Archive for June 2016

Poll Question 351 – Would you ever play Half-Life games on your mobile or tablet?

Now that Steam is available on mobile Windows devices I started thinking about all the Half-Life games I had seen on Android, which lead me onto whether I would actually want to play Half-Life games on my mobile (I can’t, I have an iPhone – at least I don’t THINK I can) or a tablet (I can’t, I’m sure this time because I don’t have a tablet! Ha – gotcha.).

I know that desktop usage among non-business users is dropping significantly and mobile and tablet is soaring but there are some things better done on Desktops. I’m not suggesting that games HAVE to be better on desktops but some games work better there, just like some films HAVE to be seen in the cinema to really appreciate them. I’m sure you get what I mean.

The future could easily be VR goggles wirelessly connected to your mobile/tablet – who knows?

I don’t want you to think I am some old fuddy-duddy, I have played games on my mobile but only a couple. Mostly Dumb Ways to Die

I’d love to hear your thoughts on mobile gaming in general and specifically to FPS games like Half-Life.

30th June 2016 23 Comments

Week 26

First off, Don AKA Unq, continues his Classic of the Month event, where he plays a classic GoldSource release. This month it’s the absolute CLASSIC Azure Sheep. Don will start the stream on Saturday at 1pm Eastern time / 6pm UK / 7pm Central European time.

Check the Time & Date.Com website for your local time.

Hopefully, and it is a HUGE hopefully, Phillip will stream another Valve Hammer Editor Practice sessions and part of his and Don’s Level Design Academy.

This is the last weekend for a about 3 weeks where they will be uncertainty in Phillip’s schedule.

Phillip apologises for the lack of his streams and reminds everybody to check the RTSL twitter and FB pages for details of the streams.

30th June 2016 2 Comments

Wieliczka Salt Mine – Real Theme

It’s been almost 4 years to the day that I posted the last Real Theme.

For newer readers, a Real Theme post shows a real place or idea that could make a fantastic location or idea for a map or mod. I sued to post them more often but for some reason I stopped.
EDIT: I have just noticed that most of the images in those posts no longer work. I will try to correct that soon.

Anyway, I heard about the mine today and immediately cam home to create this post. I hope you are inspired by it!

Wieliczka Salt Mine

If ever there were a place that would be perfect for a spooky FPS game, then this HAS to be it. It’s been in operation for over 700 years. There are tunnels, caverns, chapels, a spa, bedrooms and special tours. The whole place looks fantastic and if I ever go to Poland, I’ll do my best to visit.

Here is the Wikipedia page and the Official Homepage.

Anyway, enough reading. Check out the images.

29th June 2016 7 Comments

Calling Tech-heads – I need your help

I would love to buy a new PC but I can’t afford it. I do, however, have €150 I can use to upgrade my current system.

I’d like to keep some of that back to make a home-made portable recording booth. I have what I think is a pretty good microphone, it’s an AKG Perception 120 USB, but I have never been completely happy with its quality. That might be because I have a very basic sound card – I don’t know. One day, I hope to get a spider mount for it too.

So, let’s say I keep €25 for that, that leaves €125.

Ideally, I’d like to upgrade my graphics card AND sound card for that price.

29th June 2016 19 Comments

The Hammer Cup 16: Challenge 5: AnyVilleVille

Hello and welcome to the fifth and final mapping challenge of The Hammer Cup 2016.

The judges and I have tried to ensure that each challenge was interesting for both the modders AND players. We feel that we have had thought-provoking challenges so far.

Theme Details

For the final challenge, we wanted something as open as possible but still quite defined. We have considered many previous challenges as potential options for this one but no particular one seemed right.

Therefore, we have decided that entrants can select ANY previous mapping competition/challenge from the past EXCEPT the previous 4 used in The Hammer Cup 2016.

Entrants may only select ONE theme for their map.

For those that are new to the site and think the challenges are a new thing, you might be surprised to learn that I have been running them since 2010.

23rd June 2016 78 Comments

Poll Question 350 – How would you feel if Half-Life 3 were released and it didn’t support modding?

Have to admit I was struggling for a good question and I really wanted to avoid another Half-Life 3 one, but this idea just popped into my head.

Obviously, we want the story to either be finished or explained at least to some degree, but personally, it’s all the new mods that we hope to get that really excites me.

Of course, the chances of Half-Life 3 being released WITHOUT mod support is probably as close to nil as it can be, but Valve might decide to move in a new direction.

Plenty of single player games do well without a modding community or do you think that once a company starts down that road it would be commercial suicide not to continue with it.

Are times changing?

23rd June 2016 21 Comments

Week 25

First off, Dan Jordan AKA The Rabbit, continues his Source of Fame event, where he plays a Half of Fame Source release.

This weekend he is playing The Citizen Returns on Saturday at 12pm Pacific Daylight Time (Also known as: PDST – Pacific Daylight Saving Time, NAPDT – North American Pacific Daylight Time). You should double check the Time & Date.Com website for your local time.

Secondly, Phillip MIGHT be continuing his Level Design Academy: Practice Sessions. But he won’t know until the last minute, so keep an eye on the RTSL Twitter or FB pages.

All streams will be on the RTSL Twitch Channel and announced on the RTSL Twitter Feed.

All streams will be uploaded to the RTSL YouTube channel during the following week.

If you have any questions about the streams, just ask.

22nd June 2016 1 Comment