0X Z0MG PL0X Z0MG PL0X Z0MG PL0X Z0MG PL0X Z0MG PL0X Z0MG PL0X Z0MG PL0X Z0MG PL0X Z0MG PL0X Z0MG PL0X Z0MG PL0X Z0MG PL0X Z0MG PL0X Z0MG PL0X Z0MG PL0X Z0MG PL0X Z0MG PL0X Z0MG PL0X Z0MG PL0X Z0MG PL0X Z0MG PL0X Z0MG PL0X Z0MG PL0X Z0MG PL0X Z0MG PL0X Z0MG PL0X Z0MG PL0X Z0MG PL0X Z0MG PL0X Z0MG PL0X Z0MG PL0X Z0MG PL0X Z0MG PL0X Z0MG PL0X Z0MG PL0X Z0MG PL0X Z0MG PL0X Z0MG PL0X Z0MG PL0X Z0MG PL0X Z0MG PL0X Z0MG PL0X Z0MG PL0X Z0MG PL0X Z0MG PL0X Z0MG PL0X Z0MG PL0X Z0MG PL0X Z0MG PL0X Z0MG PL0X Z0MG PL0X Z0MG PL0X Z0MG PL0X Z0MG PL0X Z0MG PL0X Z0MG PL0X Z0MG PL0X Z0MG PL0X
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BONUS: THIS MAY SPOIL THINGS BUT WHATEVER....

10:58 AM - Private Snowball: Do you have any ideas for Overturn 2?
10:59 AM - Joe "Joebama" Baslock: yeah
10:59 AM - Joe "Joebama" Baslock: ingsoc has most of it planned out already
10:59 AM - Private Snowball: great
10:59 AM - Joe "Joebama" Baslock: post apocalyptic
10:59 AM - Joe "Joebama" Baslock: in a lost town
10:59 AM - Joe "Joebama" Baslock: close to the coast
11:00 AM - Private Snowball: I'm assuming their will be plenty of zombies?
11:00 AM - Joe "Joebama" Baslock: oh hell yeah