Cpl.1nsane Undertow In The Making, Part 1 blog

When i re-applied for Black Mesa source around summer this year I didn’t expect to get back in, but to my surprise a reply! Not long after that I was assigned the task of remaking one of the original Half-Life Deathmatch maps; Undertow.

I thought it might be a nice idea to post a blog about the development of undertow and all the changes that have gone on through this process. To start things off I decided to split this blog into three parts so to speak, each covering the three main areas of the map to help organize it a bit.

Central area - Outside part of the mapSo to start off and to refresh your memory here is a shot of the original area taken from Half-life 1 Deathmatch

From the start i worked on the central area, mapping out the rough shape that it was going to be and starting to add in some details in the orangemap to finalize it. Although from the first shots it was much larger than the original it got shrunk down a great deal later on.

When working out this area I wanted to keep allot of the original features of the map so I tried to keep the same feel to it, you can see it in how the top floor outcrops slightly from the one below and with the small indents at the lower floor with hold health charges at opposite ends.

Once i had got the basic layout with some extra details done I moved onto playing around with adding materials and some props to get a better feel of how it may look. I had already though about what kind of theme I wanted to use within undertow, basing the map off a waste/water treatment plant that was part of the larger Black Mesa facility.

With that in mind I used some of Abe’s work on residue processing to get some inspiration as well as treatment plants in real life for my texture choices

Above decal made for this area was to help add a little more detail to the area. As well as working on the main central outside area I had also work on the inner parts, from the upper floor areas to the surrounding corridors.

That about concludes part one of this blog into undertow's development, but to as a last treat here are some near final shots of the area as it currently stands.