Half Life 2: Raising the Bar REDUX: Division 2.1 Full Release news

Hey all! Welcome to another update vid and another release – Division 2.1! We've been hard at work patching, fixing, and implementing a lot of additions that didn't make it into the Division 2 release, including some further reworks to Division 1! Far more has been done than we'll be talking about today, but let's lead with some of the most notably improved maps!

Trainstation

Trainstation has received visual, narrative, and scripting reworks – so basically, just about everything that makes a map tick! Notable highlights are a few additional scripted sequences throughout the map, a totally revised skybox, and a new Combine contraption for moving trains to and from the rails.

Industrial

CW3D took Industrial by the hand and led it into a dark and gloomy atmosphere, far removed from the warmer tones of before. Polluted skies, foreboding ambience, and revised visuals make this map very different – in an appropriate way – to how it felt before. In addition, Barney received a choreography overhaul in this map featuring new and rewritten lines, new interactions with his 'fellow' metropolice, and the incredibly expressive facial animation which was first pioneered in Lab02's Division 2 release.

Consulplaza01

The consul plaza maps have historically been some of the roughest in the Division 1 line-up, but they're now leagues above their predecessors thanks to the changes made during Division 2, but also reworks spearheaded by RzDat post-Division 2. The streets beget far more tactical gameplay in Consulplaza01, and the chopper's added spotlight shines a grim light on the Combine's transgressions. Additional citizen interactions breathe additional life into the trouble in City 17.

Consulplaza02

Consulplaza02 similarly received scripting improvements, including narrative sequences that show a different side to those living in City 17, combat reworks (both high-octane and nuanced), and across both maps a totally revised skybox. These maps really are about just staving off the Combine long enough to continue your escape from the city, and the atmosphere now serves that purpose far better.

Quarrytown_Vista

Flash's art passing could barely be contained in Division 2 in all of its magnificence, but he's had a few pet peeves to clear up and in Vista, he's improved some of the barriers throughout the map to make it clear Ravenholm is a place you really don't want to be.

Quarrytown01

Quarrytown01, as the first elaborated gameplay map of the Ravenholm trek, was another environment rife with details. Many areas were adjusted for gameplay during final testing, and Flash has smoothed over some of the modifications that had been made to level layout.

Grigori Refinements

Meanwhile, Amicus – that's me – took charge of further amending Grigori's character model, making his clothing less shiny and using a combination of hand-collaging and AI techniques to make his face more convincing.

Antlion Hives

Division 3 and the Wasteland is just around the corner, and so the antlions made a cheeky debut at the very end of Division 2's minetown map. All the antlions and hives you'll see here are dead or dying, but to help inform our art direction with the antlion environments going forwards, new hives have been modelled as a template for future assets. They also strobe in and out of brightness thanks to a texture proxy in the material.

Antlion Eggs

The last asset addition of note is another from the antlion roster – in Division 2 we simply use the beta's antlion egg, which was a reskinned watermelon. Once again, Amicus took it into his own hands and canonised this design in a more natural way, complete with glowing gibs much like those dropped by the antlion grubs.

Division 2.1 Issue Changelog

So many improvements were made beyond this and whilst it would be challenging for us to put together a conclusive changelog, we've setup a document containing many issues we fixed across all maps in Division 1 and 2. It's not comprehensive, but it's large enough to give you a pretty good idea of what to expect going into Division 2.1! Take a look!

Finishing Up

And that's that! With Division 2.1 out the door, and barring any necessary hotfixes for a critical issue slipping through the cracks, the whole team will now be moving on to Division 3 and beyond. We can't wait to show you what the wasteland chapter of RTBR has to offer – and maybe you'll get a glimpse sooner than you think! Before finishing up, a note on positions available on the team:

• Competent level designers – We’re still open to having both additional support in the art pass and blockout departments

• Facial flex/sculptor – We’re still in need of someone comfortable with sculpting head meshes in the context of Source (so creation of VTAs as well)

• Captain Vance – We're still looking for a voice actor for Captain Jaxon Vance! Please take a look at our Casting Call Club and submit your audition there if you're interested

If any of these roles look good to you, please add me on Discord at Kralich/David#0901. Thanks everyone, and enjoy the Division 2.1 release of Raising the Bar: Redux!