What is XEN to you?

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    • For my xen, it must have been a planet without a nucleus, with large cliffs and pieces of earth detaching from itself, thus preserving an atmosphere, immobile asteroids and low gravity, the entire route should be through the upper mantle with a large crater left by the core of the planet, sieny observing the base of "Nihilant" something similar to the tower "Combine" in the crust.

    • Ratty wrote:

      I see Xen as a weird, alien place. I appreciate that the Black Mesa team managed to deliver their own vision of it, but I really miss those strange vibes around the original Xen.
      At least, it is a million times way better than the original. Yeah, I agreed it missed some of the strange vibes due to ageing sound quality of the ambience making without a doubt a true classic. But Crowbar Collective amplify even greater with the cosmic effect at the skybox. Wished, this team can make even GREATER than that since both expansion only had ONE chapter that featured the Borderworld. Also, if you didn't vote my thread for the chapter We Are Not Alone, please do so.

      Link here:
      Chapter of We Are Not Alone for the Operation Black Mesa

    • Singaporean28 wrote:

      At least, it is a million times way better than the original.
      I agree that the gameplay is solid for the most part and every single chapter looks great. It's just that I personally like the original atmosphere the best. But the chapter Interloper is the perfect example of how even Valve can be outdone - it perfectly adds to the atmosphere and reveals new concepts that seem really true to the original.
      However, it was said earlier in the thread that the team of OBM isn't planning any massive expansions for that chapter right now. But of course, I don't think anybody would be against if they were.

    • Ratty wrote:

      Singaporean28 wrote:

      At least, it is a million times way better than the original.
      However, it was said earlier in the thread that the team of OBM isn't planning any massive expansions for that chapter right now. But of course, I don't think anybody would be against if they were.
      I'll know, but however, that doesn't proved that the chapter such as We Are Not Alone will end in like less than 10 minute. Because, if it happens then it will be so negatively especially with the overwhelming expectation after Crowbar Collective had done. They wished, Tripmine can do the same.

    • For me it was a place of floating rock, beautiful sky, but what's should be on those rocks? Anything. The border world is a place between dimension, physics doesn't make sense, so nothing say the creepy desolate wasteland from the original hl and the beautiful ecosystem in BM can exist in the same world. I, as many other fans, have always imagine what kind of creature can live in a place like this. Part of me is just grateful Valve didn't put much detail in it as other section, even though it does hurt the gameplay of it for a bit.Just as they do with the Source engine, they let the fans know "hey this is a template for your creativity, just go wild with it"

    • 24seg wrote:

      For my xen, it must have been a planet without a nucleus, with large cliffs and pieces of earth detaching from itself, thus preserving an atmosphere, immobile asteroids and low gravity, the entire route should be through the upper mantle with a large crater left by the core of the planet...
      Really, when I played HL1 1-st time I always thought that Xen is world which is breaking into pieces because of endless wars with someone.

    • xen totally captivated my imagination as a kid, i honestly would love to imagine it more biodiverse, especially crawling through those tunnels in blue shift. i always pictured it was a spongey mass of fungus and crawling through those tunnels would be like crawling through a crawlspace under a house, you'd encounter all sorts of creepy crawlies. it'd be great to see particle effects of strange little bugs and centipedes and squirmy creatures, but beyond that i had imagined an enormously complex ecosystem to fill the world with, i have actually sketched out a little over 100 different creatures, mostly non-hostile animals, but I won't reveal that until our game is released. ;)

      but here's my short answer. what is xen to me?
      A scaled up version of the mysterious world you find under a scanning electron microscope.

      stylistically, i wouldn't go for the colorful oceanic vibe that crowbar collective took, although i wouldn't discount it as non-cannon or nothing it's totally rad, i'd just consider that another part of xen or something. I would personally go for something very much in-line with what summerset banjo had mentioned earlier regarding the Geiger influence, although personally I also feel like the half life artists responsible for xen were HUGELY drawing influence from Wayne Barlowe's Expedition.

    • magmasloth64 wrote:

      xen totally captivated my imagination as a kid, i honestly would love to imagine it more biodiverse, especially crawling through those tunnels in blue shift. i always pictured it was a spongey mass of fungus and crawling through those tunnels would be like crawling through a crawlspace under a house, you'd encounter all sorts of creepy crawlies. it'd be great to see particle effects of strange little bugs and centipedes and squirmy creatures, but beyond that i had imagined an enormously complex ecosystem to fill the world with, i have actually sketched out a little over 100 different creatures, mostly non-hostile animals, but I won't reveal that until our game is released. ;)

      but here's my short answer. what is xen to me?
      A scaled up version of the mysterious world you find under a scanning electron microscope.

      stylistically, i wouldn't go for the colorful oceanic vibe that crowbar collective took, although i wouldn't discount it as non-cannon or nothing it's totally rad, i'd just consider that another part of xen or something. I would personally go for something very much in-line with what summerset banjo had mentioned earlier regarding the Geiger influence, although personally I also feel like the half life artists responsible for xen were HUGELY drawing influence from Wayne Barlowe's Expedition.

      It sounds...epic. It seems that you will need a lot of space to show them all in-game. :thumbsup:
      Developers of Valve earlier mentioned that some stuff for alien creatures wre taken from microworld and deep see creatures and some are activities of them in HL universe really exist.
      Does it mean we could see in your game some uncut creatures?



      Never heard about this sci-fi story "Wayne Barlowe's Expedition", but watching images I feel the style to HL RAsing the bar scetches is very close. I think I know what I will read on vacation this Summer!
      i think i feel the tune of your Xen part of the world already ;)

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