Foreseen Consequences
Hi everyone,
After (many) years of silence, I'm happy to announce the mod is back in full production. As usual for a mod with high ambitions, this project saw some serious delays while I got my head around the several factors required to see this project through.
My plans for Interlude are special, and I've gotten closer and closer over the years to being able to fulfil its potential.
While I did have the necessary skills in Hammer to design and script all of the planned levels, I had to spend a few more years sharpening up my game theory, design, texturing, 3D modelling, audio and music skills to a standard I felt the mod deserved. I also feel I can say my level design skills greatly improved over that time as well, and several chapters have seen considerable refinement.
I want the mod to feel very authentically Half-life and Valve-esque, and as such I have spent many months playing through the entirety of the series again and again on repeat, researching and reading developer interviews, finding articles and developer talks, etc. As a result, I have created a much more robust design document and a personal understanding of what makes Half-Life levels tick, and beyond that what makes the general experience so special and close to our hearts. I still play through the games often, as to keep that feeling fresh.
The mod now has a serious collection of custom art, audio and music that not only feels correctly Half-Life, but is also appropriate to the new locations Gordon will travel through on his journey.
I am now also working on this project full-time, as it has matured considerably, and I am confident it will reach release when it's done. I repeat. I am working on this full-time. Having set up an office, this mod is being worked on like a full-time job, with closed playtests, constant refinement and improvement.
Recent closed playtests have been very encouraging and I'm happy to announce a Lost Coast-length demo will be available to the community soon™.
The mod has daily playthroughs, where it goes through a design process called The Cabal. As I watch the game being played, notes are made on what's working, what needs tweaking and what simply needs to go.
Every facet of the design process is scrutinised here, including level design, animation, audio, music, and so on.
This process has been brutal, but hugely rewarding as I've seen the mod come together feeling much more polished and enjoyable.
There will be more updates soon, where I will share some music and footage of Interlude as well as an official website. But for now, I must keep working.
Thank you,
PegaXing
Exciting!
This is great to hear, so glad that this has returned. To think 7 years have passed and I was following the mod since then as well...
Is it just you working on this or do you have a team of people you're working with?
Aside from specific playtesters for closed sessions, it's just me so far.
That will not be the case forever. However, I find progress to be smoother when I don't have people opting in and then disappearing/dropping out midway through development - In the past, I actually lost work and progress due to this.
Working solo has also allowed me to grow a strong understanding of different game design and creation disciplines, which in the future will hopefully mean I can provide input when it comes to design, art, audio, etc. and understand what Source's abilities and limitations are.
Of course, the team will inevitably have to grow to see a complete launch and I look forward to working with others. But for now, I have a few chapters coming together nicely.
Once I launch the demo and (hopefully) get this mod on Steam, I may look into getting a small team together to speed things up.
Definitely feel that with losing work/progress because people dipped...
I somehow suspected that you working alone may've been the case, but it's nice to hear, just means that everything is consistent in a way just cause you're working solo here (not that consistency couldn't happen if you had others).
I look forward to more updates from this, exciting times!
The Vortessence is strong with this one! So glad to see this is back.
Thank you.
Looks fantastic
Will the length of the mod be as short as you mentioned in the first article or longer?
Looks incredible, welcome back.
Excellent work. I am finding out first hand how time consuming modding can be if you want to do it right.