Week 30

July this year has 5 weekends, so we don’t have any planned events. However, Phillip will be continuing his playthrough of The Closure and Level Design Academy: including another tutoring session with Don and at least one practice session.

All times below are Phillip’s time, which is displayed in the footer of the site.

The Closure stream will be at 11:00am Central European Time on Saturday 30th.

LDA: Practice Session 10 will be at 3:00pm Central European Time on Saturday 30th

Another The Closure stream will be at 11:00am Central European Time on Sunday 30th.

LDA: Tutoring Session 5 will be at 3:00pm Central European Time on Sunday 30th. This session will include a review of previous work, issues arising from Phillip’s practice sessions, decals and finishing the brush entities from the last tutoring session that was cut short.

All streams will be on the RTSL Twitch Channel and announced on the RTSL Twitter Feed.

All streams will be uploaded to the RTSL YouTube channel during the following week.

If you have any questions about the streams, just ask.

In addition, Phillip will be interviewing Shokunin, creator of Transmissions: Element 120, very early Saturday morning, with the video/podcast hopefully being uploaded later that day.

28th July 2016 4 Comments

Poll Question 355 – What is the worst thing that could happen in HL3?

Sorry to have so many poll questions about HL3 lately, but the modding scene is a little quiet at the moment.

We all have our pet peeves; things that drive us crazy and with the recent leaks of supposedly HL3 stuff in lines of code, the anticipation has reached new heights.

With anticipation comes disappointment and not just from delays but from not getting what we expected, so this week’s poll question tries to address that exact idea.

For you, what’s the worst thing that could happen in HL3?

I could live with no new weapons, enemies, or vehicles – although I don’t think for a moment that Valve would release HL3 without those things.

I could even live with a main character dying if the story needed it. Hell, I could even live with Gordon finally speaking but I would rather he didn’t.

What I couldn’t live with is a big change to the gameplay mechanics and dynamics. I play HL games because of the setting and shooting, if you took the shooting away I wouldn’t be interested.

What about you?

28th July 2016 34 Comments

BM: Quarantine

for Black Mesa

Gordon’s misadventures in the Black Mesa ventilation system left him trapped within Sector C’s chemical research wing.

Like many areas of the facility, the wing had gone into quarantine following the resonance cascade in a vain attempt to contain the invading organisms.

Gordon would have to find someway, or someone, to lift the lock down if he was to escape.

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Total Downloads: 1,91026th July 2016
47 Comments and 14 recommendations, most say "Play It Now!"

What The Headcrab! Episode 18

Hello and welcome to What The Headcrab! Episode 18.

I have another mod-packed show with plenty of Half-Life news items to keep your Houndeyes Hunting, your Barnacles Biting and your Antlions Aching.

As always, there’s a giveaway courtesy of A A Ron from SteamContests.com and news from RTSL. Due to time restriction, no Misc section, Half-Life trivia Lore or YouTube channel spotlight – sorry.

Let’s go!

Watch the Video

25th July 2016 3 Comments

Identify This Mod 004

The Renegadist is looking for a mod. Can you help?

“So plain and simple I’m looking for an old Half-Life 2 mod, if this is in the wrong section feel free to move it since I usually never post on the forums.

Basically this was an old mod I played over five years ago that I have not been able to track down since which leads me to believe it was removed. I don’t remember much about it because it’s been 5 years since I’ve played it or longer but from what I do remember I’ll write down here.

From what I remember the main plot of the mod was that both the Combine and the Human rebels had formed a piece treaty and now both factions were against the player (Both Combine and Rebels shooting at you.). There were parts of the level that I remember playing, one of which took place in a mine shaft filled with zombies and rainbow colored water (This I distinctly remember), there was a farm or something with hay bales, and finally a chapter devoted to driving on a road in the middle of a forest in the HL2 Ep2 Jalopy. I believe the main crowbar was replaced with an Axe and if I remember correctly a few other weapons were different from the default Half-Life 2 weapons. There was a part on the forest chapter where you walk into a concrete building to press a button that did something, maybe to launch a rocket but I’m not sure. I don’t remember the name of the mod however I do believe a radiation warning logo was in it, or at least on the menu screen which showed sections of the forest road chapter.

I know you are going off of bits and pieces however the fact that the plot is so different might help with finding it, in the case that the mod was removed or deleted if anyone has the mod I’d love a download link for it. Other then that I can’t really say much more since I only remember bits and pieces of it, if anyone has any questions or anything concerning the mod please feel free to ask away. The Moddb community is huge and the amount of Half-Life 2 modders and fans of mods is huge, hopefully one person out there knows what I’m talking about.

Thanks and here’s to hoping someone knows what mod this is!”

The featured image is used for illustration purposes only and is NOT taken from the mod.

24th July 2016 6 Comments

Poll Question 354 – Would you prefer a TC with a play time of 1 hour or a mod set in the HL universe with a play time of 2 hours?

Questions like these are always more of a “depends on…” because there are some many factors. But assuming the quality and fun was more or less the same, which would you prefer to play?

I generally find Total Conversions interesting but ultimately lacking and that’s fully understandable considering we are comparing an amatuer mod to a AAA game developer with huge resources, but sometimes TCs can offer the player something new and that might be enough to please the player.

Is something shorter but new worth more than something known but longer?

If I had asked this questions 5 years ago, I would have chosen the known but longer option, but now I think I’d rather have something new.

Anyway, I’d love to hear your thoughts.

If you are curious, I do have some Total Conversions listed on the site.

22nd July 2016 16 Comments

Week 29

First off, Dan Jordan AKA The Rabbit, continues his Source of Fame event, where he plays a Half of Fame Source release.

This weekend he is playing Mistake of Pythagoras on Sunday at 12pm Pacific Daylight Time (Also known as: PDST – Pacific Daylight Saving Time, NAPDT – North American Pacific Daylight Time). You should double check the Time & Date.Com website for your local time.

Secondly, Phillip MIGHT be continuing his Level Design Academy: Practice Sessions. But he won’t know until the last minute, so keep an eye on the RTSL Twitter or FB pages.

All streams will be on the RTSL Twitch Channel and announced on the RTSL Twitter Feed.

All streams will be uploaded to the RTSL YouTube channel during the following week.

If you have any questions about the streams, just ask.

22nd July 2016 No Comments

What The Headcrab! Episode 17

Hello and welcome to What The Headcrab! Episode 17.

I have another action-packed show with plenty of Half-Life news items to keep your Headcrabs Humping, your Bullsqiuds charging and your Striders stomping.

As always, there’s a giveaway courtesy of A A Ron from SteamContests.com and another Half-Life trivia question, news from RTSL and the Miscellaneous section that covers no mod stuff.

Let’s go!

Watch the Video

18th July 2016 17 Comments

Poll Question 353 – Would you play Half-Life Go?

Unless you live in a cave in the mountains and have just returned to civilisation (I used that word reluctantly!) and this is the first website you have checked, you will no doubt have heard all about Pokemon Go.

I have got almost no idea how Pokemon Go exactly works, nor do I want to, so please don’t explain, but here is how I see half-Life Go working.

At various locations around , well, everywhere, are hidden various Half-Life enemies. You job is to kill or avoid them. For example, when you are in 5 metres of a headcrab your phone starts to make that purring sound sound. Upon lifting your phone up and scanning the area, when you are facing the headcrab it jumps and screams at you. The only way to kill it, is to position it at your feet and kick it, making sure the camera sees it happen.

With other enemies, you must use your phone as a gun. In some cases you must run away. There would be ammo caches scattered around the area. For example, if you saw a strider you would know that there is a rocket launcher nearby, as well as some rockets.

Players could locate Easter eggs of extra caches buy looking in groups i.e. the caches only appear if there are two or more “rebels” with 2 metres of each other.

I suppose you could buy extra weapons, ammo or range detection and I assume you can do those things in the Pokemon version.

Anyway, would you play it?

What other Half-Life inspired features would you add?

14th July 2016 25 Comments