The Long Expected Update news - Mario Kart Source mod for Half-Life 2

Well folks, here it is, the update we've been talking about for some time now. I first want to appologize, on behalf of MKS, for not posting an update sooner. It started out as a simple update, but as more and more things were completed we kept wanting to add more and more content, which pushed the update further and further away. Then when things started to die down, key people were outa town / getting married / taking a break from MKS. It was not our intent for it to take this long, but sadly that's where we are. I hope the following content will be more than you expected, and heal any greivances you may have. Be prepared, this will be a long post.

First, lets start with a video.

EDIT: DOH! Embedding isn't working. Guess I'm gonna have to link you.. Video Here

As
you saw, we now have weapons, character selection, HUD, and more maps, all
of which we'll get to, but lets start with weapons.

So far, we've added
the classic green shell, red shell, banana, and bomb-omb. These weapons
act acording to their usual methods. Green shells travel straight and
bounce off walls and obstacles. Red shells seek the closest player, so
be careful or you'll hit yourself if they're behind youl! Triple shells
can act as a shield or a rapid fire weapon. Bananas are slippery and
hitting them will cause you to lose control. We're currently working on
adding a feature where you might get a warning before slipping, which
will give you enough time to stop and save a balloon. The bomb-omb
activates when thrown, walks around idley, then runs after the next
player that comes close to him. When he is behind you, an alert comes
up at the bottom of the screen to tell you his position and closeness.
If he gets into striking distance, the indicator will start flashing.

We're still figuring out what other weapons to add. Things like ghosts, lightning bolts, and blue shells will definately be added, but we also want to add interesting new weapons that utilize the Source's physics engine. The forums are full of ideas, so check them out and post your own!

You may have noticed the character selection. While it's look and feel are bound to change, all those character slots won't. Heck, we might even add more when we get them filled up. We have 8 playable characters so far, all with their unique blends of acceleration, speed, and weight. In case you couldn't see them, that's Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, Toad, Peach, Koopa, Wario, and Donkey Kong. You'll be able to chose your character at the start of each round and there can be an unlimited number of characters on a map at one time. There will be limits on the number of players but you're welcome to choose any character you want. It doesn't matter if there are 7 Marios already, go ahead and pick him if that's who you want.

Here are our updated character renders that have been modified to better look like their Nintendo counterparts. You can see full size versions in our Media Gallery. Their stats are not final, but should give you a good idea of what each character's strengths and weaknesses are.

Our Heads Up Display will include a minimap, spedometer, weapon display, and rear notifier (explained above). The minimap will show all characters on the map with their corresponding icon. It has user defined alpha and zoom settings so you can customize it the way you like. The spedometer... well it's a spedometer, it shows your speed. When you hit an item box, your weapon choices will scroll and you will be assigned one randomly, much like MK 64.

Here is an early screenshot to give you a taste of whats to come. You can see player tags hovering above the players, and our Player Status menu. Within the Player Status menu, you will be able to see who each character is, how many balloons they have, and mute them if they're being annoying.

We also have all kinds of exciting maps to play on, plus a little something extra for those community mappers out there we love so much (explained later). All of our maps are constantly being revised and worked on, so those marked with "WIP" (work in progress) are in their very early stages. Lets begin.

BlockFort - The classic map that everyone loves. It's been updated graphically and made a little bigger so lots of people can play at the same time.

Big Donut - Another classic
map with some smoldering extras. Not only updated graphically, but we've also really tried to capture the volcanic atmosphere of this ashy N64 original.

Boswer's Arena - Battle it out as thwomps crash down around you! This map's maze-like areas will make shells an interesting but possibly deadly choice.

Luigi's Mansion - This spooky battle version of Luigi's abode is still a work in progres. We'll keep you updated on how it turns out.

Doom Coast - Here's a quick shot of a racing map that's very early in development. Not too much can be said at the moment, but we'll keep you posted.

For our community mappers, we have a version of mario to help you in scaling your maps. He doesn't move, but he should be helpful in building MKS maps. Download Mario Here.

Last, but certainly not least are some tracks for your listening enjoyment.

EDIT: Sadly, this smooth flash player wouldn't embed either. Click Here to Listen.

We hope you've enjoyed the update. We have more developments that we're not quite ready to release yet. More characters, maps, and everything MKS to come in the near future.

Before we go, MKS really needs some help in Programming, Animating, Sound Effects (not music!), and Graphics. As usual, experience with Source / HL2 modding is not required, but will be helpful. Plenty of our current members had to learn a few things before getting started and they're doing just fine. We're really seeking driven, team-oriented individuals, who wish to see this mod succeed and are experienced/talented in the areas mentioned above.

Think you have what it takes? Show us some work in the forums!

Until next time,

MKS Dev Team