Hello everyone and welcome to the Operation Black Mesa September media release! In this update we'd like to present a few changes that are going to take place in how we present our media in addition to showing the actual material. From this point on we'll attempt making more regular updates. The updates, or 'in-betweeners' can range from everything to a developer blog, a short podcast discussing the material we've released and where we plan to take it or what we have in store for the next media release. This is done as much for our own sake as it's done for the community as it helps us keep focused at our work while at the same time keeps those interested in the loop so to speak. We won't disclose exactly what will take place when we do post something (except for the MR of course), so you'll have to wait and see what shows up first.
That being said, we can move on to the actual point of this article, namely the media! Since last time we've focused our attention mostly at characters and weapons, which has given some nice results that we're very satisfied with. That does not mean we've been totally without progress within mapping, as you can see here:
First of all comes the concept art, so that you can get a taste of what is to come. A good few of these were done by one of our new talented 3D modelers, Liz, who is currently working with John Cleese's clone. If anybody knows someone good at mimicking his voice, give us a call. The second part of the concept art shots were made by our long lost russian concept artist Ferapod who has now rejoicefully reappeared and is back on the job! The third and final part has been done by Arturo, who is also very active in modelling, having made among other things the Voltigore and the spore launcher!
Next up we have weapons. Our Texture artist and compiler/shader magician-in-training Dopefish fixed, compiled and tweaked the shaders for these weapons, and we now have ten weapons brought into the mod. Either by animation rig and/or as world model. Note that the shaders aren't applied in these weapon shots, but I can assure you all that they look great! We've also made some great progress with our NPCs and prop models, and now that our models are making their way into the build at ever higher speeds, it's just a matter of time before we can start the gibbing. In the department of prop modelling we've been joined by two very talented modelers; Thechan and Serma3D who are currently busy filling our maps with highgrade items, some of which will interact very favourably when hit by gunfire.
The weapons that have been rigged are the following: Wrench, Knife, Glock, Desert Eagle, Shotgun, MP5, Grenade, Sniper Rifle, Snark And Spore launcher. Of those only the snark and Spore launcher haven't made it into the build so far (although I suspect its only a question of when its added) and the only weapon that doesn't have a world model of these is the Grenade. The Rigging and animation was done by a two people, some of the animations were done by MR.Brightside while the majority has been done by our two newest additions to the team; Sparkwire and Sn1pe.
Next up is mapping. These moodsetting shots are from the chapter "The Package" currently in progress by Bono_Estente, skybox and lighting by Spockjedi. Soon to be filled by menacing black ops!
We've also made some great progress in the area of particle effects, as we've been joined by an extremely skilled particle effects editor named Bolty, but you won't be seeing samples of his great work until we get that video done. Did I just write that out loud?
Last but certainly not least, the video showcases. These were produced by our new modelling lead Neil Dorrington aka Nrd2001, who has been working hard on pretty much every aspect of the project and the MR, helping out where needed in modelling as well as making his own models and working on the screenshots and wallpapers and learning animation on the side.
We have also been joined by a few other people whose work won't be shown until the next media release. These include our two new coders 'Bluefire' and 'Danboe' as well as the texture artist Deady, the thirdperson animators/riggers FrColley and Rooster, as well as our new HUD and 2D graphics artist Tabtoxin. You will be seeing more from these developers in the next MR.
Finally for recruitment. The positions we are currently looking to fill are Level Designers and Modelers (both character and prop modelling). We're always looking for people to work with, so if we've piqued your interest, drop by our forum and say hello.
We hope you liked what we had to show for now and that we spurred some interest from the development areas that we lack people in. For now, this is Operation Black Mesa letting you know we're still here, DragonNOR out.
You guys got some professional assets on here.
Thanks for the update and keep up the phenomenal work.
Thanks to you and all people who is tracking this Mod, after all, this is for all you :)
Excellence in motion :)
Pro! I want to make love to the zombie since he looks so cool.
I'm ashamed to say I already have, it was not pretty.
Impressive.
Awesome work with modeling.
Artwork is amazing.
Mapping is cool.
Texture is very good.
Nice mod :)
holy crap!
impressive update I must admit!
R-E-L-E-A-S-E ... the KRAKEN!!
Keep up great work, looking forward!
Wow amazing update! I love the way Gonome looks. The new snark animations made me laugh.
The music is outstanding
Wow, You gentlemen have outdone yourselves. The music is just amazing and the preview videos are put together so well. The Weapon models look just realisitc thanks to all of your talanted artists.
Keep up the good work!
I love how you made the race X creatures look even more insect like than before, I'm really digging the carapace on the shock trooper. Great work guys, keep it up!
Oh My god this was a great update KEEP IT UP!!!!
Looks bloody amasing! Each time you guys release stuff, the bar for good quality has to be lifted! Awesome work! :)
AMAZING! :D carnt wait for this :)
So much media! Great work
Love a team that keeps the updates coming. Beautiful work guys.
This mod is going to look better than hl2. This MOD. Nice work
ooh, this just got my attention - tracking... pretty sweet modelling and anims :)
Oh i just love your snark! ))
I love the gonome and snark
Judging by the concept art, there's going to be a male version of the fassn?
There were Male Black Ops in Half-Life: Opposing Force.. So yes. there will be Male Black Ops.
Maybe you misunderstand what I said. The Fassn in the pic looks a bit too much like a male rather then a female I think.
Oh! It's definitely meant to be female. The Black Ops are getting a bit of a redesign before being modelled, I'll make sure she is sexier ;)
hi operation black mesa team,
can you say anything to a date of release? (am i too impatient?)
greetings
Yes sir, you are too impatient. :P
then i have to say, i'm sorry. ok?
Yes sir. xD jk/
Seriously, we could create some Hype and tell you "Spring 2011" and then have a lot of attention and a crazy debate about it, but we donĀ“t like two things: 1.-Work under pressure 2.-Lie. so all i can say is Patience! :D
Aaah, I am so excited!
Awesome progress!
Looks great. Only problems imo are that the deagle doesn't look as big as it actually is, due to the fact that the gun is point forward instead of pointed inward a little.
Also I think the shotgun shouldn't be held up in the middle of the screen, blocking the view, when its reloading. Also the shells r gray when reloading but red when expelled :) all minor things.
Btw give that snark a french fry.
we could feed him french fries but then we would need to model a fat snark.
Oh and for the rest of the feedback, thanks we are listening to the feedback and fixing the problems found.
Looking great as always! Keep up the top notch work.
Honestly, I can't say I care for any of your media except for the Houndeye model. And the shotgun just sounds wrong, it's like the sound of the pellets hitting a metal wall from a distance rather than the sound of gun firing. Weapon reel 2 shows the world model of the mp5, then the view model of the spore launcher. Slapping the snark & giving it a peanut both look wrong & strangely animated.
The Gonome texture also looks too dry.
Actually, thats just the sound of the bullets hitting a metal wall, not the shotgun itself.
As for the rest, well, haters gonna hate ...
nothing to brag about, just awesome
The texturing on all the models is incredible. I will be severely disappointed if this mod doesnt make it to the light. Keep it up guys.