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Juice sits down with Denzil of the Black Mesa: Source team and over a coffee discusses the finer points of life. Of course, after this activity became boring and Denzil was wondering just why he came, Juice proceeded to actually ask some questions relating to the mod.
HL Fallout's Juice: First off, I'd like to thank you for taking the time to answer our questions. As we know, Black Mesa: Source is a complete redo of HL1 on the Source engine. What do you think mainly separates your modification from Half-Life: Source?
Denzil: Our modification is made different from Half-Life: Source in respect that we will be recreating all textures, models, levels et cetera that are found in the original. Obviously it will be similar in the fact that our materials will closely resemble and hopefully remind the player of the original game.
HL Fallout: Voice acting was particularly important during Half-Life 1 to give the characters a sense of identity. Have you decided on how to approach this matter, and do you plan to contact the original voice actors about it, or record your own?
Denzil: A few months back we contacted the voice actor behind Barney, G Man and numerous other Half-Life characters and he showed interested in helping out, we have however, not been in contact since as the need for voice recordings is still a low priority for us at the present time.
HL Fallout: It has been confirmed that the manipulator will not be present in Black Mesa: Source. This would have undoubtedly been an annoying decision to take, and with the absence of the gun, will any physics puzzles feature rather than "Shoot the barrels and make a ledge fall"?
Denzil: Correct, we will not be implementing the manipulator in to Black Mesa: Sources main game play, however I'm sure someone will make a mod to make this otherwise.
We are still looking into the designs of puzzles for the modification, we don't want them to be boring or, as you say "woo another barrel I need to roll in to that machinery", so we really need to play around with our ideas and test them to make sure the player actually enjoys them.
HL Fallout: Speaking of barrels, no good game or mod is complete without them. I trust you have your own dedicated barrel-modeller?
Denzil: Oh but of course, our crack team of barrel designers and engineers work around the clock with our R&D department to really bring those tin cans to life. *cough*
HL Fallout: A recent interview with Australian magazine PC PowerPlay has cited Orcone as saying, "Half our fans want new weapons, rooms and features... while the other half wants everything to remain the same." How have you dealt with this issue, and have you reached a compromise that can please the majority of users?
Denzil: Obviously we cannot please everyone, but we set out on this project to recreate Half-Life, not rebuild it as we saw fit. Therefore we have made several pretty large decisions on characters, weaponry and dialogue so as to keep true to the original whilst using the Source engine to the max.
HL Fallout: Are you planning on using the original sound tracks included with HL1, or will you be remaking the old ones or creating new ones? How often can we expect to have background ambiance present in Black Mesa: Source?
Denzil: Half-Life 2's .GCF files contain high quality versions of the Half-Life soundtrack files. We have a great sound artist who is creating some of our own tracks for the BM:S soundtrack, we will hopefully have some samples out soon so fans can see how well they fit the Half-Life theme.
Ambient sound and music is always key for giving games a feeling of realism and suspense, so we will be using a fair bit throughout. However in a game like Half-Life, you really do need to vary your ambient sounds and use silence where needed.
HL Fallout: In Half-Life 1, many players derived enjoyment out of killing as many scientists/guards as they could see. Will you be able to do this in Black Mesa: Source, or will it take on a HL2-approach and have you lower your gun to allies?
Denzil: We do not encourage players to get trigger happy when in the company of the scientist team, but there are always those who will. Anyway, we haven't really looked in to this yet, it will be something that is decided later in the testing stages I'm guessing.
HL Fallout: Sprinting was an addition to HL2 and HL2DM that was not featured in its originals. Will this be an addition to Black Mesa: Source, or will we be sticking to walking and running? How will you be dealing with AUX power?
Denzil: Again we have not discussed this fully, but it is quite likely we will not include the additional features of the upgraded HEV suit from Half-Life 2 to our modification. AUX power will be dealt with as in the original game.
HL Fallout: Moving on to one of the most important areas of a mod: mapping. Judging from your released screenshots your mappers have been doing an excellent job. How do your mappers feel about using the Source engine, and have there been any technical limitations encountered, or has it all been smooth sailing?
Denzil: We've hit a few snags here and there, you generally do when you are trying to closely recreate material. Our mappers have found it pretty exciting I think, hard work of course as you cannot be completely creative but it's fun to see the levels take shape and compare them to their Half-Life counterparts.
HL Fallout: On the subject of maps, will we experience any major differences between Black Mesa: Source and HL1, and if there are changes, how do you feel this will affect the game play?
Denzil: Major differences... not that I can think of, we are expanding the environments to make the facility and outdoor areas feel more realistic and used, but we do not want to deviate the levels too much. For example we will be creating run off rooms adjacent to the main path you take through the facility, many will be just for show to make it feel more like a working environment, whereas some will be there with some nice eye candy or ammo et cetera.
HL Fallout: How has the world of Xen been interpreted by your mappers and sound designers, and has it provided any new challenges or obstacles to overcome?
Denzil: We always knew Xen would be a tough one to do, it's pretty plain in terms of architecture and really doesn't show much when compared to what can be achieved on today's game engines. As of current, we have not really looked in to Xen too much, we have been concentrating on the others areas before we all come together to work on the Xen chapters.
HL Fallout: With SiN2 being released via Steam, we can see an entire new distribution process opening up for developers. What are your thoughts on this matter, and will you be speaking to Valve about the possibility of having Black Mesa: Source distributed via Steam?
Denzil: Releasing through Steam would be great for us, it would be a highly accessible, high speed source for getting our mod. We will contact VALVe in the future about this, as they said modifications may be able to be downloaded via Steam in the near future, and we will see what happens from there.
HL Fallout: The multiplayer element of Black Mesa: Source certainly looks promising. How have you tackled the contrast between the main Single Player element and the Multiplayer aspect, particularly in the area of level design?
Denzil: We are not working too much on the multiplayer side of the modification right now, we are really concentrating on the high priority single player side. In terms of levels, the single player ones will show off a different range of architecture and settings, whereas the multiplayer ones will be straight recreations of the HLDM levels, made to be fun first.
HL Fallout: While co-operative play will be featured in Black Mesa: Source, have you reached any resolve as to whether it will be featured within the mod or released as a map pack to Sven?
Denzil: We will more than likely be creating our own cooperative mode for Black Mesa: Source. A map pack may be released for Sven Coop 2 once we are fully happy with our work and know that there is a need to release a map pack.
HL Fallout: Finally, is there anything else you would like to share?
Denzil: PC Gamer UK readers will find a full page article on our modification in the August edition, hopefully this will be printed in the States and other PC Gamer published countries.
HL Fallout: I'd like to thank you for your time spent answering these questions. Good luck with the mod!
Denzil: Thanks for having us!
You can join Black Mesa: Source's IRC channel at #bms on irc.gamesurge.net. As well, you can find out more about Black Mesa: Source, view the media, or join the forums all through the portal at their website http://www.blackmesasource.com. Make sure to check it out if you aren't drooling already!
Last edited by Detomah; 08-08-2005 at 15:33..
Reason: Included the actual source interview.
Interview with Black Mesa:Source Team.
Re: Interview with Black Mesa:Source Team.
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