Every once in a while I see or hear something that reminds me of the various maps or mods I've worked on over the years that never saw the light of day. (Like The Core, amirite? Boom! Self burn.)

Ahem, anyway, I recently thoughts of a couple more and looked up the original thread which is now FOUR YEARS OLD! WHAT!? So, I've started this new one.

Unnamed Cryostasis mod

Premise
Way back when I first joined TWHL (Yes, I've been post diving) I started working on a map pack where the player started off in a cryo pod. After breaking out of the chamber, it was made apparent that the facility you were in was long abandoned and in complete disarray. The player would be guided by an AI via text messages on screen, similar to what was seen in Someplace Else (Though I am sure this was before that came out and I actually drew inspiration from a TWHL Mix map by then user "Hazardous!") The player would be tasked with taking data discs to different sections of the complex and restoring them to working order.

Progress
According to my old posts, I made a number of areas and took screenshots back in 2004 (which are long gone from the internet now), but the map I have in my head from back then was not particularly good. I remember I had the first few story points covered in the titles.txt file and the player could get as far as picking up the first data disc.

What happened?
I don't recall the reasoning, but I suspect I lost interest after realising that my attempts at mapping were very poor compared to the maps that inspired me. It would be of the many times in the past that I have been disheartened by a quality map or mod, rather than inspired.

Neonite City

Premise
Neonite City was inspired by Midgar in Final Fantasy VII. The player was to take on the role of a security officer in the upper level of the city. This level was for upper class citizens, all high rise buildings, fountains and clear skies. The lower levels of the city were populated by the underclass, lowlifes and criminals coexisting with animals mutated by pollution. During a routine security drill, an organised group from the lower level was to attack the upper city, resulting in the player dropping into the squalid and darkened depths below.

Progress
I recall having a lot of the lore planned out for this universe, though it was terribly written. I had also busied myself with making new skins for a lot of the default Half-Life models. One that sticks in my mind was an android reskin for Barney, pale skinned and exposed wiring around his blackened eyes. When it comes to maps, I think I made one, literally a tram station leading to a corridor.

What happened?
Attempting to make the upper city look anything like what was in my head with Half-Life's resources was impossible. This completely crippled my motivation to work on it any longer. Nowadays I would be fine, with far more experience with mapping as well as texture creation, but the lore was so terrible looking back that I don't even know why I was so excited about it.

Let's hear yours. Would be interesting to see if anyone who posted in the last thread has had any mods fall apart, or even succeed since then.

Half-Counter mod
Premise
Story wise: G-Man ordered Gordon Freeman to erase all traces from the Black Mesa Incident that could link back the Resonance Cascade to him. You were supposed to play the first chapter with him. At the end of that chapter, you would learn that the U.S. Marines called the rest of the world for assistance with the incident, you were supposed to play the second chapter as a GIGN agent and it goes Half-Life: Opposing Force again. Final chapter would be Gordon Freeman dealing with a boss and the ending would open to a potential sequel.

Gameplay wise: the mod was supposed to be a "CS/HL" hybrid. As Gordon Freeman, you would keep the HEV suit and the standard HL weaponry as well as some from Opposing Force. As the GIGN agent, it would be more like CS where it would get "tactical".

Technology wise: I decided to use the Half-Life: REBIRTH's source code for it's various improvements.

Progress
Took the existing Half-Life: REBIRTH source code and made minor changes, I made a single not completed map which was basically a 2048x2048x2048 outside area with a lot of polygons to simulate highly detailed terrain. I remember that I also tried to model the terrain in Hammer 4 (Source) with displacements, export to models with Propper and use "env_model".

What happened?
I basically pulled the plug when I realized that I needed more experience within HL's engine before diving in a serious project like that. School and real lives were not on my side at that time too. I also realized that I was asking too much from the engine.

Revenge of Love mod

I don't consider this project "dead" yet since I might "revive" this some day, probably on GoldSrc or another engine. But since I haven't actually touched that project for years, I think it can be discussed here.

Premise
Story wise: not gonna spoil the entire story for the reason I stated above. You would play as a french student that nobody care about him due to his taste for metal music, not going to parties, not having friends... Nobody except a childhood friend that has always been there for him. One day, he confess his love for his childhood friend and he finally found something/someone to live for. But in a sudden, the school would get attacked for an unknown reason and the police stated that only one student survived and only one is missing: his childhood friend. Since he "had nothing to lose", he went to make his own investigation.

Gameplay wise: the mod is supposed to be an old school Quake/Painkiller/Unreal shooter with some features from modern shooters.

Technology wise: prototype was made in GitHub SDK then switched to Xash3D until Arrangement was complete so I could switch back there (again for the tech. improvements).

Progress
Had the weapons done (assets were placeholders tho) and basic gameplay mechanics like sprinting, "rage mode" (temporary damage multiplier). Had the basic layout of the school done as well.

What happened?
Same reasons as Half-Counter but also for another obvious reason that you might have guessed while reading the story. I know talking politics in TWHL is against it's rules but allow me a small exception for a small moment. If you read correctly the story above, you might have noticed the sentence "school would get attacked". As you might know already, "school" and "violence" (especially with weapons) is a VERY sensible subject in our world (especially in the U.S.). I never planned to showcase any "shooting inside school" scene but the simple fact of talking about it in a video game is enough to sparkle attention. So if I pick up the project again, I will likely remove that part from the script and I will have to tackle this from another angle.

ROWEN

I have started two maps for this mod the very year I stopped to working on my other mod, zwc. The game puts you in the skin of a armored vehicle driver who finds himself (or herself) alone after all his-her team mates dissapear after the attack an unknown forces. The first map start in adestroyed bridge, no scape psssible but going forward, neither jumping, there´s fog (I mimmick that with func_ilusionaries before searching the right tutorial to make it with code) adn unknown sounds, like in "hte mist" story of Stephen King, you must then enter a tunnel which entrance is protected by a huge pair of blast doors that seemed to be destrouyed from the inside. You find an audio log telling that the survivors escaped through what seems a underground base to reach a automated train and so escape from the mountain on which the base is dig in.

I did a very basic coding there. Halo switchnig for weapons (sometime that make crash the mod), and the monsters, that should have had the ability of walwing in walls and ceilings, but I was not able to figure out how to do it (I make them fly sometimes instead of walk upside down!!). Also I made some weapons (flat black skin) that were insanely cool, overall the Kaulos SMG and the Gorad pistol.

I finally deleted all the data because I don´t feel myself able to finish what I wanted, and because ZWC was still unfinished, and thought about finishing one mod and then start another new mod. It will have had multiplay, cooperative vs monsters.

"Aileen Phelan Journey"

Year 2008. The grandaughter of Andrew Phelan ( "the trail of Cthulhu" was the origin of this mod) must discover and kill all that´s between her nad her girlfriend, kidnapped by cultist that wanted to summon Cthulhu again after the destruction of the bñack isle in 1941.

All the mod was based on basic maps full of models, like ZWC. I have scripted (very badly) very strong scenes with lots of gore, violence and sex, models worked right, scenes look perfect, but sometimes they loop like crazy the same death animation or, well, another scenes, which ruined the athmosphere. It was dark, and the first map was one cave full of monsters of which Aileen mus scape. Aileen is an ex SEAL, kicked from the corps because her sexual tendencies (yes, I know this part of the story is quite cheap), and can use perfectly almost every known weapon.The major problem was coding hte spells that Aileen learn through the story and also the huge amount of models I have to do for the mod. Finally I erased all again because I finally find myself unable to script all the scenes and do all the models I wanted.Also I find that the maps did not look right in some areas because of the lighting, which left flat black some models. I know now how to solve this, but I am not in the mood of starting all from scratch.

300

Oh, man, this was as simple as to use some three wespons clone of the crowbar and lots of NPCs runnign like idiots. I tried to code the shield but with no luck, and only did the main character (Leonidas) and two persian troopers (one with a spear and other with a sword). The map was only one, but you can advance to close distances with the enemy until arriving to Xerxes and his "praetorians" (excuse me for this). Again, I stuck with the shield´s c ode and left all undone. I deleted all again.

Basically I left those mods undone because I am too lazy and too exigent with myself...

The mods I'm about to describe are actually the same mod, that actually got rewritten about 2 or 3 times between 2015 and 2017.

Admer: The Game

Premise

In late 2014, I had QBasic programming classes. Inspired, I decided to create a text adventure game with visuals. Inspired by Zork for the text adventure aspect, and Another World for the "another world" aspect, and the visuals. However, I was quite limited by QBasic and I would draw things line by line, manually, making animation super lengthy and tedious for myself. I only stuck to the textual component.
In 2015, I decided to convert my QBasic text game into a Half-Life single player map pack.
I made the first level and 13-year-old me wanted to do more. So, I wanted to do a total conversion.

Story:You wake up in a cave after getting knocked out by some bandits hours earlier. You get out of the cave, find an empty house with some things, pick those up, and try to find your way through the forest.

Progress

It was rapid at first. I made 3 maps within the first couple of months (albeit, very low quality maps).The maps were really all that was made for the mod. It had around 3 or 4 maps.

What happened?

It was solely based on my QB text adventure game. I got bored of it, and I wanted to make it more interesting.

Rewrite!

An unknown game

Premise

You were playing as Admer (not me, rather an Admer from a parallel universe who's way more capable than me). You somehow ended up on a different planet called LoG (Land of Gamers - will be explained soon) with no memory of what happened within the past 24 hours. You had to get out of the cave by blowing up the TNT and fighting your way through a zombie-infested forest with abandoned houses, until you reached the city. [sudden end of footage]

Progress

New HUD sprites were made, a main menu background was added as well as AVI startup videos. I was developing that on a pirated Half-Life copy, which still had the D3D renderer and could play AVIs, so definitely before the Steampipe update. Either way, it ran. Most importantly, programming!

What happened?

This wouldn't last too long, as I wasn't satisfied with the mod's goal again, so I rethought of it once more.

Rewrite!

An unknown game, revision 1

Premise

It was 2016 when this revision occurred.

Story: In the 80s, scientists discovered a portal to a parallel universe. In the 90s, a rich dude gathered a team of researchers, scientists, and life-sentenced prisoners to create something he always wanted: a way to change the appearance of his body so that he could look like a furry. Gotta explain the humanoids on LoG somehow!
In 2017, you travel to that universe because of education, and a brighter future. It was called Land of Gamers because, pretty much, most people who lived there were gamers. The cave and forest level actually then became a "game inside a game", basically, the player would enter a friend's apartment somewhen in the 3rd chapter, and he'd ask the player to test his VR game.

Tech: New entities were planned, and some gameplay tweaks.

Progress

Mapping skills improved, so I could deliver more interesting entity setups. New textures were also being added, as well as new sounds and voice acting.Finally, I had more success in coding and I could copy-paste things I wanted without errors. But still, not make my own code. xd

What ultimately happened?

The whole thing eventually fell apart, as I couldn't keep up with anything. I lost motivation completely, and I didn't want to continue. I was getting into making maps way more (and that's the skill that I've really developed the most, throughout those years - now I'm developing the rest to a similar level).
I'll quote what I originally said about that matter:

Like most of these Half-Life mods, this mod lacked a good coder. Back then, I understood none of the code, and I didn't know how to write my own code. I was a copy-paste coder. I only knew QBasic. Now I know some LUA, and I can code for Far Cry.
What's worse, I didn't know how to model. Now I do, but it's too late now. I had to make simple, low-poly models, but I didn't have the skill to model a simple rock. Now I can model cars, weapons, characters and many other things.
What's even more worse than that, is the fact that the mod actually had many characters in the story. Thus, a lot of voice actors would be required (voices for Barnes, George, Jody, random citizens, radio chatter etc.). And an awful lot of maps would be made (like, 40 of them).
Then, I simply stopped working, as I was getting deeper and deeper into CS mapping. 3 months ago, I transitioned completely to work with CryEngine 1.

I hope I will continue to work on this mod in the future, when I am capable of being a 1-man modding machine. This was simply too much work for 1 person.

But not any more. I've become just that, and I'm hoping to revive this.

It just definitely won't be the same. It'll be like a revision 2, except that's called 'Utopia at stake'.
I'm putting these here, because they're pretty much different than the mod I'm going to make. Admer: The Game was supposed to be an adventure, exploration, an expedition to an unknown planet gone wrong, with action. An unknown game would've initially been just like ATG except it'd be heavily story-based, so you'd get to know some characters. An unknown game, revision 1, would've been about saving the planet, and your love~

Bonus:

AUG: Quest for Burek (Far Cry)

Premise

2016. I wouldn't let the An unknown game franchise die so easily. I had to do something. So I decided to make a sequel for Far Cry. This time, the protagonist was one of Admer's friends from elementary school, and the year was 2023. Some terrorists came to Admer's and Roki's hometown and destroyed the local burek place.
Roki got mad, but he couldn't do a thing about it. Admer came in, speeding in his orange Zastava 750, listening to accordion mixes. They barely escaped the terrorist attack.
Throughout the mod, you'd visit LoG and come back to Earth occasionally, and you'd eventually learn about The Organisation, which is responsible for the civil war that Admer stopped, back in An unknown game/Utopia at stake. Eventually, you'd track down their leaders and kill them off one by one, and the boss would be the last.

From the technological aspect, I would've started using satellite mapping, and I planned to add entities that extend the functionality of Far Cry maps, even though it had quite a few entities by itself: ProximityTrigger, AreaTrigger, AITrigger, DelayTrigger etc.

The so-called AUGU (An unknown game universe) got most of its lore from this time period. I improved the story, added way more content to it, and laid the foundation for the whole plot. There is a blog on GB about it but, it's outdated.

Progress

This time, I had something I didn't have before. A plan. First, do the technical part, then the assets and to realise the concepts.
I stuck to it initially, and it worked. I coded some vehicles, weapons etc.

What happened?

Well, I couldn't stick to the plan and alas, my laptop was from 2007 so it wasn't really suited for CryEngine 1.
I lost motivation for that one too, since I started working on the whole mod instead of finishing the damn technical part. It was a fun ride, though. Who knows, it might just get that sweet revenge of being revived as well. Not entirely sure, but I'd love to do it, since Far Cry is such a nice game to make mods for.

These old mods of mine are definitely merely historical papers right now, but they paved my way in various skills, and brought what can be years worth of thoughts, stories, and a bit of love. They may be definitely dead now, but I'll bring them back to life. One day.

A while ago (the first stuff I posted to ModDB was in 2015, whoa) I was going to make a Portal mod... several projects have promised to re-tell Doug Ratman's story from his perspective and I wanted to be one of those. I'd never really taken a liking to Portal 2 and it being it's own game, engine, SKD, rather than sharing 90% of its code and assets with Half-Life², made it hard to mod, so I picked Portal to base my mod off.

Premise
I decided to pick up the story where Portal: Prelude left off, on the day of GLaDOS' activation, with a long intro going through the day, a few puzzles but mostly storytelling, quite similar to Half-Life's. Next up should be several years of Doug's enduring test chambers and slowly managing to somewhat escape GLaDOS' supervision and wander through Aperture, followed by his observing Chell's journey and ultimate self-sacrifice to save her.

Progress
Very little, actually... I made a big, fancy logo, hexed a hl2 citizen model to impersonate Cave Johnson, made a very basic 3D model that could have been done in-Hammer with brush entities, wrote up a basic plot and built a few proof-of-concept maps.

What happened?
Equal parts hybris, life and technical difficulties... teenage-me vastly overestimated her abilities and underestimated the effort required to complete this. I knew very little people in the Source community and thus failed to recruit any co-conspirators on my quest to make the Next Big Thing and between everyday life and school, there wasn't really enough time nor motivation to properly get things done. On top of that, I still have to figure out how to tame Portal's Hammer... I never learned what config I messed up when I set up the game configs, but usually, Hammer would either refuse to compile, citing a lack of rights to access things; would compile without any lighting, with models missing; would seemingly compile but the map would not update, or other stuff... I even mailed Nicolas from the Portal: Prelude team to ask about their Hammer configs (he was unable to help me) and eventually gave up and all but forgot about it... the mod is still on ModDB, with disappointed comments about the project once again bein MIA after my last "oh nevermind i'm not dead" post years back...

I hope at some point I can actually get back working on this... most of the Ratman mods I've seen in the meantime are Portal 2-based (and, as Source modding dies out, are dead themselves)... not in the foreseeable future though.

pretty keen to hear someone tell ye old fable of Hostage Situation here (that is, if anyone worked on it is still here)

I breifly worked on some new models for Hostage Situation, but never delved into mapping. That said, I do still have everything that existed of HS on my hard drive.

Its just like the Duke Nukem Forever 2001 E3 trailer - you'll never get the full play experience but at least there's some assets and stories to tell

Man that 2001 trailer looked sick. I reckon if they had released that iteration within the year it would have been incredible and we'd have at least one more sequel by now.

Sigh.

Word is that the 2001/2002 build of DNF was a lot more complete than we thought. Large chunks of the game were fully playable, according to Frederick Schreiber of 3D Realms. I heard he was trying to patch it up and release it for free, but it's currently in Randy's grubby little hands, who's more interested in trying to charge for it.

I'd kill to play it.

Hell, I'd pay to play it.

It's practically a retro FPS at this point, and there is a market for that kinda thing these days.

Knowing how Gearbox (especially Randy) is very protective of the DN trademark/franchise, I doubt that releasing the 2001 build of DNF for free would be allowed, but you never know.

But I do agree with you that the E3 2001 trailer and the in-game footage (from the released build's extras) felt more convincing than what we have today.

Uncommon Courage:

I decided to help the author mainly because i saw potential in it, wasn't something very serious but it helped me to get experience in mod making.

Premise:
I don't really remember what the mod was about i think it was something related to a soldier or a security guard.

Progress:
I made quite a lot of progress with this mod, i edited the main menu to fit the mod's style, made some maps, added some sounds, models and even added some NPCs.

What happened?:
I don't remember very well but at some point i decided to stop working on it, the thing i remember very well is that the author was very depressive and had suicidal tendences but i think he is better now because i saw some posts from him in Moddb.

HARD:

A mod that i literally started out of boredom, it was supposed to be a "remake" of this mod from the same name (https://www.runthinkshootlive.com/posts/hard/).

Premise:
You were an FBI agent that was sent to Black Mesa to check a communication issue with the facility but soon get trapped into the resonance cascade incident.

Progress:
Same as the first mod, added sounds, models, textures, etcetera...

What happened?:
I simply lost interest in continuing with it.

Last-Shift:

This was supposed to be my first serious mod. From my side is dead but it isn't all lost with it because i gave the files to a modder i trust in Moddb so you might hear from this mod in a future.

Premise:
You were an anonymous security guard that was supposed to be guarding the arrival of some materials to one of the various laboratories from Black Mesa but you get teleported to xen during the resonance cascade and then teleported again to the facility but to an unknown location, your objective is to escape.

Progress:
I made a lot of progress with this one, i had a lot of planned maps, story elements, chapters, references, etcetera but unfortunately everything was left behind since i stopped working in it.

What happened?:
The lack of help (i was working on this mod alone), real life stuff, and the size of the project itself (it was supposed to be a BIG mod) made me give up and abandon the mod.

There was only one mod I ever really considered making. Basic concept was that your could pick to play either as a scientist, security guard, HECU or vortigaunt. I'll note that the mod didn't really get any further than thinking up that concept. I was going to link the forum post I made for it, but there's really nothing worth seeing in there except embarrassment.

Haven't touched it in a while but I did start work on a mod for Zeno Clash.
I'm not much of a mapper but I did get a bit of a Roman town going.I intend to finish it one day.