Black Mesa: Source

                         

Black Mesa
Developer(s)	Black Mesa Modification Team
Composer(s)	Joel Nielsen
Series	Half-Life
Engine	Source
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows
Release date(s)	September 14, 2012 (Chapters Black Mesa Inbound - Lambda Core)
Genre(s)	First-person shooter
Mode(s)	Single-player
Media/distribution	Download

Black Mesa (previously known as Black Mesa: Source) is a third-party total conversion modification for Valve Corporation's Source engine. The stated goal of the project is to recreate Valve's critically acclaimed 1998 video game Half-Life using the more advanced capabilities of the Source engine. The 40-person volunteer development team says they hope to create a more engrossing in-game world with more varied, complex environments and more challenging, realistic gameplay.^{[citation needed]}
During its eight years in development, Black Mesa has been featured in several video game publications and received direct attention from Valve. Due to its long development time the modification has recently become notable for its delays, and dwindling updates on the status of its completion. The delays led to Wired Magazine awarding Black Mesa high spots on their Vaporware Of The Year list in 2009, and again in 2010. The developers released the game as a free download when completed. On June 10, 2012 the Black Mesa development team announced that new "media" would be released once their Facebook page reached 20,000 likes. This goal was reached on June 11, 2012 when 8 new screenshots were released, along with an announcement of the start of a "social-media campaign" towards their first release. On September 2, 2012, project leader Carlos "cman2k" Montero announced that the first Black Mesa release would take place on September 14, 2012.
Public voting saw the game approved for distribution on Steam's Greenlight program and will be released through Valve's own software, as well as a standalone download. The standalone download was released on September 14, 2012.

Gameplay

Development

With the release of Half-Life 2 in 2004, Valve Corporation re-released several of their previous titles, ported to their new Source game engine, including the critically acclaimed 1998 game Half-Life named Half-Life: Source. The Source engine is graphically more advanced than the GoldSrc engine used for the original versions. Half-Life: Source features the Havok physics engine and improved effects for water and lighting. The level architecture, textures, and models of the game however, remained unchanged
Half-Life: Source was met with mixed reviews. IGN liked the new user interface and other technical features but noted that it did not receive as many improvements as Valve's other Source engine ports. GameSpy said that while it was a "fun little bonus", it was "certainly not the major graphical upgrade some people thought it might be." Valve CEO Gabe Newell is quoted as saying that a complete remake of Half-Life by fans of the game using Source was "not only possible…but inevitable."

The "Surface Tension" chapter as it appears in Half-Life

The same scene, as seen in a development version of Black Mesa

Black Mesa began as the combination of two independent volunteer projects, each aiming to do just that: completely recreate Half-Life using Source. The Leakfree modification was announced in September 2004. Half-Life: Source Overhaul Project was announced one month later. After realizing their similar goals, project leaders for both teams decided to combine efforts; they formed a new 13-person team titled Black Mesa: Source. The "Source" in the project's title was later dropped when Valve asked the team to remove it in order to "stem confusion over whether or not [it was] an endorsed or official product," which it is not.
The team now consists of 40 volunteer level designers, programmers, modelers, texture artists, animators, sound engineers, voice actors, and support staff. They have stated they want Black Mesa to be similar to Half-Life in gameplay and story, but changes will be made to take advantage of Source's more advanced features. Changes to the story will not divert from, or alter, the overall storyline of the Half-Life series. Level designers have shortened or modified some areas of the game that "didn't make any sense," or were "tedious" in the original. Maps will also be of a larger scale, for instance the hydro-electric dam, which is now "twenty or thirty times" larger.
Originally based on the version of Source released with Counter-Strike: Source in 2004, the project now uses a more recent version released with Valve's The Orange Box in 2007. This new version includes more advanced particle effects, hardware-accelerated facial animation, and support for multi-core processor rendering among other improvements. The team has stated they do not plan on upgrading again to newer versions such as those used in Valve's Left 4 Dead (2008) or Portal 2 (2011) games. In addition to the modification itself, the game's thematic score, produced by sound designer Joel Nielsen, has been independently released as a soundtrack.
Black Mesa is distributed as a free download. The developers released a teaser trailer in 2005, and a full-length preview trailer in 2008. They also released images, videos, and concept art during the project's development. Black Mesa was given an official release date of "late 2009" in the spring of 2009, but this date was changed to "when it's done", after the development team was unable to fulfill this date. The first part of the game was released on September 14, 2012. The team plans to release the Xen levels sometime later; with the current content, they estimate that players will have eight to ten hours of content to complete.

Reception

During its development, Black Mesa has received attention from several video game publications. It has been featured in articles from Computer Gaming World, PC PowerPlay, and PC Gamer UK magazines. Valve published a news update about the modification on their Steam digital distribution platform in 2007 saying that "We're as eager to play [Black Mesa] here as everyone else."
The project was awarded Top Unreleased Mod by video game modification website Mod DB in 2005 and 2006. Mod DB gave the project an honorable mention in their choice of Top Unreleased Mod in 2007.
After receiving a development version of Black Mesa in December 2009, PC PowerPlay magazine said that the game's setting "looks, sounds, [and] plays better than ever before." The "subtle" changes from the original Half-Life were said to have a "substantial" overall impact. They also noted the project's "frustrating" then-five-year development time, and current lack of release date, but added that the developers were making progress.
After the mod was released, early impressions of the game were very good.


Minimum System Requirements
Software : Windows XP, Vista, or 7
Processor : Pentium 4 3.0 GHz, or AMD processor.
RAM : 1GB (1024 MB)
Graphics Card : Shader Model 2.0 capable, ATI 9600, NVidia 6600 or better.
Sound : DirectX 8.1 compatible.
HDD : 8 GB (Not including the Free Source SDK, installed separately)
• Ideal System Requirements
Software : Windows XP, Vista, or 7
Processor : Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4GHz or AMD equivalent.
RAM : 1 GB (1024 MB)
Graphics Card : Shader Model 3.0 capable, ATI X1600, NVidia 7600 or better.
Sound : DirectX 9.0c compatible.
HDD : 8 GB (Not including the Free Source SDK, installed separately)

Fun Fact: the Xbox360 controller is supported for this game – use it!

Video

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