Story
In the depths of the Black Mesa Research Facility, a rumbling noise. It was not loud, yet seemed louder than mere decibels would suggest in the furtive, creaking hush of the facility's underbelly.
There are those who, when the time comes, take control of their own destinies. The right people in the wrong place.
Maurice Andrews was thrown from his feet by the chaos that followed the Resonance Cascade, tearing and deforming the once familiar facility around his unconscious form. Even at this, Andrews, a low-level engineer could not possibly know the full extent of the incident and upon waking he has only one clear objective: Get to the surface.
Even with the support of other survivors met along the way, however, nothing could prepare him for the adventure ahead, the heavy handed presence of the military of the creatures whose existence they were sent to cover up...
Gameplay
Half-Life: The Core is a classic retelling of the events surrounding the Resonance Cascade disaster from a new perspective; that of Engineer Maurice Andrews. Without using bolted-on engine modifications, Half-Life: The Core will provide a grand single-player experience featuring intense action, complex puzzles and believable narrative through all-new locations in Black Mesa with remarkable visual fidelity, pacing and humour.
Requirements
Any PC capable of running the original Half-Life game will be able to run Half-Life: The Core, however due to the increased resolution for the textures as well as the ambitious scale of some of the areas, slight framerate drops may be noticeable on older or budget systems. We employ advanced optimisation techniques to minimise this, and most players will not exprience any framerate loss.
The Developers
Almost entirely created by just two people, Half-Life: The Core is the endeavour of Andy Morris & James Archibald, with coding from TWHL's Penguinboy - developer of the Sledge Editor Hammer alternative. They try to be friendly and approachable and will answer any questions or comments left on articles or media. On ModDB, their usernames are monster_urby & Archie_SnC.
Articles
Seasons Greetings
Another year draws to a close and once again, The Core is without a release date. It seems unimaginable that it has been over a year and a half since we last posted an article! How quickly the time flies.
It goes without saying that we've been quieter than usual around here. Truth be told, there hasn't been a lot to talk about. The Core is still progressing at a much slower pace than usual. My time at 3D Realms comes with a new set of challenges, least of all are learning a bunch of new tools and design principles, but also time management and deadlines. There has not been a lot of time for personal projects...
Phantom Fury
Just briefly on the subject of 3D Realms, I do not believe it was ever fully revealed here on ModDB, but the title that I am currently working on is Phantom Fury, revealed officially back in September. The trailer for said project can be seen below along with a couple of screenshots:
Half-Life: The Core
So what is the state of things currently? As the year draws to a close, it is looking as though I will have a lot more time for The Core as we head into 2023. I still won't be able to dedicate ALL of my free time into it just yet, but certainly a lot more than I have been. As with any year, 2022 has come with it's share of highs and lows, with the lows being regrettably dominant in the last 11 months. As such, there were only a handful of posts on the page this year. Two screenshots regarding one small area of the mod:
But worry not, this is not the only progress that has been made. There are a selection of new areas that have been worked on and some older areas that have been brought up to the current standard set throughout the mod. Sadly these are either not ready to be shown off just yet or are areas we would prefer to keep under wraps until the eventual release. We can't just go ahead and show you EVERYTHING now can we?
So with that, I bid you good day. A merry christmas and a happy new year to all who celebrate and good times all the same to those who do not.
You'll be seeing a lot more from us soon.
Well well well... This was unexpected
News 31 commentsSo, I made a post at the start of the year stating that The Core would in fact NOT be coming out by March 31st. I also said that some time within 2021...
Happy New Year...
News 11 commentsFirst of all, let me just say on behalf of everyone working on The Core, Happy New Year! Let's hope 2021 is a little better for all of us. Unfortunately...
We now have a Discord server
News 1 commentYes, we have a Discord server. It has come to a point where it seemed that it would probably be a good idea to set up a Discord server dedicated to The...
The Core - Summer 2020 Update
News 20 commentsSeptember is upon us! Roughly one year after we announced The Core's release date (Prior to us pushing it back by six months earlier this year) progress...
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Hey how's the mod's development?
Slow yet steady. Phantom Fury has my full attention for the moment. The Core will be my primary focus again soon.
Awesome to hear, any news about Aftershock or is that being done by a different studio?
Aftershock is being developed by VoidPoint, the original Ion Fury devs. I'm not privy to any information about its development.
(buried)
The game is dead
This is incorrect.
(buried)
Then why is your game not released yet!?
Because it's still in development? Games tend to release once development is finished.
...Unless it's Cyberpunk
This mod is the only reason i still log in in Modb.
I appreciate that, but that's a shame. There's a lot of great stuff still in progress on ModDB. :)
In my case, it's one of the main reasons. There's a lot of other things that I keep my eyes on.
Is there anything you can share, Urby?
I personally would keep an eye on Half-Life: Dark Matter, Decay: Solo Mission and Half-Life: Recovery
Also SIGNAL LOST if alpha content floats your boat.
y u no love me young sir :( 😂
I'm watching all of those, especially Solo Mission since I donated for a while on Patreon, it all looks really awesome.
Actually, I saw some pics of chapter 2 in SIGNAL LOST I think it was very inspired by The Core.
Also, I'm pitting The Core's release in a race against something else I'm waiting for that's yet again been pushed back. No pressure or anything, it's completely meaningless, but it's something else that was going to happen September 2020