Nova Exhange: “After taking a wrong turn on the way to Lighthouse Point… Gordon stumbles on a Combine secret”

Takes place between the chapters Sandtraps and Entanglement, replacing Nova Prospekt.

Delayed: The strider at the end of Half Life 2 Episode 1 destroys the escape train, leaving Gordon and Alyx stuck in City 17 as the Citadel goes critical.

Blast Pit: A re-imagining of the classic scene from Half-Life.

Basic Details

Title: RaiseTheBarVille

RaiseTheBarVille File Name: hl2-ep2-sp-mc-raisethebarville.7z

hl2-ep2-sp-mc-raisethebarville.7z Size : 47.10MB

47.10MB Author: Erik-Silver Toomere AKA ESToomere, Justin Carlton AKA Sneakyspeckman, Dan Jordan AKA The_Rabbit42

Erik-Silver Toomere AKA ESToomere, Justin Carlton AKA Sneakyspeckman, Dan Jordan AKA The_Rabbit42 Date Released: 09 May 2015

MapTap Users

Download directly into MapTap [47.10MB]

You MUST have MapTap installed before using this link.

Download Options

Download to your HDD [47.10MB]

You can still use it with MapTap once you have downloaded it.

Manual Installation Instructions

Copy the RaiseTheBarVille folder into your …\Steam\SteamApps\common\sourcemods\ folder.

Restart or start Steam.

RaiseTheBarVille should now be listed in your Library tab.

If you require more help, please visit the Technical Help page.

About the theme

This was a joint Mapping Challenge, run in association with MapCore.org.

We’d like you to re-imagine a scene of your choosing from any of the Half-Life games.

To be clear, we are NOT looking for remakes of any scenes – we want you to completely re-imagine a scene.

Think of this as a What if…? concept.

Here are some examples of ideas you could develop:

The Tram ride at the beginning of Half-Life:

What if somebody else pushed the cart? Gordon was late, so they got somebody else and the resonance cascade happens when Gordon is still on the tram. It crashed to the ground but leads him to a previously unseen section of Black Mesa.

Black Mesa:

What if Half-Life’s infamous research facility were hidden underneath a city or town rather than out in the desert?

Surface Tension:

This particular event occurs on the side of a Citadel. Yes, it doesn’t fit the story, but that’s not important. This is about high cliffs and long falls.

Opposing Force:

What if Black Mesa were devastated by this game’s nuclear bomb quite early during the story, leaving Adrian Shepard to navigate a version of the research facility resembling a post-apocalyptic nightmare?

Point Insertion:

Instead of arriving at a city train station, Gordon finds himself in a deserted and derelict village station, perhaps near enough to Ravenholm, to feel the threat. Being seen by Civil Protection may be the least of his worries.



City 17:

What if the Combine had chosen the United States, France or London to be their primary city?

The only limitation is your imagination, which we ant to see run wild – create the most wonderful interpretation of Half-Life’s universe that you can conceive.

Whether your project is big or small, you should strive to create something that will delight all Half-Life fans.

Entries

The entries are displayed in the order they were received, both here and in the mod:

Nova Exchange by Erik-Silver Toomere aka ESToomere

Delayed by Justin Carlton aka SneakySpeckMan

Blast Pit by Dan Jordan aka The_Rabbit42

Prizes

Winner:

A lightly used hardback copy of Valve’s rare Half-Life 2 development book Raising The Bar. This book is a must-read for any fan of the game, and particularly those interested in the development process. In addition to being collectable in its own right, this edition is signed by valve staff.

This has been kindly donated by Don aka Unq and the signing has been arranged by a friend of Phillip’s at Valve.

Almost Winner:

Don’t feel bad, you nearly made it. Have a plush companion cube plus a MapCore mug or T-shirt, and know that we love you.

Random Draw:

All entries, except the Winner and Almost winner, will be entered into a random draw to win Sniper Elite 3.

Judges

There were 3 judges for this challenge.

Phillip, Ryan from MapCore and Don aka Unq, who very kindly supplied the RaiseTheBarVille first Prize.

Winners

The winner of the RaiseTheBarVille mapping Challenge is Blast Pit. All judges felt this was the perfect combination of using the theme in a clever way and making a map that was fun to play.

The almost winner is Nova Exchange. This was a very detailed and thoughtful entry that all the judges enjoyed playing but felt it lacked player guidance too often.

Delayed comes third.

The judges more detailed reviews can be found in the comments.

Menu Music

Brane Scan by Kelly Bailey from Half-Life 2

Credits

The RunThinkShootLive.Com intro video was made by ĜL1TCĦ³

Grid View Images

Three grid view icons are included in this file. To use the included grid view icon, select “Gridview” in Steam (top right corner). Right click on “RaiseTheBarVille” and select “Set Custom Image”. Then browse to the SourceMods folder and then to RaiseTheBarVille/steam-gridview-icons folder and select the image you prefer. Then click “Set Image” and that’s it.

Of course, you can create your own custom image if you prefer.

Dates

The challenge started 11am GMT Thursday 19th March and was originally due to finish 14th April but was extended to 11am GMT Tuesday 28th April.

General Rules

Maximum two maps per mapper per competition.

The map must be original and not have been released publicly before.

The map must run in system with only Ep2 installed

By entering the competition you grant PlanetPhillip.Com, RunThinkShootLive.Com and MapCore the right to release the map as part of the RaiseTheBarVille Mod.

Maps must not appear before the release and for one month after the release of the mod.

No assets from retail games other than HL2, HL2: Ep1 or HL2: Ep2 are allowed.

Other assets are allowed with written permission from their original authors, which MUST be included in the entry.

Phillip’s decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into about it.

The map MUST have a proper name.

The map MUST have a proper filename: MapName_rtbv.bsp

All entries must be sent to: planetphillip@gmail.com no later than the deadline.

Your chance to vote for your favourite map

This vote is for entertainment only and does not affect the prizes.



What’s your favourite map from RaiseTheBarVille?

Videos

The playthrough/walkthrough below is provided by PlanetPhillip. See more of my playthroughs on this site: VP: PlanetPhillip.



The playthrough below is provided by Custom Gamer. See more of his playthroughs on this site: VP: Custom Gamer



Screenshots

WARNING: The screenshots contain spoilers.

The first ten screenhots are for Nova Exchange, the next ten are for Delayed and the final ten are for Blast Pit.

1024 x 576 1366 x 768 1600 x 900

Reader Recommendations

Avoid It! Think Twice Maybe Play It Later Play It Now!

12 recommendations, average score: 4.5 (out of 5), standard deviation: 0.58 ( recommendations, average score:(out of 5), standard deviation: 0.58 ( what's that?

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Meta Review Data

12 comment(s) with meta review data.



Installed:

Users

Manually: 9 Users



Using Gauge Manually: Time Taken:

Average: 2 Hours

Shortest: 1 Hours by Hec

Longest: 3 Hours by Larry

Total Time Played: 24 Hours, 5 Mins Statistics based oncomment(s) with meta review data.

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