Dev notes part 1

devnotes part1 showcase chapter1

Hello, dear readers! Today we will tell you details of our work on the first chapter of the Black Mesa: Blue Shift. We’ll start from the very beginning.

It’s not a secret to you that for about three years we’ve been working on Azure Sheep remake, which had some similarities with Blue Shift – both had a security guard as the main character and had some similar gameplay features. In the process of development, we often thought of starting work on the Blue Shift remake. But there already were Insecurity and Guard Duty. At the beginning we were not as good in Hammer as we wanted to be, so Azure Sheep was some kind of a playground for us, where we were extending our capabilities, improving our skills, learning new things for the next few years.

At the end of November 2020, we were close to the release of Azure Sheep: Part One Extended. At the same time we contacted Insecurity developer and were shocked by the sad news – he lost all his files and ceased the development. We wanted to help him with mod development, since we were looking forward to play in this project too, but it was too late. Everything that was left were some screenshots of that mod from 2013-2017.

First attempt to create a location from Insecurity chapter (Nov 2020 Faber):

(First attempt to create a location from Insecurity chapter (Nov 2020 Faber)
After that we realized this was a chance to make our own take on the BS remake, so small part of the team started working on it. In secret from the entire team, which was very tired from AS, development of the first map began. BlackPriest was setting up base geometry and some other elements while looking at Insecurity maps screenshots. The main objective was to show the rest of the team something “real”, good-looking and interesting, not involving them in it immediately so they could rest a bit.

Screenshots and videos from BM: I trailer were taken as a basis:

Screenshots and videos from BM: I trailer were taken as a basis (1)
Screenshots and videos from BM: I trailer were taken as a basis (2)

At the beginning we just wanted to restore Insecurity mod back to its original form, but it was impossible. So from that point we started to take some liberties and change things here and there. Over time, we improved maps so they looked more modern and refreshed.

In order to recreate the location, you need to start from somewhere, find the exact dimensions, since in many ways locations used assets from black mesa, sizes were calculated with monorail support pillars. It was good that Insecurity developer used materials from BM – it helped us a lot in creation of the map.

The first three weeks of development were preparatory and during that time we made the base monorail path for the tram.

Development started, December 2020

Development start, December 2020 (1) (1)
Development start, December 2020 (2) (2)
Development start, December 2020 (3) (3)
Development start, December 2020 (4) (4)
With the first screenshots shown to the rest of the team back in early December 2020, and having all the experience and skills gained during Azure Sheep development, we continued our work on Blue Shift remake with all HECU Collective members involved. We thought of it as of something special, so we didn’t make any announcements before the chapter was near it’s completion, so you wouldn’t be disappointed if it was cancelled.

First screenshots for the bs_c0m0a by Black Priest:

First screenshots for the bs_c0m0a by Black Priest (1) (1)
First screenshots for the bs_c0m0a by Black Priest (2) (2)
First screenshots for the bs_c0m0a by Black Priest (3) (3)
First screenshots for the bs_c0m0a by Black Priest (4) (4)
Every location should have great geometry and logic, but also it should be filled with details, and Faber covered this part just perfectly. We made many new models using programs we didn’t work with before.

Some screenshots from January 2021:

Some screenshots from January 2021 (1) (1)
Some screenshots from January 2021 (2) (2)
Some screenshots from January 2021 (3) (3)
Some screenshots from January 2021 (4) (4)

Here's another good example of art-design from Faber:

Here's another good example of art-design from Faber (1) (1)
Here's another good example of art-design from Faber (2) (2)
Here's another good example of art-design from Faber (3) (3)
That’s all for now. It remains to wait a bit before the release of Chapter 2.

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See also:

Chapter 2: Insecurity June Article The second chapter of the remake, Insecurity, is...