Obsidian Conflict News

The road was really rocky, and it seemed it wouldn't ever arrive, but we have finally in our hands a version stable enough, for the closed beta to begin.



New HMG1 model / Driveable Zuk van


In the case someone missed our previous article, here’s a recap on what are the goals of the closed beta:

• Expose any exploits or critical bugs that were overlooked during the internal testing, and fix them
  
• Restore the community-driven infrastructure of servers, public bug reporting, our official map database, and more.
  
• Generate updated wiki, tutorial & guide information for modders and server operators for the new version.
  
• Provide us with a larger pool of players to draw input from, as we work on the balance and polish of our content, leading up to the public release

Diving / Improved Points Transfer feature


While we are beginning to select the first candidates from a closed pool, there are three tester roles, which can be applied to by the public freely:

• Server Admins:
  With a focus towards current OC 1.35 server admins, we want anyone interested to host, on having access into the new Steam version, so they can start preparing their servers and at the same time, give us feedback about potential issues and improvements needed
  
  
  
• Translators:
  While OC always had a Japanese translation, we would like to expand the number of languages offered, especially now that we are on Steam. Users who are already present in our community, and that have already translated for other mods, will be favoured. Due to the sheer number of strings, it is recommended to work with another or as a team, per each language. For a list of current languages and who are working on them, please check our Trello
  
  
  
• Community Modders:
  With a great interest towards mappers, we want any “battle-hardened” modder to participate in, so they can tell us how they are finding the new version. Those familiar with creating stuff for the mod, will be favoured, as they might know what to do, to adapt old community maps for the Steam version if they want to. And if they can lend us a hand by writing / updating the Wiki and guides, even better!

We don’t have a fixed range of dates of how long should last the beta, and when the preparatives for the release should begin. Hopefully, we will not face many issues during it, so on the worst case scenario, it doesn’t take us longer than half a year to actually begin the final countdown towards the release.



Umizuri / Stitches 02



Unfortunately, not everything is good news: Early this year, we had to say goodbye to KittopiaCreator, as he retired from Source modding, due to several real life issues affecting him. We are thankful for his great work done on the mod, and we wish him the best of luck in life.

This meant that our development speed decreased even more, although thankfully he completed his tasks before leaving, so we weren’t impacted much by his leave.

However, this could complicate things at a later time for the release. As a such, we are especially seeking new programmers to aid us with tweaking and solving issues found during the beta. Of course, we also have other open positions, like level designers or 2D artists. And one time contributors are accepted as well.
Interested? Head over to our application form page!


https://obsidianconflict.net/images/2023_bullsquid.mp4
https://obsidianconflict.net/images/2023_ping.mp4

New HL2 Bullsquid model / Ping feature


We hope that things goes smoothly from here, so we will keep all of you communicated about the progress through our Discord server and the Steam store page. With luck, we shall release this year!

Happy Pride month!

It’s hard to believe that a whole year has already passed since our last update. Time sure flies, doesn’t it? So we thought that since our last article celebrated our 15th anniversary, how about we do the same for our 16th… but late!

Now, to address that age-old question, “is the mod still in development?”

Yes! (albeit at a slower rate than we would prefer), work remains very much underway on the mod.
With all the usual “real life” interruptions (sickness, studies, jobs, economic issues, or a literal ongoing war) continuing to plague the team, progress has suffered. Ranging from not quite getting as much work done as before, to flat out unavailability, either of which will slow development for a small team like ours. That said, the team members that can still manage to dedicate at least some of their free time to working on OC will continue to do so.

We also feel it’s necessary to apologize for the radio silence outside our Discord server, where we tend to be much more active. While we know that it’s important to keep our community up to date with media updates and the like, with development time at such a premium (as mentioned above), we felt the time required to put out regular updates was better spent getting work done on the mod itself.
This is a somewhat lame excuse for how quiet we’ve been, and we probably could have managed at least some small updates here and there, though, it does tend to be difficult to show off code work/fixes in a visually exciting way for the layman.

We had hoped that this article would be the announcement of the start of the closed beta phase, but time got away from us yet again, and it’s looking like we will be waiting just a little bit longer for that news update to drop.

With all that out of the way, how about we move on to the fun part? Development:

Umizuri ( Early Work In Progress ) / Broken Escape 01a

Mapping progress on "Umizuri" and "Broken Escape":

Umizuri is getting a major visual overhaul, and we are toying with the idea of adding new gameplay features as well. The core gameplay will be retained, but the new ideas are still up for debate and a work in progress.

Broken Escape had a remake being worked on for the expected previous public mod release, but in the decade since, a full new version was created. Broken Escape, part one was split into three maps due to reaching several engine limits. Currently, about 2/3 of it is completed, with an art pass being prepared.
The second part of the campaign will arrive in a post-release update, to be announced later.

Other maps and assets:

Closer to the beta, our previously completed mapadds and maps will be checked again from the ground up in order to guarantee a minimum of quality for the beginning of the closed beta. This work won’t take long. Some small secondary work on models, textures and others are left to do as well, but it can be easily taken care of during the beta.


New Cardwar card designs / More custom color options / Improved Enhanced Citizens, Combine and H.E.C.U. playermodels / New Healer for the HL:S campaign

Code work progress:

Work on the content mount system is reaching its final stages, with some aspects being left to do like restoring the warning screen (in the case you don’t have the needed content mounted), or optimizing the workload on the dedicated server side.

Numerous fixes to long time running issues have been addressed, for example SourceTV no longer crashing, npc_antlion_template_maker now ignores dead/spectating players, improved the Uzi’s duel akimbo setup, npc_launcher rockets homing correctly, or working headlights for the Jalopy.

Even though 70% of our code work continues to go into fixing existing issues, there are still improvements being made and some new features being added. Some of the changes include, but are not limited to: refinements to the Hydra’s AI, the new Combine Assassin NPC, being able to shoot while using the suit zoom (toggleable via convar) and introducing Discord & Steam rich presence features.


Combine Assassin NPC / Improved Hydra NPC AI / Fixed SLAM not deploying right / Fixed missing Houndeye schedules

Recently, questions have been raised about what the point of us having a closed beta stage is, and why not just releasing the mod directly as soon as possible. Here is a brief explanation:

Expose any exploits or critical bugs that were overlooked during internal testing and fix them
Restore the community-driven infrastructure of servers, public bug reporting, our official map database, and more.
Generate updated wiki, tutorial & guide information for modders and server operators for the new version.
Provide us with a larger pool of players to draw input from, as we work on the balance and polish for our content leading up to the public release

More information about the closed beta will be revealed once the time draws near. For now, we are still aiming to begin before the year ends. Yes, we realize that the deadline is getting rather close, and we are keeping our fingers crossed that “real life” doesn’t butt in to render that date unattainable.


Outhouse / Fireteam 02 / Danmaku / Zelden 02

As usual, we are still accepting applications for new team members, as well as contributors. Contributions are always welcome if you can’t devote time to being a full-time team member. (Of course you will receive full credit for your work in the mod’s credits, regardless of time spent.) While programmers are always in demand, there are many other roles and tasks we could use help with.
If you are interested, please apply using our application form.

On a closing note, have some footage of the current internal testing version running on the Steam Deck, provided by Raidensnake. Pad controls and others are still WIP, but it is largely playable:
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
Thank you for your patience, we hope to have some further news on the closed beta for you soon.

On this day, fifteen years ago, the first version of Obsidian Conflict was released to the public. It all began when the original founders Skidz and Hyperjag3 wanted to create a co-op mode for Missing Information, which quickly turned into its own project, Obsidian Conflict.

Since then, several versions ensued, each one fixing previous bugs and creating new features. People came and went, the engine got game-breaking updates and new challenges were faced, but the spirit of playing together with your friends remained constant.
In case you are interested about the mod’s origins, you can read the original article written for the 7th anniversary here.

Freezing Point, 2006

Deadland, 2006

While development has been quite bumpy in recent years (including a development pause between 2015 and 2017), we keep working hard for our fans and in our compromise to finish what our founders intended: releasing on Steam.


Development remains slow as our team keeps being tied up with real life events, but even with such reduced speed, progress is being made. So far, testing on Steam has drastically improved the ability to test, and finishing the new content mounting system is the last bottleneck that impedes us before we can begin with the closed beta.
We are still confident that we can get started with it this year, and if everything goes well, maybe even release, but time will tell.

Stitches 2, 2021

Diving, 2021

As a closure, we are still accepting new team members. We are also seeking to expand our moderator team in preparation for the closed beta and the release. Of course, contributors are also welcomed as well if you prefer to help out without being anchored to the mod for extended periods of time.
If you are interested, please apply using our new application form.

[h2]So, 2020.[/h2]

There’s not much that needs to be said about how this year turned out and why.
It is very jarring in comparison with our last article done at the beginning of February, where we were optimistic.
In case you haven’t seen it on our Discord server, we must give you bad news:

Obsidian Conflict has been delayed to an unknown date in 2021.

We know that we promised the closed beta to start by the end of this year and then release the mod after, but a multitude of events have occurred to the team in real life due to or during the pandemic, going as bad as even losing jobs and having mental breakdowns, and as such, the work on the mod has been inevitably affected.
However, while the working speed has been slowed down to a crawl, development is still ongoing.

Let’s go then for a small recap of what happened this year since the last article, shall we?

Metrocops can use shotguns now, AR2 and grenades

Improved Ichthyosaur model

[h2]Half-Life: Resized Maps[/h2]

Known previously as Half-Life: Source Unified, this collaboration between the Half-Life: Co-op and Obsidian Conflict teams eventually saw the light in July.
From the initial tram ride to the final choice, the whole game has been reworked and improved into a seamless, map-bug free experience. Here are the links for Gmod, HL:S and the main project page.
Obsidian Conflict will ship with these, and as seen in current internal testing, it’s a pleasure playing them in co-op, unlike the original HL:S maps (in which the main issue was the size of the maps, as they are so small that by the time a player finished loading one, the server had already switched to the next).
The mapadds for the vanilla HL:S maps will remain in the mod for legacy support anyway, just in case.

Hazard Course

Surface Tension

[h2]Further fixes and improvements[/h2]

While we worked on the HLRM project, the rest of the mod received some love too: code bugs were squashed, maps were updated and improved, weapons are being rebalanced, models and textures getting an art pass...

We don’t want to show all the work done yet, but we can unveil some nice details, like the sniper rifle now using a 5-shot energy cell, as a way to set it apart from the 357 or the Crossbow. An improved UI and fleshed out HUD details, fixed graphical issues when playing HL2: Lost Coast with multiple players (like broken occluders or wrong lighting settings on models that only have been possible to fix via Lump editing) as well as SLAMs/Tripmines not exploding if the surface they were attached to broke apart.


5-Shot Sniper Rifle (OSR)

UI changes

HL1 Tripmines

Lost Coast

[h2]Steamworks, Diving and others[/h2]

We also started working on the first Steamworks elements like the Workshop. While considerable time and effort is needed, the results are starting to show, and we are sure they will be a great addition for everybody to enjoy.

Meanwhile, in late April, Whomobile dedicated one of his “Weird Maps” videos to Diving, a famous community-made map done back in 2010 by Beanbrains. The video was so popular that Beanbrains himself returned and gave us the VMFs for the latest unfinished version of it. And as such, we are currently finishing and adjusting the map, so we can officially ship it with the mod at release. Yes, you read that right, Diving is now part of the official map list.

Our Steam store page was also unveiled, so feel free to follow our community hub on Steam for news as well!

Current test items at the Workshop

Diving starting point

Steam Store page

[h2]In closing[/h2]

To finish this article, we would like to share with you the new viewmodels for the HL2 weapons, based on the models made by Juniez and modified and animated by Troop (Work In Progress):
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Remember that we are still looking for mappers to give us a hand with updating the maps, but we also need a dedicated 2D Artist now as well, as we have to deal with some stuff like Library banners, achievement icons, possible new sprays and other sooner or later.
Our Trello is up as well to check the possible “job offerings”.

Have a happy New Year, see you in 2021!