Orchid Win7 v1 <voi### [at] devnull> wrote:
> Black Mesa is not a AAA title. As far as I can tell, nobody even got 
> paid. But unlike when Valve paid id Software a crapload of money to 
> license their game engine, the people behind Black Mesa were able to use 
> the very latest version of the Source engine *for free*. They also used 
> a whole bunch of game assets from HL2, CSS and similar. They can only do 
> this because the game is free, of course; if you wanted to /sell/ this 
> game, you'd have to license the technology.

Valve seems to be a really nice and non-evil game company. When someone
makes a mod, expansion or remake of their intellectual property, Valve's
lawyers are not getting lawgasms and sending cease&desist notifications
like mad. Instead, Valve encourages and embraces fan-made works based on
their IP.

This is quite unlike many other game companies (eg. Square-Enix is one
of the most infamous ones on this regard. They are real a-holes sometimes.)

-- 
                                                          - Warp

Post a reply to this message

On 23/09/2012 10:28 AM, Warp wrote:
> Valve seems to be a really nice and non-evil game company. When someone
> makes a mod, expansion or remake of their intellectual property, Valve's
> lawyers are not getting lawgasms and sending cease&desist notifications
> like mad. Instead, Valve encourages and embraces fan-made works based on
> their IP.

Hell, they just *made* the Source Film Maker, a tool who's only purpose 
for existing is to let fans make movies using Source-powered games. 
They're literally /encouraging/ people to use their IP.

If I wanted to be cynical, I might say "yeah, but you need to buy a 
Source-powered game in order to *use* SFM!" Except that, no, you don't. 
Check this out: TF2 is available *for free*! o_O

(Of course, TF2 also includes a trading system based on micropayments in 
real currency, but whatever...)

Valve's business model seems to be, loosely, "make people excited about 
your stuff, and they will be queuing up to buy more of it".

Post a reply to this message

On 23/09/2012 10:28 AM, Warp wrote:
> Valve seems to be a really nice and non-evil game company.

...and by total coincidence, I just read this:

http://tinyurl.com/ct7ok27

Post a reply to this message

On 21/09/2012 05:00 PM, Orchid Win7 v1 wrote:
> On 15/09/2012 09:57 PM, Warp wrote:
>> Black Mesa is a Source mod that's basically a remake / total conversion
>> of Half-Life (using the modern Source engine).
>
> I love how all the TVs are made by "Fony". ;-)

I found the gold gun. I'm loving how after it overcharges, you go in the 
room where it's kept, and there's just a pair of shoes in the middle of 
the room. Smoking. :-D

I'm not loving how the gold gun is now approximately as powerful as a 
water pistol. :-( That thing used to be the best gun in the game.

I also remember that in the original game, the SMG was a really powerful 
weapon - unlike in later games where they made it more "realistic" in 
that SMGs are really inaccurate. In Black Mesa, it seems they went with 
realism. If an enemy is more than about 20 yards away, you're wasting 
your time trying to use the SMG. You won't hit anything.

Which is a pity, because in HL1, when you picked up the SMG, suddenly 
you were like this unstoppable killing machine. The gun spits out 
bullets at an absurd rate, mowing down anything in your path. I suppose 
you could argue it made the game "too easy" - but generally you ran out 
of ammo so fast, it wasn't a big deal.

What I'm really liking is that a lot of the environments now look like 
real places that might actually exist, rather than a random collections 
of cubes with different texturing. The unethical labs actually have a 
different feel to the office complex, for example. Some really nice use 
of lighting. (Although it still bothers me how many corridors have 
random equipment with knobs and dials on it. Would you really put that 
in the middle of a corridor?)

The outdoor scenes feel more like somewhere out in the desert now. 
Storage areas /look like/ storage areas. Car parks have some cars in 
them. And so on. I'm really enjoying playing this game!

Post a reply to this message

On 9/19/2012 0:27, Orchid Win7 v1 wrote:
> It only took, like, a few minutes to actually /download/. What took me
> almost an hour was finding a download link that /works/.

You didn't try the torrent download link on the home page of the project?

> "I have /two/ PhDs. I cannot stand these menial tasks any longer. 'Stand
> here, push this button, go over there, pull that lever.'

I cracked up from that too.

-- 
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
   "They're the 1-800-#-GORILA of the telecom business."

Post a reply to this message

On 23/09/2012 10:14 PM, Darren New wrote:
> On 9/19/2012 0:27, Orchid Win7 v1 wrote:
>> It only took, like, a few minutes to actually /download/. What took me
>> almost an hour was finding a download link that /works/.
>
> You didn't try the torrent download link on the home page of the project?

I don't have a Bit Torrent client installed on this machine. And I 
didn't want to go to all the bother of doing that just for this one 
download. (Of course, if I'd have known how frigging long it was going 
to take...)

>> "I have /two/ PhDs. I cannot stand these menial tasks any longer. 'Stand
>> here, push this button, go over there, pull that lever.'
>
> I cracked up from that too.

Yeah, you can tell who this game is aimed at. ;-)

Post a reply to this message

On 9/23/2012 14:42, Orchid Win7 v1 wrote:
> I don't have a Bit Torrent client installed on this machine.

Generally speaking, it's probably a good investment, given it's free.

Or, to phrase it differently, you would have spent less time getting your 
download than you spent looking where to get it without bittorrent. It's 
generally the fastest way to get anything, when it's available. (Partly due 
to piracy encouraging people to rent high-bandwidth servers for torrenting, 
amusingly enough.)

-- 
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
   "They're the 1-800-#-GORILA of the telecom business."

Post a reply to this message

On 23/09/2012 10:56 PM, Darren New wrote:
> On 9/23/2012 14:42, Orchid Win7 v1 wrote:
>> I don't have a Bit Torrent client installed on this machine.
>
> Generally speaking, it's probably a good investment, given it's free.

Oh sure, I know that. I mean I haven't set it up yet.

(Beyond merely installing it, I also need to reprogram our router to 
open the necessary incoming ports, so it's not like it just involves 
installing a program.)

Random fact: It amuses me how many bit torrent clients can be downloaded 
/using bit torrent/!

Post a reply to this message

Orchid Win7 v1 wrote:
> On 23/09/2012 10:14 PM, Darren New wrote:
> > On 9/19/2012 0:27, Orchid Win7 v1 wrote:
> >> "I have /two/ PhDs. I cannot stand these menial tasks any longer. 'Stand
> >> here, push this button, go over there, pull that lever.'
> >
> > I cracked up from that too.
>
> Yeah, you can tell who this game is aimed at. ;-)

I thought this monologue was also poking a bit of fun at the player through the
fourth wall, since it describes the solution to many of the puzzles in the game.
:)

Post a reply to this message

On 9/23/2012 15:11, Orchid Win7 v1 wrote:
> (Beyond merely installing it, I also need to reprogram our router to open
> the necessary incoming ports, so it's not like it just involves installing a
> program.)

Reprogramming your router should be trivial, even if you don't have UPnP 
turned on.

-- 
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
   "They're the 1-800-#-GORILA of the telecom business."

Post a reply to this message