I had a concept for a Half-Life 2 mod a while back which was based off the movie, Cube 2: Hypercube. After doing some research I found out that someone had already made a Cube 2 HL2 Mod called Hypercube: Source. So I changed my concept into the one that has been seen here on Moddb entitled Mad World. And yes, I did not know that a Wii game was coming out called MadWorld.
Now when I wanted to get into Source modding I wanted to start off with something simple. I already had Stay Alive! in the works but I wanted to build a puzzle/maze mod as well. Stay Alive!, was my first HL2 mod if you couldn't tell just by playing it. But that's a different post-mortem to tell.
My mapping skills are slowly developing in Hammer, but at the time of development with Mad World I was just starting out. I already had the game working with two levels so I just stick with the level design and overall theme of the game. I toyed with the clues/puzzles that I wanted in the game and came up with the ones featured in the game. I also wanted to add in some unique music to go along with the levels; something classical but with an epic sound. I found some tracks and played around with what tunes to see which tracks would go with each level.
I used simple triggers like hurt and push to kill the player. I also used simple environment entities to go along with those triggers like env_explosion and env_spark. I used simple lights placed at the half way points of each section within each level. I did created my own texture for the game that I used as the ceiling, floor, and walls for the game. Then I created my own custom decals to place on the walls and floors.
Oh, and also I searched the internet to find a very mysterious and cool looking background image for the game's main screen. I found this British space/stars wallpaper website that had the image I was looking for. So I donwloaded it off the free website and I created the game's background image in Photoshop. Then I come to find that a lot of people were saying it is a stolen image. They were like "It's from G'Mod!" All I know is, I got mine from the free wallpaper website and modified it in Photoshop for my game. I still have the original image as well so if anyone wants it for their desktop or mod image please let me know.
I developed this game by myself so I only did four levels and kept the level design and concept really simple. I am still pretty new to Source modding. A couple of things slowed down the development of this game: 1. I was developing my DBZ MUGEN game for a class. 2. I joined the 7EVEN Dev Team as their storywriter and mission designer so I had to get work done for them. 3. I was working with a Bloodshot Games team member to get Stay Alive! revamped. 4. I had to switch to full-time at work in order to make some extra cash.
But I finally found the time and I worked hard to get the game out. I am very pleased with my work and I hope the community enjoys the mod.
The Good:
-Custom soundtrack
-Simple design
-Unique puzzles/clues
-Second HL2 mod released
The Bad:
-This was a solo mod project
-Too many things in my personal life going on
-Working for another mod team (slowed down my mod development)
-Full-time work schedule
-Simple level design (I still new at it)
Thank you, for taking the time in reading my article and I hope you all enjoy the mod.
-Evan M. Salas
