October 2008: A big thanks to columnist Brett Todd at PC GAMER, who picked StriderMountain for"Mod Of the Month". Check out the December 2008 issue and the article PCGAMER and the MAGAZINE
The SM team has made a decision to develop one last map. This decision came about for two reasons: 1) to enhance the overall storyline by adding a twist to a cliff hanger ending (boo, bad pun!) and 2) give the player one last, action packed map to complete the StriderMountain journey. Stayed tuned for screens from EXIT PORTAL.
August 2008: The Exit Plan does not go exactly according to plan. After surving THE SOURCE and the DESCENT from StriderMountain, there is one final surprise. The Combine have a GARRISON strategically situated at the bottom of the mountain. This last stronghold sits between StriderMountain and the exit portal. And the Combine have no intention to give it up. After a long mountain climbing grind, it's time to regroup for the final stand. BOTTOM OUT is the final map in a series of 13 maps of the StriderMountain Half Life 2 modification.
The StriderMountain Team spent the summer working on this mod. The creative side is done and now the technical stuff begins. Beta testing, optimizing maps, fps's, dll's, dealing with Hammer issues, etc! We have resisted the urge to get this out quick and replacing it with the urge to get it out right. Stay tuned.
JULY 2008: Coming soon...Screens from the LAST map of StriderMountain...BOTTOM OUT...the LAST stand.
JUNE 2008: Conclusions sometimes lead to beginnings. In mountain climbing, reaching the summit releases an elation of amazing personal accomplishment - for a short while. Then realization sets in...you're only half way. And the statistics are real, far more casualties occur on the DESCENT. And to survive the summit of StriderMountain, you must make a very rapid Descent. 6 NEW Screens from Map 12, DESCENT.
MAY 2008: NEW...screens from map 12 DESCENT coming soon!
APRIL 2008: This mountain is riddled with surprises. The railroad tracks have finally come to a stop. And there are machines building a massive Army of Striders all throughout this underground complex. Oh and don't forget about the little ant problem. All new DEPTH CHARGED, light the fuse in map 10.Continue to seek the Source on the gallery[video] page...A Short Teaser.
FEBRUARY 2008: All NEW StriderMountain Video Trailer Part 3 of 4 is now available on the gallery [video] page. If a single picture is worth a thousand words, then what's a video worth...? For this SM team, it's a few minutes that represent over 14 months worth of work! Enjoy.
Looking backward, we're proud of what we've accomplished and excited to keep moving forward.
January 2008: Check out the All New screens format and TWO NEW MAPS ARE AVAILABLE IN GALLERY [SCREENS] ...
The journey to the Summit of StriderMountain takes an unexpected new turn....
Crevasse (Map 8) a fracture in the surface takes you straight down into the mountain as you continue the mission to locate the source of the striders.
The SM team has all new screens for CREVASSE. Our website has an all-new slide show format for viewing screenshots. So, that means one click, sit back and enjoy! We hope you like the new format and any comments on our SM forums are welcomed.
In addition, we'll have another update real soon! What's real soon you ask? A month, a week...
The answer is days. Check back with us in a few days as you'll need to go even deeper, Under Ground!
December 2007 Part 2: First in a series, newly created, fresh, different...according to Wiktionary, define the word "original." Since everyone on the StriderMountain team are also musicians who believe that music plays a vital role in a game, we thought it would be special to add some original music content to the mod. But, with the criteria that the music must be world class and game worthy...
...the SM team is pleased to announce a partnership with composer David Mason. We're very excited to have such a talent join our team. And, although starting somewhat late in the mapping process, David will be adding some original music to the mod. He is currently playing the first eight maps in order to get a feel for what it's like to survive the summit of StriderMountain and here is what he has to say:
"I'm honored to be asked to work with such a talented, and dedicated team. I'm looking forward to pushing myself, and hope to bring something great to the project." Some of David's music and the first StriderMountain sample "Reload" can be found at his website, www.stainofmind.com
Last week we brought all new screens from the SUMMIT map. And in keeping with our promise to deliver fresh media all throughout the month of December, here are some sneak preview screens of map 8 CREVASSE. Next week's update will have a whole bunch of screens from CREVASSE for you to fall in to...ahum, ok bad pun!
December 2007 Part 1 : A poll on ModDb asks the question: "mods fail to release because..." and at the time of writing this there were 1,545 votes. The three choices and the vote tally percentages are:
1. Developing a game is more difficult than it looks (47%)
2. Reallife™ kicks in (44%)
3. The game idea no longer seems as good as it once did (9%).
STRIDERMOUNTAIN WILL BE RELEASED. OK, now that's out of the way...
The poll is interesting and for this mod team - it's both. Without going into great detail (a full "making of a mod" blog will be available on our website upon release), having been working for almost a year - it's definitely both. Developing a game is more difficult than it looks is a huge understatement. Hugely, huge (is hugely a word?)! Things such as temple busting Valve updates, fist pumping computer crashes and expletive filled shouting at almost completed many hours of mapping, suddenly lost in the ether - are just a small part of the overall process. And is it Reallife™ kicks in or is it GameLife that kicks into RealLife!?! Either way, one is way more necessary than the other, since mod developers are not paid, but rather actually pay (or as we like to call it - invest!) to develop!
For this StriderMountain mod team, success comes down to this personal poll with choices and percentages tallies:
1. We are friends who count on each other (100%)
2. We are passionate about our creativity and skills (100%)
3. We are dedicated to completing our project (100%)
STRIDERMOUNTAIN WILL BE RELEASED. Make no mistake.
And so, hot of the heels of our release of map 6 ASCENT screens release, map 7 SUMMIT screens are now available for viewing. Enjoy and we will have some more really exciting announcements coming. Happy Holidays.
November 2007. October was an amazing month for new games, especially for the SP-FPS fan like us guys here on the mod team. Everything from Clive Barker's Jericho, TimeShift, COD4, and of course, the Orange Box with Half Life 2: Episode 2. With November bringing games like the FEAR expansion pack, SOF:Payback and what's that other game that's been in the media quite a bit....hmmm, oh yeah Crysis! So in essence, the SM team has been busy both playing and working. On the working end, we have just about wrapped up SUMMIT (map 7) and screens will be posted. For now check out the sneak preview.
Our congratualtions to the crew at ModDB for pulling off the new website. We appreciate the work that went into making it THE site for mod developer's like us. A new feature on ModDB is the ability to create groups. So, the SM team (in addition to the current site SP-MODS) have created the "Single Player Modders" group. You're welcome to join in and; at the very least, check out the new and improved ModDB. Just click on the "groups" tab, go to the letter S and look up Single Player Modders. Join our SP community, there's strength in numbers!
October 2007. It's hard to believe the Fall is already here! Well, the team made some decisions and this means "progress". We made decisions concerning both the size and content of the mod. First, we are going to decrease the size of the mod to a total of eight maps. This means progress in terms of being able to release the mod sooner. Second was content. After working on the project for over nine months, it was important to step back and evaluate our work. We also asked our friend Bladesinger from Combine Destiny to do some alpha testing for us. Based on this and other sources, we decided to return to the traditional HL2 Combine enemies and drop the CSS models. We feel the traditional Combine fit into the StriderMountain world much better. We also posted a voice actor position on ModDB and have been pleasantly surprised at the quality of talent willing to work with us. An announcement will be made about our voice actor partner. The intent to introduce new models is progressing well and we'll certainly have a few surprises on release. And finally (for now) after a really fun brainstorming session, the team came up with an ending to the mod that, at the very least, will be quite a thrill ride. After all, getting up the mountain is only half the journey ;)... Look for additional screens real soon!
September 2007 Map 5 is nearly complete and screens will be added soon. The SM team is in the process of making decisions in order to focus our efforts and complete the mod. We'll keep you informed and thanks for supporting the project.
August 2007 16 new screenshots from Map 4 have been added to the gallery[screens] page.
July 2007 Check out our latest combination media release of Map3 screenshots & video teaser # 2.
6.21.2007 StriderMountain was featured on the front page of ModDB. Click to check out our home page. Also, Map 3 screens and a 2nd teaser video will be coming real soon!
6.13.2007 CONTEST... poster submissions are starting to come in and the community creativity level is impressive. Thanks to those who have submitted posters and if you are still thinking about the contest, look HERE for information. UPDATE: the contest has ended.
GENERAL NEWS UPDATES - We are glad to finally be in a postition to begin showing the community some of our work on the STRIDERMOUNTAIN single player mod. Of course, it's a work in progress, but you can start to see what we've been working on up to now. Check out our STRIDERMOUNTAIN.COM website. There are two versions for high speed (flash) and low speed (non-flash) connections. So, take a look around the site, we hope you find it informative. StriderMountain.com was optimized in the FireFox browser. If you experience any bugs; particularly in Internet Explorer, please report them in the SM forums.
GALLERY [SCREENS] - The screens of MAP 1 are available. Hope you like them. We're putting together screens for MAP 2 and MAP 3 and will update you when they're ready. UPDATE: Map 2 screens just got added, check them out!
GALLERY [VIDEO] - The first intro video teaser is available. Thanks to Spy, who took a small break from mapping, to make the video. It turned out really awesome and as always, great music to go along with the video.
