Gordon Freeman enters an abandoned, largely sealed-off area of Black Mesa dating back to its earlier days as a missile complex, full of mothballed machinery and now used as a dumping ground for toxic waste from the rest of the facility, where the HECU soldiers have yet to get a good foothold because of the high concentration of aliens in the area.

“Jim Fletcher is a curious, young, local journalist looking to make a name for himself by landing an exciting story on the ever-burning Centralia.

He will travel from his town to Centralia, where a coal mine fire has been burning for half a century. The town has been abandoned for decades, leaving the eerie shell of a community behind. What will Jim uncover on his quest to make that all important good story?

This chapter finds Gordon Freeman making good progress, passing through various storage and staging areas, continuing his hunt for a way to the surface. Gordon learns that the soldiers rumored to be coming on a rescue mission have already arrived.

Sometimes it’s easy to miss the obvious questions. In fact, I am very surprised I haven’t asked this before. If I have then I must have missed it when I looked through the Poll Question List view.

We all know what we like but do we really know what others like?

Of course, a good mod should include aspects of all of the choices but there’s no denying we probably prefer one style more than another.

Which one do you prefer?

Minutes after the Resonance Cascade, Gordon reaches the office complex, where several scientists are barricaded into their rooms, hiding from the rampant aliens appearing inside the complex.

He then hears rumors from these scientists that the military have arrived to rescue the people trapped in the facility.

This competition required entrants to create puzzles to allow an elevator to work or open.

They were allowed any style or combinations of styles.

There are 6 entries in this mod, all offering something interesting and challenging.

This competition is being kindly sponsored by SteamContests.Com. The prize, in addition to the points, is $25 US Dollars (paid via PayPal) plus two random Steam games.

As Gordon Freeman’s efforts to reach the surface to get help in the aftermath of the Resonance Cascade just begin, more problems get in his way.

The building starts falling apart in his face, and mysterious alien creatures materialize from thin air. Gordon is given his trademark crowbar, and more weapons and hazards entail.

You seemed to be trapped in your apartment and Civil Protection are on the way up.

You need to escape and get to relative safety.

That is, if you can remember the secret escape you planned.

Good Luck!

I got the chance to chat with Sam today. Sam is the author of Station 51 and A Brief Detour, he’s also made other maps for other games.

But let’s be honest we only care about SP for Source!

Sam has some of some of his portfolio over at Carbon-Made and is currently working at GameLoft.

We talk about game and level design, modding and a bunch of other stuff.

I mention that Station 51 is top of the Readers’ Recommendations for Ep2 and Sam mentions the 7 Day FPS Challenge.

Anyway, Sam may drop by, so if you have any questions you want to ask him, please post them in the comments.