This Map Labs theme takes the What if…? approach. Authors were asked to just nudge reality (well, the Half-Life games) just a bit and explore what might have been. Wait, is there a Map Labs multiverse now?
Here are the 7 alternate timeline maps received, enjoy!
As always, if you’re interested in learning more about Map Labs and maybe even participate in their upcoming challenges, visit the Map Labs Discord.
- Title: Fractured Space
- Filename: sdk-2013-sp-mlc-fractured-space.7z
- Size : 469 MB
- Author: King Sans or EA, BTheM, Supertoaster, 1UpD, Alexandra ‘Maestra Fénix’ Bravo, KSONST/EA, bestgamer3
- Date Released: 26 October 2024
- Make sure you have the Upcoming branch of the Source SDK Base 2013 Singleplayer installed in Steam and run at least once. (Properties – Betas – select upcoming from the dropdown list).
- Copy the Fractured Space, mapbase_shared, mapbase_hl2, and mapbase_episodic folders into your SourceMods folder.
- Restart or start Steam.
- Fractured Space should now be listed in your Library tab.
If you decide to use the Per-Map Opinion Images, feel free to use the file below as a template:
FracturedSpace-Review-Template.txt
Listed as they are displayed in the mod itself:
Taken on a Ride by King Sans or EA
White Mesa by BTheM
All is Wrong by Supertoaster
House of Chaos by 1UpD
ALT-LIFE by Alexandra ‘Maestra Fénix’ Bravo
Vlue Shift NOT Blue Shift by KSONST/EA
Artic Fight by bestgamer3
WARNING: The screenshots contain spoilers.
Each map has 5 screenshots. Thanks to ArctixSnowPup for providing the screenshots!
1600 x 900
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164Overall
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11Today
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115Last 7 days
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164Last 30 days
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164365 days
Using Gauge: Users
Manually: 2 Users
Time Taken:
Average: 1 Hours, 48 Mins
Shortest: 1 Hours, 35 Mins by Stef
Longest: 2 Hours by calembredaine
Total Time Played: 3 Hours, 35 Mins
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Perhaps the theme was a little bit complicated and too openwide for a theme. I didn’t feel that there was some guideline in this map lab but this is just my point of you
I was also surprise to find a Half-Life 1 oriented in the package
Playtime: 10 minutes
A double maze: first part with the hoovercraft second with the car and then a ‘choice’ after that you fall in a pit and that’s it.
Not really funny with basic design, not my cup of tea
Playtime: 22 minutes
more a sort of concept map with some originality, it wasn’t for myself so enjoyable to play through, not really knowing what to do and if there was a way to progress.
At least there were some good visual
Playtime: 10 minutes
A good looking and designed map with a scary ambiance and a interesting ending definitly too short but worth to play trough
Playtime: 10 minutes
We are back to Ravenholm with father Gregory a really well balance map that could perhaps add some zombie combats at start if you go to the right, general design is good but
some area could have been a little bit bigger to increase combat challenge, it’s a little bit short but well worth the gaming experience
Playtime: 17 minutes
this one is half-life 1 oriented the experience was quite promising at start but after fell a little bit trough it’s boxy and repetitive design the end arena add a little bit of challenge the ‘new’ enemies could have been more challenging to fight and at the same time there was something new with a good backgournd voice that increase the general experience and a suprise g-women ending
Playtime: 20 minutes
This was more conceptual in a 2D way and lots of interaction.
Sadly for myself I found it a little complicated to move in the right direction and also to understand if I did everything needed and especially visit all area.
Regarding through the originality of the map and concept and the objective to achive it’s worth to give it a try
Playtime: 5 minutes
could have been an interesing one in a snow environment but a lack to polished design (you can got easily trap in this map) and a relatively short and uninteresting gameplay make it a dispaointing one
This map lab felt a little bit short in term of enjoyment and interesting release on the other side it didn’t take that much time to play and a hade sometime good surprise and gameplay
Manually
Medium
1 Hour, 35 Minutes
I mostly agree with Stef’s opinions and comments on 4 of the 7 – Taken for a Ride, ALT-Life, Vlu Shift and Artic Fight. The other 3:
White Mesa; Its Good:
I really enjoyed this one after a number of quicksave restarts and adjusting my mind to figure out what’s going on! Then gameplay was enjoyable and a reasonable length for a Map Labs map. I rated it 8/10
All is Wrong; Its Great:
Very enjoyable gameplay and visuals. I rated it 9/10
House of Chaos; Its Great:
Really well done, this to me was Ravenholm revisited and the same quality as the original. I always like maps with Father Gregori in it and talking anyway. Rating 9/10
Note half of the entries have fairly crude or weird looks. If you want to play decent half-life levels, limit yourself to All is Wrong, House of Chaos and ALT-LIFE.
Difficulty-wise: maps are all fairly easy if you’re an experienced players. Focus was clearly on the theme, not to give players a particularly hard time.
You are dropped in some kind of flooded bunker looking place. Whole map is mostly navigation, a tiny bit of combat, and some odd twist if you could call it that.
A wacky, otherwordly take on the Black Mesa complex. A fever dream type of map, I’d say.
Mostly navigation, some (intentionally) dumb but still simple puzzles for humor’s sake, and about a third dedicated to platforming. You can fight, though you have to really go out of your way.
Progression is cryptic. Try to explore the complex, especially before entering portals.
If you can’t reach a platform, boost yourself with a houndeye shockwave. If you fear for your health, there is a 200% HEV charger in the complex, accessed by going through a vent.
Probably my favourite of the bunch. You wake up in the aftermath of a disastrous battle and (I guess) try to look for survivors.
It looks very good at least by my standards, though this is helped by the fact it reuses chunks of campaign maps. Map bounds at the start are also a little shabby, with invisible walls visually justified by rather low obstacles compared to what the player can jump over.
Features a good amount of combat. It’s done well enough. Only fault i found is spawned manhacks stuck in the hole they were supposed to come out of. Just a small oops. As for navigation, it goes smoothly.
This is a retake on Ravenholm.
Visually well made, with campaign maps being reused and mixed with new sections like in No.3.
Got some generous action. You are given plenty of weapons, hazardous props, traps and bad guys. I hardly used traps because there was only one good opportunity to use one of them. The last trap especially had an inconvenient placement; I reached it when everyone was already dead, and you’d really need to rush for it to give it a proper try.
Arenas are separated with pretty natural looking barriers from a map design standpoint. However I do wonder if shutter doors couldn’t be less time consuming to open. After years of HL2, I still really don’t see the appeal of holding the use key for 30 seconds especially after a fight.
A very condensed retake of HL1, emulating the menu, loadings, etc.
Visually good for a map using HL1 assets (note it reuses HLDM maps).
Enemies are also ported well enough to be functional. They’re however not very threatening. You could largely beat most of the map solely with the crowbar and proper use of movement keys.
The map segments go alright, but combat -your main activity as a player in this map- is very repetitive in each one of them. Segment#2 lacked variation so while you don’t technically do the same fight all over the map, it still feels samey; segment#3 just made me run circles for a minute or two; segment#4 was about doing the same maneuver until I dealt enough damage.
A fever dream type of map. Well, it’s literally set in a dream amusement park actually.
Simple if not crude visuals, but since character controls are changed, I did not notice it all that much.
Speaking of character controls, I don’t see the benefit at all as a player. The movement is basically “press forward to do 3 steps north, left to do three steps west, etc.”, thus you’re just tapping a key repeatedly whenever you do a straight line. Then, the camera rotates with your orientation, whereas the key are bound to absolute directions, which can be confusing. It can also lack precision, to the point you can struggle to access a door. Honestly I’d keep vanilla controls any day, thank you.
Anyway, your goal is to gain points by interacting with stuff in the amusement park. There is some strange minigame about crates which the mapper needed to tell us like 3 times that they borrowed from someone else. Rest I have interacted with is fairly simple: press a key to gain points, apparently by taking a picture.
A very short firefight in the arctic. Or should I say artic?
Visually crude. The ground is a pretty spiky and messy mesh, with even texture triangles floating. I did not get myself stuck but I guess I could have. Half of the combine barrage was also devoid of ground to hold onto. Other than that, it does look like you are approaching a port in the arctic.
Gameplay is a single fight against a squad of soldier. You can quickly take most of them down with a crossbow, but some will have to be murdered close and personal style, because you spawn with an SMG and the AR2s to pick up are close to the squad. Nothing impossible but nothing stellar. Then you meet some rebels and hold forward to a rusty boat, ending the level.
Manually
Hard
2 Hours