What The Headcrab: Episode 003

7th November 2015

Howdy All. Here we are with another quick “What The Headcrab” episode. I have a feeling it’s been pretty quite recently, maybe everybody is playing games, instead of making mods etc.

If you don’t know what this podcast is about, please read the What The Headcrab: Introduction.

Below is the podcast, along with the links to each topic mentioned, along with my very brief notes.

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PP’s Pick of the Episode

Last episode I had a Top News and decided I would start a PotE: Pronounced “potie”. Each episode I will pick the thing that interested me most. You will disagree, but I don’t give a headcrab’s arse. Post yours in the comments if you dare. The details will be duplicated in the relevant section and the header image will be related to the PotE.

Abandon: The Town
First I have heard of this and I am interested. Let me tell you why. “A challenging mod attempting to do some things a little differently with enemy and weapon design.” I like this. Not because I want new things with enemies or weapons, but because the modder has a clear and realistic objective. I was a little disappointed that he is going with episodes, I thought that train had left the station. I understand why people do it but as a concept I don’t feel it works. Ideally, the work would be almost finished and then the author could say I am releasing Episode 1 next week and then episode 2 and 3 a few months after that. Such a long gap between episodes is not good for anybody. That said, I really do understand why modders do things that way. Phew – rant over. There is a demo (that should be beta really) available, but I’ll be waiting for the final release in December.

ModDB

So, what’s been happening on ModDB? Let’s find out.

  • Legend of Gordon: Map update
    I had never heard of this mod before but it looks interesting. I am a bit wary of the phrase ” I hope it will create a breath of fresh air for the FPS genre” but let’s hope he is right. Screenshots look good. I’ll keep an eye on this.
  • Blue Shift Source: Media Release 7
    It seems that no WTH is complete without something from Aulov Nikolay. This time it’s a Blue Shift media release. Okay, I have to admit, I haven’t read it. You can if this sort of stuff interests you. The link has media release 7 but the page title says 4. Make of that what you will.
  • They Hunger Again: Fresh News
    I’m curious how fans of They Hunger feel about this. Anyway, it’s got an update showing models. It’s also been rash and posted a release date of Feb/Mar 2016. I have no idea why people do this. Okay, I do, to set themselves an objective but in modding it always seems to backfire. Bonus question: Who can name a mod that announced a released date of more than 4 months in the future that stuck to it? Free pizza at my house for anybody who gives a correct answer.
  • Abandon: The Town
    First I have heard of this and I am interested. Let me tell you why. “A challenging mod attempting to do some things a little differently with enemy and weapon design.” I like this. Not because I want new things with enemies or weapons, but because the modder has a clear and realistic objective. I was a little disappointed that he is going with episodes, I thought that train had left the station. I understand why people do it but as a concept I don’t feel it works. Ideally, the work would be almost finished and then the author could say I am releasing Episode 1 next week and then episode 2 and 3 a few months after that. Such a long gap between episodes is not good for anybody. That said, I really do understand why modders do things that way. Phew – rant over. There is a demo (that should be beta really) available, but I’ll be waiting for the final release in December.
  • BM: Hazard Course Update
    I can’t say much about thgis, as I haven’t even started BM yet. They are getting close to their 2015 deadline, so fingers crossed. Check the link if you want to find out about Bananas and Numb Nuts. No, that’s not a typo.
  • Combine Prelude is looking for Level Designers.
    Must be hard to find people. Your mod will have to really stand out from the others. I know that if I were a modder, I would prefer to work on my own stuff. But good luck to them anyway. Give them a shout if you are looking to help.
  • Half-Rats: A Fever Dream has been released.
    I mentioned this in the previous WTH epsiode and it’s now available for download. I’ll be adding it to the site this week. I’m looking forward to playing it.
  • Nightmare House 2015 is out.
    Check the ModDB page for a full list of updates but runs on Source 2103, it’s got new weapons and new models, textures and sounds.
    Below is William’s (from Podcast17) playthrough.

There we go, that’s ModDB and a fine bunch of bananas it was. Talking of bananas…

GameBanana

Nothing new on GB this episode, at least not SP related. There are a few DM maps and stuff so check those out if youa re into that.

  • BooberVille!?
    WAIT! WHAT? BooberVille. No, just a DM map with, er.. billboards of hot girls in bikinis. BikiniVille anybody?
Reddit

This is what caught my eye this time around. Oh, and we had another one of those “What’s that strange music” – left the CD in the tray posts, which I am NOT linking to.

That’s it from Reddit. Seems to be quite a few crappy fan art posts this month.

YouTube

Is it me or are there more non-english videos being released/made? I haven’t watched all of those because not understanding what’s being said is not much fun. Anyway, here is what I found.

  • PixcelTwitch palys Uncertainty Principle
    Check out PixelTwitch’s YT channel for more of his popular videos.
  • Action Points: By Design – Half-Life 2
    Sixteen minutes of analysis of the basic design concepts used in the game. Disclaimer, I haven’t watched it all. These types of videos are great, but I just don’t have time to watch them all.
  • HALF-LIFE 2 VS FALLOUT 4 : A Comparison Video
    90 seconds of visual comparison. Mentions the price too.
  • Half-Life 3 Cutting Block
    I can’t believe I watched almost all of this. That said, I do find woodwork videos quite interesting. ANy wood workers here? No, I am not making a sexual innuendo!)
  • Synths: The Combine Terror [Part 2] – ValveTime Database: Episode 11
    Another fantastic video from ValveTime. Go watch it.
  • Did I miss any good ones?

    Misc

    Here are a few things I found elsewhere.

    • Lambda Generation: Portal Board game
      Lambda Generation streamed a live playthrough of a few people playing the new Portal board game. I haven’t played a board game in years. You need friends for that. Sobs.
    • Steam Grid Images
      Looking for some new images for Steam grid? Try here. Plenty available and some good ones too.
    Final Thoughts

    Another one bites the dust, but not de_dust. Hope it was useful, if not too late now.

    Please feel free to send links and items for the next podcast and also to comment on what you would like to see more or less of.

    Remember, finishing Half-Life is just the beginning! CYA.

    9 Comments

    1. From what I played of it, Half-Rats is pretty good. The main character is very talkative, however.

    2. AI

      FYI , there is a person on Mod DB who goes by the name of “malortie” who has been doing fixes for mods that Steam broke!! I’ve tried a few and they all work fine! Take a look

      1. Strangely enough I used one of his patches yesterday.

    3. Zekiran

      Looked at the moddb entry for “Abandon” … and on reading “quicksaving is not allowed” that’s gonna exclude a lot of people including myself from ever bothering with it. Might be the prettiest mod under the sun but if I lack the control that every PC game should have, not gonna go there. Darn shame. A bad decision in my mind.

      1. I know what you mean, but I respect his objective. The problem is for players like you and me, this is a terrible choice, but for many others they seem to enjoy the challenge.

      2. Depends on the style he’s going for. Left 4 Dead has no quicksave either and that’s a fundamental aspect of the game – to raise the stakes for survival. He doesn’t say there’s no autosaving. As long as the mod checkpoints with reasonable frequency, I don’t really see the problem.

        I disagree if it’s a heavy-handed “You gotta play this battle exactly as I planned it” rationale, though.

    4. AI

      I just finished listening to your podcast, and I think you have a good speaking voice (and quite funny with comments) Have you considered combining video with it?? I already know what ya look like(from and old Skype conversation) I think good expressive videos would add a lot ! 😉

      1. Thank you. Yes, I have considered video and you are not the first to ask, but it adds another layer of complexity. With the voice, if something goes wrong I can just re-record it. With video, I could re-record it, but I would have to be looking at the pages in question and scrolling etc. I don’t think a full screen video of me would be entertaining enough. By having a podcast people can listen where ever they are. Again, I could release both but that’s just more time taken up processing.

    5. It’s great that NH2 is now fixed. Just played it again – it is still a classic!

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