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PC Games (Games)

Total Conversion HL2 Mod 205

Posted by Zonk from the guildhall-approved dept.
bbzzdd writes "A comprehensive total conversion of the Half-Life 2 game has been released. Crafted by students from SMU's Guildhall, Eclipse is a beautiful change of pace from the average FPS. From the site: 'You play as a young Sorceress named Violet whose father went missing five years back. After learning the secrets of Telekinesis, you are teleported into Auld-Haven, a lush and fertile land where Violet grew up. Your objective is to return to Violet's home where she last saw her father years ago and dig up any clues to his whereabouts. In the broken down tower of her home you discover a journal left by her father. The journal unlocks a handful of secrets that ultimately leads you on a quest to find the ancient teleportation device - the Standing Stones.'"
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Total Conversion HL2 Mod More

Total Conversion HL2 Mod

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  • The First? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by LFS.Morpheus ( 596173 ) on Saturday June 18, 2005 @12:46PM (#12851789) Homepage
    No, the first was Plan of Attack [planofattackgame.com], released over two months ago.

    A total conversion doesn't have change genres, like HL1, CS, TFC, and Natural Selection were also total conversions, and all are FPSs.
    • I wouldn't argue this mod is a total conversion, but Plan of Attack certainly wasn't, just the first real mod for hl2, still a teamplay FPS. Total conversion refers to HL rally, or before then Snark Racer, or Half-Life Chess, or ZZTetris.

      From the screenshots it looked as if this mod is third-person, which is different from hl2 in which Gordon doesn't even have a player model. Kinda a good thing I guess, cos I wouldn't to see Gordon dressed anything like that. Check out http://students.guildhall.smu.edu/ecl [smu.edu]
    • From the trailer Eclipse isn't so much a First Person Shooter as a First Person Stone-thrower so FPS still covers it. Looks interesting.

  • *Spoiler* (Score:5, Funny)

    by mogrify ( 828588 ) on Saturday June 18, 2005 @12:51PM (#12851806) Homepage
    In order to find the Standing Stones, you have to develop a series of Java applications.

  • pretty good (Score:4, Informative)

    by udderly ( 890305 ) on Saturday June 18, 2005 @12:52PM (#12851812)

    The screenshots [smu.edu] look pretty good--and they're not even /.ed yet!

    • I thought they looked like ass, if a pile of rocks is the most exiting thing to see in this mod I'll pass it by. As an AC already mentioned, too much light bloom (more cowbell perhaps?)

    • Alas (Score:3, Interesting)

      by Snaller ( 147050 )
      The page itself is a case of bad design: Thumbnails should be direct links, so people can quickly quick them open in tabs - as opposed to this where there is a javascript on each link which only allows you to open one - and totally leave out browsers who do not have (or have enabled) javascript.

  • Wow - that was quick ! - slashdot effect ! (Score:4, Informative)

    by bushboy ( 112290 ) <lttc@lefthandedmonkeys.org> on Saturday June 18, 2005 @12:52PM (#12851813) Homepage
    Managed to get onto the site, 5 minutes later, no longer possible :-

    obligatory google cache link :-

    http://64.233.183.104/search?q=cach...+&hl=en&st ar t=1

    Download links :-

    http://eclipse.gmwalek.com/viewtopic.php?t=21

    http://halflife2.filefront.com/file/;43287

  • *SPOILER* (Score:3, Funny)

    by Minced ( 871651 ) on Saturday June 18, 2005 @12:53PM (#12851816)
    "The journal unlocks a handful of secrets that ultimately leads you on a quest to find the ancient teleportation device - the Standing Stones.'

    Yeah, just to let you know you are going to Stonehenge.


  • Thanks. Now that brings back horrible memories of an Electronic Arts game from the early/mid 80s called "The Standing Stones". A truly terrible, stinky game. Now I'll have to wait another 20 years to have my mind purged of that brutal thing.
  • Site is pretty much fscked now. No one will be able to download the game for the next few days until someone can come up with some mirrors.
  • This reminds me alot of American McGee's Alice, that came out a few years back. Of which Rogue Entertainment's site doesn't even appear to exist anymore and EA's site doesn't even give mention too. It looks like the only weapon is the ability to slam objects into each other though.
    • Actually you do get the ability to cast fireballs, but only for about the last 10 minutes of playtime. It's shame, as they are pretty cool to play around with.

  • Machima, Game Conversions - just awesome (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Fox_1 ( 128616 ) on Saturday June 18, 2005 @01:00PM (#12851854)
    I'm a big fan of the new paths opening in game development. Sure to some extent you could always modify games as an end user, but when they started to get beyond simple text based MUDs the programming knowledge required began to increase exponentially. Now that the games are starting to standardize on some standard engines at the core, modifying the game becomes simpler through the use of defined APIs and SDKs. This gives us the hacks (aimbots and ilk) that tend to crop up in Multiplayer games, but it also gives us stuff like this program (Eclipse) which was created in 5 months(!), and it gives us the burgeoning Machima world where people are building animated stories using these game engines.

  • Yeah but, one big, glaring error (Score:5, Funny)

    by pair-a-noyd ( 594371 ) on Saturday June 18, 2005 @01:08PM (#12851892)
    where's the "remove clothes and run nude" button??

  • Objective (Score:4, Funny)

    by zephc ( 225327 ) on Saturday June 18, 2005 @01:09PM (#12851899)
    As Violet, you must save your father from a collapsing web server before it's too late.

    Whoops.

  • Steam mentioned this game a couple of days ago (Score:4, Interesting)

    by rawmule ( 744495 ) on Saturday June 18, 2005 @01:18PM (#12851928)
    Steam's weekly update talked about this and another Source Engine mod done by the students at Guildhall, Samurai Legends (same url, but /samurailegends/, link also dead), a couple of days ago. The samurai game was multiplayer and from the screenshots looked very pretty. I couldn't find the link to the Valve page, but I found the relevant text on a bulletin board:

    "Next Saturday, Valve's CEO and founder, Gabe Newell, will be giving the commencement speech at Southern Methodist University's Guildhall, a university program offering course work in game design. Two groups of students enrolled in the program will be releasing the Source MODs they produced during their term."

  • Fileshack has it (Score:4, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 18, 2005 @01:24PM (#12851967)
    http://www.fileshack.com/file.x?fid=7218 [fileshack.com]
  • ...How does her top stay up?

  • Hmmm. (Score:1)

    by elgee ( 308600 )
    I get to be a young sorceress named Violet? If I am going to do the transgendered thing, I want to be a real hottie.

  • Beautiful, but veryyyy short (Score:5, Informative)

    by SnowCrashed ( 778322 ) on Saturday June 18, 2005 @01:59PM (#12852106)
    Very cool concept, and incredibly lush outdoor environments (my 6600GT choked on it at a couple of spots). However, it's only got about an hour of gameplay. Hopefully more will come out of it, the little bit that's there is fun to play.

    • Let them know! (Score:4, Insightful)

      by WidescreenFreak ( 830043 ) on Saturday June 18, 2005 @02:11PM (#12852150) Homepage Journal
      Thank you! It's nice to actually see an informed opinion on this mod as opposed to the bullsh*t AC statements about it being "lame" and "gay" from the tards who didn't bother to download it and have nothing better to do apparently.

      I'm looking forward to trying it out myself and at least getting feedback to the team who made it. If they get enough positive responses and suggestions, hopefully they'll do more. Those who do really good and creative mods won't know that their work is appreciated unless we tell them so and as such will probably not make any more under a false impression that no one like what they've done. That would be a shame not only from their standpoint but also from ours since we would no longer get any quality mods from the group.
    • Just finished playing it. For any of you wondering if it's worth the download. It very much is.

      Beautiful environment, interesting concept, and wonderful soundtrack (I'm hoping to download the soundtrack for later listening after the slashdot effect is over.)

      It was created as a school project, so unfortunately the team indicated they won't be able to continue to develop it after they leave Guildhall, but it's still a wonderful work. I've seen recent professional games which don't match up to what these guy

  • Menzoberanzan (Score:3, Insightful)

    by dalutong ( 260603 ) <djtansey@gma[ ]com ['il.' in gap]> on Saturday June 18, 2005 @02:00PM (#12852111)
    This is probably nostalgia speaking, but I miss games like menzoberanzan -- it had more of a complete story than most of these FPS games have now adays.

    I'll admit, though, that the HLs have had good stories. And the new FFs probably have good stories, though the last one I've played is FFIII on SNES.

    i guess the same has happened in most industries though -- the need to keep up with technology/compete has reduced the depth and quality of the stories.

    and to make this social -- the same has happened in our society. we feel our priority is to be able to compete, so our schools have responded by becoming increasingly vocational.

    it's sad though when survival requires you live a shallower life. it's really making me question whether or not humanity's really progressing...
  • I've seen some really good total conversion mods for various games. Sometimes these things are down right commercial quality. Normally these mods are given away for free in hopes of gaining recognition, but is it legal to sell them? I could see $15 unofficial HL2 add-on boxes sitting on a Walmart shelf.
    • It's not legal to sell them. Valve's license specifically prohibits people from selling anything that's developed with their tools, or interfaces with their software/engine.

      But that said, if it becomes popular (aka CS), I'd imagine they'd work something out.

      I'm still fairly surprised that Valve hasn't picked-up Natural Selection [wikipedia.org] yet. It's far more fun than CS and actually requires real teamwork and strategy.

      Hopefully when NS 3.1 (or NS-Source) comes out, they'll make it available on Steam.

      If you want
  • Some students from the Guildhall at SMU have been busy making a Neverwinter Nights module called The Hunt.
    Haven't tried it yet, but in the process of downloading it (alas, I'm not blessed with a T3).

    Shamelessly ripped from NW Vault:

    "We had 4.5 months to create, design and develop a Neverwinter Night module with one hour of gameplay. Our team consisted of 7 Level Designers and 3 Artist. Teammates chose a Team Lead, Game Design Lead, Level Design Lead and Art Lead. We then had to create a company name a

  • Jumping sound (Score:3, Funny)

    by PylonHead ( 61401 ) on Saturday June 18, 2005 @06:28PM (#12853364) Homepage Journal
    Just once I'd like to play a game with female lead character that doesn't make my neighbors think I'm watching porn when I press the jump key.

  • So, after Australia began to put would-be asylum-sekers
    into detention centers - WAAAaaayyyy out in the desert...

    A group of [presumably politically active] game-makers
    created a game based on one such prison (Woomera,
    in South Australia).

    Now, it was never clear how to get this free game working

    Somehoe Half-Life was to be installed first...?

    But which of several Half-Life modules or system(s), I don't know...?

    Has anybody got Escape From Woomera to work...?

    If so, How (which specific Half
  • http://img61.echo.cx/img61/5208/eclipse5ra.jpg [img61.echo.cx]

    At first I thought 1 FPS was a rounded-up value, as it was more like 0.2 FPS... but I was proved wrong. I figured I could just wait it out, but then I realized it isn't really worth it. I understand it's promotional, but if they'd spent even 15 more minutes developing a storyline (in addition to the 5 they did spend) then I might've actually played it through. Instead I spent 20 minutes in total ignorance of who I was, where I was going, and why I could mak
  • I was at the presentation the team that made this gave at The Guildhall @ SMU on Friday. They had a nice 10 minute or so video about the making that went with it, a contest every 30 minutes to give the person who could last longest in survival mode a t-shirt, and a real life model dressed up as Violet, the main character (complete with costume & tattoos) . Given the limited development time, and small programming staff they had, I think they did a great job.
  • 1st, this thing killed my 6600GT (yea, it's not the best, but c'mon... Doom3 runs better).

    2nd, I didn't like the design because I had no idea where my bounds were. I'd be walking normally then just get stopped by an invisible barrier.

    3rd... I can make a bagillion things float 6 feet above the ground but I can't reposition them / have them follow me around?

    It's a nice idea and all, but the design just got in the way of the fun factor.
  • so will this work with the original EMPORiO release?
  • When is the nude patch coming out for this?
  • A lot of the comments here are pretty brutal. I can't test the game myself, but from the screenshots it looks darn nice. As a short, concept-driven game I'm not surprised to hear that it's not as great as many commercially produced games. But I hardly think that's a good reason to slam this work.

    The one thing I wonder is how much skill it takes, beyond understanding the engine you're using, to generate effects like glow and shafts of light and such when working with the Source engine. Did these student

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