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.

Follow the Read releases via RSS

Third 50-Hour Mapping Challenge Starts This Friday

Firstly, allow me to apologise for the late reminder. The dates were published weeks ago but I know that people don’t always pay attention and mark them in their diary or tell their secretary.

So, anyway, this Friday at 10pm Central European Summer Time, the third 50-Hour Mapping Challenge starts.

Full details will be announced in a post which will have all the details.

The judges and I are really excited about this theme and I would have loved to have a tease countdown but couldn’t think of a good way to do it.

Yes, the image is a clue and either it’s really obvious, in which case I apologise or it’s so obscure to be worthless and again, I apologise.

Here is the countdown timer for the start of the challenge.

Next 50-Hour Mapping Challenge starts in…Countdown

6th September 2017 16 Comments

Monthly Review Giveaway

As I was laying in bed this morning, trying to go back to sleep but knowing I couldn’t, I had this idea.

At the beginning of each month, I will randomly select one review posted in the previous month and send the author a free Steam game.

The game won’t be AAA and it might not be very good but it’s free!

The winner will NOT be able to select the game and if they have it already or don’t want it then they can pass it on t a friend.

My thinking behind this is NOT to encourage people to write reviews because they think they might win a game but to say thank you for supporting the site.

The community and reviews set this website apart from other websites. Imagine I simply had a list of download links instead of what we have. I don’t think it would be very friendly and inviting website to visit.

The winner will be chosen using the Recommendation Wall page, which is currently partially broken, but will be fixed soon. This means that a review MUST use a Recommendation Image. This also means that this giveaway is only open to registered members of RTSL.

I will announce each winner in the monthly General Chat of the following month. So, the winner for August 2017, will be announced in the September 2017 General Chat and Twitter.

I have plenty of games to giveaway, but if you have spare ones you want to donate, please email me the details and any credit you want.

As always, if you have any questions, comments, suggestions or complaints, just let me know.

1st September 2017 2 Comments

September 2017 – General Chat

OMG, I can’t believe that September is here. I did 20% of the things I had planned for August. Oh Well, there’s always next year. HA!

Anyway, we are getting closer to the server move, so that’s good but I am still pretty nervous about it. It’s the first time the site will be self-hosted. The dev site seems really fast, so that’s one good thing.

Due to circumstances, I have been spending some time posting stuff on Twitter, hopefully you have been following me – if not, why not?

RTSL Twitter feed Only 32 more followers needed to reach 1,000.

Besides that, I’ll try to finish Wolfenstein: The New Order and even start Old Blood. YES! I know I said that last month but I mean it this time.

What about you, what do you have planned?

31st August 2017 36 Comments

Half-Life: Caged Press Release

Future Games Select and Cayle George bring you a prison escape like no other!

Featuring explosive action and a soundtrack from outrun music legend Lazerhawk, Half-Life: C.A.G.E.D. is a return to the golden age of First Person Shooters.

Break from captivity, conquer the facility and discover the secrets of Half-Life: C.A.G.E.D.!

Set for release on 21st September 2017.

C.A.G.E.D. is based on Cayle’s map Caged from 2002’s Project: Quantum Leap – but massively expanded and upgraded with custom content including awesome music from Lazerhawk. It’s got secrets, achievements, an unlockable bonus map, and even a developer commentary mode. It’s a fantastic reimagining of the old PQL map – and it’s not every day that a former Valve mapper releases a Half-Life mod!

Keep reading for a video and screenshots.

29th August 2017 3 Comments

12/13 August 2017 Livestream Schedule

There are at least two livestreams scheduled for this weekend and I hope that many of you can watch and join in the chat.

Full details of each day’s stream are below as well as the links to stay up to date on the streams.

Issues with the chat

In the last stream, there was an issue with a user posting offensive messages. I apologise for this and thank the moderators and thank my moderators for addressing it. If this continues, I will look into only allowing approved users to post comments on the live chat. An approved user is a person who has posted a comment on one of my YouTube videos and then been approved by me.

I will also be looking into other chat features including YouTube Sperchat and Nightbot.

Saturday 12th: From Combines

Phillip will play the recently released From Combines. You play as a Combine Elite soldierand there are some bonus maps too.

The livestream is scheduled to start 8am Eastern US, 1pm UK, 2pm Europe.

Sunday 13th: Research and Development

Don FINALLY plays Research and Development! It’s part of the Classic of the Month event, which sees Don replay a classic mod each month.

The livestream is scheduled to start 1pm Eastern US, 6pm UK, 7pm Europe.

Links

Check the RTSL Twitter feed for the latest announcements.

All the streams are on the RTSL YouTube Channel with chat enabled.

10th August 2017 2 Comments

August 2017 – General Chat

Firstly, please excuse the larger than normal featured image. It’s Half-Life 2 running on 16 monitors at 16K resolution. You can see the full video here: GAMING at 16K RESOLUTION?? – HOLY $H!T from the Linus Tech Tips channel.

Secondly, I’m back from my holiday and feeling refreshed and raring to update the site.

The BlackMesaDoorVille Mapping challenge is underway and at the time of posting this chat has 16 days left.

I’ll be posting some recently released mods over the coming days too. I’ll also be re-adding the CONTACT and SUBMIT pages very soon too.

I’d like to take this opportunity to reminder all users that the RTSL Twitter feed is the best place to stay up to date with all the news related to the site, including details of livestreams.

Talking of Twitter, I’ve started a new daily (hopefully) tweet series called RTSL: On This Day, where I post a map or mod that was published on the site this day. In case you didn’t know, I take the map or mod from the On This Day page. It lists everything that was posted on that day, all years and all types of posts. Take a look, you might find something interesting.

Other plans this month include LOTS of mapping and I want to finish Wolfenstein: The New Order and even start Old Blood.

Well, that’s me done.

What plans do you have for August?

5th August 2017 16 Comments

BlackMesaDoorVille Announcement

Hello and welcome to the very first Black Mesa Mapping Challenge.

This game offers so many mapping opportunities that it is a great shame more SP maps haven’t been released.

Hopefully, this mapping challenge will encourage mappers to make their first BM map and also inspire mappers who have already released a map to make another one.

Full details, including the theme, deadline date and exact rules are below.

26th July 2017 45 Comments

July 2017 Classic of the Month Livestream

While Phillip’s away, I will play. This month’s Classic of the Month is by request. Phillip streamed it a few months back as part of one of his marathon streams, but I haven’t played it since it came out in 2003.

This weekend it’s Point of View. I’ll be streaming Sunday at 3pm Eastern US Time (8pm in the UK, 9pm Europe).

You should double check the Time & Date.Com website for your local time.

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

21st July 2017 No Comments

Remaining Mapping Challenges’ Dates

I’ll be honest and say I wanted to fix the dates for the whole year in January and release them but as it turned out, it was better not to due to the addition of the new 50-Hour format.

Below are the dates of the remaining mapping challenges in 2017.

I do not envisage changing them but I will be open to the possibility.

Black Mesa Challenge 1: 26 July to 21 August

YAY! Finally, got this agreed. Initially, I was going to be working with the Crowbar Collective but cancelled at the last minute and now I’ll be running this alone. Like all other mapping challenges, this one WILL have a theme but unlike all other mapping challenges, it will be for Black Mesa (obviously!).

I have also added another week to this challenge to help with modders new to the BM set up. I actually wish I had finalised these dates sooner and could have give modders even more time to get comfortable with the engine etc – sorry.

50-Hour Mapping Challenge 3: 9/10 September

With the last two 50-hour challenges having over 20 entry maps each, it would be crazy not to do at least one more. As for the previous two challenges, the theme will be open enough to fit 50 hours of creation time. Think of these challenges as more experimental gameplay styles than traditional HL2 releases.

The Hammer Cup Challenge 4: 20 September to 9 October

Challenge 4 of The Hammer CUp will be 19 days and have a theme that requires entrants to balance design, polish and gameplay.

The Hammer Cup Challenge 5: 8 November to 4 December

Challenge 5 of the Hammer Cup will be a special theme and has an extra week.

50-Hour Mapping Challenge 4: 16/17 December

Another 50-hour challenge to finish the year. And no, it won’t be XmasVille or SantaVille, or RudolphVille – in fact it WILL NOT be related to Christmas at all.

Final Thoughts

As I said, I wish I had set and announced these dates earlier, especially the Black Mesa one, but I didn’t, so sorry. Here’s hoping for a spectacular release of SP maps between now and the end of the year!

15th July 2017 7 Comments