We won't be releasing any details until much nearer the release....
What about a DLC like C.A.G.E.D did with the executive plunger?...
We can't. We are not allowed to sell a game if it has Valve assets. We would have to buy a licence, like HDtF and Prospekt....
How about making 2 different versions available on the store page? One is just the free download and the second is like a 5$ to 10$ paid version for people who want to support the site....
I think this is a really good idea. It'll bring the villemaps and RTSL as a whole to a wider audience. As has already been suggested it could be periodically updated with new maps, and maybe entire villes could be downloadable as additional content? If you can find away to earn a little revenue to help fund the site and challenge prizes all the better.
How many maps are you aiming at for the initial release?...
Very Short and Nice Made. I enjoyed it the most at the part where to proceed in this map, you had to melt the ice. But the Melting effects were simple and was not that exciting in the end. This Map is very short so it cant be boring. If I saw a longer map of this concept, I would immediatly try it....
For a first map, I guess you have done it actually pretty okay. But Visually you have to improve because the Doorways are small. The Key Mechanic involved in this map is a bit, how should i put it, a bit weird with holding it and walking around trying to find the right door for it. For some might find it annoying. The only great part about the map was Gameplay. By Gameplay I mean the Puzzling, the map gives you clues (except for the some keys because the quote "I found a key" appears for them) t...
Hello. My Name is Artoxwolf.
I started to play FPS Games with HL2, it was an amazing game so I bought everygame from that Series. I played whole series thourgh and found out (thourgh YouTube) that there are amazing communities Creating and Reviewing amazing Mods/Maps.
In the Past I tried to Map or Mod myself but I would rather stay with playing Modded Stuff. I live in Germany so my Grammer in English might be a bit off.
Well i have nothing alot to say about my, I just enjoy playing Gam...
yes, advertising space has been considered but we think we have a better idea, which I obviously can't say too much about yet....
Oh, look what I happened to find: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUElteRY3FUuvxtCUkkk2JN3ESiV9IC42 <--- MIGHT help people to choose maps worthy enough to be in.
This is a great idea. Could issue updates every few months, with the latest Ville Entries that will keep people coming back.
You should also consider selling advert space on all the supply crates in the game that could be easily changed every month when you switch clients. I know you're not looking to make money ...
Okay, just out of my head, there was this cool Antlion factory in one of the recent competitions. This should definitely be in!...
The mod was fun to play, but there is something that bothered me, all parts in which you had to search for a solution so you could progress, got me stuck, but that's just me I guess, besides that I recommend...
I’ve been watching your site grow so much over the years and I wanted to pop in and say Congrats! And I encourage everybody to keep up the fire. More than anywhere else, this place is the last bastion of hope for the HL franchise. All hail Planet Phillip, all hail RTSL....
The dev is currently working on 1.8 version which will feature a final boss. Stay tuned...
I'd like to see the longer version
Like what I saw, and hope the the creator continue to develop it....
Thanks for answers...
Greatings from author......
Hunt Down the Freeman?!?
Thats dangerous for anyone's mental health!...
I like horror themed maps so I decided to give this one a go. The atmosphere and visuals are pretty well done. Gameplay is somewhat sparse but personally I don't think this is a problem in these kind of maps. The part with the custom made TNT-charge and the 'unshootable' explosive barrel took me a little while to get through as the visual communication doesn't match that of HL2 for 100%. There are some jumpscares here and there; some didn't do much for me but the one in the bathroom-esque part o...
A totally must play rarely known horror mod for HL1....
Amazing, definitely in my top 10 mods of all times, I loved it...
An interesting and elaborate map, only a short one....
Maybe I'm missing something, but there is absolutely not enough time to get to the bombs. You're blocked by a ton of guards, and even on easy difficulty it's difficult to gun them down in time to not get shot on the first one (the building they take over after you get to the surface), let alone, the second in the church. You have to either take cover and shoot everyone and run out of time, or run past them and get shot instantly by everyone.
Did people actually complete this without cheating...
Good, but in my opinion, there are better ones...
Nice to see you streaming again. After recovering a recent bullet wound and lots of other injuries I had from the past couple of weeks when working with S.A.T., I'm put back into service and have to work weekend shifts for 3 weeks, so I'm not sure I can actually catch the stream. I'll try my best though. Also my bank are kind of jerks at the moment and won't let me access my account in any way, shape or form so I can't actually donate anything. I hope you'll still get a decent amount together!...
Only two maps but I found them entertaining and fun
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Claustrophobia
Vents, vents and more vents. It felt so Half Life, the sound of the metal rumbling as you climb through is second only to the electronic howl of a dead combine!
I liked this map even with its very frustrating generator refuelling puzzle! “How do you get this ………. can in!” And there were many more words to ...
Geez, I'm late! I have some little free time to join up in this one - I've also watched good old Half-Life 2 E3 2003 trailer. I know one specific environment to make references! I hope I can make it in time!...
I enjoyed the atmosphere and gameplay here. I love the work put into detail of the area as well as the sequences and would of course love to see more. For being so short it is certainly a treat....
Amazing mapping and game design with multiple innovative ideas implemented while staying true to Half-Life.
Really recommend playing this!...
Thanks for the reply. Yes I have plans to expand the area with some environmental puzzles. Ideally, I'd like to rebuild first two chapters, up to the Kleiner's lab, not sure how much work it's gonna take, that should fit into 3 maps I guess... I will only submit it, if there will be enough gameplay and satisfying visual quality....
If the map consisted solely of a visually redecorated train station and with all the regular citizens, metrocops, and other entities in there... then I would probably say no. Remember that, while this challenge limits what environments you can use, every mapping challenge is about producing interesting gameplay (and RTSL challenge entries must always include at least some action / puzzle elements). My suggestion for your idea would be to go with the concept art visual style, but still make it re...
Gladly Phillip..
Although I won't mail em to you.. Check in steam -- on your PP account....
Personally I would jump to play any new Citadel map if I was given one, but the judging process and the overall consistency between the entries would be hurt if I were to broaden the boundaries of the theme further. As it stands, for NostalgiaVille, the Citadel is excluded from being accepted as an official (non-bonus) entry. But don't let that stop you from including Combine architecture in the HL2 environments included in the theme! Perhaps this could be an interesting way to see how City 17 o...
Yes, having infomation about whether they work on Mac and Linux would be useful but it is unfair to think that a hobby website owner will have the time or resources to be able to test on the three main operating systems....
That would be great that somewhere could be indicators on what systems these mods run.
I use Mac and sometimes the mods don't work. Those indicators could help. - but this should be done by RTSL website owners. :)...
Sorry, but I don't understand what you are suggesting. What "official release items"?
Can you email me the links to the mods you think I should add, please?...
Niker will reply soon....
Hi, I want to build train station from this concept , and put all scripted events from standard hl2 maps, so it will be the same story, but with different layout and visual style, will that fit into this challenge?...
Lovely neat new feature:
Suggestion to save the users both time and trouble maybe make it so that collections list to all official released items in the various game categories. The users could then just set a hook to what they wanna have or if unsure still go to that page directly if they unsure whether that was mod xzy with following ZZZ or not.
But scripting such an algorithm might not be easy not to mention it would require that all the official site updates really do sit on the same g...
@Phillip:
An English version has been released some while ago. Please update the mod download.
http://www.moddb.com/mods/blbej-den/downloads/blbej-den-final-english...
Yes and no. I have never declined entries for any event, but if your story didn't related to something that was seen in HL2 then it wouldn't be an official entry. If your map and story have a connection with a character in HL2, then yes, it would count as an official entry.
BTW, please call me Phillip or Philly....
Hey PlanetPhillip,
Would I be able to write my short story based upon a (published) map I made? Is that accepted?
Thanks...
This looks interesting. It's been half a year (or maybe more) since I've started posting on this site, and I'm definitely not happy about it. I really wish I could see the site more often, but things have been getting very tight lately.
Anyway, the feature is great and it's nice to see the site constantly improving. Great job to everyone and especially Phillip for keeping the site alive!...
Urban Decay by Ian Spadin AKA Idolon
The entry is decently paced, starting slow with simple crowbar-driven encounters until the player acquires a gravity gun, ramping up to an suitably climactic fight against waves of various zombies in an fairly cramped room. Aesthetically, the area is divided between the immediate environments appearing appropriately Ravenholmish while being somewhat awkwardly situated in the middle of more metropolitan surroundi...
Intense action, amazing maps and really good flow....
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There are better Villes out there, and there are only two maps in this....
Really nice and simple mod, meeting the best opponents in a tight mission....
Hi guys, I have been playing HL and HL2 based games since the beginning, but just now found this excellent site. I thought the mod community was dwindling, but it just moved! I'm so glad I can dive in again....
One of the best mods I would say.
This Mod reminds me that Half - life is not all about shooting and gunning down rows of Combine, zombies or antlions. Most of the time all I knew that puzzles were swich a doohiky or put a box somewhere buts this just expanded my mind what can be done with Half - life....
Can't wait to see what of good we're gonna get in this. I'm pretty excited....
Incredible! Definitely a good mod, still not the best, but I would play it again...
ETC II is better, but anyway, not bad....
Not much to say, just an AMAZING mod...
Glad to see the feature was finally made public. Was I really the only one that tested it? Anyway, don't hesitate to contact me if there are features to test! I'm always up for it....
Yeah it was developed entirely in episode 2 so no reason why it wouldn't run fine there :P...
Alex Demolisher won the Special Quiz Giveaway 2018.
Fingers crossed all the codes work.
Thanks to everybody who entered.
The answer was EP-0021...
I'm shocked to be giving a Ville challenge this bad a score, but between obtuse puzzles, tired nods to Portal, a new gameplay gimmick that's less fun than a paper cut, and one map that doesn't even run, there's just nothing to recommend here.
The Mertz Module is the new gameplay mechanic du jour. It lets you freeze objects held by the gravity gun in place. Use it to lift gates and pin them out of the way; lift ladders into place to climb up to platforms; or pin physics props in place to use a...
Mr. Mazur has proposed making a map based on either the winning entry or the most suitable.
How cool is that?
So, if you want your story to be told in map format, now is your chance.
Let me know if you have any questions....
There's a lot to like here. This mod pulls off the Half-Life 2 beta feeling much better than Missing Information ever did, in my personal opinion. City 17 feels extremely grungy and run-down. It brings to mind the Detroit city streets from Deus Ex: Human Revolution. There are familiar faces and familiar places for those who know the Half-Life 2 beta: cremators, the manhack arcade, elite metrocops, crab synths.
As good as the city street levels feel, they're often not designed particularly wel...
Visually, this map wasn't great. Proportions of rooms, doorways, and vents were strange, textures were misaligned, and lighting was very inconsistent.
I generally enjoy this style of puzzle/adventure map as a break from more combat-heavy maps. This one would have worked better without the intrusive dialogue whenever you picked up an item of note - but then again, many of the puzzles would have been unsolvable without the hints provided by the dialogue.
There was a basement area where, unle...
You either love this kind of map, or hate this kind of map.
Once you get your obtuse-puzzle-mode hat on, the puzzles aren't too bad. One was mired by finicky controls (the lever to open the door to the train platform didn't work for me at first; I had to hit "use" in the exact center of the lever panel, rather than on the lever itself), and then I'm positive that one of them just has the wrong solution. (The lever puzzle on the train platform...
A competent set of maps. It never hesitates to throw a huge wave of zombies at you.
Expect lots of combat and not much else....
I know the rules mention the map should be from City 17 to Coast but would a Citadel-themed map be allowed?
The Citadel levels were by far my favourite. The architecture was just so vast and alien, it was awesome. Plus it had some great puzzles and ambience....
The reason the rule against having more than one person work actively on the map or on the assets is to keep the competition fair. If there was an entry that was made by two people, it could undoubtedly be a lot better than those created by single entrants, but it would be unfair to judge it against others on equal terms.
Under the rules of this competition, the entry should mostly be done by a single person. Custom assets here and there are fine to spice things up, and since mappers...
...also, our interpretation of this rule is that it limits anyone else working on the map to focus solely on asset work. Being that the latter takes up a fairly significant chunk of time, and that it's pretty interweaved with the design in terms of having to jump between them to make sure they align properly, it starts to feel less worth it for anyone but the submission holder to become involved....
"Other people may only help with the creation of custom assets and not add to or edit the maps."
Should we assume from this rule that the challenge is essentially meant as a one person design effort? A map designed by two can't be submitted as such? We'd love to work on an entry but we'd ideally co-design the thing, on top of asset work being distributed between us....
You could try running Misgnomer under Episode Two. If I remember correctly it doesn't use mechacrabs or mertz module so there won't be missing content....
Thank you guys :)...
Did you set the SDK to the -upcoming beta? Or are you perhaps using Linux/Mac? As of right now these systems are not supported but we are working on it....
Lunar Descent is both very fun and very flawed. You can tell the developer was very interested in creating a world that is both beautiful and seemingly lived-in. Practically everything aside from the basic concepts and the enemies' models is custom-made, and the game's maps merge together into something that feels like it very well could exist.
The gameplay is where a lot of issues could crop up for players. Lunar Descent has only three weapons, but it attempts to make up for it by massively ...
I have an issue with the last six mapping challenges that, oddly enough, doesn't exist for previous ones. Each of them start up well enough, but immediately crash to desktop without an error message as it tries to load the main menu. Am I supposed to install a Source SDK Base 2013 other than the Single Player version?...
The maps were very well made, and one of them was my personal favourite. I will list three of them.
third was: Launch. Though it was very short it was very atmospheric. Not too dark, not too bright. The little and simple puzzle was fun, though short and obvious.
second was: Aqua rust. Though tiny the name fitted. The water was in the middle wall making it not too clear, but still clear. The particles in the water though I dont know if they were custom or not they were still well made/place...
OMG OMG
RTSL is teaming up with www.msleeper.com to provide a fully-finished metrocop helmet as a prize for NostalgiaVille.
Can't thank Michelle enough for the support and be sure to check out the twitch.tv/makingitup stream to watch them being made.
More details to follow.
Check the images here: https://www.instagram.com/overworlddesigns/...
No need to apologise at all....
Only now I see this reply... I'm terribly sorry.
I've played every valve game in existence, and I'm practising with the Black Mesa fgd, as you can see from the quality of the map that went into the competition ;) I hope to make better maps in the following competitions....
Oops saw this too late. Please resend the Steam invite. :)...
I send you an invitation in Steam. Don't panic :-)...
The story can have as many words as you wish, but going over 1500 is not allowed. That's how I understood it....
Question, does the story have to be exactly 1500 words or is that a preferred limit?...
This challenge was a little underwhelming but the last chunk of Hammer/Lambda Cup challenges have been just awesome so this had a lot to live up to. Still worth playing, and hopefully mappers will continue to experiment with the Mertz Module in future challenges.
Urban Decay by Ian Spadin AKA Idolon
A nice solid map here. I liked the mix of the crowbar and magnum at the start, it's an unusual combination I think and I personally save magnum am...
I went into this mod expecting a masterpiece, as it in the Hall of Fame. But the mod slowly got worse and worse. The 'puzzles' in the game included: pushing a set of buttons randomly until you guess the correct combination, and walking around aimlessly until you find a key of some sort.
The voice acting was a good idea, the citizens in Half Life have little personality other than small jokes, but the execution was horrid. The mic quality varied in quality and the voice actors had li...
Fantastic, although no account was or will ever be necessary to enter the writing events....
So excited and committed to doing this I made an account for the site! I'm really excited for this....
Claustraphobia
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This certainly lived up to its name as it's mostly sneaking about in vents. However, i found this mod like a jumbled up collection of maps blindly thrown together. It's also too blummin dark much of the time and some areas have very odd design indeed... It feels cheap and cheerful (cheerful in a horror'ish sort of way lol)
However, having said all that, I did play through to the (boring) ending and I really did en...
The first map isn't that good. It's mostly crawling through vents and fighting in cramped areas, so I guess it lives up to its name. The fuel can puzzle was poorly done and caused me a lot of confusion. I am used to mappers automatically triggering the fuel can load once I press it on the item needing fuel (generator, car). I just assumed that the fuel can in the room had to be empty and wasted a considerable amount of time looking for the "real" can. In the spot where the vent breaks it di...
Hi Phillip. I woke up today also and a thought came to me, how cool would a 7HourWarVille be? Or an UprisingVille based in the week after Gordon assaults Nova Prospekt but before he returns to City 17? Could see some real creative stuff
Starting a play through of SOMA. Hopefully I won't quit out of fear...
I wasn't able to publish here the third party link. I think it's prohibited....
This sounds interesting but I'm not sure exactly what you mean. Is there a link or pictures or something?...
After copying the server.so and the client.so from SDK2013 the mod runs under Linux
I had to use god mode at the first one. I was falling out of the map, too
The second one reminded me of the Turret Thing in Portal2. Very funny.
It took a while to take the helicopter down....
You know, when I saw the announcement, I was quite skeptical about how it’s gonna work out. I feel like the “pairing” concept is a little too much. The requirement is little too demanding because the second mapper needs to do 30% of the work. And I think most mappers prefer to do stuff alone anyway. Well, here we are with 2 maps.
Claustrophobia
[recimage id=1] It begins with a scream so I thought it’s gonna be a horror map, judging by th...
One of the best mods I have ever played. A scenario was made that I wanted to play out just get out of city 17 while the core is exploding. The quality is magnificent. the starting area is suburb a lot of nice details. 10/10...
New underground train has just been launched in Moscow's airport Sheremetyevo . Its commercial has been combined with HL1 intro voyage. You should see it....
Sorry about this, it ran fine during all of my testing but there's a chance that something went wrong and spawned too many physics objects at once...
There's a way to make that heli fight a lot easier! Someone else in the comments here worked it out I think, but my one regret from that fight is that it wasn't made as clear as I'd have liked. Glad you enjoyed the map other than that though! :D...
It's possible but really depends on the story. The problem is that very few mods tell stories because it's a LOT harder than simply making a map with a setting and objective. But, and I am about to announce this formally, one story from this event may be made into a map....
Phillip, do you think that a fanfic could be the basic of a future Ville? Example: The top 3 Fanfic entries for this could serve as options for the next Ville....
Yes, it is technically a Gunship with a special flag that forces it to use the helicopter model, but it demonstrates that Valve didn't intend for the helicopter to take an ungodly number of rockets to destroy....
A short, but excellent trip through a combine police station. The mod feels like it would be right at home during Anticitizen One or Episode 1, and while the map is small, there's tons of great visual detail and lots of interesting encounters. There's a recurring theme through the map of avoiding certain obstacles, and it's interesting how you have to use the environment to for cover to escape instead of immediately trying to fight whatever you're up against. There's one segment where I felt the...
The helicopter you fight in Lost Coast is actually a gunship disguised as one. You can clearly notice that by the sounds it makes and how it tries to shoot down the rockets....
Well, sort of. You do destroy one in Lost Coast with Rockets. It's a simple fix though. If you intend to use Rockets, you can do a SetHealthFraction on the helicopter to set a more reasonable value. I used 20 (or 20% of normal HP) the last time I did one....
I can give you an answer to why the helicopters are much harder to take down than gunships. Firstly, if you shoot it with an RPG, in the main HL2 games you never fight a helicopter with that and you either take them out with the airboat cannon or it's own bombs. Valve simply never intended them to be taken out with rockets and thus they take a ridicules amount of them.
Secondly, the gunships are Synths (somewhat living beings) while the helicopter are purely mechanic. (Following is only an as...
