Another year, another update! Let’s go over what all has happened this year, and what will be happening in the future!
A year in review!
To start off I think a lot more has been accomplished this year than last year for sure! I finally got the code base more or less completed, and have settled on the mapping fidelity and style I wanted to go with for the chapters. Now, I have gotten some questions and remarks from people asking why I bumped the quality of the mod from 1998 Half-Life, and Spyro 1-3 fidelity, to what it is currently. The main reasons for doing so are mostly being tired of the original Half-Life look from years of looking at it, and this current look, while requiring more effort to look good, gives me a better feeling of accomplishment for doing so. It no longer just feels like I ported a Spyro model into Half-Life, and called it a day. I actually redid things to not only look better, but fit Spyro’s play style far better than before.
Speaking of play, I also got 2 gameplay videos released this year! The first one I uploaded in February showing off the first section of Office Complex.
The second video was handed off to the wonderful people at Lambda Generation to put up on their YouTube channel. This features the second section of the same chapter:
Besides those videos there have been several screenshot updates as well! All of which has been uploaded here, and on the new website (we’ll talk about that later on). Now, I would post those right here in this article, but to keep things animated I’ll share some newly made gifs instead because moving pictures are better than still pictures… I think!
New website!
As mentioned right above I decided to get a website going for the mod! Back when I was working on Shaft we had a website for that mod for a short time. With Year of the Dragon I wanted to relive that experience somewhat, and also wanted the mod to have a home of its own. I still plan on keeping Mod DB updated with media updates as well so neither should fall behind. You can find the website at HLYOTD.com
Yes, I did make the website logo in the style of the old WON menu for Half-Life. Now there are a few exclusive things to this website you will not find here. First off is a decently sized Q&A section featuring some of the more prominent questions I’ve gotten over the years. There’s also an about section above that Q&A featuring a still somewhat basic synopsis for the mod. You can also find some extra media as well from early on in the mods development before it went public as well!
Obligatory MOTY section!
Since I seem to only make articles once a year now it seems they always get made around the time of the MOTY voting. I can’t even imagine how coincidental that is! Anyways, the mod is once again up for getting into the top 100 mods for this year! Now, with a release on the horizon I can say with confidence if this mod does make it into a top 100 spot. I will forgo my original plans of releasing the next demo with Uplink attached to it, and will instead release it earlier! Obviously this earlier demo will not include Uplink, but it will give people a taste of the current standards for the mod. So, if you want to play the mod earlier, and not sometime in the middle of 2022, you can slap that vote button down below! Or if you just think this mod is cool you can vote for the mod anyways! And if you don’t care much for Spyro in Half-Life, you can vote for Signal Lost or something idk.
Wrapping up!
As always I cannot thank everyone enough for the love and support! I’m still surprised to see this quirky little mod turning heads still and even impressing some of the original devs of the og Spyro trilogy. Hearing people’s compliments on the mod has been nothing short of amazing, and I really hope to get something new out soon for y'all to play! Yes, I have been saying that since 2019, but with some on/off development, and some major roadblocks along the way I can finally see something coming soon. I hope everyone enjoyed reading this, and till next time!
Ladder bob 2022.
Almost forgot to vote for this one, too!
Happy to see you giving this your all! Much better then just a gameplay readjustment! The animated water in particular is putting HL:S to shame, although that ain't hard to do I suppose ;)
Hoping to see more mapping changes next year!