Sup, guise.
*tap* *tap* Is this thing still on?
*brushes cobwebs* My, it's been a while, hasn't it? This place has grown quite dusty since the last time we posted an update. Don't worry though. *cough* We're still alive, and we're doing quite well. *hack* *wheeze*
*shuffles index cards* Anyway... today I come to you, as Benevolent Dictator For Life Hazard Course Lead Developer, to announce an important announcement, of important importance: Over the last few months at the Hazard Course Dev Team, we've been busy being dead working to reach an enormous goal.
Like what, you ask? Well, for starters, several months ago we took a look at the "Release Date" listing on the right of this page.
Go ahead, take a look. I'll wait. It's right there. ==>
I'll tell you right now: That number is really scary. When we looked at it, we shuddered to ourselves, and immediately began to panic. When the dust finally settled, we picked ourselves up and took an oath: We would try our utmost to make that number a reality.
But how?
Over the past several months, we enslaved committed ourselves to a series of aggressive milestones, each more ambitious than the last. We worked nonstop, tidying up rooms, fixing bugs, implementing gameplay mechanics, revising our script-- all in the name of one goal: Get the hell out of Alpha development stage. Achieve feature-completeness. Reach Beta.
And now, after all these months, it is with great happiness that I can finally tell you this: We did it.
The Black Mesa Hazard Course is now at the stage of development in which all planned features are implemented, and everything is in, or almost in, a near-finished state. All gameplay has been finalized. There are no more dev textures. The script is complete (thanks to JeffMOD), and will be shipped off to the Voice Acting team as soon as they give us the thumbs up and indicate that they're ready. At long last, the Hazard Course has finally entered Beta.
Behold, just a few of the many fruits of our labors:
Of course, we're not finished yet. From now on, our focus will be on polishing the mod, fleshing it out, and fixing bugs rather than experimenting with new features, thinking up new lines for the script, or rearranging rooms. There's still quite a ways to go, but I'm glad to report that we're definitely on track.
Okay, I hear the groans in the background. I get it. We all get it. Trust me, we're just as sick and tired of this long development cycle as you are. These past three years have taken a toll on all of us.
But I think the wait will be worth it. Our Hazard Course goes above and beyond what Black Mesa would have done if they'd decided to work on it themselves. Every time I fire up the latest build, I think to myself, "There's pretty much no way this kind of training level could have been a part of any game". Any sane development team would have fired anyone who attempted to pack this much stuff into "just" a game tutorial.
But we're not just any developers, and this is no longer "just" a game tutorial. We're the Hazard Course Development Team, and the mod really feels more like a whole new chapter in its own right. In a way, we were lucky that the Black Mesa team decided not to work on the Hazard Course. It gave us the opportunity to go all-out on it, instead of treating it as just one small part of an already enormous mod. I'm confident that you'll find that our Hazard Course is far more extensive than what it could have been, if the Black Mesa team hadn't decided to stop working on the Course themselves.
I'll see you guys next update. Until then, Have a very safe, and productive day.
well I be damned...
I still wanna quit.
You guys are awesome.
(buried)
where can i download this beta?
It would be completely pointless to release an open Beta, because the mod is so short.
Please don't assume that the word "Beta" means "Open Beta". They are NOT synonyms.
(buried)
still beta just Open Beta which means it's open to everyone it's still beta so you should look that up before saying anything wrong yourself. Since games that are etc in Beta would say Open Beta when it's public beta that everyone can come and try while closed Beta means limited people may try so yeah. Secondly everyone who voted -6 on my comment sems to be very poor to knowing this and they should get the facts right better next time as well, before voting - on my comment.
An "Open Beta" is a TYPE of Beta. Just like a fighter jet is a TYPE of airplane. If I say I own an airplane, do you immediately assume I own a fighter jet? No. All you know is that I have some kind of plane.
Likewise, all I said was that we're in Beta. I did not say we are in Open Beta. You should not assume that I mean Open Beta just because I mentioned the word "Beta".
Also not last by least when i asked you could of wrote in much nicer way saying Sorry but this beta isnt for public yet, but we plan release this in future. Instead of getting my comment burried with -6 votes and then write something pathetic at me saying "Please don't mention beta" secondly if you call beta as open beta then why is article having word beta in it? Now Arriving At: Black Mesa Hazard Course Beta it makes no sense? You maybe should known what you wrote 1st before publishing this since it confuses probably alot of people when they see article and then can't find download to it.
Beta is a stage of software development, "open Beta" means anyone is free to access the Beta build. They are totally separate terms, and not to be confused. No where did we say "open Beta". We wrote about reaching beta stage because it's a big milestone and we knew how much the community likes to be in the know. No one is crucifying you, please don't make such a big deal about being corrected, you were mistaken.
Well, are there enough betas to pass around? If so, can I be beta?
We've got an internal testing team that we're all familiar with and can count on to supply plenty of feedback. There's not much point in us releasing an unfinished build to anyone else at this point, especially since we're so close to the finish line.
dky.tehkingd.u , THANK YOU for your energies and stamina in this project of "Hazard Course", THANK YOU, THANK YOU.
Sincerele
Fox394thiw
Finally. I can't imagine how long it would have taken if the lead didn't get everyone's act together. Realistically this kind of re-creation shouldn't take anywhere near as long as Black Mesa or the expansion re-creations and yet its already been what, almost 3 years? Glad to see this baby come to life. Can't wait!
Yeah we screwed up big time early on when we first started. We've been spending the rest of the time making up for our shortcomings.
Once we release, I'll be publishing an article about WHY this mod has taken so long-- what we screwed up, how we could have done better, and the things I feel that other aspiring modders should do in order to prevent a development hell like ours.
We learned our lesson. I hope nobody repeats our mistakes!
One of the most hilarious things of Half Life was in Hazard Course. If you kept trying after you got "access denied", the VOX announcement system gave lots of funny replies. Surely it will be in the mod?
We answered this over on the BM Facebook post, but we'll answer here, too: It won't be in the mod version. The Steam version is possible. Maaaybe.
Awesome, glad to see this is still being worked on.
Now.. If only we got Xen.. And Half-Life 3... And Guard Duty and OPBM.
K. I'll stop now.
It looks amazing, keep up the great job!