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Post news Report RSS Happy Birthday Half-life!

Last year, Black Mesa was one of the first Steam games to be Greenlit by you, our amazing fans. We've had quite a year since then, with a lot happening internally that we haven't been able to talk about... until now. Black Mesa has been given the opportunity to be sold as a retail product on Steam! This is an incredible honor - one we never expected - but also one we found hard to accept.

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HAPPY 15TH BIRTHDAY HALF-LIFE! We here at Black Mesa have some big news!

The Big News:
Last year, Black Mesa was one of the first Steam games to be Greenlit by you, our amazing fans. We've had quite a year since then, with a lot happening internally that we haven't been able to talk about... until now. Black Mesa has been given the opportunity to be sold as a retail product on Steam! This is an incredible honor - one we never expected - but also one we found hard to accept.

We never developed Black Mesa with money in mind. Our team is made up of average, hardworking people, and no one joined the team to make money. For us, Black Mesa is purely a labor of love. We believe this philosophy has significantly contributed to the overall quality and feel of the game.

Our decision to sell Black Mesa rests on two key points. One is we believe we can make the game even better by having full access to the Source engine. This lets us tackle and fix limitations instead of working around them. The second is because frankly, our team could really use the financial help.


The Plan:
Soon you'll see Black Mesa available on Steam for a relatively low price. But we aren't dropping all support for the free version. In fact shortly after the Steam release there will be a completely new free version of the game. We also plan to open source our maps and some game assets to the modding community!

Purchasing the Steam version of Black Mesa is more about supporting the team and our efforts than anything else. However, the Steam version will include features that the free version simply can not have. We will be paying careful attention to feedback, and you'll have a very real say in how the final game turns out.

Long-Term Plans and Xen:
We've been overwhelmed by fan anticipation for Xen, and we're excited so many people are eager to conclude the game. To be totally honest however, Xen is still a ways off. Over the past year, we have spent a HUGE amount of time porting the game to a new engine and fixing hundreds of bugs. The work to port to the new engine was not because of the decision to go retail, this was work that had to be done to get Black Mesa onto Steam and support our future plans.

So, please be patient with us as we work to make Xen a stunning and worthy conclusion to Black Mesa. Until Xen is completed, we have multiple interesting additions planned for the Steam version of Black Mesa, which we will announce later on down the road.

Thanks,
The Black Mesa Dev Team

Post comment Comments  (0 - 50 of 80)
forte226
forte226

god I love half life, looking forward to this

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Dave145
Dave145

You did a great job with Black Mesa. Why not reward it with some money and the opportunity to make BM even better? Keep up the good work :)

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SweetRamona
SweetRamona

Awesome! :D

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23-down Online
23-down

Hm I would probably buy a retail version but only for few € - $...

What I would wish me of that? Hm perhaps the full package then.
Black Mesa + all 3 other Expansions on your high standards. As well as full modifiability later on and eventually a non canon copy of the original campaign that has all monsters included from the expansions and those that were cut out of hl1 when it was released back then. It could be called an enhanced game mode or something similar. Or just the remaining op4 and cut npcs as entities available for the editor with a working AI. Letting the modders choose when and where to use em.

Full flowing Coop support perhaps?

With all those features implemented I would even be willing pay more.

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NiiRubra
NiiRubra

Opposing Force and Blue Shift are already being re-made by Tripmine Studios. Go check them out and see if their work fits the same standards of quality.

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23-down Online
23-down

I'm aware of that however you have to admit the Black Mesa team is made out of a different branch of modders regarding creativity and quality.

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TheUnbeholden
TheUnbeholden

No I would get the Black Mesa team to connect the Tripmine studios expansions to the official release, have the Black Mesa team in charge of polishing it. It would make sense that different teams would be incharge of the expansion much like the real hl, Op4 and B:S. I would love to see Tripmine get recognition for their final work because from what I've seen they are doing some magnificent work. Imagine how amazing it would be to have the full HL experience in source within the end of next year?

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23-down Online
23-down

Ya good idea that would be even better. Also for Black Mesa itself if they would all merge into 1 huge family each team could that way also benefit of tons of new props (items) each team created independently for themselves. It would be surely epic. But that's not gonna happen once money is involved.

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TheUnbeholden
TheUnbeholden

No not necessarily merge together team wise, they can stay separate if they want. I'm saying that Tripmine could get paid for their expansions with official sponsorship... and when they are ready with their work, they can send it to Black Mesa team whom can then polish that content ... if there is anything that needs polishing, and have it advertised along side Black Mesa at some point with integrated steam download system so that people can easily get the expansions if they want them!

The expansions could still be free in some form, so money being involved isn't a problem either way. I'm not talking about merging teams here!

If Tripmine want to be a part of the Black Mesa team that's a entirely different story!

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Leaf_It
Leaf_It

Now if only someteam would remake Half Life: Decay. Hazard Team was disbanded, and all of their work is lost. We need another team to pick up Decay now. If only it was more well known.

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Seaalisgonefromhere
Seaalisgonefromhere

Cool! I'll certainly buy it when it's released.

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pac0master
pac0master

Thank you for the news. Hope to see more about it soon. You guys made an amazing work that inspired me quite a lot.

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moddlord1
moddlord1

cool news!

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Luigisno1
Luigisno1

When they say porting to the new engine, could they be talking about Source 2?

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Komposten
Komposten

They are probably just talking about porting it to a newer version of the Source Engine (e.g. from Source 2007 -> 2013)

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wazanator
wazanator

I would guess:

Free = 2013

Paid = L4D2 or Portal 2 branch

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thelegendofthewhitek
thelegendofthewhitek

(buried)

More like

Free= Demo

Paid= Full Game, either way I am downloading the full version on utorrent.

They don't NEED my money, I am poor and make less than $12,000 a year, let everyone that is in lower middle class and above pay for it. It will even out in the end, I will buy it in at least 4 years from now I am sure to complete my Source collection on Steam.

My question is what about the Cinematic mod for HL2? I would love to see their models and textures on this(Not that music though, but it is optional on the HL2:CM) There is to much hate on HL2:CM I think

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pbibapb
pbibapb

Мне даже легче стало,пацаны хоть денег срубят.

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KnifeKitty
KnifeKitty

persuade Valve to bring pay-what-you-want pricing system just for your game

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Magic_Nipples
Magic_Nipples

I have my wallet ready for the retail version of the game!!

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Brav-oh
Brav-oh

Keep the machine running!

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JonnyBoy0719
JonnyBoy0719

Loloudly.com

My money is ready!

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CaptainSuavePrice
CaptainSuavePrice

Wow. Just like Sven Co-op will be on steam, this great mod will be on steam too! :D

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Otter.
Otter.

I was afraid of a sh*tstorm in the comments to be honest, but this is a great idea. :) I already thought the pay-what-you-want feature was missing from Steam, so maybe Valve see this now and more small team indie games can follow this. I will definitely support the project when I have the means.

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TKAzA
TKAzA

I agree, i expected a backlash, but this is good news, you will get the quality and a completed product much sooner with a paid team of staff, the access they get to engine will also make it less of a remake mod, and moreof the re envisioning they were wanting to build, I worry for all those artists that committed their time for the mod that wont have the chance to be taken into the crowbar collective team, however those who have worked on this from the start, you deserve it, you dedication and hard work are those of legend, may you names be carved into the walls at valve hq!

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Pretador
Pretador

This will be awesome! Take my money already!

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DroidekaMkII
DroidekaMkII

Nice! Though, I am under 18 so I can't buy stuff so no more Black Mesa for me D: Good luck, you are really doing a great job! I can't wait to see Xen and BMDM

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AgentPsychopath
AgentPsychopath

Sshh Steam doesn't have to know you're under 18 :)

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the-middleman
the-middleman

Happy B-Day Half-Life

Best game ever.
Still modding it everyday.
Playing it every day.

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SonofX51
SonofX51

Are the soldiers still rediculously difficult in the current build you guys have? Honestly it's the one thing that kept me from playing the game. Robotic, high damage, bullet sponge enemies are no fun.

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Zombiestubble
Zombiestubble

Change around settings in the skill.cfg. Be wary, the glock and MP5 have the same damage, due to having the same caliber (as they should!).

However, I would balance out the damages so that it plays more like an arcade, rather than a tactical shooter. There's barely any chest-high walls anywhere.

Also, I like how you posted criticism and didn't get instantly downvoted. Because that's happened to me, lots of places.

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SonofX51
SonofX51

Maybe what I said some people can relate to, as I hear others have said, this one aspect of the game is too difficult compared to the rest, making it feel very disjointed in the difficulty curve.

I'll try that, had no idea a skill.cfg existed.

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medve
medve

(buried)

get some skill

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SabreXT
SabreXT

I think it might be an accuracy thing. Even while moving at long range, they seem to always hit.

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AgentPsychopath
AgentPsychopath

It is a bit irritating that they can ALWAYS hit you, no matter how far away you are.

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FlippedOutKyrii
FlippedOutKyrii

Cool beans :)

I will definitely spend real cash on this when I have the chance to do so :)

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Arrjaan
Arrjaan

This sounds really great! :D

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WeeGee9000
WeeGee9000

Its cool, but i don't think i want to pay for it :/

seriously

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Magic_Nipples
Magic_Nipples

That's why they will have a updated free version of the game too. Some of the features that will come on the payed version wont be their though.

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Guest
Guest

It's all good as long as one of those updates to the free version includes the Xen portion of the game.

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valiko
valiko

So what's the things that simply can't be in the free version?

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aereton
aereton

I'd buy BM 10000000 times and gift it to every steamfriend, first to support you guys and second to ensure my friends are playing a real shooter, not those scripted modern gun-simulations.
I love your shipped quality, your visions of a modern half-life 1 and I'd love the idea of seeing all guys behind BlackMesa in the game industry!

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FJS
FJS

Hey! Add me yo tour friend list :P

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Boozei
Boozei

How long until i can say "Shut up and take my money!"?

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DeepSpaceBass
DeepSpaceBass

(buried)

You guys can go suck a **** if you think I'm going to pay for Xen

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DragonNOR
DragonNOR

This is awesome news!

I'll wait and see what is in the paid version before I start throwing money at the screen though :)

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Seaalisgonefromhere
Seaalisgonefromhere

Silly Stig. XD

But you are right. I will buy the game, but not until I see differences, especially if xen still isn't in it yet.

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Guest
Guest

i buy it immediatly, when available, so take my money!

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PowerMind
PowerMind

EPIC

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hazarddude987
hazarddude987

I will definitely buy this

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