I have to admit I was planning on AntlionVille but by the time I had finished Antlions Everywhere I was sick to death of the freaking things. I am sure there will be an AntlionsVille in the future but not this time.

There were some really great theme/challenge suggestions made by people and, again, some are sure to happen in the future, but the one that really caught my eye was CrossoverVille. I am going to open it up to a wider range of games though.

Hope it inspires you!

I finally got my time machine to work again, that flux-capacitor really needs to be overhauled, and managed to sit down and chat with Half-Rats, the creator of Half-Rats – A Fever Dream.

We chat for just under the hour about the making of the mod.

You can listen via this page or download it to your HDD.

The man character, Carter Grok together with a squad of rebels, has received new orders.

They are to reach City-S where more rebels are located.

To reach the city, the player’s squad is sent through the mines in an attempt to avoid the main Combine forces.

Once in the mine, the squad is separated and the player finds himself alone.

That’s only the beginning of his troubles.

Update: MapTap has been replaced by Gauge.

Alex and I are pleased to announce that MapTap 2.6.0 is now available for download and use.

Current MapTap users should get a message the first or second time the run the application telling them a new package is available. If not, just visit the MapTap page and choose between the Update (smaller download) or the full version.

Can’t believe that it’s been two weeks since the last WTH. Time flies when you are waiting for Half-Life 3 – NOT.

Let’s see what the HL community has for us in this episode.

If you don’t know what this podcast is about, please read the What The Headcrab: Introduction.

It was pointed out to me this week that I missed some areas in Uncertainty Principle in my video playthrough, which is always a possibility when doing live playthroughs as you don’t want to bore the viewers too much.

Anyway, I am sure there have been plenty of mods released with hidden areas and secrets etc. The question is whether a mod author should eventually tell people about them. I feel they should but not necessarily in a readme.txt file or in the credits. I do feel that a player should be told exactly how many secrets there are though, as that encourages players to replay mods.

If my memory serves me correctly, The Citizen Returns had a system of 15 EEs to collect or maybe it was the first release. Anybody remember? I like that idea a lot, although it needs to be implemented really well to ensure it’s not frustrating. For example, letting a player know when the are about to leave an area that can not be returned to that has an EE they missed.

I’d love to hear mod authors’ point of view on this, as well as players of course.

So, I have been thinking about the next mapping challenge and one thing that I need to decide on is the date and deadline.

I know people get busy around Christmas time, but I also know that many people have free time.

I would like to know what sort of schedule potential entrants would be interested in.

Please tell me your preferred dates and I will take into account all the responses.

I haven’t decided on a theme yet, so let me have your ideas on that also. I have one idea but I am not convinced it’s right.

Also, this time the prize won’t be games, at least not the first prize, but a set of three HL/Portal inspired prints. The winner will have to buy the frames, but I think it’s a better prize than just a game.

July the fourteenth, 1883: Being rather rudely awakened after a night of drunken revelry; Half-Rats is thrust into a rather dire situation.

Utter calamity has erupted in the streets outside of the general store which he calls home – calamity of the most unnatural and horrific kind, that is.

Now he and the shop keeper, Mr. Trask, must hold out against this infernal host of creatures together. Will they survive the night?

This mod continues the story where Half-Life 2 finished and offers one possible scenario.

After the big explosion you fall to the ground and are very badly injured.

Some people find you and take you home to a small village outside the city where the citadel was built.

After 3 months you’re strong again and want to fight on.

I have added this to the frontpage because there has been a patch released that addresses issues that have been casuing this mod to crash. I have also been live streaming it. – Phillip