It’s AD 2101, and humanity exists solely in a scattering of off-world colonies run by the mega-corporation Xterrier. When a terrorist strike throws lunar civilisation into chaos, Lt. Redmond must fight not only to stay alive, but also to protect the last bastion of humanity. But it quickly becomes apparent that there is more at play than a dissatisfied band of thugs.
In Lunar Descent, players will be able to explore the economic capital of Xterrier's galactic empire, the Xterrier Lunar Colony, and dig deep into its history.
Features:
I released a small patch for Lunar Descent today, rebalancing the game's difficulty. The frustration with the last two levels surprised me, but the criticism of this section is fairly consistent. The patch makes the end sections MUCH easier when playing on Easy and Normal modes. Hard mode remains as difficult as it was; those who liked the hardcore nature of Hard should remain satisfied.
It's been a month and a bit since Lunar Descent's release, and I can now reflect a little on the project.
Lunar Descent started serious development on September 2013. Between then and November 25th 2017, there were many distractions in my life, but the project remained in development for most of that time. It's the longest and hardest project I've ever worked on, and my feelings about the entire thing are incredibly mixed.
It's extremely difficult to make a game or mod. I didn't make it any easier for myself, admittedly; I decided to do everything myself (except music and voice acting). I wanted to make a game that looked visually striking, was challenging to play, and that featured a novel and exciting story. I elected – as I have in other mod projects – to be level designer, programmer, texture artist, story writer, and 3D modeller with minimal assistance.
It might seem like a bit of a mad undertaking – deciding to do everything myself meant juggling all kinds of tasks – but I had decided years ago that single-man projects were less risky. Back in 2006, I used to assemble medium-sized mod teams for my single-player mods. My only tasks were level design and programming. The trouble is... keeping yourself motivated on a hobby project with no financial return is one thing, keeping an entire team motivated I found nearly impossible. My one-man approach was entirely a practical decision. Still, I think Lunar Descent suffered as a result.
The mod's story direction – just to pick an example – came out extremely confused; most of the story was left for the player to discern from environmental clues, and there was a heavy reliance on narrative exposition from the protagonist. In many ways, the story-telling was a step backwards from Dissolution (though, I'd argue, every other aspect in Lunar Descent was superior to Dissolution).
The gameplay has been the most divisive aspect of all. I wanted to create a game where every enemy presented a serious threat to the player. Every single terrorist needed to be considered and approached carefully, or the player wouldn't survive the encounter. While feedback suggests the gameplay fell apart towards the end (I am hoping this patch will help rectify this a bit), I think the majority of the gameplay turned out as I originally envisioned. I'm very happy with most of the gameplay in Lunar Descent.
The art was, for once, widely appreciated. Most of my mods, no matter how much they were liked for their other attributes, were largely considered ugly and looking dated. Even those who disliked Lunar Descent mostly appreciated its art direction. I think this is one of the mod's most successful features. Considering how much time went into the art – I'd say easily 70%+ of development time – I'm glad it was well received.
One final thing I'd like to discuss is the download count. Dissolution achieved just over a thousand downloads in its first week of release, and that climbed to several thousand within a month or two of release. Lunar Descent, by comparison, has done extremely poorly.
At the time of writing, Lunar Descent received 756 downloads on ModDB. I ran a similar marketing campaign for Lunar Descent as I did Dissolution, so I believe a large factor in the reduced download count is the death of source modding – especially source single-player modding.
Modders have moved on to become game developers, using Unity and Unreal engines, and I think the mod players must've gone with them. This thought isn't a happy one, as some of my favourite gaming experiences have been had in Half-Life (1 & 2) single-player mods. I'd like to throw out a shout out to runthinkshootlive here – one of the few sites besides ModDB giving HL2 single-player projects good coverage. They put together an excellent profile for Lunar Descent, so be sure to check it out (https://www.runthinkshootlive.com/posts/lunar-descent/).
I'm happy I released Lunar Descent and it's a project I am mostly happy with. It suffers from over-ambition and, at times, confused direction; but I believe it achieved most of its gameplay and artistic ambitions. I might release more patches, but I am done with Half-Life 2 modding: I won't be making any new HL2 mods. Sadly, I think almost everybody is done with Half-Life 2 modding, too.
Thanks to everybody who played my various mods over the years.
-Aaron
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After 4 years of development I’m very happy to be able to announce that Lunar Descent is released!
Full installer (includes v1.1 patch) for Lunar Descent, action/adventure total conversion mod.
Difficulty re-balancing for Lunar Descent. Bomb timers relaxed... Easy: 80 seconds, Medium: 60 seconds, Hard: 34 seconds Evelyn easier in all non-hard...
Lunar Descent is an action-adventure game, set on the Xterrier Lunar Colony. It mixes brutal combat, exploration and resource scavenging. To stay alive...
At about the 27:50 mark, I only get about 10 seconds to make my way from the lift to the bomb before it explodes. NO way. Short of No Clipping, impossible...
Decided to revisit this mod and holy crap I forgot how much I love it! Everything from the weird sterile architecture and the empty streets at the beginning to the intense combat where enemies literally get launched by the sheer impact of your gun, to Evelyn and the creepy sci-fi Lovecraftian story makes this a truly unique experience unlike anything else I've ever played, although I get why it may not be for everyone. My only complaint is that I wish it was longer or that there was a part 2 because it felt like I was barely halfway through the game when it just ended on a cliffhanger. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! i want more. MORE. MOOORRE!
10/10 favorite Half-Life 2 mod
Thanks for the comment!
While not a sequel, I am working on a mod set in the same universe that delves a little deeper into some of the cosmic horror / Lovecraftian aspects that Lunar Descent touched upon: Moddb.com
I would also like to release a Lunar Descent v2 that extends upon the original release a little ... but this is subject to my finding the time to work on such a thing in the future. :)
Here's part one of an ongoing let's play series I'm making of this mod! Awesome stuff!
Thanks for posting! I commented on your third video, but wanted to say it here too: I really appreciate people taking the time to record and post these sorts of videos. I enjoyed watching them a lot.
To be continued?
That's the hope in the long term!
In the short-medium term, I also intend to release another mod in the same universe ( Moddb.com ), and release Lunar Descent v2 (see Moddb.com for some ideas I have in mind for this).
When I finished installing the patch,the game can not be started.
Then I tried to intall only the original game,worked.
Interesting.
Could you provide information on the patched version not working?
Did you install the original + the patch in the same directory?
The word in the game menu seems not in its right order.And when I clicked the new game button,the game crushed.Progress self-eliminated.
Don't konw why.I have patched several mods' patches and I’m sure this is not a mistake.
Maybe the version......