Black Mesa (game)

"Run. Think. Shoot. Live. Source."

- Black Mesa tagline, a nod to Half-Life’s original tagline

Black Mesa (previously known as Black Mesa: Source) is both a third-party total conversion mod for Half-Life 2 and remake of the original Half-Life. The ultimate goal of the mod is to recreate the original Half-Life from the ground up, using the advanced capabilities of the Source engine to create a new and more engrossing in-game world with more varied, complex environments and more challenging, realistic gameplay. Black Mesa will require to own any game using the Source engine and will be available at no charge. Currently under heavy development, the release date for the project is set for 2009.

Overview


Black Mesa, whose development began in November 2004, was born of the discontent fans experienced when playing Half-Life: Source; when considering the living environment Valve created with Half-Life 2 using the Source engine, the original game fell far short of what many players thought could be done with the software, basically being a straight port, except for improved water and lighting effects along with the inclusion of ragdoll physics. According to the developers, "Black Mesa: Source was built and founded on the principle that Half-Life: Source did not do the original title enough credit... [Black Mesa] set out to reconstruct the original title, giving it new environments, models, and abilities.".

Black Mesa will feature original textures, models, sounds, voice acting, and music (composed and produced by the mod's sound designer, Joel Nielsen) designed specifically for the mod. However the developers intend to preserve all of the gameplay elements from the original game, without adding entirely new enemies, weapons, or levels. The game will use Half-Life 2 models with custom textures, such as the crowbar, the .357 Magnum, the Headcrab, the Barnacle of the crow.

Since development began, the team has released many images, including in-game screenshots of most chapters and multiplayer maps, model renders, concept art, as well as several gameplay videos and trailers and excerpts from the soundtrack.

Most likely due to the amount of publicity given to an unofficial third-party mod, Valve Corporation privately asked the producers of the mod to remove the "Source" part from the title to avoid confusion on whether it is an official Valve product or not.

At some point, a remake of Half-Life: Uplink was planned, but it will likely never be made.

Awards and recognition

 * Mod DB – Top Unreleased Mod for 2005
 * Mod DB – Top Unreleased Mod for 2006
 * Mod DB – Honorable mention for Top Unreleased Mod for 2007