Even though I’m not a student I get a lot of free time in the summer. I suppose I spend more time gaming in the summer than in the winter.

I actually prefer playing in the winter, I’ve said this before, but I feel less guilty staying inside when it’s raining than when it’s sunny.

What about you?

Arriving at the Anomalous Materials Laboratory, his usual place of work, Gordon dons his HEV Suit and checks his locker, as per routine. Beginning his journey to the test chamber, he goes past the cafeteria, where two more grumpy scientists are sitting. Noticing the microwave on the right, Gordon spots a chance for a practical joke.

8:47am is the start of Half-Life. We don’t know the year or month, but with “a topside temperature of 93 degrees” it’s likely to be summer.

The tram ride introudces the player to the extensive world they are about to explore. As the CombineOverwiki says the “intricate workings of the Black Mesa Research Facility revealing themselves as being fragile, and more often than not, broken.”, shows that even secret bases don’t always work as planned.

The voice and screen text add just enough information to ensure you know what’s going on but without distracting you from looking around.

The ride finally ends with the tram stopping and your being let out by a security guard…“Morning Doctor Freeman, looks like you are running late”.

I am disappointed that I don’t have time to update the Around the Community posts.

It’s always nice to have a round up of the latest news about mods that interest you, especially if there is intelligent discussion associated with it.

I am thinking about various ways I could do something like this and I keep coming back to the idea of a monthly video round up.

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.

For this competition I want you to create puzzles to allow an elevator to work or open.

To enter, you need a minimum of 3 floors. The objective is to create some sort of puzzle to get the elevator up or down to the next floor.

You can have “press the right buttons”, combat, power supply issues, shoot something; anything to get the elevator working.

Each floor can be completely different from the others. They don’t have to have any visual connection with each other. They can be abstract, funky, Combine-esque, Ravenholm, Sixties London (if you wanna make the textures and models); the choice is yours.

The winner will be the map that was most fun to play and looked good.

As usual, if you have any questions, please use the comments system below or email me directly: [email protected].

There are NO additional rules that apply to this competition – but make sure you READ the main rules!

Visit the 6×10 Mapping Competition Series homepage for full details of the event and the rules.

The Training Facility at Black Mesa houses the Hazard Course to help users of the HEV Suit hone their skills at jumping, crouching, and combinations of both – everything you’re going to need to worm your way out of a facility that’s crashing down at your heels as aliens appear in flashes of green light all around.

I have started replaying Half-Life and Half-Life 2 a couple of times since I first completed them.

I got a few chapters in and suddenly something shiny would come along and the next thing I knew it was a few weeks since I last played and then I just couldn’t be bothered to continue from where I finished.

After the relative success of 100 Days of Summer Nostalgia last year, I decided that I wanted to run some sort of event this year.

I didn’t want the commitment of having to post something every day all through the summer and this seemed like the perfect time to replay the games at my own speed, but with the added motivation of being part of an event.

Starting 1st June, I will post details of each distinct chapter of the games in order. Each post will be similar to a map or mod post: a thumbnail, a factual description and some screenshots. In addition, I may include some trivia and other interesting information.

Then I will post my thoughts and feelings as a comment. There is no posting schedule but I estimate I will add a new post every 3 or 4 days.

I am hoping that the event will generate some serious and interesting discussion about how games have changed, how well the games stand up to our memories and how our experiences since finishing those games affect our replay impressions.

Once I have made the post and added my comment, all readers will be able to do the same.

To include screenshots to illustrate your points, please use a hosting service like imgur.com and link to the image in your comment.

I will then download the image, create a thumbnail and approve your comment.

If you have any questions, suggestions or comments, please use the commenting system below or email me directly: [email protected].

Visit The Replay Experience Experiment homepage

Looks like you feel asleep using the bathroom! You wake up and start to go back to work.

Of course, something doesn’t feel right and then the shit really hits the fan.

Make sure you stay aware of you surroundings at all times – it could save your life.

This is a question from James Partridge AKA Aazell.

He wrote to me and asked “In my experience the majority of the time it takes to put together a good map pack is spent making the maps look pretty and getting the detailing to an acceptable standard.

So it comes down to a simple choice, the community can have lots of playable, fun, low detailed maps with basic visuals or few and far between highly detailed projects… which would you prefer?”