The first episode of BWL’s Video update is finished.  It did, however, end up longer then I had anticipated originally and was thus divided into two parts.

In this episode we take a look at some project news including Cat-Life and our comics.  We also visit the steam chat room briefly with our “From the Chat Room” segments.  And our main topic of the day is machinima… what we see in other people’s works and what we hope to do with our three planned shows.

I suggest using the “Full Screen” option for watching this video.  You’ll get more out of it I think.

Part 1

Part 2

In the end, this episode was delayed for a few extra weeks due to schedule issues mainly.  And, given the subject matter’s resolutions, there is a fluctuation in the size of the letter boxing on most of the machinima topic.  Also, there are a few errors that I left in simply because it would have been more trouble then necessary to repair.

This episode ran longer then my intended 15 minute time limit with the “From the Chat Room” features cut down to a few short minutes each.  We had already realized that From the Chat Room could be a full audio program of its own and planned to release the full discussion separately.  So be sure to check out our full “From the Chat Room” mp3 as hosted by ModDB.

The mp3 has been edited to cut out our long dead air pauses and many “uhms” and “ughs” plus a few other less important or classified bits of the discussion.  The full session is around 35 minutes in length.

From The Chat Room: Episode 1 audio – BWL Development – Mod DB

In future episodes, I plan to focus more on the “From the Chat Room” segment and use that more for our main topic and news sections as it really turned into more interesting discussion.

Thanks again to Syrus Rayne, Radu Iceman, and BiGToM for helping with that.  As for why we chose to use steam instead of our Ventrilo server… well… the idea behind “From The Chat Room” is that members of our steam group can join in on the discussion at any time.  It’s not meant to be a “podcast” as much as it is a chat room segment for the show.

Of course, that does mean there are some buggy moments with the audio in the full mp3 and a somewhat lower quality to the sound as compared to something like skype or a shout-cast service of some sort.

But he played a much more interesting role for gamers, particularly for fans of the Half-Life series.

Robert Culp, the voice of Doctor Breen, passed away yesterday at the age of 79.  He apparently fell and struck his head outside his home.

Our best wishes are with his family.  He will be missed in the computer game and 3D entertainment world as well as the television and film industry.

Here’s the idmb page with a list of his extensive roles.

Though the team has worked hard to develop this project, the planned beta has been scaled back to a short demo. This demo consists of a three map training course and five of the original maps that BiGToM developed when he first started work alone back in 2007.

There are several additional bonus maps that can give the player a good idea of what the final project should look like. I recommend cat_introbeta1.bsp and cat_living.bsp for a better idea of the project’s actual map and story line introduction.

I want to discuss some of our chat and then make a few comments of my own here.

Download the Demo

First, this is indeed a DEMO and not a beta. Second, it is a short demo with more limitations then I would have preferred. The main game maps are the same ones we have shown in the screen shots and videos to date. And feel a bit thrown together rather then tied together by the story.

This is largely due to the fact that the actual game story changed when DS began writing for the project. BiGToM’s original story idea was basically as follows:

The cat begins inside of a pet carrier on a transport train. As it progresses, a crane transfers the carrier to a conveyor belt that delivers the cat into the bowels of Black Mesa. Near the end of the line, and after a number of transfers, the cat is one of several crates on the brink of delivery into a test facility when a robotic arm transfers it instead to a waiting scientist.

From that point, the cat experiences the Resonance Cascade from inside a lab and then must escape.

Portions of that story can still be seen in this demo, but not in its entirety. Unless I am gravely mistaken, the story was changed to a scientist’s pet cat and this idea is reflected in the cat_intro and cat_introbeta1 maps which allow you to see a part of a different introduction sequence, one that even pre-dates Newton’s name. Keep an eye out in the living area bonus map for Easter Eggs, which reflect the gags of the final project’s secrets.

BiGToM made the decision to switch over to a demo largely due to bugs. He explained that there are simply too many bugs to fix at this time. I think BiGToM would like some help in debugging maps and sounds. It’s my understanding that part of the reason the demo has so few custom sounds is because of a problem with his sound editing software.

I have already explained the bugs with my source code, but there are apparently a number of additional problems. For example, BiGToM points out a bug on the cat4.bsp map in the demo in which the player must duck to enter a tram even though he raised the door height. The cat source code only gives the illusion of shrunk height and so the player hull is still full sized, but this is a human sized door and should not be a problem.

He also tells me there is a problem with the elevator near the end of the actual full game in which the elevator walls injure the player.

This seems to be unrelated to the code as he elected not to use the modified hull file and scaled hull idea. Instead, we are using the Half-Life friendly version of the dlls. Which does indeed mean that players can play in regular HL and enjoy the game. You’ll want to use the console to enter map c0a0 for the HL Campaign and map t0a0 for the HL training course.

Keep in mind that you will need noclip to get passed the HEV checkpoint in the HL campaign since you can’t pick the suit up anymore [player spawns with a suit].

I think players will have a little fun with this, especially playing the original HL, but they may be disappointed by the very short nature of the demo and a lack of action or changes. Most of the monsters and/or items have not been added yet.

I myself was disappointed as much of the custom content is absent and I feel that the project has hit a bigger problem then just source code or map bugs. I do recommend that you download the demo and enjoy it. BiGToM has explained that his plan is to release a “map pack” once he has more of the bugs defeated.

In fact he said, “all the maps are basically done so all I have to do is tweak them some, add monsters and sounds, etc.

I asked BiGToM if he had any plans for the cheap clones I made for the eventual extra monsters… three headcrab clones and a zombie clone that could have been further refined to “friendly cats”, “juvenile headcrabs”, “zombie cats”, and “military dogs”. He said that if we can find a new modeler, we could possibly create a sort of pet laboritory with an outbreak of the headcrabs and the resulting zombies. He hopes this idea will be usable in the future but is not in the project as it stands.

Keep an eye out for bugs while you play and report them to sayrken[AT]hotmail.com And if you have something to contribute such as :SysOp: has offered to work on a custom HUD, please contact BiGToM via that same address. I’d love to see this project finished and in far greater quality.

However… I have some personal feelings about this and as I said before, I am now disappointed. You do not want Mr Wildcat to be disappointed.

During my discussion with BiGToM we spoke about the “addon map pack” and his hope for the sequel project. I share his enthusiasm for a successful project, but I also am not satisfied with the current project.

For all that has been discussed previously, :SysOp: had some valid points regarding the project as it stands. Despite all of the customization, we won’t be able to see that in the demo. And I’m worried that the final release will not have everything we would like either. And I need to admit that I really do agree with his point that the source code should come first. Maybe its because of my programmer background, but I think any truly good project needs the source code to really develop a proper game.

Truthfully, I feel that the project is no longer what I personally had hoped it would be. So, with BiGToM’s agreement, I am now actively seeking a Source coder.

If you have been by our site recently, then you know I am in the process of changing the site into something more then just a Half-Life fan site. BWL Development is growing and improving, so too should our projects.

It is my intention to write a more serious and dark story for Cat-Life. If you want to know more about my type of story telling, then here are some options for you. Be WARNED, these stories are all rated M for Mature and contain violence and graphic descriptions.

Conundrum – around half-finished, this is my HL fan-fic in epic novel form. It was based on a forum RP thread and is basically a crossover story for HL, D00M, and my own characters and features many character creations by our forum members from years ago.

Mod-Fiction – this is a set of two mod fan-fictions. One is a fan-fic for Cat-Life and the other is for GargArena.

Delivery – this is a short 1-shot HL2 fan-fic that began as a forum rp-thread on the old Concerned forums.

Even though I will be writing a simple story line for team development, we WILL NOT proceed until we have source code in hand. I need someone that can edit the Source SDK to make the player hulls smaller, no taller then knee height compared to a human. I need someone that can code new monsters for juvenile headcrabs, zombie cats, military dogs, and friendly cats. I need someone that can add a limited wall climb and wall jumping. I need someone that can code DarkVision night-vision and ideally also catnip enhanced vision which basically offers a brief highlight of the monsters near the player. And I need someone that can make a bite attack that adds health in addition to standard claws. Basically, all of the stuff I was trying to begin in the original HL.

This code would then be used in the source alternate Cat-Life and it’s sequel Cat-Life 2.

I also want someone that isn’t afraid to write extra code on their own. Feel free to create for this mod project. Chainsaws and grappling hooks have no part in the main story, but they would make a great bonus for finding secret worlds and secret areas as a sort of gag or comical reward.

If you can map for source, make models, sprites, sound, music, etc… start thinking about this project. Can you make a cat player model? Go ahead, we could use it. Can you make Half-Life style music? Get started, we’ll either use it in Cat-Life: Source or we’ll use it in one of our upcoming machinima projects. We WILL FIND A WAY to use your work and of course credit you for your contributions.

And, by all means, ask anyone you know that may be able to contribute to the new source code. We WILL NOT proceed beyond my story development [which I have not yet started] until we have working code.

I welcome existing Team Cat-Life members to offer their aid as well. I know that some of them including BiGToM are anxious to work on this newer incarnation too.

So, in closing, expect a Cat-Life “map pack” and we welcome any help on said project. But also be on the look out for a Source coder. Cat-Life: Source will be a completely different game and we hope it will live up to the BWL tagline of Epically Awesome in Every Way. And we certainly welcome wishes of luck and showes of support.

However, with the lack of a full-time coder and the likelihood that the Open Beta would be basically a map pack with some new sounds and such details, I have also assumed the role of temporary coder.

I re-installed my old Visual Studio 6 for the first time in years and found out just how rusty my C++ has become.  Even so, I tracked down a few tutorials and toyed with the code, creating some cheap and ugly hacks to help give the game a better change to game play.

Even so, there is more work to be done and we really need a good coder to clean up my ugly mess.  You see, I’ve done all that I can without taking more time to refresh my C++ and study the GoldSource code to truly understand the details.  I have some 20 or so projects around the BWL site that I have put off for a few nights of coding, and even then I have used more time than I would have preferred.

I am sending my current work to BiGToM.  The code features wall jumping, wall climbing (modified wall jumps), 2 attacks, a dash button with short stamina bar, simple dark vision, and spawn with long-jump.

The attacks are weaker.  The cat makes 50% less noise for monsters to hear.  Some monsters have been changed to see the player as less of a threat and the houndeyes are now predators and will attack headcrabs and the cat alike.

Unfortunately, there are known bugs.  Sometimes, the attacks can loop unexpectedly making them very potent in that instant.  Sometimes hit detection on dead bodies is a little off.  The Enhanced IR Night Vision Goggle idea I planned to use for DarkVision wasn’t very good.  I considered using it for a “catnip” enhanced vision mode pick-up, but that didn’t really work either, so that feature was disabled.

DarkVision works nicely, but can sometimes stop the player briefly after level change.  Wall climbing works wonderfully, but is also limitless.  It’s not really a bug, but as long as you are on a wall, you can go up as high on that wall as you like.  We plan to use clip brushes to limit players in-game.

Overall, playing this new code has been a lot of fun even with the bugs.  Players will need a replacement set of dll’s in order to play the original Half-Life as the hull changes in Cat-Life require custom hulls.  Basically, Cat-Life works with one set of dlls and playing regular Half-Life with the cat code will require a replacement set of dlls.  I plan to offer the over-writing dlls as a separate download.

In-game, much of the game play will have changed.  You will need to run for your life more often then stand and fight.  The pace is considerably faster and more hectic, yet a fairly experienced player will be able to really play around and make use of the new code for some fun battles.

Here is a short video for your viewing pleasure.

http://podcast17.com/transmissions/c16769

If you only want to here the Cat-Life interview, you can download that MP3.  Otherwise, if you want to here a fairly large run-down of news from the Valve community and several other mods, you can listen to the full program.

I do need to take a moment and apologize to BiGToM.  I’ve posted comments on the Podcast 17 site and our ModDB Profile about this already.  You see, for some reason I kept saying that BiGToM is Dutch.  I don’t know why.  He’s Swedish… and I’ve known that for years.

That’s what I get for doing an interview while tired I guess.

Also, I want to thank all of our team members.  Sorry I couldn’t mention all of you by name, but there wasn’t time and I’m not as familiar with all of you.

Hope you enjoy the interview.

EDIT:

The Mod DB Version is up.

http://www.moddb.com/groups/podcast17/features/transmission-16769

However, as has been stipulated before, this mod about a cat trapped and ownerless during the Black Mesa incident has plenty of lives left.  Earlier this week, BiGToM announced that an older piece of code from prior efforts had been successfully implemented.  The original code had been fraught with bugs such as monsters sinking into the floor.  Nevertheless, after a lengthy wait for a new coder [a wait that included a cash reward], the early code was modified and fixed.

Now, with corrected code in hand, Team Cat-Life is able to wrap up other portions of the mod.  With this news, the team has also announced a target date for the first stage of Open Beta testing.  Expect to be able to download and play the Cat-Life beta in November.

The beta will also include additional bonus content including maps that were cut from the project and some of the original concept.

To help celebrate, I’ve asked BiGToM for some new screen shots for the gallery.  We’ve now added four new images.  Also, be sure to keep an eye on PHL, TWHL’s Forums, HL2Files, and our FPS Banana Account for this press release.  I dispatched two “exclusive” screenshots to each of those sites with our news and those images will not be added to the gallery.

Also, and this is to clarify previous statements, the team does not intend to stop work on Cat-Life and switch over to the Source engine.  There is, however, an ongoing discussion regarding the possibility of either converting a finished Cat-Life to Source or… more likely… making a sequel using Source.

No matter the outcome of that discussion, Cat-Life will begin its open beta in November and we do want it finished before moving to the next project.

And if you are interested in working on a sequel in Source, and happen to know how to code… contact me at the_wildcat@bwldevelopment.com  I personally would like to have someone writing new source code long before the team is actually ready to work on a second mod and possibly accelerate the development process.

Scientists Go Online

Here’s an older story for our latest featured item.  Scientists Go Online is one of Friendly Garg’s earlier tales using Half-Life and the traditional image story format.

In this story, Luther and Walter begin bickering over on-line gaming skills one day and decide to play a round of Half-Life’s Deathmatch.

To access the game, they use a piece of Black Mesa technology that transports them into the game.

Originally, a part two of this story was planned.  However, due to a personal lack of interest and a feeling that the story had run its course, FG decided to drop that second project.

Most visitors that remember the site from those early years think of certain key image stories.  Specifically, the Barney Time Series or, on occasion, one of the other team-made plots.  But some of the best, most creative stories were fan-made.

In this case, I’m thinking of a story by R. Tarrman.  “INVASION”

Invasion by R. Tarrman

The story follows an unnamed scientist from an undisclosed facility that looks a lot like Black Mesa.  When he awakes in the locker room to find blood and death have filled the halls, he becomes concerned.  Then he encounters aliens and knows that his only recourse is to travel into the Black Mesa Research facility and find a way to stop the Xen invasion.

Of course, as with most of our stories, this one is based more around humor and is no where near as dramatic as it sounds.

This story is a 31 page image story on the Half-Life Stories page.  The majority of the jokes appear toward the end of the story when the scientist joins with Barney the security guard to stop the aliens.

When all else fails… turn to the Holy Book of Final Fantasy!

Invasion

In all the years that the mod has been in development… about six now… the team has seen several coders sign-on long enough to get their name on the team list.  Then they either leave due to outside circumstances or they simply were not seriously interested in coding for our mod.

The video that BiGToM posted showing the early cat-code was mostly hard-coded map tricks and coding.  The actual game code has yet to see any significant changes.  This mod would probably be in beta phase by now had any one of our coders remained on team long enough to complete the Cat-FOV coding.

So… BiGToM contacted me yesterday on Steam for help with yet another coder request.

Team Cat-Life needs a coder.  The mod itself is not going to develop much further without custom source code.

Cat-Life, for anyone that doesn’t already know, is a single-player Half-Life mod.  The player will be tasked with surviving the Black Mesa incident of the original Half-Life, but from a new point of view.

This is NOT playing Half-Life but with cat replacement models or replacing Gordon Freeman with a cat.  Rather, Cat-Life is the story of Newton… a scientist’s pet cat.

During the incident, poor Newton’s master is killed and the little fella has to escape the base alone… without being eaten or the ability to pick up the usual weapons.

You play Newton.  You eat cat food.  You try not be be eaten by the aliens.  You claw, scratch, and bite your way through six chapters and a new hazard course.  There will be more then 30 custom maps.

This is possibly one of the most unique and interesting mod concepts ever attempted and we ARE serious about completing it.

But we need your help.

Cat-Life needs a good, experienced coder for the GoldSource engine.  Specifically, we need someone to lower the Field of View to a Cat’s eye level.  That is the number one priority at the moment.  Without such code completed for internal testing, the mappers can’t test their maps properly.

We also would like to add a Cat’s night vision, modified jumping, sprinting, pouncing, and such movement options… if these sorts of items are possible.

The original HL 1 C++ is freely available for editing and will be our source.  BiGToM has said that he can offer a C++ program to work with and a simple file share program to make this easier for the new coder.

He also said that a reward is available for the coder.  He couldn’t give me an exact dollar figure due to not knowing how long recruitment may take or how much will be donated, but he estimated anything from $10 to $60 US.  Potential applicants need to discus this with BiGToM directly.

And when I said “We need your help” I was being very literal.  If you can’t code, but you know someone who does… point them in our direction.  We need experienced help here.

It’s high time we got past this one trivial problem and moved this mod into it’s final development stages.  We need a coder.

Contact BiGToM on MSN at sayrken@hotmail.com, email him at sayrken[AT]gmail.com, or stop by our forums at bwldevelopment.com and leave a message.  You can even send a private message at ModDB if you like.

The video begins with a run through of a map in traditional Half-Life code.  Normal player height, jumping, ducking, etc.  Then it offers a view of the same map using the cat’s settings.

There isn’t any combat in this video.  Instead, it focuses on the current “buggy” code work and showing how the game “looks” at it’s current level of development.

The video ends with a couple of new map locations revealed from the cat POV.

Also… yea for tiny kitten! =P

Cat-Life Current Coding