Half-life 2: Short Stories encompasses two, separate modifications: Paradigm Decay and A Human Error. Both projects are episodic based, with an arc anticipated to span three episodes each. This short collection is based entirely in the Half-life universe, and you'll be engaging in new kinds of gameplay throughout. The main goal behind these projects however is simply to release; short, contained and polished pieces of gameplay that aren't stuck in limbo or mod development for two plus years only to never see the light of day.
Paradigm Decay
For humanity, time stands still; a gradual decay under the Combine's relentless consumption of its people, technology and planet. The world lies dormant; its secrets lost to the ages, forgotten and free from exploit and plundering. Now, out in the distant Siberian wastes, men of science have uncovered an expanse of land long liberated from tampering, and have begun to unearth its mysteries... mysteries that lead into the most secluded, darkest regions of space... Paradigm Decay is comprised of three short Episodes that are each told from entirely different perspectives, each contributing to the overall arc in its own. Through these characters unravel a web of lies and manipulation.
Human Error
Some chose to resist, others chose to collaborate; to yield to the Combine and enforce their rule and will. One such body is the Civil Protection unit, an arm of the Overwatch that maintains order in the Cities. In Human Error, become part of a small Civil Protection team that is pitted against the remains of the Xenian forces, who are making a last ditch effort to escape Earth. Utilize a variety of new tools such as controllable manhacks, and use new vehicles such as the APC.
7 comments by Au-heppa on Nov 16th, 2009 digg this super bookmark
So far, the vast majority of our dev diares and subsequent media has centralised on the more major elements - NPC's, vehicles, and weapons. But they're just a piece of the pie - larges pieces, but pieces nonetheless - and today I'd like to talk about some of the smaller features we've come up with.
Originally, Human Error was supposed to be more difficult in the sense of how much the player would recieve and deal damage. The backbone of this idea was simple - you're a metrocop, not HEV-strapped scientist. You're naturally going to be a lot weaker. So, the damage of the NPCs were set to be equal, whereas in HL2 the player gives more damage with most of the weapons.
But this didn't prove to be too fun. The rebels would, for example, be able to shoot the player from behind before he would even notice them. Part of the problem was that rebels and vortigaunts were originally designed by Valve to be friendly NPCs. They weren't designed to chase their enemies, or do a short delay before attacking their enemies after seeing them. A lot of coding went to make them work as enemies instead of allies - it wasn't a case of simply switching allegiances. Similarly, we had to move the squad command behavior from the rebels to the metrocop NPCs.
While we eventually reset the damage variables to HL2 defaults, the idea that the player is not Gordon Freeman remains very much intact. For instance, the player can only carry limited ammount of weapons in his inventory. He has a slot for a melee weapon, a hand gun, and primary weapon, which all have to be dropped if the player wants to pick another weapon for that slot. We felt this was a sufficient step away from the all-in-one HEV suit, and sold the idea that like your comrades, you are much more vulnerable to the hostile world of Half-life.

Melee weapons include the crowbar and the stunstick, the latter of which relies on the metrocop suit power to give a much deadlier punch. Hand guns include pistol, 357, and the Alyxgun. Primary weapons are SMG1, Shotgun, AR2, RPG, and the Combine turrets that can be carried in the inventory.
The metrocop player was supposed to rely on and be able to use a lot of the Combine technology seen in canon HL2 games. From this came ideas like having to recharge the generators, being able to carry turrets, and the much talked about controllable manhacks. Turrets have about 100 health and they can be picked up by double clicking the Use key, so that they will take the primary weapon slot. This function is useful if the player is driving the APC or simply doesn't want to drag the turret in physical form through the maps. With the controllable manhacks the player can fly his three manhacks to places where he couldn't get himself.

While the player is alone most of the game, he will be working alongside other metrocops. When this comes into play, we tried to stress this team relationship as much as possible. This is where the three new metrocop characters come in. They will be running around without their masks throughout the game, as otherwise it would be impossible to create any interesting characters - it's a trade-off we were willing to take. You have already seen This Is Noah. Soon we will introduce you to the two other metrocops in the team: Eloise and Larson. Hopefully you will like them as much we have enjoyed creating them.
I would also like to announce that we fired our old voice actor for Noah, and hired a new, more talented thespian to take his place. Although this news wasn't taken well by our recently departed, we think the decision was a good one.
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horrible face ...
So you gonna remake this is Noah?
This just looks like such an amazing mod :D Will there be a linking storyline throught the mod, or just random missions?
Linking story definately. The story started in ep1 will continue in ep2.
Good... I was afraid this would just be a collection of maps with good models... That wouldve sucked! But luckily I see thats not happening :D
Holy fucking shit titties batman. *tracking*
What about Paradigm Decay, we haven't had any updates for a while. And no offence, but Human Error really does its name justice.
This mod is fuckin awesome but the voice acting is fuckin horrible dude,no offence.Also yeah he looks like hes from team fortress 2.
Guys if you want to make this mod successful then you to do these two things (in my opinion):
1. Better voice acting (I can barely here him.)
2. Learn your Half-Life 2, make this mod as true as possible.
3. Work on the Noah model, he looks like he is from Team Fortress 2.
4. Make your own model for the Civil Protection hands, we don't want reskins they look to much like the HEV hands.
And here is the link to the Half-Life wikia:
Half-life.wikia.com
Those weren't two things :P, anyways, those things you listed necessarily aren't going to make the mod successful. The things you listed are improvements they could do, and I totally agree, but those things alone aren't going to secure the mod's success.