Episode #29 – ft. Action Half-Life 2

This week we are joined by The Black Knight and sykes from Action Half-Life 2. We talk for a bit about places which teach game development skills and answer some listener audio questions.

Transmission Code: 13409 (#29)

Extended Show Notes

Introduction

  • 00:02:30 – William, Thomas & Emanuel are joined by ChristianF (The Black Knight) and James Moverley (sykes) from Action Half-Life 2.

Emanuel Apology Section

  • 00:10:00 – Emanuel NeoTokyo Rant
  • 00:13:00 – ZombieMod: Source Review

From the Mouth of Valve

  • 00:16:30 – Left 4 Dead, by the Numbers
  • 00:19:00 – Item Drops and the Future of Team Fortress 2

Left 4 Dead Releases

  • 00:25:00 – Dead Zone
  • 00:25:00 – Wall of Death

Releases

  • 00:27:00 – Dark World (Half-Life 2)
  • 00:35:00 – Find Alyx (Half-Life 2)
  • 00:37:00 – Frontiers (Half-Life 2)
  • 00:42:00 – Need For Energy (Half-Life)
  • 00:43:30 – Guild Hall students release their final projects

What’s everyone up to?

  • 00:58:00 – Catchup with the crew.

Media Blitz

  • 01:01:00 – Operation Black Mesa April 2009 media release.
  • 01:05:30 – The Curse is being released May 18th

Interview

  • 01:06:00 – Interview with The Black Knight and sykes from Action Half-Life 2.

Listener Audio Question

  • 01:47:00 – Stratofarious asks us how we feel about the other side of the HL scene, aka. Machinima and such.
  • 01:57:00 – Penis asks us about pros and cons of maps.
  • 02:00:00 – Wrap-up.

Download Links

Emanuel Apology Section

From the Mouth of Valve

Left 4 Dead Releases

Releases

Media Blitz

Topic of the Week

Blast from the Past

Interview

Listener Audio Question

There are 14 responses to “Episode #29”.

  • Da Fat Cat says:

    Action Half-Life 2 didn’t come out. Yarg.

  • Joure says:

    haha funny show, still listening.
    ohh btw, Sorry emanuel cats can open doors.
    http://www.youtube.com/results?search_type=&search_query=cat+opens+door&aq=f

  • TuRkEy says:

    Wow, after that huge rant on Dark World, it only makes me want to play it more. I think I’m one of the few people that loves playing through very amateurish maps and mods – maybe I have like a complex issue where I like watching people trying to do something they can’t, making me feel superior? Okay, enough psychology.

  • Stratofarius says:

    Heck yes!
    That was one of the (if not THE) best podcasts ever. 5 out of 5.
    Making an audio commenmt, new one (yay!) and…
    Yes, cats can open doors.

  • Stratofarius says:

    [riffly_audio]591D7CE439C811DE9D5EC94D49680BD4[/riffly_audio]

  • Discrate says:

    You are a pirate.

  • DuckSauce says:

    You played with Penis…

    That sounds uhm.. yeaaah

    Very unusual name for someone to use :P

  • Da Fat Cat says:

    I am currently making the worst map ever made. I hope I can piss you off.

  • Da Fat Cat says:

    BOOYAH! My crappy map is crappy. http://www.garrysmod.org/downloads/?a=view&id=68128 I uploaded it to gmod.org because that site is a good place to store crap maps. :D

  • Da Fat Cat says:

    Most of those Guild Hall maps really should have been better if they had 4 weeks to do them and they go to a game design university…

    W00t triple poastin’ !!!!1

  • TingPing says:

    The refugies in Frontiers, could use guns as well…

  • InfectedNL says:

    Maybe you should give beginner mods kind of a chance ive been building maps for a small year now and learned a lot from building dark world, You can rip it off all you want, but I had fun working on it and it improved my skill and creativity I hope some people can see that, by playing the mod. And yes there are people who saw it and had fun playing it.

  • tbk says:

    @Infected

    I try to write up some constructive feedback; As for now:: please Betatest your next project and make it smaller/shorter.

  • Hehe. The commentary on the Guildhall is hilarious. We teach ourselves the majority of our skills. We don’t learn design out of a book. We learn it from collaborating and getting feedback from industry professionals. All the teachers have many years of experience in the game development world. And while the program is very sadistic in terms of time investment, that only means that anyone who’s wholly passionate about games has the balls to complete it ;)

    Anywho, just as a slight correction, the maps that y’all commented on were mini projects we created over the course of 4 weeks in the middle of the program. These were our very first levels after learning the Hammer engine. Our final projects were 16 week things that are in the middle of getting the final levels of polish right now. Since we’ve already graduated, each student is working pushing a public version out on their own time. Be on the lookout for them coming up on our portfolios soon. Mine’s called Isotope, you take the role of the son of Adrian Shephard in the middle of Combine-held Chicago. The focus is to teach a complete newbie how to play Half-Life 2, and to explain the story of the Combine through use of voice-acted dialogue and FacePoser scenes.

    On an excited note, thanks for posting our maps. Feedback is the eraser and pencil of game development, so keep the comments coming guys.

    Much appreciation,

    Ahmed

    ameguid at gmail dot com

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