Raising the Bar: Redux mod for Half-Life 2: Episode Two

Half Life 2: Raising the Entity: REDUX: April 2021 Update

Nametity: Hi all! Welcome to the next update of RTBR! We know this is hot off the heels of the March 2021 update, but we felt it’d be a great opportunity to inform people on a few extra additions since then!

info_player_end

Gametity: Hello everybody, my name is Entity, and today I’m talking to you about the info_player_end. We felt we’d enhance the options available to mappers by creating this new entity, one that, when loaded in, will immediately terminate the player! The options this presents us in the narrative really does put a smile on my face.

Sometimesdraw

Amictity: Hello everybody, my name is Entity, and today I’m talking to you about Sometimesdraw. When you build a map, you might ask yourself, what if I want a randomized brush that will help replayability in a map? Thus, we created Sometimesdraw. As you can see, sometimes it’s there, sometimes it isn’t. This’ll lead to a great new gameplay experience, combined with allowing us to test player luck metrics. The positive effect on gameplay this has really does put a smile on my face.

AR4

Entity: Hey! Oh, sorry, my alarm went off - currently outside getting about 30 minutes of sunlight...ah...yeah, hey everybody, my name's entity, and uh...just wanted to talk to you guys today about the AR4, a new weapon in the RTBR arsenal. Its, uh, pretty exciting stuff, it'll knock your socks off. Um, but, yeah so when it uh when it comes to uh (cough) excuse me when it comes to designing new weapons within the boundaries of half-life lore we really have to consider many different factors to make it fit into the world. and you know, just to also help the player, you see, personify, key word personify, the weapon, and feel a real deep, passionate, uh, sensual, feeling, to it, to the weapon, to the AR4. So, you know, how do we solve this, uh, core developmental, uh, functional problem here, how - how do we solve it, how the hell do we solve this problem? Lemme tell you, this'll knock your socks off. So look, this is what we decided. We decided, personalised stickers, via microtransactions, and increased capabilities of the scope, which is also microtransaction, for juking enemies would be effective. Now, your socks should be off your feet by this point, because if they aren't, this will really knock your socks off this time. We have also made a functional decision, right, to add a 100% aim assist to ensure the player hits the enemy. Every. Single. Time. And we're really excited to, uh, get your feedback on this weapon, we're really excited for that, and we're really, uh, really hyped to get this weapon settled, you know, really settled into your hands, and just have it melt your your your heart, your your your, uh, your heart, your little heart there, and we're we're we're excited, we just want you to tell us your feedback on this weapon, and your socks should be off, there should be no socks involved at this point in the video. And, you know, the impact this has on the arsenal really does put a smile on my face. Yep, alright that's it everybody. See ya.

Thiccrabs

Skeezity: Hello everybody, my name is Entity, and today I’m talking to you about Thiccrabs. For RTBR’s headcrabs we had a few main complaints – one being that they don’t draw enough from HL2 and HL1, and another being that they can be a bit creepier than HL2’s crabs at times. As a result, we sought to fix both by taking a page out of the HL1 Alpha’s book and “enhancing” the rear of our headcrabs! The psychological effect this will have on the player really does put a smile on my face.

Misplacements

Flashtity: Hello everybody, my name is Entity, and today I’m talking to you about Misplacements. When creating a landscape, you might end up with it looking a little too realistic – creating feelings of existential fear and dread from the literally uncanny valley. Misplacements will offset this effect, reassuring the player that they are, in fact, playing a video game. The unrealistic effect this will have on landscapes in the mod really does put a smile on my face.

BETA Debug Model

CWTity: Hello everybody, my name is Entity, and today I’m talking to you about our new BETA debug model. Simple addition this – if something is missing, that means it’s in beta, right? And of course, the beta was full of ERRORS from missing models. Now, in RTBR, you’ll be assured that whenever you run into an error, it’s just WIP, not a bug! The change to our development schedule this presents really does put a smile on my face.

Re-voiced Weapon Effects

Kraltity: Hello everybody, my name is Entity, and today I’m talking to you about our re-voiced weapon effects. We felt there wasn’t enough personality in our weapon firing sounds, and in light of this, adding a more individual touch will, we feel, really enhance things. Take a listen! The effect this’ll have on how the SMG feels to use really does put a smile on my face.

Wrapping Up

Nametity: That concludes our April 2021 Update! Thanks to Entity, Entity, Entity, Entity, Entity, Entity, and Entity for helping to voice this update. We do have one opening on the team still:

-Entity: Entity

And

-Joe Mama. If you’re interested, please call me.

Thanks for listening, and tune in...wait...tune in? RTBR isn't a radio broadcast - this man Kralich really do be writing "tune in" like RTBR is a radio program. Can't believe this got past testing. Anyway, thanks for watching.