TWHL Community Project Created 12 years ago2012-04-25 23:43:07 UTC by Tetsu0

Striker mentioned in another thread, that we should all collaborate on a giant community project. I think this is an incredible idea.
So How about we start brainstorming a bit?
And by using the awesome power of dropbox and google documents and other free could-based organizational tools, we can pull it off.

So i think one this is for certain, this will be a source-based endeavor. Lets face it, Goldsource is old. We all love it, we all learned on it, but even source is considered dated technology now and we can't keep ourselves so far in the past.

We have some incredibly talented people here and i KNOW that if we can keep this organized, and don't lose sight of the project scope, we can pop out a good mod/game in under a year.

I'm a project manager at work so i know some management tools and project-outlining techniques that keep stuff on track, on scope, and on time.

So without further ado, let's brainstorm.

Well, Urby brought up the point that if there's anything we could all agree on, it would be a HL Universe based mod.

I would personally prefer if it was made with the SDK base stuff, because if we were to base it off Ep2, I wouldn't be able to play the finished product, or test stuff without a bunch of checkerboards or red errors flying around. But that's just me and my lack of bandwidth.

I also think that if we do end up doing a HL Universe mod, we should keep the hell away from City 17, because practically every HL2/Ep1/Ep2 mod takes place there. I realize the content available makes it easier than, say, London, for instance, but City 17 and the surrounding area (Eastern Europe) has been done to death. I think it would be better to pick another city elsewhere in the world to blow up and occupy with combine forces.

I always wanted to do something along the lines of an RPG
You still have your weapons, but as you use them more you become more proficient with them. - Accuracy improves, reload time decreases, damage increases slightly etc etc.

I also think something withn the HL universe is a fantastic idea.
Has anyone done anything with the 7hour war?

Whatever you guise decide to do i'm in =)

I'll be working on my own projects, but i'm sure i'll have more than enough time left over to still contribute.

good call on the edit capt, even though i share the same thoughts.
i know everyone has their own projects, which is why this is just a brainstorming session.
getting ideas out there until we collectively agree on a path to take.
once we know which direction we want to go, we can start with a basic story, gameplay ideas etc etc

idk what happened there :-/

How about the story takes place during the 7 hour war? It can show regular society and then put the player in an area where he is helpless and has to be carefull else the combine will surely kill him.

I highly suggest you do something that doesnt require coding. HL themed mod with this community should be easy if you can build your story around exsisting entities and code.

Walk then run.

Couple of mods have done the 7 hour war, but never well. There's one in development that I keep seeing media of on 'Lopers which looks awesome, though, so it's a fairly saturated market. Imo, If it's going to be set in the HL universe, it needs to be drastically different from other Source games.

How about a 'POV' mod. For example the perspective of a metrocop (still human, therefore a good opportunity to have moral decisions, alternate endings). Or we could go for a direct follow-up to HL: POV and do it from the perspective of a Vort in HL2. Friends with the humans. Just playing a citizen has been done a million times.

"the awesome power of dropbox"
no. It'd have to be a SVN networked folder. Automatic updates and version numbering > manual download. You can also give users permissions so that mappers couldn't, for example, fuck with the DLLs.
Here's what an SVN folder looks like for those of you who haven't worked with one. You can immediately see the advantages:

Dropbox does automatically download files and keeps tracks of versions. It even allows you to download previous versions.

Well then.

I'll go stand in the corner.
Although you can revert to any previous versions with Tortoise SVN as well.

I'd still suggest SVN as it is a purpose built tool for version control. Bonus points for code files and VMFs which are plain text files and you get line-by-line diffs. I'd be able to offer you guys an SVN repo if you'd like.

I would go SVN too, partly because I'm used to it, partly because update logs can be useful to see who has done what, when and why. They can also be abused for lulz. (See Archie's image)

As for the project, fuck yeah! Source project for sure, and definitely set in the HL universe to avoid to much coding. That's not to say we couldn't have coding if the need arose. A POV sequel would be very cool, and definitely hasn't been done before.

The thing is, USS Darkstar was a classic GoldSource mod with no coding or custom skins or anything. All they had were a few new sounds and the maps, and they managed to pull of an environment and story as far removed from Black Mesa as you can get (without coding and custom models :P)

What could I bring to the project

My crappy maps. I'm not a great Source mapper, but this project could help me improve my skills with you guys being able to edit my maps and give feedback and advice.

My crappy models. I'm learning Blender, having completed a couple of models now, but again, a long way off professional so this would be a learning project.

My manly voice. Got a Blue Microphones Snowball which is decent enough quality for voice acting.

My handsome face. I'm not afraid to get it out there. Video updates and interviews are kinda my thing.

The first thing we really need is to decide on setting; Where and when in relation to the storyline. We do have a 20 year period where nothing much happens in the official canon, so it's basically a blank slate. We just couldn't have the player win too big. Maybe kill a bunch of combine and get away with their life.
POV as a metrocop could work, and it would allow for some form of armor as well. Replace the crowbar with a functioning stunstick, (Electricity included, maybe a "stun" effect that respawns human-sized NPCs after a while when you're in the same VIS area, but that's definitely optional) remesh and reskin the arms somewhat, and get rid of the HEV voice, and that's really all we'd need to sell it.
Perhaps the player is fed up with working under combine rule, and wants to sneak out of the city, where they happen upon some kind of rebel stronghold/shantytown out in the desert/woods/ruins. Again, we need to decide on the setting.

What of we do blueshift 2?
Or Barney's story on how he made it into the combine?
Sort of a POV as well..

I do agree with don, we should either NOT code anything, or do it sparingly. The source source code is a pain in the ass

i am in
so when we are starting?

lets set up queue

A POV sequel would be very cool, and definitely hasn't been done before.

It has been done before, but on GoldSrc. Imo POV mods have been exploited a lot and it's not an interesting premise anymore. We need to be more original, and try to exploit later parts of the HL2 story. One option would be to expand the EP2 story somehow, or possibly make a continuation of it- of course we don't have to map the Borealis, something along the way could happen and change the entire course of the story.

lets set up queue

This is going to be more sensible than the simple queue we used on the CSS map. We'd actually need a "virtual office", if I can call it so. This basically implies software for easy file access, easy discussion, brainstorming and mod development. SVN has been proposed, and it's a good idea. It's as easy as dropbox right? I mean, just drop&drag files in the folder and it will automatically updated on the other end right? I propose that everybody makes a folder of his own, that anybody can access, and then we have a general folder for resources and the mod.

Anyway, a major problem is that some members won't be able to be as active as others. I myself won't be able to effectively participate until August, when I'm finished with my exams and I'll have 2 months of holidays. Until then I can only have a couple of looks and probably help a bit, but just a bit.

[EDIT] We also need a special way of keeping track of the story, plans and details of the mod.

We don't have to rush this.

Striker: SVN just plugs into your Windows Explorer. You work with your files as per normal, and when you're done, you right click the folder and click "commit", which uploads all your changes. Then before you start work next, you right click and select "update" to get any changes that people have made.

@Striker: We use it when we're working on The Core and so far it has proved invaluable. Such a simple process too. Just right click the folder, hit commit, and any file that differs from the one in the repo, get's uploaded.

Plus the roll-back capability and the fact that everyone has a username. So, should someone mess up your work, you can restore it to how you left it, find out who broke it, then kill them to death.

Never learned to map for Source, but I could help out with code if need be.

I suck at Source, but just like Urby, it would be great to map something and get mad skillz in the process.

Not much source skills here too, but you got to start somewhere ?

With regards to setting, why not just leave eastern europe? iirc, CSS content is available to anyone with the source SDK right? You could go right off the grid and show the effects of the combine rule in places like Hawaii or Africa, even Japan. If you have access to Google Maps, the street view opens up an unlimited supply of reference material for architecture and textures. The same enemies with new skins could work.

I don't think CSS content is available to anyone without CSS, (I don't have it installed anywhere, anyway, and I don't see why I wouldn't if I could. Maybe its availability is a more recent update) but it's not like we lack talented/skilled texture artists here that could contribute new environment textures.

I'm liking the setting suggestions so far. It's making it a bit difficult to choose which country to head for, though.

I don't think I'd be able to juggle learning Source and helping out with this amongst Uni, work and such.

That said, I would like to help. Just might be difficult finding me a job I can do.

i would be like "heck yeah! im in the community, i want to join in bro!" but ive never played HL2, let alone done any word with source.....

for me, Goldsource is more oldschool and more cool (im only saying that because ive never worked with source)

I'm in no way a professional with Source. Hell, I've been mapping with GoldSource for 12 years or so now and I still mess up with that from time to time. While I am more comfortable with it, even I know that it's time to move on.

Archie has been moaning like a little bitch about using GoldSource for The Core. However, I'm now starting to agree with what he's saying. We really need to get it finished.

A thought occurred to me. If we do end up going with a CP as a player character, the mod should start with a full-scale raid. Pistol loaded, safety off.
Anyone have any clue what the inside of a combine APC would look like?

What about a game similar to SWAT 4?

If we could get some code or scripting, we could have the cop get people to the floor, cuff them, radio it in...

You gotta remember we have to find a way to attach plot to whatever we come up with.

How about we lay out the gameplay like this:

Minor training to show how missions will be like
Have several different missions, some of them different from the main line of quests. You can have the missions by being released by dispatch and then put back to sleep until your next mission.
Edit the code so that when you collect a weapon, you can't use it. So, basically, you'll be picking up evidence.

I have a good voice actor who can do the dispatch.
Here's a sample.

Here's a sample.

No.

Also, I thought we had already agreed not to have too much coding work? Though I must admit I do like the idea of a tactical mod, playing as the commander of a metrocop unit. Has some great potential for character development too, like you see in the Brothers in Arms games. That would be a fairly big project with lots of voice acting needed though.

Actually, now that I think about it, does anybody outside of Valve actually know how to make the metrocop vocoder effect? If we do any CP mod, that would probably be used at least a bit.

I'm sure a sound engineer would be able to produce the same effect, or at least a reasonable imitation.

Or... this

Alright, I'll experiment with that later. Thanks for the link.
EDIT: No dice. Doesn't sound like CPs or Combine Soldiers at all. Barely sounds like radio, for that matter.
EDIT: Some further searching re-reveals the rumor/fact that it was actually done with a set of walkie-talkies, one reciving one of which was in a wooden box. The dimensions seem to be unknown.