The community hub for each game on Steam is an absolutely brilliant concept. It gives users a single place to find and share stuff.

I have to admit that until Black Mesa was released, I never really used a hub before. Yes, I’d seen it for Ep2 etc, but I had no interest in using it. My interests don’t really include 99.99% of the content shared on the hub, that was until Black Mesa came along.

With the release of single player maps via the workshop, I have had to start to use it.

Which brings us onto the Workshop.

Starting in a dark and seemingly abandoned warehouse district, you need to simply keep moving forward.

Although sometimes it might feel like you are going backwards!

Freedom awaits those strong and courageous enough to survive.

Gordon Freeman crashes his car on the way to a presentation at his alma mater. Will he be able to escape Combine pursuers? The answer is “of course”” but play the map anyway. Author’s Note “I used this map to teach myself Hammer so it isn’t as pretty as I’d it to be, but I… Read More

A huge open area.

Buttons to spawn various enemies.

Plenty of weapons and ammo.

That’s it. No, really. That’s it.

Just a heads up, this Saturday Darren will be livestreaming StriderVilleRTSL Twitch Channel as part of The Ville Retrospective event.

The stream will start at 1pm but Darren will be online a little before.

There will be plenty of chat on the channel and no registration is required to join in and watch.

Not exactly a prison, but certainly some sort of Combine controlled area.

There are a few levels on the wall that will allow you to open doors and progress onto the next stage.

When you reach a dead end vent, that’s the end of the map.

Today in this month’s General Chat post, Jim, he of Critical Jim fame, said “Does anyone else feel that the one map per day initiative is cluttering this site with awful maps?” and it’s certainly a valid question.

I understand that some regular users, Jason Gimba included, don’t like it and I will stop if that’s the general consensus.

I would like to explain why I’m doing and then I’ll open it up to debate. I won’t make a poll though because the numbers involved are less important that your opinions.

Starting in a tram, you travel 50 metres and then immediately get off.

A scientist awaits you, along with an Alien Grunt.

Get to the room above and reach the top door if you can.

Starting just outside a testing area, you must collect your suit and proceed to perform some tests.

There are three areas which contain different enemies.

Pass each one and progress to the next area.