Black Mesa: Opening Level Screenshots

[Blink]

http://www.moddb.com/mods/half-life-nightwatch/

Half-Life engine if you can believe it

[marks]

If after 6 years of development this is all they've to show, I'm seriously disappointed.

This. So much this.

[city14]

I was confused, the trailers showed so much better content, and even the playable alpha's from those old leaks looked FAR better than those screen shots.

WHAT HAPPENED?

[AlphaKennyOne]

A post from Raminator over on the BMS forums should shed some light on the situation.

We don't make discrete builds, the content on the subversion is updated constantly. It would be absurd to have individually packaged and distributed the 17,940 updates we've made to the mod since this SVN repository was brought online.

Not all of the content of the SVN is up-to-date, and not all of the stuff that is on there is at final quality. There are fast and fullbright compiles, there are maps without cubemaps built, there are cordon-compiled maps, there are placeholders and things that are missing. It's all under development, so if you take the contents of the mod on one particular day, it's unlikely that everything will be the perfect, polished product you would expect it to be.

The snapshot of the game that Atomic showed off is a nice example of this. People complained about things like the lack of specularity and flat lighting, you know, the kind of thing you'd expect to see in a development build that hasn't been specially updated to be shown off. The stuff in the PC PowerPlay preview didn't have this problem, because it was specifically prepared for them.

From what I gathered, the build that Atomic recieved wasn't authorized, and they never meant for them to play it, let alone take pictures, as JamesKane posts:

We DID NOT give permission to allow Atomic to play the build.
The team member acted on his own without consulting anyone about what he was doing.

We did not know of the event until after it was posted.

Hence he leaked information to the media without consulting the team.

[sdematt]

Pretty sure someone's going to get pimp-slapped for this. Overall, it looks very good for still being in development. I highly doubt this is what the final build will look like, as the media released to us has always been of much better quality, I don't see it taking a random drop for no good reason EXCEPT for the fact that it's not a polished part that they played.

If the BMS team reads this, good job and keep trucking. I have faith that the quality will be very high.

Even if this was the final version, it's sure a hell of a lot better than anything I could do, and I'd still be happy even if this was it. I'd be slightly let down, sure, but I'd still play the hell out of it, say many thank you's, and continue on my merry way.


-Matt

[ThePain]

We DID NOT give permission to allow Atomic to play the build.
The team member acted on his own without consulting anyone about what he was doing.

We did not know of the event until after it was posted.

Hence he leaked information to the media without consulting the team.

*cough*Thisiscompleteandutterbullshit.
Thereleasewasplannedasa"Fakeleak"tosikeupthefanbasefortheirplannedreleasethisdecember.
Whattheyarestatingnowissimplyfalloutbecausetheyhonestlydidn'tthinkthecommunitywouldtake
itthisnegativelyandhonestlyexpectednothingbutpraise.TheBMdevteamiscurrentlyinanuproarover
tryingtocoverthisupandblamingeachotherforthisfuckup.It'ssaidtobereallysadanddepressingtowatch.*cough*

Gah, I think my cold is back.

[Phott]

Exactly what I was thinking ThePain, this is a faked leak probably.

[Major Banter]

Well, IMHO Insurgency has much more detailed maps, and much better textures.
As stoopdapoop says, some of the BMS textures don't look too great - they lack polish, and occasionally aren't placed well together. I hate to say it, but some of the textures look no better than those seen in the HLS high res pack.

BMS does however have some of the best NPC models yet seen in Source, I'd say they look more or less on par with L4D models.

Allow me to hammer this into your skull.

Mods take a few years. And a lot of effort.

Remaking a game takes considerably longer with an astronomical amount of effort.

I hate people whinging about BMS. It constantly reminds me how much people just don't think anymore.

[source-maps]

It constantly reminds me how much people just don't think anymore.

implying that people where ever thinking at all

[ThePain]

Allow me to hammer this into your skull.

Mods take a few years. And a lot of effort.

Remaking a game takes considerably longer with an astronomical amount of effort.

I hate people whinging about BMS. It constantly reminds me how much people just don't think anymore.

Allow me to hammer this into your skull.

Any artist who's worth his salt begs for criticism. They should want to hear about every mis-aligned texture, every badly lit area, every small flaw in their creation so they can learn from that, fix it, and improve their work.

He's not saying "LOL Mod sux!"

He's saying

some of the BMS textures don't look too great - they lack polish, and occasionally aren't placed well together. I hate to say it, but some of the textures look no better than those seen in the HLS high res pack.

BMS does however have some of the best NPC models yet seen in Source, I'd say they look more or less on par with L4D models.

That's fair, honest, and constructive criticism, and to silence it is to praise stagnation and mediocrity, things that should not ever be tolerated in an artistic field, let alone upheld as virtuous.

Or, to put it as my advanced 3D modeling instructor put it

If I wanted to hear about how great it is, I'll show it to my mother. I put it online because I want it ripped apart by the community. If I'm not here to improve, then I'm in someone else's way.

TL:DR Criticism is what an artist should feed on. If Gabe Newell took criticism badly, for all he's done I'd still instantly lose all respect for him and see him as a nobody and not someone I would ever want to work with, despite what work he puts out.

[noclip]

The offender ended up being kicked off the team, so I wouldn't be too hasty about saying this was deliberate.

[ThePain]

My options are nod and say you're probably right, or explain how I know I'm exactly right beyond question...so

*nods* You're probably right.

[Major Banter]

There's a very key difference between criticism and whinging.

Seems you reinforced my point. I'm not saying criticism is bad. I'm saying that:

Pointing out that Insurgency has better quality materials is moot. It's nitpicking and sniping rather than crits. The team have specifically said that they are furious that an unfinished build was let out with sub-par models and textures.

Correct me if I'm wrong here, but does that not imply that;
a. The textures are poor
b. The criticism from some chap on 'lopers is going to be read
c. That the criticism is of any relevant value

And does imply that:
d. BMS has been in development for six solid years. Imagine that toil.
e. They kicked off the member who allowed the leak to occur - the SVN version that was not final.
f. Giving crits to a bunch of non-beta screens is just plain pointless.

My point? I'm infuriated at the communities, not individuals. However, some people can't read nor think. Excuse me for using Saxon's post as an example.

On a side note, I did fuck up. I meant skulls. Seriously.

[Saxon]

Ehh... I was simply posting a reply to Blink's post challenging the forum members to name better looking mods than BMS. So I duly mentioned INS and other mods have better world textures and props than those seen in the BMS screens.

I honestly don't think the BMS team will be poring over this thread, so it's not like theres any point in me elaborating my point by saying "well guys this would look better if you did XYZ on your textures, then your maps would look as good as Insurgency".

[ThePain]

And I'm calling Bullshit on the B.M. team, this is all just their damage control. That release is old, yes. It's about 5-6 months old to be exact, but that's what they decided to go forward with "Leaking" because it is unfortunately the most complete section of the game they have put together.

"Hey guys! Oh no, not another "leak" now everyone gets to see the work we've done behind the scenes we didn't "want" you to see, polishing the.... you hate it? What? how can you I... er... I mean YEAH! That's all old work! HOW DARE that guy who was leaving the team soon and had a connection to a quasi well known online game review magazine give out our 2 media demo levels! Why that scoundrel!"

Quiz time- What section of BMS did the B.M. team show all the other magazines (Like Game Informer) as well?

A: Why it's the exact same sections of the mod in slightly earlier builds, almost as if it's a Media Package!