Aliens

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  • Aliens

    So, a few ideas.....

    1). Introduce the system cut from Black Mesa, where you have to pull headcrabs off your face. As seen here.
    2). Have the Race X aliens in Guard Duty as well as OBM. This will make the existence of the Race X creatures seem less random and tacked on.
    3). This one is unlikely to happen. Something you could do is have a potential solution to a problem be to use a barnacle to rise up.

    That's all for now.

  • mrattapuss wrote:

    So, a few ideas.....

    1). Introduce the system cut from Black Mesa, where you have to pull headcrabs off your face. As seen here.
    2). Have the Race X aliens in Guard Duty as well as OBM. This will make the existence of the Race X creatures seem less random and tacked on.
    3). This one is unlikely to happen. Something you could do is have a potential solution to a problem be to use a barnacle to rise up.

    That's all for now.


    1) We haven´t considered it honestly. From what we learnt from Black Mesa is that this system is very annoying after while and it didn´t work out well in the end, so they decided to cut it. It sounds great on the paper, but doesn´t work as gameplay element so far. I don´t think it´s wise to actually spend our time on this, while there is very little chance that we would turn this into solid and functional gameplay feature.


    2) Guard Duty will get slightly expanded, but not much and that doesn´t leave us much opportunities to put Race X in there. In theory, we could at least add hints or some sights of RaceX throughout the game, without making player actually encountering it. Another possibility could be final chapter, which will be expanded. Yet, this is something we haven´t thought off yet, but it´s definitely good idea that we look into it.

  • Thank you - I also think it would be interesting to revamp the barnacle weapon.
    For example, it would be interesting if you could shoot it at an enemy, and the enemy will instantly ragdoll him and pull him over to you.

    Now for some random suggestions, the first that came into my head...
    Female soldiers - Female security guards - Enemies can crouch - some scientists wield guns to defend themselves - barney's crowbar is a different colour(the abundance of red crowbars in black mesa is astonishing)

    Thanks again for the reply, the game looks amazing.

  • mrattapuss wrote:

    2). Have the Race X aliens in Guard Duty as well as OBM. This will make the existence of the Race X creatures seem less random and tacked on.
    That would definitely make the campaign more interesting and varied though I doubt the maps are made to work around them, maybe the team can modify the maps or introduce new levels to the game. It would also be cool to see them create entirely new creatures.

  • Race X are supposed to be a seperate alien race from another dimension beyond Xen. They are attracted to Earth after detecting the dimensional rift between Earth and Xen. They take advantage of the dimensional rift to invade.(Valve would later use a similar story idea for the Combine.)

    To explain why Gordon never saw any Race X, Gearbox had it so that they only start to appear in Black Mesa during the second day of the disaster.

    Before Gordon jumps into the Lambda teleporter, Adrian only sees one single Shock Trooper - a scout that grabs a scientist and then teleports away, presumably to experiment on him so they can find out about the inhabitants of our world. And then Adrian encounters one group of Pit Drones. Other than that, Adrian is only fighting Xen aliens before Gordon goes to Xen. This is intentional.

    While I think it would be cool to see some Opposing Force/O:BM features in Blue Shift/Guard Duty, Barney's story in Blue Shift only takes place during day 1 of the disaster. Personally, that's something I wouldn't mind changing, making Guard Duty much longer and having Barney, Rosenberg etc escaping the facility on day 2, about the same time that Gordon goes to Xen. But assuming that Guard Duty sticks to the same story and length as Blue Shift, then it wouldn't make sense for Barney to encounter Race X creatures.

  • @your evil twin very good points, that was quite observant of you!

    I'm thinking, if anything, barney could possibly encounter some suprise pit-drones, maybe even as an easter egg type area, but that's a big maybe. As for Guard Duty seeing more extensive gameplay then Blue Shift, there are certainly some really fun surprises in store!
    @snark567 there's a chance xen will see some unexpected new wildlife

    @Cryoshell you can see our alien grunt in this video!

  • your evil twin wrote:

    ...They take advantage of the dimensional rift to invade.(Valve would later use a similar story idea for the Combine...

    To explain why Gordon never saw any Race X, Gearbox had it so that they only start to appear in Black Mesa during the second day of the disaster.

    ...Before Gordon jumps into the Lambda teleporter, Adrian only sees one single Shock Trooper - a scout that grabs a scientist and then teleports away...

    ...assuming that Guard Duty sticks to the same story and length as Blue Shift, then it wouldn't make sense for Barney to encounter Race X creatures...
    Full agreement here.

    Nothing to add really, just wanted to show appreciation for your sharp observation of timelines and respect for the difficult job of retroactive continuity.

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