Black mesa

With the release of Half-Life 2 in 2004 , Valve Corporation reissued several of its previous games ported to the new Source engine. Among them was the 1998 Half-Life port, named Half-Life: Source . However, the game has not undergone virtually no changes. Only a few new features have been added that are specific to the Source engine.

The creation of Black Mesa began with the unification of two independent volunteer teams, which were linked by a common goal: to transfer Half-Life to the Source engine, making maximum use of its capabilities. Of the two teams, one was assembled, numbering 13 people, and in September 2004 they announced the development of Black Mesa . Initially, the project was called Black Mesa: Source , but later Valve asked them to remove the word “Source” from the name in order to avoid confusion.

In May 2006, one of the development versions of Black Mesa, called "Alpha-6," hit the Internet ^[9] .

Later, the development team grew, and it already consisted of 39 people. They said they would leave the plot and gameplay pretty much the same as the original. Designers changed and reduced some of the game locations, which they considered "tedious" or "unnecessary" in the original Half-Life.

We are trying to make Half-Life the way Valve would have done if they owned technologies like they did today. The Source Engine makes it possible to restore the levels of past years, but this has its own difficulties. On the one hand, we can build much more maps and provide a more realistic scale, on the other hand, of course, this is much more work.

- Daniel Junek, chief level designer.

The game has been developed for more than eight years under the leadership of Carlos Montero. She was supposed to be released at the end of 2009 , but later her release was postponed to 2010 , and then to 2011 .

On January 13, 2010, developers officially submitted a modification to the Australian gaming magazine PC PowerPlay ^[10] .

On August 31, 2010, one of the game’s developers, James “orcone” Martin, without prior discussion with other team members, provided Black Mesa to the Atomic PC site. To the published article, site journalists added more than 100 screenshots of the game, which triggered a scandal that ended with the expulsion of James Martin from the development team. Project leader Carlos “cman2k” Montero asked to delete all the screenshots posted, but it was too late, and they managed to spread throughout the network.

One of the fans of the game decided to rush the developers in a peculiar way and left a comment on the community forum according to which he was ready to donate $ 150 if the modification came out before December 1, 2012. At the same time, he clarified that he meant the final release of the modification, and not the announcement of the exact date. Only in this case, he is ready to part with his money. The most interesting thing is that they did not ignore him. One of the developers, James Kane ( English James Kane ) answered this statement and wrote: "The call is accepted" ^[11] .

On June 10, 2012, the Black Mesa Team announced that if the game’s Facebook page receives 20,000 votes, they will publish new information about the game ^[12] .

On September 1, 2012, a countdown timer was launched on the official website of the developers, showing the time remaining until the modification was released and ending September 14, 2012. However, the first release of the single player game did not include the chapters in the world of Zen due to the fact that work on them has not yet been completed. Nevertheless, the developers promised an early release of the full version of the modification. Then the soundtrack of the game ^[13] became available.

On September 19, 2013, a modification appeared in the modification development team that Valve gave the green light , and the full version of Black Mesa with the Xen world and multi-user mode will be released on a commercial basis in the Steam digital distribution service . The price promises to be low, and the authors of the modification promise to post the full version for free download after a while. The map source files for the Valve Hammer Editor ^[14] will also be released.

On May 5, 2015, an updated version of Black Mesa with multi-user mode appeared in early access on Steam , but without Xena. ^[fifteen]

On May 15, 2016, version 0.3.0 was released, in which the “The Surface Tension” level was significantly updated - the “Surface Tension Uncut” modification was included in the game ^[16] . The update adds about an hour of playing time to the game.

On October 31, 2016, it was announced that Zen would be released in the summer of 2017 ^[17] . On June 20, 2017, the developers showed several screenshots of the Xen world and postponed the release until December 2017 ^[18] . On November 25, 2017, developers reported that Xena’s output was postponed indefinitely ^[19] , and in 2018 they shared their first developments ^[20] .

On November 19, 2018, the developers showed the trailer of the frontier world of Zen and shared their latest developments, the release date was announced - the second quarter of 2019. On December 22, 2018, developers talked about improvements to the latest version of the Source engine (in particular, in graphic terms). On February 1, 2019, new engine mechanics were shown, especially cinematic physics and graphic improvement of chapters with Xena. On May 2, 2019, a small update for Xena was shown, the developers said that in the near future beta testing of the engine for the chapters would begin. On June 11, 2019, a mini-update was released that fixes errors in the game. On June 26, 2019, developers released a technical beta test of the Zen chapter ^{[21] [22]} . On July 7, 2019, the developers said that on August 1, 2019 they plan to release two chapters for testing in full: “Zen” and “Gonarch's Lair” ^[23] . In a few weeks, they will be followed by the remaining chapters: The Intruder, The Nihilant, and The End of the Game. On August 11, 2019, the developers released a mini-update of the beta-version of the chapter "Xena" and "Gonarch's Lair." On September 21, 2019, the “Intruder” mini-update was released, correcting the mistakes of the “Zen” and “Gonarch Lair” chapters, preparing the beta test for the “Intruder” chapter. On September 30, 2019, the Interloper Beta 1 Known Issues update was released - Intruder Beta 1 Known Issues. On October 1, 2019, the Interloper Beta Part 1 update was released - Intruder Beta Part 1.

• Ready:

1. Black Mesa Inbound (Arrival in Black Mesa)

2. Anomalous Materials

3. Unforeseen Consequences

4. Office Complex

5. "We've Got Hostiles" ("We met the enemy")

6. Blast Pit (Missile Mines)

7. Power Up

8. On A Rail

9. Apprehension

10. Residue Processing

11. Questionable Ethics

12. Surface Tension

13. “Forget About Freeman!” (“Forget Freeman!”)

14. Lambda Core ( Lambda Core )

• Still in development:

15. Xen (Zen) (Beta Testing)

16. Gonarch's Lair (Lair of Gonarch) (In beta state) ^[24]

17. Interloper (Intruder) (In beta state)

18. Nihilanth (Nihilant)

19. Endgame (End of the game)

Gameplay

Like Half-Life 2 , Half-Life 2: Episode One and Episode Two , Black Mesa added:

• The ability to manipulate (take, throw) the corpses of small animals (for example, headcrabs and houndaids ) and parts of the bodies of large animals, as well as people.
• The “ zoom ” function of the HEV 4 costume (in Half-Life 2 it was understood that such a function first appeared only in the HEV 5 costume).
• Emergency torches ( raised flares ), with which you can set fire to zombies and headcrabs.
• The flashlight does not end the charge (in Half-Life, the charge ends).
• There was an opportunity to reprogram HECU automatic turrets, making them weapons against soldiers and aliens (nevertheless, the player will still be considered an enemy). Turrets can also be lifted and moved from place to place. Unlike Half-Life, turrets run out of ammunition.
• The ammunition of the gluon gun (drive) is consumed faster than in the original.
• The maximum number of wearable cartridges differs from the original.
• The mounting is not given lying on the floor. At first, the player has to fight off improvised objects - false lights. The mount is in the door locked with it.
• Arms issue order changed.
• It is impossible to kill gargantua using the player’s arsenal.
• In-game achievement system .
• Multiplayer (appeared in the Steam version of the game). Currently, reworked maps are available: Bounce, Crossfire, Gasworks, Rapidcore, Snarkpit, Subtransit, Undertow.

Missing:

• It was originally planned to include the Hazard Course training level in the game ^[25] . So, the voice for the hologram of Gina Cross was completely recorded ^[26] . But later this idea was abandoned, explaining this by the fact that today the games no longer need a training level; also it is not related to the plot of the game; and the time that would have to be spent on creating a training level, developers prefer to spend on “polishing” a single-player game ^[25] . For this reason, the Black Mesa community decided to independently develop the Hazard Course training level ^[26] . It was introduced as an addition to the Black Mesa game called Black Mesa: Hazard Course ^{[27] [28]} . As of July 27, 2015, the add-on was in beta ^[29] . Work on Black Mesa: Hazard Course was completed on December 31, 2015 ^[28] .
• In the chapter “We've Got Hostiles” the ventilation shaft is much smaller than in the original, the chapter “On A Rail” is significantly reduced, and there is also one map of the chapter “Surface Tension” (it has been restored in the Steam version). At the moment there are three third-party add-ons that return cut sections to the above chapters, respectively: Vent Mod ^[30] , On a Rail Uncut ^[31] (also currently available on the Steam Workshop) and Surface Tension Uncut ^{[32] [33]} for free version. However, many locations were slightly expanded and supplemented - for example, “Office Complex”, “Unforeseen Consequences”, “Questionable Ethics”; the location with the dam in the chapter "Surface Tension" has been increased several times.
• Levels in the world of Zen . Their development is still ongoing ^[34] (after the jump of Gordon Freeman into the teleport the game ends). According to the developers, the chapters in Xena will be incomparably larger than in the original. A beta version of the location was released on June 26, 2019 ^[21] .

Inaccuracies

If compared with the original game, there are inaccuracies in the modification (game):

• In the original game, aliens from Xena began to assimilate their flora and fauna with the terrestrial, which in the original version of the modification was not initially shown in full. Technically, the reason for this was the lack of a map of the “Surface Tension” chapter, the original version of which had these signs. For example, organic springboards did not break through the asphalt, in the game they were present only in two places. Also in the modification there are quite a few places covered with a strange alien substance, and this fact was replaced by a full-scale military capture of the planet, with the participation of different types of alien troops, which was shown before entering the Lambda complex. Missing elements of the Xena flora, including updated springboards, finally appeared in the game only later, in version 0.3.0 ^[35] (Steam versions).
• In the chapter “Anomalous Materials”, after talking with a security guard sitting at a computer, Gordon follows the first corridor, which ends in an oval corner. Based on the plot of the addition to the original Half-Life: Blue Shift game, there is a camera in place of this oval corner closer to the ceiling through which Barney Calhoun can see how Freeman is heading for the costume. However, the modification of the camera is not there, although there is another camera nearby, but it takes this place from the opposite angle.
• After the incident with the anti-mass spectrometer, you can observe the scene as one of the scientists tries to give a heart massage to the guard. In the original Half-Life, he manages to bring the guard back to life, but in Black Mesa, resuscitation attempts fail.
• At the beginning of the game, the original showed several workers on forklifts; there are none in the modification.
• Some voice alerts for the HEV costume are missing, which, however, was also in the original games of the series - in particular, in the original and in the remake there are no alerts when selecting weapons.
• In the original, there is a moment when a player at the beginning of the game spoils the lunch of a certain employee, and in Half-Life 2: Episode Two it turns out that the dinner belonged to the scientist Arne Magnusson. The player does not see Magnusson in the modification, but he meets a guard in the dining room, hinting that Gordon ruined “he knows whose food” he is.
• In the original game, after a battle in the territory of the Upper Fleet, the player must use the howitzer to smash the gates, after which two infantrymen will come out, and it is not difficult to destroy them with the same howitzer. In the modification, a tank appears instead of them, knocking out which is much more difficult, since the howitzer is replaced by a rocket launcher with complex and inconvenient guidance.

People

• The complex is now attended by women.
• The appearance of people has become much more diverse.
• In some places, people began to help Gordon by pressing buttons and levers instead, where in the original they did not. So, for example, in the chapter “We've Got Hostiles” (“We met the enemy”) the scientist opens the door instead; in the chapter “Power Up” in the original, Gordon himself redirected the trolley, in the modification the security guard does it.
• At the very beginning of the game, during a trip on a transport car, Gordon watches as one of the guards knocks on the door. Although, as in the original Half-Life, his face model is identical to the rest of the armed personnel of the Black Mesa research complex, the developers of the modification intentionally left the guard's face invisible to the player (nevertheless, using the cheat code you can see that he has an ordinary face security guard). Based on the plot additions to the original game Half-Life: Blue Shift , we can assume that this is Barney Calhoun . Moreover, while in the original game the guard already had a vest and helmet, Barney got his equipment in Blue Shift a bit later. The Black Mesa Team took into account this inaccuracy and left this guard without equipment.
• In the chapters “Anomalous Materials” and “Unforeseen Consequences”, instead of an anonymous scientist with a mustache from the original game, Isaac Kleiner (using a model similar to Half-Life 2 ) appears next to Eli Vance, who also replaces one of the scientists who escort Gordon Freeman to the elevator, leading to an anti-mass spectrometer. Unlike the latter, he not only opens the door for the player, but also goes to the elevator with him and thus meets with Eli.

Enemies

• Bullsquids spit at once with several portions of acid, and not one, which complicates the fight against them.
• Vortigaunts recharge an electric charge faster than in the original game.
• In Xena, Controllers can now throw various furnishings at a player
• Barnacle now does not kill with one blow mount, as in Half-Life 2 . It takes 3-4 hits.
• In addition to the zombie scientists, the game contains HECU zombie guards and zombie soldiers, as in Half-Life: Opposing Force . It is also planned to add zombies in HEV suits to the game, which will appear in Xena along with the usual corpses of researchers ^{[20] [36]} .
• Zombies got features from the second part: they can be killed without killing the headcrab; they can throw objects at the player; zombies appeared without legs.
• Alien foot soldiers learned to ram the enemy in close combat.
• Carnivorous leeches are absent ^[37] .
• Тентаклы встречаются в игре только один раз.
• Гаргантюа больше не атакуют шоковыми волнами.
• Хаундай теперь может спать, затягивая свой фасеточный глаз одностворчатым веком. Звуковой удар при нападении на Гордона слегка дезориентирует последнего, несколько затрудняя борьбу с группой хаундаев. Сокращена продолжительность протяжного визга перед звуковым ударом.
• Хедкрабы атакуют в спину, в оригинале они проявляли интерес к игроку только когда он поворачивался к ним лицом.
• У Чёрных оперативниц пистолеты Glock 17 теперь без глушителей, и их можно подбирать (при первом подборе такого пистолета проигрывается анимация, как при первом подборе пистолета вообще). Кроме того, оперативницы носят на ногах специальные устройства для прыжков, подобные тем, что использовались главной героиней в серии игр Portal — это отчасти объясняет их прыгучесть и ловкость в оригинальной Half-Life .
• В оригинальной игре военные используют для поддержки с воздуха истребители F-16 Fighting Falcon . В действительности Корпус морской пехоты США не использует истребители такого типа, вместо них используются штурмовики AV-8B Harrier II . В модификации учли эту неточность, и заменили F-16 на AV-8B.
• В модификации БМП M2 «Брэдли» заменены на LAV-25 .
• Появились новые «виды» фауны Зена:
  • Взрывчатый хаундай — маленький, светящийся красный хаундай, которые взрывается при нападении на игрока или когда получает урон;
  • Отбрасывающий хаундай — более выносливая версия обычного хаундая; его звуковые атаки, помимо нанесения прямого урона, с силой отбрасывают игрока в сторону;
  • Бенитекул (Beneathicles) — подводная версия барнакла.

Изначально официальный русский перевод должен был выйти вместе с модификацией в Steam ^[38] . Однако Crowbar Collective выпустили в раннем доступе коммерческую обновлённую версию, не включив в неё какие-либо другие языки, кроме английского.

В это же и последующее время русскоязычным сообществом создавалась и выпускалась локализация сначала для модификации ^[39] , а затем и для полноценной игры ^[40] (текст, озвучивание и текстуры) ^[41] .

Саундтрек Black Mesa написан композитором Джоэлем Нилсеном и был выпущен вместе с модификацией. С начала 2008-го года 6 демо-треков можно было бесплатно загрузить с официального сайта. В середине марта 2011 года саундтрек был закончен и «ушёл на золото». Саундтреки доступны для скачивания на официальном сайте (30 треков, продолжительность 50 минут). Стоит отметить, что включённые в саундтрек треки отличаются по звучанию от тех, что были ранее доступны на сайте ^[44] . Кроме того, в официальный саундтрек не были включены 9 коротких (от 31-й секунды) внутриигровых ambient-композиций, но они доступны в папке игры.

Вторая часть саундтрека была выпущена 1 августа 2019 года с одновременным выпуском двух глав в бета-тест мира Зен.

• Mod DB — Лучшая разрабатываемая модификация в 2005 году ^[48]
• Mod DB — Лучшая разрабатываемая модификация в 2006 году ^[49]
• Mod DB — Поощрительная премия для невышедшей модификации в 2007 году ^[50]
• Mod DB — Лучшая модификация 2012 года ^[51]

Антинаграды

• Wired Vaporware 2009: Inhale the Fail (4-е место) ^[52]
• Wired Vaporware 2010: The Great White Duke (4-е место) ^[53]

• Николай Барсуков. Горящие туры от Гордона Фримена // UPgrade : журнал. — 2012. — 10 января ( № 38 (593) ). — С. 42—43 . — ISSN 1680-4694 .

• Official website
• Black Mesa (англ.) на сайте ModDB.com
• Black Mesa on PlayGround.ru