Post

The evolution of Half-Life: Absolute Zero (namely the first map in the mod.)

These images are quite long, so you will need to click onto them to see the full thing. Advised to open them into a new tab to see them at their original resolution.

2014 - Development starts picking up steam again, level design being headed by GaussGunner and myself. ZedMarine would be slowly be making a return during this era.
2015 - Zed would become level design lead again, GaussGunner would start taking a back seat and would eventually leave to pursue new artistic endeavors. We would finally drop the name "Half-Life E3 1998" later in August and become "Half-Life: Absolute Zero." Demo was planned to be released early 2016 and a full release to follow only a few months afterwards. Blue24 would join the team early that year, marking the retirement of the 2010-2012 code.
2016 - Reality sinks in, we knew Half-Life: Absolute Zero was not in the state to ship early that year as a demo. Various maps that were functioning months prior were no longer playable and discussion on whatever or not development should be restarted again began. We would be able to salvage the maps, but disaster struct once more. The April build that sparked the discussion of rebooting development ended up leaking to the public and everyone could see the state of HLAZ as of April of 2016.
2017 - Things start to start looking up for the mod! Pre-demo testing went good and it was being well received among play testers. A few odd decisions would take place in the month prior to the demo shipping, but overall the Demo was overall well received. 
2018 - Things were looking up for the project, everything seemed to be going as planned... Until, well, you know the rest of the story.
The evolution of Half-Life: Absolute Zero (namely the first map in the mod.)

These images are quite long, so you will need to click onto them to see the full thing. Advised to open them into a new tab to see them at their original resolution.

2014 - Development starts picking up steam again, level design being headed by GaussGunner and myself. ZedMarine would be slowly be making a return during this era.
2015 - Zed would become level design lead again, GaussGunner would start taking a back seat and would eventually leave to pursue new artistic endeavors. We would finally drop the name "Half-Life E3 1998" later in August and become "Half-Life: Absolute Zero." Demo was planned to be released early 2016 and a full release to follow only a few months afterwards. Blue24 would join the team early that year, marking the retirement of the 2010-2012 code.
2016 - Reality sinks in, we knew Half-Life: Absolute Zero was not in the state to ship early that year as a demo. Various maps that were functioning months prior were no longer playable and discussion on whatever or not development should be restarted again began. We would be able to salvage the maps, but disaster struct once more. The April build that sparked the discussion of rebooting development ended up leaking to the public and everyone could see the state of HLAZ as of April of 2016.
2017 - Things start to start looking up for the mod! Pre-demo testing went good and it was being well received among play testers. A few odd decisions would take place in the month prior to the demo shipping, but overall the Demo was overall well received. 
2018 - Things were looking up for the project, everything seemed to be going as planned... Until, well, you know the rest of the story.
The evolution of Half-Life: Absolute Zero (namely the first map in the mod.)

These images are quite long, so you will need to click onto them to see the full thing. Advised to open them into a new tab to see them at their original resolution.

2014 - Development starts picking up steam again, level design being headed by GaussGunner and myself. ZedMarine would be slowly be making a return during this era.
2015 - Zed would become level design lead again, GaussGunner would start taking a back seat and would eventually leave to pursue new artistic endeavors. We would finally drop the name "Half-Life E3 1998" later in August and become "Half-Life: Absolute Zero." Demo was planned to be released early 2016 and a full release to follow only a few months afterwards. Blue24 would join the team early that year, marking the retirement of the 2010-2012 code.
2016 - Reality sinks in, we knew Half-Life: Absolute Zero was not in the state to ship early that year as a demo. Various maps that were functioning months prior were no longer playable and discussion on whatever or not development should be restarted again began. We would be able to salvage the maps, but disaster struct once more. The April build that sparked the discussion of rebooting development ended up leaking to the public and everyone could see the state of HLAZ as of April of 2016.
2017 - Things start to start looking up for the mod! Pre-demo testing went good and it was being well received among play testers. A few odd decisions would take place in the month prior to the demo shipping, but overall the Demo was overall well received. 
2018 - Things were looking up for the project, everything seemed to be going as planned... Until, well, you know the rest of the story.

The evolution of Half-Life: Absolute Zero (namely the first map in the mod.) These images are quite long, so you will need to click onto them to see the full thing. Advised to open them into a new tab to see them at their original resolution. 2014 - Development starts picking up steam again, level design being headed by GaussGunner and myself. ZedMarine would be slowly be making a return during this era. 2015 - Zed would become level design lead again, GaussGunner would start taking a back seat and would eventually leave to pursue new artistic endeavors. We would finally drop the name "Half-Life E3 1998" later in August and become "Half-Life: Absolute Zero." Demo was planned to be released early 2016 and a full release to follow only a few months afterwards. Blue24 would join the team early that year, marking the retirement of the 2010-2012 code. 2016 - Reality sinks in, we knew Half-Life: Absolute Zero was not in the state to ship early that year as a demo. Various maps that were functioning months prior were no longer playable and discussion on whatever or not development should be restarted again began. We would be able to salvage the maps, but disaster struct once more. The April build that sparked the discussion of rebooting development ended up leaking to the public and everyone could see the state of HLAZ as of April of 2016. 2017 - Things start to start looking up for the mod! Pre-demo testing went good and it was being well received among play testers. A few odd decisions would take place in the month prior to the demo shipping, but overall the Demo was overall well received. 2018 - Things were looking up for the project, everything seemed to be going as planned... Until, well, you know the rest of the story.

baf13
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Simonsyndaren
Simonsyndaren
Aug 2, 2021

You and the team where doing gods work

Magic Nipples
Magic Nipples
Aug 1, 2021

That's a really really really long image

Theuaredead`
Theuaredead`
Aug 1, 2021

3 really really really long images.

Magic Nipples
Magic Nipples
Aug 1, 2021

Wait I said that wrong. I really really really like this image

λlex
λlex
Aug 1, 2021

Thank goodness I implemented image clipping on the post feeds last week or @theuaredead would have just broke everyone's scroll wheels.. xD

Reply to λlex
λlex
λlex
Aug 1, 2021

Also yeh - cool images!

Doon_Eternal
Doon_Eternal
Aug 1, 2021

Oh fuck my eyes you're right

Reply to λlex
Theuaredead`
Theuaredead`
Aug 1, 2021

I feared said feature didn't exist when I got ready to post, was relieved when I posted and saw that it did clip the images.

Reply to Theuaredead`
λlex
λlex
Aug 1, 2021

Well you should have just done it anyway we need to test these things!

Sethen
Sethen
Aug 2, 2021

This is always the best part of being a level designer. Is seeing the small changes that add to the scene as a whole. Great job with the small touches. I just redid a map from 2015 and address allot of the odd choices I never thought of while designing the map. Mainly lighting and how a big difference it plays within a map.

Theuaredead`
Theuaredead`
Aug 1, 2021

Information about the mod before 2014:

Theuaredead`
Theuaredead`
Aug 1, 2021

2010 to 2011 - Development begins. Project was mainly just us making rooms and making the code act differently. Was not generally well received among those in the HL community. At the end of 2011, we made the decision to restart development and start all over with minimal content being moved over (namely the code.)

Reply to Theuaredead`
Theuaredead`
Theuaredead`
Aug 1, 2021

2012 to 2013 - We spent our time finding our footing and trying to find what direction to take the mod. Towards the end of 2013 or the beginning of 2014, I got the team (mostly) back together to start pushing HLAZ full steam ahead.