Sticky Questions: About GD / OBM

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    • EvilGoodGuy wrote:

      We have one character artist at the moment who is mostly inactive.

      Another skilled character artist is definitely the position we are in most need of right now. So don't hesitate to apply if you think you have the experience/skills and are interested in being part of the project :)

      Currently PBR is not technically supported (at least not fully) in the Source engine and requires a lot of graphical programming to implement anything resembling it from what I'm aware of. So we currently are not using it. Although we would love to.

      Of course, do you have any email for share my portfolio?

    • guillencg wrote:

      EvilGoodGuy wrote:

      We have one character artist at the moment who is mostly inactive.

      Another skilled character artist is definitely the position we are in most need of right now. So don't hesitate to apply if you think you have the experience/skills and are interested in being part of the project :)

      Currently PBR is not technically supported (at least not fully) in the Source engine and requires a lot of graphical programming to implement anything resembling it from what I'm aware of. So we currently are not using it. Although we would love to.
      Of course, do you have any email for share my portfolio?
      If for some reason you want to keep your portfolio private or don't have a online portfolio, you can either:
      -Type up a full application in the application section and post your portfolio there (Recommended method).
      -Send your portfolio in a private message to either myself or a another member, such as Mr.Sugar and we can share it with the rest of the team.
      -Send one of us devs a private message and we can share with you our personal or business email address and continue from there.
      Senior Level Designer | Environment Artist @ Operation Black Mesa & Guard Duty | My Website

    • Hello, just wanted to clarify some little things:

      1. How is the team spirit? =D
      2. Will you leave mp5 or you still decided to make a function in options to view m16 instead it?
      3. Have players any chance to watch areas where we could interact with vechicle or somekind to make our walkthrough further? (some suggestions I left here)
      4. Will OBM have an area where players should go through snipers likein HL1 and 2? And willl Black Ops have crossbows?
      5. Maybe you have already some plans about multiplayer missions. Hope there will be coop mission to save or destroy someone from BM pesonell and, of course, defense the borderzone of Black Mesa from teleporting waves of Xen and X races.

      Post was edited 1 time, last by -Raptor- ().

    • 1. I haven't taken a consensus or anything, but I'd say team spirit is at healthy levels :P

      2. The Mp5/M4 situation is the same as it's always been - the Mp5 will be default, but you can switch it to the M4 in the options menu.

      3. The language translation is a bit rough and confusing with this sentence. But I think you are asking if there will be areas where players can drive vehicles? The answer at this time is no and there are no plans to add any significant "side missions".

      4. Opposing Force already had some sniper areas. Ex: Foxtrot Uniform. So yes, that will of course be in the game. The black Ops will definitely not have crossbows. They use silenced glocks and Mp5s.

      5. There are no plans for COOP missions. We are not even close to a normal SP release yet. So unless you want to wait another 20 years, it's definitely not going to happen for the first release. Maybe later on as a map-pack or something; but that's also something the community can make if they want to by adding maps to the steam workshop.
      Senior Level Designer | Environment Artist @ Operation Black Mesa & Guard Duty | My Website

    • By the way, im Opposing Force there are many soldiers that Shepard "left behind" while he tried to defend Black Mesa from X-race not to escape himself like many others. So, for example, when I played I tried to save all comrades alive till we left them to proceed the game and in this case friendly soldiers stayed in location without any reason "to wait further orders"..but what orders if as we know they were left in the dust by the commanders ?(
      So, is there any way for Tripmine to give HECU squards back that player saved during walkthrough. It would be logical if they appear in the end of the game for example to defend Shepard from teleporting shocktroopers while he destroys Gene Worm. It would be sad just to leave comrades behind and in my opinion it would be great for the final battle. 8)

      Post was edited 1 time, last by -Raptor- ().

    • Hey,

      1. Parker Chapman aka MzK. He truly does amazing job in our eyes :)

      2. there will be probably a new way how to control it, yet, nothing is set in the stone.

      3. It is not allowed to do exchange or begging during the transport or at the stations of Black Mesa Transit System and doing so is direct violation of fares and conditions of carriage. So sorry, but not going to happen.

    • 1. How much much assets and other material will be shared between both mods? Which one is closer to being in a releasable state?

      2. Will there be more earth side easter eggs for shephard to teleport to outside of the hazard course. Perhaps a location or two from blue shift. (I personally was always curious how the train yard area looked by opfor's time frame.)

      3. How many members currently are part of the team and how much work from former members and even former teams have you all be able to retain?

      4. Who's the longest lasting team member from the project?

      5. How is your team's approach to remaking HL1 different than BMS's approach?

      6. will OBM/Guard Duty have legit mod support as opposed to BMS's weird console code to launch maps thing.

      7. Will Xen be different from the original? or is it going to be close to how it was depicted in Opfor/BS?

      8. How will you handle Blue Shift's health and armor system?

      9. How much larger will Guard Duty/OBM's maps be in comparison to the original? Will there be more open areas or nonlinerity compared to the original games?

      10. Will there be more opportunities for squad base combat?

      lastly will Freeman still have the Ponytail and Shades of his gearbox model?

    • Summerset Banjo wrote:

      1. How much much assets and other material will be shared between both mods? Which one is closer to being in a releasable state?

      2. Will there be more earth side easter eggs for shephard to teleport to outside of the hazard course. Perhaps a location or two from blue shift. (I personally was always curious how the train yard area looked by opfor's time frame.)

      3. How many members currently are part of the team and how much work from former members and even former teams have you all be able to retain?

      4. Who's the longest lasting team member from the project?

      5. How is your team's approach to remaking HL1 different than BMS's approach?

      6. will OBM/Guard Duty have legit mod support as opposed to BMS's weird console code to launch maps thing.

      7. Will Xen be different from the original? or is it going to be close to how it was depicted in Opfor/BS?

      8. How will you handle Blue Shift's health and armor system?

      9. How much larger will Guard Duty/OBM's maps be in comparison to the original? Will there be more open areas or nonlinerity compared to the original games?

      10. Will there be more opportunities for squad base combat?

      lastly will Freeman still have the Ponytail and Shades of his gearbox model?
      1. Both games are basically one game. You access each campaign through the main menu. All assets are shared, except some enemies/characters that are specific for each campaign (for instance you won´t meet Dr.Rosenberg in Operation Black Mesa or fight Voltigores in Guard Duty.

      2. Yes, calling these might not be accurate to call easter egg as they are actually part of gameplay.

      3. Last year or so, we are around 17 members. We keep former´s members work as long as it is good quality and doesn´t need to be cut/remade for some reasons.

      4. Me, I joined Operation Black Mesa back in 2007 and founded Guard Duty as separate project in 2009.

      5.We have our vision. Sometimes, it similar to their vision so you might notice some parts are like inspired by BMS, some areas are completely different.

      6. Yes, we want to support mods.

      7. I would say Xen will be wastly improved experience, but it´s still too early to say how much it will be different as we are still focusing mainly on "earth parts" of campaigns.

      8. No major changes are plannet, it will work very similar, if not same, as it was in Blue Shift.

      9. We are indeed expanding some maps. It depends on each chapter/map though. Some are mostly same, some are expanded with extra corridors/rooms and passages. Source can also handle more open outdoor areas, so we will definitely use the advantage of that.

      10. Yes, we want to improve the overal experience regarding the squad members.

      As for the freeman, we gonna have to interview him. Although the answer wouldn´t probably be relevant when we release. You know, he can decide to cut his ponytail anytime...

    • Mr.sugar wrote:

      Summerset Banjo wrote:

      lastly will Freeman still have the Ponytail and Shades of his gearbox model?
      As for the freeman, we gonna have to interview him. Although the answer wouldn´t probably be relevant when we release. You know, he can decide to cut his ponytail anytime...
      If you're going to interview freeman, basically the only answer you would get is him cutting the ponytail off on the spot or not.

    • Hi, I hope you don't mind if I shoot more questions regarding this mod project.

      1. How long has Operation Black Mesa and the Blue Shift remake have been in development? (If I recall Barney's Tales was one of the early names before it halted and morphed into Guard Duty but i could be wrong.)

      2. Will all of Opfor's multiplayer maps be remade? Including the all-star maps, and the modified hl1 multiplayer maps.

      3. Will some guards or scitenst be hostile to the players in OBM? (I know that opfor didn't have any, but I just feel it makes sense that there would still be a few living BM personal still willing to shoot any HECU's they come across.)

      4. I remember once seeing a piece of art for OBM with a scientist wearing either some bloodied Security Armor or some PCV taken off a dead trooper. Will a character or model like that still appear in OBM?

      5. Will Capture the Flag still be a thing? How about some new additional modes that were scrapped from the HL1 beta such as treasure hunt and co-op (on multiplayer map)

      6. What has been the most difficult chapter in the game to work on? Which has been the most fun to work on?

      7. How many on the team have had prior experience from working on other mods? How many that this is their first time working on a mod?

      8. What lessons have you all learned from the recent releases of other mods onto steam? (Hunt Down the Freeman, Black Mesa, Prospect , Wilson Chronicles, and others.)

      9. In response to question 6 does that mean we'll get a separate mod section on the menu, something like how left 4 dead or classic hl1 did? Cause I can't tell you how much of a turn off it is in Black Mesa that you have to remember the console code of the map just to launch the mod you want to play.

      10. Can the saw have a secondary function of using the tripod to affix it to various barriers? the original saw gunner model in opfor had a tripod in his backpack yet no one ever uses it.

      11. How do you balance being a creative remake/re-imagining of Opfor and BS and being faithful to the source material? How often does that struggle come up? Especially since everyone's stance is likely different.

      and lastly will Chubby the Chumtoad be king of chumtoad's lair?

    • Summerset Banjo wrote:

      Hi, I hope you don't mind if I shoot more questions regarding this mod project.

      Sure...

      Summerset Banjo wrote:

      1. How long has Operation Black Mesa and the Blue Shift remake have been in development? (If I recall Barney's Tales was one of the early names before it halted and morphed into Guard Duty but i could be wrong.)
      Operation Black Mesa was restarted back in 2007 (yes, even that was restart ) as brand new project. In 2009, Guard Duty was started as a reaction to Barney´s Tales cancelation. In 2011/2012, both team merged and that was a point where OBM was basically restarted too, although not everything was scrapped. We rather remade a lot of content and most of the maps were dropped too and started from scratch.



      Summerset Banjo wrote:

      2. Will all of Opfor's multiplayer maps be remade? Including the all-star maps, and the modified hl1 multiplayer maps.
      That´s something I cannot promise. We will see about this, but we definitely want to remake all the popular and classic maps + we will also introduce some new maps too.



      Summerset Banjo wrote:

      3. Will some guards or scitenst be hostile to the players in OBM? (I know that opfor didn't have any, but I just feel it makes sense that there would still be a few living BM personal still willing to shoot any HECU's they come across.)
      That´s a challenge we still have to tackle on. It would make sense to bring some hostile behaviour, or at least sense of fear.



      Summerset Banjo wrote:

      4. I remember once seeing a piece of art for OBM with a scientist wearing either some bloodied Security Armor or some PCV taken off a dead trooper. Will a character or model like that still appear in OBM?
      We currently focus and plan to include scientist without armor. However, it might be possible that we will add this too. It´s not our priority though.



      Summerset Banjo wrote:

      5. Will Capture the Flag still be a thing? How about some new additional modes that were scrapped from the HL1 beta such as treasure hunt and co-op (on multiplayer map)
      Yes for CTF. And as for additional mods, it´s very likely there will be some new mods too, but multiplayer will evolve after the launch, so if we plan some new modes, they won´t be very like available at launch.



      Summerset Banjo wrote:

      6. What has been the most difficult chapter in the game to work on? Which has been the most fun to work on?
      That´s very hard to answer. Chapter is usually assigned to single person, while it´s true some others sometimes help out too. You can be sure that everyone see different chapter as the most difficult. No doubts the biggest challenge is going to be Xen.



      Summerset Banjo wrote:

      7. How many on the team have had prior experience from working on other mods? How many that this is their first time working on a mod?
      I believe almost everybody already had prior experiences from working on other mods, or even commercial games.



      Summerset Banjo wrote:

      8. What lessons have you all learned from the recent releases of other mods onto steam? (Hunt Down the Freeman, Black Mesa, Prospect , Wilson Chronicles, and others.)
      Black Mesa is huge inspiration for us all in a sense that it indeed is not impossible to make a game of this scale. I speak for myself, that I don´t like some things they added/changed/removed, but the amount of work, sense for details and polish is simply astonishing. I think unlike Black Mesa, we still try to stick with the original more and avoid cutting content. I would say most people wish Black Mesa did that too.

      Hunt Down the Freeman is great example how to NOT develop a game.




      Summerset Banjo wrote:

      9. In response to question 6 does that mean we'll get a separate mod section on the menu, something like how left 4 dead or classic hl1 did? Cause I can't tell you how much of a turn off it is in Black Mesa that you have to remember the console code of the map just to launch the mod you want to play.
      When you start the game, main menu will offer you "Play Operation: Black Mesa" or "Play Guard Duty". Clicking on either one will bring you other options such as choosing your dificulty and so on and then start the game. No need to be worried that we would let you start the game through the console command or something :).



      Summerset Banjo wrote:

      10. Can the saw have a secondary function of using the tripod to affix it to various barriers? the original saw gunner model in opfor had a tripod in his backpack yet no one ever uses it.
      This feature is not planned.



      Summerset Banjo wrote:

      11. How do you balance being a creative remake/re-imagining of Opfor and BS and being faithful to the source material? How often does that struggle come up? Especially since everyone's stance is likely different.
      We love both games, so when we want to stick to the source material naturally. It´s not always possible and when we came to the decision that we need to make something different, it´s usually a short discussion or poll where we have some limited time to vote for certain options. Then we decide. It´s pretty much normal that our stances are different so poll is ideal.



      Summerset Banjo wrote:

      and lastly will Chubby the Chumtoad be king of chumtoad's lair?

    • 1. So what was the reasons behind the merger? I vaguely recall that obm lost its website dev and the project leader went missing for months and those two things lead to the merger but I could be wrong. How rough was the merger? Did it go well? How come a lot of Obm's assets had to get scrapped in the merger? low quality? differing creative vision? inconsistent design? Any of this you can shed light on?

      2. When OBM hits steam will it be in early access or more or less finished out of the box? How much will it be on steam?

      3. Will you be doing any community contests if people show interest in it? I remember back in the day Black Mesa Source did a few.

      4. What is your favorite thing and least favorite thing about the source engine in you and your team's experience

      5. You mention that everyone has had prior experience on other mods or games. Are you free to share a few examples?

      6. I'm glad to know that there will be good mod support for the game as well as it being more accessible than Black Mesa's which should work well with steam workshop support. That said I remember when surface tension uncut and on a rail uncut\ got made and left a big splash. If someone were to modify the main campaigns themselves would that be possible for OBM since some clearly had the desire to do that for BM

      7. Once tripmine finishes Obm do you and your team have any desire to remake Decay or attempt to create Hostile Takeover from what little we know of it? or heck how about something different and remake CS Condition Zero's Deleted Scene's campaign. I know you can't say one way or another given that OBM is not even finished but would it be something you would consider?

      8. When researching the source material for this remake did you try to see if you could get in touch with those that worked on Opfor and BS and get some insight on these games?

      9. Will the headcrab zombies still have the skull texture underneath or at least the gonomes?

      10. Will there be a zombine equivalent for OBM/GD or will it be regular zombies and gonomes? How will you keep gonomes from being too similar from the more recognizable fast and poison headcrab zombies of hl2?

      Lastly will the gonomes still have their happy dance?

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