Been a while since the last article, huh? Well now i'm back with a bunch of cool stuff to show off, but in case you missed it i released a demo about 2 months ago featuring one of the first chapters of the mod, so check that out HERE!
So now that we got that out of the way let's move on to the new stuff i was working on!
#1 - Maps!
Almost all the progress done since the demo's release has been for a later chapter set in a city around 2010. You're thrown into a city district that's taken over by mercenaries, protecting a mysterious object that's being kept somewhere in a nearby submarine base.
Your objective is to find out what's being kept over there and acquire it at all costs. Even if it means getting rid of a few dozen mercenaries along the way - or maybe more.
You won't be alone though - Jay will be helping you out during this chapter, you get a weapon that allows you to summon her anywhere, or teleport her away. Pretty good for setting up distractions for the enemies or just for some extra firepower.
Here's some shots in the midst of action in the first level of the chapter!
The first level will be a large district, where you'll have to find a way into the docks. You'll go through a construction site, a cinema, and a couple of rooftops in order to get there! It's gonna be a huge level, and right now it's more than halfway done!
This is the last level of the chapter, you've made it to the submarine base and supposedly the object is being kept inside the sub. You'll have to find your way around the whole facility to get into it - but beware, there will be some explosive enemies waiting for you there.
And that's really it for the maps showcase, let's get to the armaments!
#2 - Guns!
So each time period will have its own weapon set, you'll have your guns taken away every time you go through the time machine so that you don't end up with a million guns in your pockets.
Since i've been working on the city chapter a lot i've been working on a bunch of new guns specifically for that chapter, check them out!
See anything you like? Each weapon should be self-explanatory, UZI is your basic sub-machinegun, FAMAS will be an assault rifle with two firing modes - burst and full auto. Sniper is obvious, and so is the Deagle.
You can see all of these new weapons in action in this video! However keep in mind, some of their mechanics have been changed since the release of the video, like the FAMAS has its firing modes implemented, the video only features the full auto mode.
Also as you may have noticed, there's a new recoil system! Thanks to Dr. Orange, we've replaced the old crusty HL1 viewpunch thing with a new recoil system, so instead of jolting the view up or down a bit, you actually have to control your aim as you spray full auto with your guns!
That's also it for the guns!
#3 - New HUD!
If you've played the demo then you might've noticed the HUD looked a bit rough, it was basically a quick-n'-dirty reskin of the HL1 HUD, i've always planned for there to be a new HUD however we haven't gotten around to making it until now.
So with the help of Bacontsu we've made a new HUD, and i hope you like the look of it!
Health and armor counters now have been replaced by bars, and the armor piece health bars have been replaced by a silhouette graphic next to the bars that shows each armor piece and its health by changing color.
Speaking of changing color, the HUD is also customizable, a new menu for HUD options has been added that lets you change the color of the HUD to anything, and even the transparency of the background!
#4 - Misc!
There's also been a bunch of changes made, like the particles being touched up a bit to fit the style more.
We've also been adding a few options in relation to the particles since we noticed some players experienced not-so-great performance in the demo which have been caused by aurora particles.
So now for example you'll be able to turn on "minimal particles", which replaces all bullet impact particles with minimal versions of them, you'll be able to disable enemy bullet impact particles, and decorative particles that were placed into the map.
I've also been working on the mercenary enemies for the city chapter, though i haven't started their designs yet so in the screenshots above you can see they're basically greyscale Enforcers, but there will be multiple types of them, each with their own unique look, weapons, stats and abilities.
Also last but not least, i've touched up the ModDB page a bit, replacing the default theme with a new one, and changed the description field with a complete summary of what the mod's about.
#5 - End!
Welp, that's about it for this progress update! I was planning to make a really big one for the entire city chapter when i was done with it but since i haven't published many big updates to the page in a while i figured i'd update some of you who don't keep up much within Twitter or my Discord server. Also i'm going to take a bit of a break from working on this mod anyway because i've worked on it nonstop for so long lmao.
Remember to play the demo if you haven't already, and join my Discord server for frequent updates!
Making each time period its own unique arsenal of weapons to make them more unique is a very good idea, although it complicates the development of the mod, it will be interesting to see what you come up with in future.
it's not really gonna make it that more complicated, that was always the plan with the mod's weapons, just that i scrapped the idea of carrying all the weapons over. i got a bunch of really cool weapon ideas, especially for the future time periods :)
Just wow!
So lovely, mod is shaping up to be one of the best ever made, no kidding.
thanks!! that means alot coming from you
Looks really good! ☺️
AWESOME LOOKING STUFF!!!
This mod will go down in Half-Life modding history.
I've told this many times before, but I love the style of your mod so much. Really nice update. :)
This reminds me of how Timesplitters: Future Perfect on how guns are handled in each time period and I really like that.
The artstyle is very lovely! I hope you'll go far with this, just don't give up on it.
thanks! i'm glad you like it!