The Burton Equation - Update Two: A New Case
Hey folks! Welcome to the second update for The Burton Equation. Much like Goreagulation, I've been working on TBE for a long time, and did so without public updates or revealing much at all - but once you unveil something, people expect more, and so like Goreagulation as well, the lack of updates has had some scratching their heads. The project continues towards conclusion - so here's a look not only at more content we've already had ready to go, but also progress in the time since January!
Chapter Two - Sepia Art-Passing
Sepia was, during the last update, touched in some aspects but very much early in art pass development - the interior bunkers were the most art passed, with exteriors still in an early state. This was partly as I'm not as familiar with those kinds of environments, but I did extensive research and took a crack at the exteriors and they've begun to shape up really nicely with the help of Matt as well. With a mixture of tight trenches and more wide-open arena-like spaces, Sepia's forwards slog towards the end objective now has a great artistic difference from the other environments in the mod.
Chapter Three - Miami Art Passing
Miami is what I think will be one of the most stylistically eye-catching of the chapters, both indoor and outdoor. A lot of the chapter is spent scaling a skyscraper, but to spice things up in each level, there's a twist. The first level starts on the street; the second has you navigating barriers to ascending the skyscraper; and the third level of rising up has you traversing the exterior of the skyscraper on window sills, balconies, and scaffolding. From there, you'll be able to see the whole city.
Chapter Four - Terminus Art Passing
The final chapter with Half-Life 2's setting sees you fighting in more familiar territory against more familiar enemies, but with the added context of Zachary experiencing not only the Combine, but the modern day, for the first time. Art passing continues well for this chapter, with Flash having made a great basis, and it'll be important to nail the conclusion to the time travelling adventure within.
Weapons - An Evolving Arsenal
Zachary's trusty 357 persists into each period - a faithful sidearm no matter the time
The classic Luger will be found in the Combine's hands in the 40s, and put to good use by yourself
The MAC-10 is the easily obtained SMG-of-choice for the Combine's 80s contingent
When the chips are down, the buckshot beast that is the SPAS-12 will serve Zachary well
The Burton Equation's arsenal was teased in the last update, but there's plenty more to see - with four pistols, four SMGs, and at least one "special" weapon per chapter as well. Split across the periods, the arsenal will evolve over each chapter, with each pistol and SMG separately balanced for a different experience in each era.
Comic - The Story Continues
One of the most iconic stylistic features of TBE is its comics by Adam Rogers, which were a focus for a lot that consumed the last update, and so here's another four - plus, a Terminus comic, as during the last update, the Terminus comics were not yet implemented ingame. All comics for ALL eras are now implemented, and will continue to tell the story in the most bitchin' way possible.
Conclusion
That's it for this update! Again, to waylay any concerns - TBE, RTBR, Goreagulation, et al continue healthily in the background as they always have. These updates, nonetheless, give you an extra peek at what's to come - and The Burton Equation is going real well. See you in the next update!
holy **** these level designs weapons are awesome
and ugh, that one 4th comic thing disgusts me, liked it
Thanks!
duuuudeee this is such a cool concept. can't wait to play.
Just found out about this mod
The levels look amazing and I love the themes the mod is going for!
Why the Luger instead of the Walther P38?
Nonetheless, good stuff!
Personally I feel the Luger is more iconic than the Walther, and it also has a more unique profile when compared to the other pistols featuring in the mod. Thanks though!
If i were you, I would definitely put the Walther P38 over the Luger. And will there be a Browning Auto-5 in the 1920s chapter? And good job man, hope you finish it! :D
At this time I'm not planning to replace the Luger. In the 20s, the automatic weapon of choice is the Tommy gun. Thanks!
Love that Starfall Boulverd comic panel mixing Chow Yun Fat with 80s Miami is such a cool concept that I had always wished for now all we need is Sonny Crockett and Tony Monatana and that will complete it.
Interesting ! I'm curious to see how the story will be developed depending on the periods ! good luck !
I really like the Starfall Boulevard music track. It's very Miami Vice-esque.
I find myself listening to TBE's soundtrack a lot just because it covers a lot of moods - lounging about, late at night, roaring to go, or just for some good background tunes whilst I map.
Really love it! I just hope that you won't have more than 2-3 weapons per selection category, or it might get hard to switch between them.
With that I mean, it's totally OK if, for example, SMGs are in categories 2 and 3 (you toggle with the nunmber keys), instead of all being inside 2, which makes it hard to reach the bottom ones quickly.
Terminus looks pretty finished, and I know you're not finished yet but lemme give my feedback anyway: I feel a little offput by Miami and Sepia. Just a few more details, like a few more trees, props or complex architecture would fix that (like they are present in Terminus).
I also feel a little odd about the comics, mainly being the text. Only a minority of the text should be cursive, and the Miami normal text font should also be adjusted as it's a bit straining to read. I don't wanna complain about any of the art, they look great! Just being surroneded by that black void isn't fully fitting.
But don't get me wrong, I love everything about this project and know it's WIP! Not producing updates freqeuntly is A-OK with me and I'm certain that goes for most people, and the ones that don't are probably the ones complaining the most, so don't care about them.
So, yeah, I wish you much luck on your project and look forward to playing it!!!
Until the very last level of the entire mod, you will not have more than one pistol or SMG at once. The loop of the last level takes you into multiple eras so you will pick up most of the game's arsenal as a kind of last-minute power romp.
Art passes for Sepia and Miami are close to final but will be tested and improvements suggested by playtesters before release.
Comic text is not final, nor the general comic presentation.
Thanks for the kind words and detailed feedback :)
Nice to see it's still being worked!