Inspired by videos of Half-Life 2's beta, and mods attempting to recreate it such as Missing Information, I have been thinking of wanting to write the design document for a similar project. I'd want to utilize cut enemies, cut weapons, and cut locations, but the general outline and structure of the story would be different from other attempts. I was thinking of combining elements from the HL2 beta, the retail HL2, and HL1's cut content with some of my own additions. Plus, I want to do it as a mod for Half-Life Source, or at least make the game play and look like Half-Life 1. I want to do this, firstly because I want to see HL2's content rendered in the graphical look of GoldSource, and secondly, because I want it to be simpler and not rely on character facial animations. Yet, I want it to be in Source, because Source has better NPC pathfinding A.I., a little more complex enemy A.I., the fluid animations, and the physics.
Let me just get straight to the concept.
Gordon awakens on the train, witnessing Xen-life in the wastelands, and the brutish conditions of City 17. He starts off at the a city area, and gets confused for an employee for the Citadel, and ends up there. At the Citadel, it runs similarly to Black Mesa, except all the scientists are paranoid and probably insane, and Combine soldiers keep them in check. One scientist recognizes you, and hides you so that the Combine patrol won't catch you. He takes you to the secret oracle in the utility room, who is none other than Mr. Friendly in a containment tank. Mr. Friendly tells you what has happened in the world since the disaster, and tells you that the "pale blue clothed man" wants him to find Gordon's old colleagues outside the city, and find a way to get them away from Dr. Breen's reach so that they might find ways to stabilize the planet. Gordon escapes, and has a series of misadventures in City 17 and the Wastelands, with aliens and Breen's soldiers hunting him down. And plenty of Half-Life 1's old enemies are among them.
Here are some of the changes I have in mind for how the game plays:
*The Strider would be altered so that he has a big eye right where its gun should be (as an ode to the Pit Worm). Its first appearance would be a major puzzle-based boss fight through city ruins (in the vein of the Tentacle fight), and is much larger than the original Strider. It would peek through the windows of buildings to see if Freeman is there, and would take notice of noise like the Tentacles.
*Combine soldiers could be evaded or killed by stealth, just to make them more fun to fight.
*Return of classic Xen alien critters.
*Non-linear gameplay, hub system, and optional side quests with rewards.
*Gordon would still not have a voice, but since it's a mod, I thought he could have a dialogue tree when talking to characters with certain information. Similar to Fallout's dialogue system.
*Inclusion of grotesque alien boss fights, like the Ravenholm Gonarch and the Oceanic Hydra.
*Zombies (or Mawmen) who can climb ladders, set up traps, and display odd social behavior.
*New weapons like the AK-47, Explosive Bolts attached to Crows, and the Quintessence Pipe (a Dark Energy equivalent of the Gluon Gun)
*New scientist types, some modeled from B-Movie actors and New Wave musicians. Because they are mad, few you can trust, and some may try to kill you.
*Grunts and assassins making a reappearance as bums, hoodlums, and street urchins.
*A more developed Alyx, which you spend more time with.
*A wide, explorable cityscape, with aspects of Kingpin and Blood 2.
*Multiple Hazard Course levels: one on Xen, another on a junk riddled shore near Black Mesa East.
*Inclusion of the original character model for the City 17 residents (as seen in the picture where they are running from the Strider)
*Glimpse of the Combine alien world.
This is part of some of my brainstorming. There are sections from the beta that I'd like to include, like the Borealis mission. I'm also toying with idea of a boss fight with Judith Mossman, one where she's in a better armored Hazard Suit, and then operating a battle mech. As to how the whole thing will be carried out, I don't know.
What say you, Interlopers?