This is the Read category

A collection of text posts, including Poll Questions, Text Interviews with moddersand Phillip’s Blog. All posts are written to encourage friendly debate and discussion.
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The Lambda Cup, The Mesa Cup, Experimental Mapping Challenges, a Special Challenge and the Calendar.

Much, much later than expected or hoped but I am pleased to announce exactly what is happening next year regarding the mapping challenges.

I will give a brief summary of each event and a link to that event for everybody interested to read the details.

It’s been a lot of work and there are still plenty of things to finalise but I am sure it will be worth it.

Calendar

Right, let’s start with the overview. I have created a calendar (which took WAY longer than expected), which contains all the events. Each event has a link to the main page as well as the individual challenges of each event, except for the EMCs.
Homepage: CALENDAR

Lambda Cup

The Lambda Cup is the new name for the Hammer Cup. I changed it because I wanted more flexibility. It’s more or less the same as this year, but the points, prizes and judges have been improved. The Suffix for these events will continue to be “Ville”.
Homepage: LAMBDA CUP 2018

Mesa Cup

The Mesa cup is a series of 3 mapping challenges built for the retail version of Black Mesa. The Crowbar Collective will official support the Cup, but more details on that soon. The suffix for these events will probably be “Zone”.
Homepage: MESA CUP

Experimental Mapping Challenges

Hereby now known as EMCs, the challenges will last either 50 or 72 hours and be focused on very specific ideas and concepts. The suffix for these events will probably be “Ism”. The homepage for these events does not contain much detail yet. The calendar also has “potential EMC dates”, in cases modders want a weekend mapping objective.
Homepage: EXPERIMENTAL MAPPING CHALLENGES

Special Challenge

I can’t say much about this yet, but you will see from the calendar that it is the longest mapping challenge of the year. Stay tuned for details.
Homepage: SPECIAL CHALLENGE

17th December 2017 7 Comments

December 2017 – General Chat

HOLY HEADCRABS!

It’s December already – where did the rest of the year go?

I’m hoping to finish everything related to the mapping challenges for next year, plus I also hope to start a new updating event, similar to 100 Summer Days of Nostalgia but smaller in scope and commitment.

I’d also like to start a discussion about the possibility of creating a story-based RTSL EP2 SP mod.

Anyway, what have you got planned?

1st December 2017 49 Comments

November 2017 Classic of the Month Livestream

I am ashamed. Ashamed I haven’t played nearly as many Half-Life 2 and Episode 2 mods as I should have. So I’m trying to rectify the situation bit by bit.

So November’s Classic of the Month is Mission Improbable by Magnar Jenssen. Yes, I’ve never played it but come join me for my first time through!

I’ll be streaming Sunday at 11am Eastern US Time (4pm in the UK, 5pm Central Europe).

As usual the stream will be on the RunThinkShootLive YouTube Channel. See you there!

25th November 2017 5 Comments

The Hammer Cup 2017 Short Story Event

This event has finished. There were four stories by three authors.

Below is the PDF for you to read at your leisure.

I hope you enjoy it.

The link is in the main post.

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I am pleased to announce another short story event. I hope this becomes a yearly event.

I would like readers to write a short story that uses one of the maps as its setting or one of the first four themes from the Hammer Cup 2017; Defend, Bridge, Toxic and Teleport.

This is an “event” NOT a challenge or competition. I am calling it an “event” because I would like to encourage as many people as possible to submit stories. I don’t only want people to submit if they think they can win.

I have no plans to offer a prize.

The maximum word count is 2,500, but that DOES NOT mean you must write that many. Even really short stories can be fun to read.

I understand that not everybody who uses this site is a native English speaker but the submission MUST be in English.

The submission must also be suitable for over 16 years old children to read. If I feel a submission is inappropriate for some readers, I will not publish it.

As with my previous story events (TREE Story event No.1 and TREE Story Event No.2) I will publish the submissions as a PDF, making it easier for people to read.

The deadline for submission is 31st December 2017.

Please email them to me directly: [email protected]

They can be part of the email or attached as .txt files.

DO NOT send them as word documents or other word processing formats.

DO NOT post them here as comments.

If you have any questions or comments please do not hesitate to post them here.

19th November 2017 14 Comments

Opposing Force Birthday Livestream

As Half-Life 2 just becomes a teenager, the venerable Half-Life inches closer to a whopping 20 years since release! But that celebration is next year at this time.

However, its sibling release Half-Life: Opposing Force is turning 18 years old this very weekend, and we’re celebrating with a full Op4 livestream just like last year for HL!

I (Don) will be streaming Opposing Force starting Sunday the 19th at 1pm Eastern US, which is 6pm in the UK and 7pm in Central Europe.

The stream will be on the RTSL YouTube Channel.

17th November 2017 7 Comments

Re-Poll Question 001 – Have you Crowbarred Barney for his ammo?

In Half-Life, it is actually possible to kill Black Mesa guards and collect their ammo.

When PasserbywhoplaysHL asked the question “Have you Crowbarred Barney for his ammo?” I was shocked. Partly because I didn’t know you could and partly because it seemed pretty heartless.

I know it’s “just” a game but I feel that my actions within the game (within certain limits) should reflect my behaviour in real life. I don’t have fun just running around killing and shooting stuff. I want to play as part of a story etc, which is why MP has never appealed to me.

What about you?

Original Poll

You can find the original poll here: Poll Question 001 – Have you Crowbarred Barney for his ammo?

Time to vote

[poll id="34"]

About This Post

Back in 2006, I started a weekly poll. Each question was designed to encourage discussion, rather than simply “Yes!” or “No!” answers. Well, 2006 is a long time ago (11 years at the time of posting this) and the readership has changed. People have come and gone, as they always do, so I thought it might be fun to ask the same questions again.

Perhaps, the different readership will answer differently based on the years that have passed or perhaps they are simply different types of players. That in itself is an interesting question – a bit like new players to the franchise often prefer Black Mesa to the original Half-Life, simply because they never experienced HL when it was first released and have a completely different frame of reference.

Anyway, I plan to re-post all the questions in the same order, although not necessarily every week. So, if a new interesting question appears I will miss a week of the re-poll.

10th November 2017 20 Comments

The Hammer Cup 2017 – Challenge 5 – FusionVille

We’re here at last: the final challenge in The Hammer Cup 2017!

For this challenge we want you to pick 3 themes from the 2016 and 2017 Hammer Cup challenges, and creatively combine those themes into your perfect fusion map.

The deadline for submitting maps is: Monday 11th December 2017 – that’s two extra weeks!

8th November 2017 27 Comments

November 2017 – General Chat

Well, the clocks have gone back, the mornings are brighter and the release of Black Mesa is another month closer. YAY!

Got lots of things planned for November but you know what?, I’m not going to tell you because it seems that every time I mention them here, I never do them.

In a couple of weeks there will be the fund raising stream, for the Hammer Cup 2017 prize fund – so I hope you can join me for that.

There’s a few things I have been working on regarding the site but mostly fixing lots of little issues.

I hope to tell you more soon and so other ideas I have.

So, here’s to a fun and hard-working November.

What do you have planned?

1st November 2017 11 Comments

Your Screenshots: Sinister

Today sees the launch of a new monthly event called Your Screenshots.

Each month I will set a theme and readers will send in screenshots that fit the theme.

Introduction

The screenshots must be taken in the Half-Life series of games (Black Mesa included) or ANY released mod for those games, including multi-player mods.

Post-processing is allowed but must be stated when your screenshots is sent.

No set-ups using Source Film Maker is allowed.

I will run the event for six months and if it is successful, I will continue it.

There is no prize. I decided to not have a prize because I want as many readers to enter and I didn’t want people being discouraged thinking that only “artists” should enter.

The idea has been shamelessly stolen from the BBC: Your Pictures.

29th October 2017 6 Comments

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