Halfquake Rebirth mod for Half-Life 2: Episode Two

As a preface, i'd like to explain the long break between this, and the last article.
As you may already know, Halfquake Rebirth is a solo project, and i'm it's only developer. Being the sole person responsible for the project is a real doozy. I'm currently still a student, and combined with my ADHD, i'm not really always able to work on the mod. Sometimes, i hesistate to work due to a feeling of immense sadness, because of the lack of attention the mod gets. Putting hundreds of hours and a ton of love and effort into something that doesn't really pay off is something that really gets me down..

Regardless of those issues, i wish to continue the development and see the project through right til the end.

The first map of the mod is officially... finished! It sure sounds weird, but keep it in mind that I've begun the reboot of the mod by creating the second map, not the first. I tried to adapt it to the source engine as best as i could, but some traps had to be taken out due to being incompatible with the engine. It's a bummer, but i've compensated for it by completely remaking the entire layout of the map to fit with my concept of institute levels. Institute levels are a stylization system that i've invented to determine what style to use for the different parts of the mod. It's split into three tiers: Old, sunrise-ish architecture and stylization. Lots of stone bricks, dirt, and more abstract architecture. It will be commonly found in areas which are deep underground, and serve as the lowest level of the institute. Next up is the most common styling in the mod. The new institute. It's visually recognizable, due to its blueish tints and cinder blocks. It's meant to look like a repurposed area of a bunker - clearly a lower budget solution to sadism. Last up is something that i didn't prototype yet - but i know what i want to do with it. Surface. As the name implies, it's the surface levels of the institute. They won't be meant for traps, so you will encounter offices, storage areas and control rooms during your trek through those levels. But enough about that, let's get into the content!

Below, i'm only showing new areas of the map. For more, please visit the previous article.

To prepare the player for the 'buttons' part, i've decided to create an enviromental tutorial that helped guide the player through the game. Green glowsticks signal to the player, that he's going in the right direction. It would be a shame if those glowsticks dissapeared or started to mislead the victim halfway through the game...

Original halfquake had a lot of neat easter eggs, references and abstract pieces of art included inside of the experience. In an attempt to replicate some of that without going too far away from my vision, i've created a series of graffitis to place around the levels. Whether they're created by a victim or one of the sadists, you will find out on your own.

You don't just spawn in a room anymore. Now there's an actual explanation as to how the victim got put into his cell! Although you cannot access the rest of the backstage, areas like this will create a feeling of openness in an otherwise closed up environment.

I really want to move away from teleports and other forms of non-physical level transitions, but sometimes i really can't figure out a good, seamless connection... Solution? Elevators! Now, there is no elevators in this picture, but there will be soon!

A little known fact is that i've actually re-textured the Vortigaunt a long time ago. The re-texture was very small, though, so noone really noticed it unless i pointed it out. Because of this, i've decided to re-texture the most common enemies in Halfquake Rebirth. I wanted to make them appear more bloody, and more menacing. Using Substance Painter, i've created a set of textures that add more grit and dirt to them. You may already know about this because i posted about it a while ago.

I'm hoping to start working harder than ever from now on. I just need to find the optimal rythm to work at, and things will be better than they ever were.