Black Mesa out now! Not available on Steam for at least "weeks or months"!

[Eion Kilant 739]

http://www.blackmesasource.com/

This fine piece of vaporware is finally avaliable! Everything from the beginning to the moment you enter Xen is available now. It wont be on Steam for "weeks or months", so you're going to have to get it through the downloads they have provided.

Have fun. The only non-original content is in the Source 2007 SDK Base that you need to run the game.









-
So the video was taken down due to copyright claims. Link is here: (Removed, the video is further down the page if you so desire to watch it. I don't recommend it though.)

The official site is: http://www.blackmesasource.com/
You can find the exact quote here: http://forums.blackmesasource.com/showthread.php?p=474198#post474198

There have been too many posts for me to reply to individually, but I'll go over the basic points I've seen crop up a bunch of times. I'll try to address everything as transparently as I can, because there's a lot of misinformation floating around.

Is this a leak? Was it released intentionally?
We had always been planning to release gameplay video(s) as part of the social media campaign, and we'd always hinted as such. Unfortunately, we ran into some difficulties while we were wrapping up the build (including several severe FPS drops and crashes) that delayed our plans for the media campaign and any gameplay videos. Once we got those sorted, we started to try to figure out what we could show off; the video that was posted to YouTube was a rough first cut outlining some possible action.

Someone showed someone else something they shouldn't have, and that someone else decided to share that something with the internet. And here we are today. Bottom line is that sooner or later, you were going to see what you saw; that's why we haven't tried to cover everything up or get it taken down. There's no conspiracy, we don't have any ulterior motives.

How old is the build of the game?
The build featured in the video is between four and five weeks old. The art assets, level design, lighting, sound effects and music, voice acting, weapons, gameplay mechanics, etc. are all basically final. You won't be seeing very many changes between what's in the video and what's in the final product.

Is the music actually in-game?
The music in the second half in the video is the actual song from the level, it hasn't been overlaid afterwards. It syncs up well with the action because it's been designed to; the song was specifically written for this area. The audio quality of the YouTube video doesn't do it justice though, and it sounds like the game's music volume was turned up too high while the video was recorded.

Why are there iron-sights in the game? 
You can look down the sights of the .357 for a slight zoom and increase in accuracy at the expense of your rate of fire. It was a mechanic that was present in Half-Life: Deathmatch, but we've brought it into the singleplayer to help solidify the weapon's role. We've added an option to the main menu to completely disable that functionality, as a result of the feedback we've received from the video.

The .357 and crossbow are the only weapons that you can use the sights on, and they're for decent gameplay reasons. We aren't casualising or consolifying the mod; you don't have regenerating health, there aren't chest-high walls, you won't get strawberry jam on the screen when you're hurt, etc.

Why does everything look like crap?
The compression YouTube applies has blurred and darkened everything, even at 720p settings. You lose a lot of stuff like the scanlines on the HUD, the stars twinkling in the sky, the moonlight illuminating the launch pad and the hologram illuminating the control bunker, any real texture detail, outdoor characters, etc. I've got the original video at 1080p, and everything looks fine.

Why is the voice acting so bad? 
Everything is intentional; the soldiers are meant to sound like over-the-top movie bad guys. We're not interested in trying to get you to empathise with the enemies.

Will this affect the plans for further media or the release?
It has, we're actually going to be moving some things forward. Time has never been on our side.

[Astropilot]

The video got blocked because of copyright. :C

[Eion Kilant 739]

The video got blocked because of copyright. :C

So the video was taken down due to copyright claims.

I searched up "Black Mesa Gameplay" for you and got this video, enjoy. 
Black Mesa Source 2012


EDIT: So there was some drama with ValveTime. What happened is that the Black Mesa developers planned an article and stuff as part of a larger plan. So ten minutes after one of the developers tell them not to post it, they post it. The Black Mesa devs ask them to take it down but they don't comply. Out of options, they get youtube to take down the original video. They have not taken any action against any other video.

Some screenes that explain in more detail what happened:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

http://i.imgur.com/xwEHe.png

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

http://i.imgur.com/73MCm.png

[Cake Faice]

The devs actually did more then a line of code a week?

[Boncey]

nid moar dlights

[cogsandspigots]

The soldiers overly dramatic voice acting made me burst out laughing.

[Eion Kilant 739]

The soldiers overly dramatic voice acting made me burst out laughing.

They actually rerecorded lines because of community feedback. I'm glad they did, personally.

Black Mesa also made it through Greenlight, FYI. The game also ends when you enter Xen. Xen will be finished "not in 2012".

[Alkaline]

They actually rerecorded lines because of community feedback. I'm glad they did, personally.

Black Mesa also made it through Greenlight, FYI. The game also ends when you enter Xen. Xen will be finished "not in 2012".

I hope the Greenlight team will approve it and make it available through Steam before the release date. That would make everyone's life much more easier and gain a lot of publicity for the mod (and team (and overload the Steam servers)).

I'm also curious to see how they will conclude the game by ending as you enter Xen. Pretty big leap to remove Xen which provided that eerie atmosphere like in the original Half-Life. Possible sequel (that includes the full playthrough of Xen)?

[Eion Kilant 739]

I hope the Greenlight team will approve it and make it available through Steam before the release date. That would make everyone's life much more easier and gain a lot of publicity for the mod (and team (and overload the Steam servers)).

I'm also curious to see how they will conclude the game by ending as you enter Xen. Pretty big leap to remove Xen which provided that eerie atmosphere like in the original Half-Life. Possible sequel (that includes the full playthrough of Xen)?

Well, I know how they end the game. I don't think I should say it though, it might ruin the method in which they do it.
I'll just say that the game ends when you enter through the portal to Xen in the most literal sense.


It also wont be on Steam by the release date. I don't think anyone other than the Developers or Valve will have any idea when, but I read on the official forums that it will be late by weeks or even months.

[Tezuni]

Downloading now, I love anything half-life.

[Samo]

Finished it yesterday, fucking amazing.

[Supertoaster]

Was Nicholas Cage the soldiers

[» Magic «]

Fucking awesome except the fact THEY DIDN'T DO THE FUCKING LAST CHAPTER FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU