Status Update #4 (Decay: Solo Mission) news

I know, right? A new status update from Half-Life Decay: Solo Mission, and it didn't even take an entire year this time! Jokes aside, this update's actually a pretty substantial one, with plenty of major announcements, so you're going to wanna stick around 'till the end of the article. To start off the list of announcements...

That's right, I'm pleased to announce that Half-Life Decay: Solo Mission will be getting a full-fledged Steam release! While it was something I'd been wanting for the project since I started development, I never actually thought I'd be able to accomplish it! Now, Solo Mission will be as easy to install as any other Half-Life game on Steam, hopefully helping Decay reach the audience it never could back on the PS2. For those of you who prefer manual modding however, don't worry, Solo Mission's not leaving ModDB anytime soon!

Of course, what good is a Steam page if there's nothing to play? Which brings me to the next major announcement...

Truth be told, I was never quite satisfied with how brief the original demo for Solo Mission was, and I'm happy to say that this new demo remedies that issue! Featuring twice as many maps as the original demo release, Demo 2 features the entire first 1/3rd of Half-Life: Decay's campaign! And as I had hinted at before, this new, updated demo is available on ModDB, as well as Steam!

Besides the extended amount of gameplay, what else does this demo feature you may ask? Well, for starters...

We teased at subtitles in the previous update, but I'm happy to finally get to show off our now fully functional subtitle system! Styled after the Source engine's style of systems, this system features is capable of full unicode support, meaning that any and all languages will be possible! For the time being however, they're only available in English, as the translation process is still ongoing.

To better fit the aesthetic of Half-Life's PC titles, Dr. Keller's model has been completely overhauled with both Classic and HD Pack style models, allowing him to fit in with the rest of the mod's artstyle no matter which model pack you prefer using!

Now you may be thinking, "This is all well and good, but you said that there were tons of announcements! Where's the rest?" Well just hold on for a moment, there's plenty more to come. For example...

Of all the Half-Life games, it seemed that Decay was the only one that had no physical merch or collectibles to speak of. Well, thanks to Decepticoin's wonderful artwork, that's no longer the case! I'm delighted to announce that there is now a limited run of 18"x24" prints available right now, with a free pin badge included with every purchase! Have a look for yourself on our Ebay store, but keep in mind these are in limited supply!

Now, the final announcement is a little bittersweet, but it's one I hope you'll all be as excited about as I am!

Once again, I'm going to be pulled away from the mod to work as a level designer on another project at 3D Realms. This time however, it's a project I'm actually allowed to talk about!

Core Decay is a retro immersive sim, in a similar vein to something like System Shock, or Deus Ex. I actually was interested in the game long before I found myself being recruited as a level designer for it, so needless to say, I'm pretty excited to get to work on it!

Of course, since I'll be working on Core Decay in the very near future, that means I'll once again need to take a brief hiatus from Half-Life Decay: Solo Mission. However, I said it before the last hiatus and I'll say it again, this is not the end of Solo Mission! It simply means that I'll have less time to work on it for the next few months. But trust me, Solo Mission will be back in full production as soon as my work on Core Decay is wrapped up.

Well, that was a bigger update than I'm used to writing, hopefully big enough to keep you all sated until I'm able to dedicate more time to Solo Mission.

I wanna take a moment to thank all the people who've shown their support for this mod. As a long time Half-Life fan myself, it really brings me a lot of joy to see so many people share my enthusiasm for reviving Decay, and I can't wait to share more about it when development resumes. After all, there's still a few surprises I have in store for all of you, but you'll have to wait for the full release for all that! In the mean time...this is where I get off.

-Mr. Floyd