“Downside UP”.
This is the name I am giving the project I am currently working on. I am very excited about working on it. Right now I am still in the planning phase but I am very close to start developing the world in Hammer. Source has everything that I need to make this vision a playable experience.
The idea takes place in City 17 or one of its predecessors. However, this world has been abruptly turned upside down (literally). Gravity has changed for some reason and what was down is now up, and visa versa. There are several ways to explain this phenomenon and why it has occurred. I am entertaining all of them. One such explanation is that another planet may be passing too close to the one we are currently on. Causing gravity to shift. Another idea is a rift in reality caused by the teleportation on top of a citadel like the one in Half-life 2.
How long after the event that caused this has yet to be decided. If it’s soon after the event, then the hero will be on rescue missions. If it has been tens or hundreds of years, then the purpose of the hero would have to be more discovery or fighting with/against forces that are in conflict.
The fun part of exploring this world comes in the tools he is given. Dual grappling hooks will provide the hero with a way to navigate the ruins of a world that has uprooted by the change of gravity. The source mod called “Smash Ball” has developed the grappling hook mechanism with the physics that I am looking for. The rope itself has the right collision with the environment needed to introduce the physics puzzles I am hoping to provide.
The first few levels of this game starts with the hero getting used to the grappling hook device in a training facility underground. This facility would be similar to the one used in the Valve game “Portal”. This facility would be carved out of the ground and may exist in a city built upside down inside the earth after the event that caused gravity to reverse (meaning that this story happens a good 10-30 years after the event). After this training the hero would fulfill his purpose on the surface of the earth inside this city ruined from the reversal of gravity.
The visuals in this game, along with the fun the physics of the grappling hook provides, is what’s going to make or break this mod. I will post again with any future developments. I will be working on creating this world and at some point add the grappling hook technology in this world to see if it will be as fun as I picture it.
