It’s been a long time. In the past few months the team has been working very hard on the mod, although due to life (exams and such) productivity wasn’t at it’s full potential. Nonetheless, we pulled through! So let’s begin.

These are a few new weapons in the mod. The AK74 was created to replace the old AK47 model, and Drew did a great job. The Flaregun serves as the players light source in dark areas. Fighting with a flashlight can be really annoying so the flares have a lifespan of roughly 2 minutes. Finally there is B0T’s Prototype Rifle. We’ll keep that a secret for now.

In the video below you can also see the new M4A1 + Mosin-Nagant in action.

Apollo has done another fantastic job with his concept art. These here are 2 NPC’s you’ll be fighting in game. The spider is going to be made to be as scary as possible ( I have arachnophobia! ) and the suit prototype will require you to think up new strategies.

The Mercenaries are one of the other groups on the island. These guys are tough, and carry heavily modified weapons.

Kantubek is a real life town in the Aral Sea that has been evacuated and abandoned due to Anthrax dumping. It’s interesting to note that there are laboratories mere kilometers from the town, which the 3 groups on the island are trying to take control of.

As you can see, Kantubek has been created from a variety of photo sources and satellite images. Below you can see a comparison of the images. It’s not meant to be 100% accurate, but enough to resemble the photos.

You may have seen the Radio Station in the video posted earlier.

Radio Station Flythrough video – Ivan’s Secrets Mod for Half-Life 2 – Mod DB

Well here are some high res screens for you too! This map is mainly about exploration and puzzles rather than combat.

Siberia is the new area we are working on. It starts as a prelude to the main campaign, and introduces the new gameplay elements seen in the mod. There is a heavy focus on stealth in this theatre.

And here is Gabe Fink’s stellar animations. He’s currently working on the Debauchery mod.

Videos & Audio – Ivan’s Secrets Mod for Half-Life 2 – Mod DB

More media will be posted soon, don’t want to wait another 4 months for a release.

Texturing is nearly done. I’m pretty pleased with how the skybox mountain turned out. I need to rough up those cliffs and add alot more detail now. Also some sort of dust clouds.

Finally got around to getting my 3Dskybox working. Turns out I had the 2DSkybox texture applied, and that renders that area without a 3D sky. Learn something new everyday.

Anyways, this here is a cutout of a mountain I found on a photo. I then added a gradient card infront to simulate dust in the air.

It’s been a while since I updated this last, but I’m back on track with this map. I’ve decided to add a trainstation in (replacing the previous helicopter exit) which will give me some opportunities to create some good rails gameplay.

Trainstation

Radio Station in background

Under roofing

Next up will be the texturing of the entire map.

Robert Briscoe’s devblog ( a really good read) gave me a much better outlook on how to create this shore. Turns out subdivide is essential.

Those lost coast models proved VERY useful here (thanks Valve!).  However, I did have to model a cabin on the top since Valve decided to remove the faces on it.  This was a rather enjoyable moment of development, for once I didn’t encounter some sort of error with Valve’s displacement system.

I figured I’d log my progress on my new map, both as a motivation for myself and as a reference to people who’d like to see how a map is made.

It all starts with the concept art (it’s horrible and only I can make sense of it.)

Once that’s done, I start with the basics. I create blocks of the rough shape of the displacements, and subdivide it all.

After that, I create the building geometry. This took a while, but it was worth it as I could now base my gameplay and block off/open entrances. Oh and I also changed the lighting

Nothing major here, just added some shrubs and rocks I’d made.

This is a big update. I added a watch tower, a gate puzzle (you can’t see that) and the far mountain (which I’ll show soon).

Added walls, and powerlines (and various displacements)

I finally decided to break the drought, so here’s a mini update.

B0t has been working on his Dragunov SVU for us. It serves as the primary long range sniper weapon, although you can throw a red dot on it and make it a good mid-range one too.

Apollo has done some great concept art for us, this is the laboratory. Don’t ask what’s inside the chamber, you’ll find out later

Finally I have worked out what happens when too many attachments are on one gun.

We have a bunch of new team members too! SKIV is doing some modelling for us, ZeeJenkins is working on animations and we have a new concept artist Hadk.