Happy Lunar New Year from the Black Mesa crew!
We wished to let everybody know we’re near having a launch candidate for Black Mesa 1.0! We additionally wished to present an replace on what’s going to be included within the full launch, what our street map appears like going ahead, and to say we’re 20% off for the Lunar Sale.
As quickly as it’s prepared, we’ll push the construct to public beta like we’ve got up to now. After a lot of inside and exterior testing, we’ll patch the construct as wanted, and eventually, FINALLY (FINALLY!!!) launch Black Mesa out of Early Access!
This is a big deal for us. The crew has put in a ton of effort to enhance the game in methods large and small.
The greatest change we’ve got made is an entire overhaul of the HECU AI. Soldiers will now lay down suppressing hearth, flank your place, talk extra, throw grenades extra successfully, use their MP5 grenade launchers, and extra.
We have additionally evaluated and adjusted numerous the fight areas to raised make the most of the AI and to replicate what we’ve got discovered since we first constructed Earthbound. It has been numerous enjoyable redesigning areas of the game to work higher, and to make use of “creativity through constraint” to make the most of our ranges with out utterly rebuilding them.
The crew watched numerous playthroughs and recognized sections within the game the place the tempo got here to a grinding halt. We redesigned or fastened these sections in order that gamers can sustain their momentum.
In addition to the design, we evaluated the artwork as effectively. We took what we discovered in Xen and up to date A FEW sections of Earthbound to raised match Xen and present graphics requirements.
We will totally assist the game after our launch, and plan to increase upon this course of to present the entire game an improve whereas preserving the efficiency the identical.
As talked about above, we’re near a launch candidate for Black Mesa 1.0. We will take a look at the entire game internally, push the construct to public-beta for much more testing, patch the construct if vital, then launch the game in full.
We jokingly name this Black Mesa: Definitive Edition, however don’t fear, it won’t be any kind of re-release or paid content material. After 1.Zero we’ll take a number of months to undergo the game, determine tough spots, and polish the artwork on Earth and Xen. We’d additionally prefer to proceed to enhance the workshop and arrange crew and neighborhood occasions to doc as a lot as we will concerning the Source engine and easy methods to finest use it. We don’t have a scope for these occasions but, however after years of loving/hating/fixing/breaking the Source engine, we might love to assist others get data and remedy issues.
We prefer to log off these updates by thanking the neighborhood, however know they aren’t canned strains or one thing we tack on to look grateful. We are actually proud to have been capable of end this game, and it will not have been potential with out our affected person and useful neighborhood. I don’t assume it has totally set in that we’re virtually “done” with Black Mesa. We REALLY look ahead to some low-pressure enjoyable updates for this game, in addition to beginning in on new initiatives.
Thank you for the assist, thanks for the constructive criticism, and thanks for on a regular basis spent in our game. We will probably be again quickly with launch notes and a beta!
-The Black Mesa Team
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