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LambdaBuilds: Escape From Black Mesa Level Design Competition

Greetings, scientists!

What is your favorite time of year? Ours is HALLOWEEN.

We are excited to announce our Halloween Level Design Competition called LambdaBuilds: Escape From Black Mesa, a collaboration between LambdaGeneration and ModDB. We are obviously big fans of both groups, and have been wanting to do a level design competition for some time. So what better way to mix our favorite time of year with two really great communities?

To kick off the festivities, Black Mesa is 75% off until Sunday!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/362890/Black_Mesa/

[h2]Theming: Eerie Escape Room:[/h2]

We want contestants to come up with their best design for a Black Mesa themed Escape Room. Maybe you are trapped in a science lab with horrifying Xenian creatures? Maybe you are stuck in the rubble after the resonance cascade? Maybe Gordon finds himself in the middle of a cactus maze and has to escape?

Don’t be afraid of sticking to the classic Black Mesa style, but don’t be afraid to be creative either!

While the theme of your map should be eerie, it's not necessarily “horror”. You don’t need gallons of blood or terrifying creatures to score points, We are looking more for a creepy, unnerving, or foreboding atmosphere. Can you creep us out with just the level elements? Can you make us uncomfortable without resorting to combat against various creatures?

While the focus is on the feel of the map, neither blood, combat, or other horror elements are against the rules!

[h2]Scope:[/h2]

We here at Crowbar Collective love to see creativity through constraint. It is where some of our best ideas came from. You may have an idea for a really large, sprawling escape room but, given the scope of this contest, it may not be your best interest to try and tackle the whole thing. Pick a simple and compact idea and find creative ways to elevate it to the next level.

Scope is one of the most difficult aspects of design to manage, and it is way better to keep it simple and build things up instead of having to pair stuff down at the last minute (ask us how we know…).

So, all that is to say, we appreciate simple designs, reuse of space, and finding clever ways to reuse what is already in the game.

[h2]Prizes:[/h2]



[h3]1st Prize:[/h3]
  • RTX 3070 TI
  • $100 Steam Gift Card (USD)
  • Custom Black Mesa Mouse Pad
  • Black Mesa Display Box

[h3]2nd Prize:[/h3]
  • GTX 1660 Super
  • $100 Steam Gift Card (USD)
  • Custom Black Mesa Mouse Pad
  • Black Mesa Display Box

[h3]3rd Prize:[/h3]
  • Corsair Keyboard
  • $50 Steam Gift Card (USD)
  • Custom Black Mesa Mouse Pad
  • Black Mesa Display Box

[h3]Important Links and Information:[/h3]
  1. Submission form
  2. Help/questions - LambdaBuilds section of LambdaGeneration Discord
  3. Share WIPs/progress on our platform using #LambdaBuilds tag
  4. Download final build/results on the ModDB page
Check out the LambdaBuilds infographic for complete rules, judges, and details.

Black Mesa Turns 10 Years Old!

Attention to all science personnel!

Today marks 10 years since Black Mesa was released as the definitive way to revisit Half-Life on the Source engine! We’re so proud of how far we’ve come since then, and are grateful for the tremendous support from our community over the past decade. Black Mesa wouldn’t be where it is today if it wasn’t for all of you.

To celebrate this huge milestone, our friends at LambdaGeneration have released the Black Mesa sub-community on their website, which will act as the official fan page for all Black Mesa personnel! If you haven’t joined yet, please head here and sign up today!

Furthermore, we are teaming with LambdaGeneration to hold a 10 year anniversary Gleam giveaway. We’re giving away 3 sets of $50 Steam Physical Gift cards to the top 3 winners. To enter the giveaway, follow this link. Complete as many tasks as possible to earn more chances to win! The giveaway runs until September, 20th. Winners will be announced shortly after.

Thank you for a great 10 years, scientists,

The Crowbar Collective Team

The Black Mesa x Intruder Mapmaking Competition is Live!

Attention to all science team personnel!

We are so excited to announce that the mapmaking competition featuring Black Mesa and Intruder has finally begun! Given that both of these titles are FPS games that developed out of a love of Half-Life, and its modding community, we thought that this mapmaking competition would be an excellent way for both the Black Mesa and Intruder communities to showcase their love for these games, and their creativity! With that being said, there are a few things we wanted to share with all you scientists:

[h3]The Map Making Contest Has Begun![/h3]

The Black Mesa x Intruder map making contest has officially begun! Use Black Mesa assets to create the best looking Intruder map possible! Submit your creations by September 28th on the official Intruder Discord server and Workshop. Please make sure to read all the rules here.

[h3]Bundle Information[/h3]

To celebrate the launch of this epic crossover event, Crowbar Collective and Superboss Games have teamed up to release a bundle offering 50% off whichever of the two titles you don’t currently own. The bundle is available until August 4th, so zip up that HEV suit and grab all your gear!

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/27270/

[h3]Stream Announcement[/h3]

Remember, Scientists!

Grab those snacks from the cafeteria, and watch the Crowbar Collective and SuperBoss Games Devs play Intruder together on Twitch!

Make sure to follow Crowbar Collective and Superboss Games!

https://www.instagram.com/blackmesagame/
https://twitter.com/BlackMesaDevs
https://www.facebook.com/BlackMesaDevs
https://twitter.com/SuperbossGames
https://www.facebook.com/SuperbossGames

Black Mesa x Intruder Livestream

Attention all science personnel!

Fire up those DalSYS computers! On July 28 at 12 PM CST, worlds collide as the Black Mesa and Superboss Games developers will be playing Intruder with one another in an epic crossover livestream event!

The stream can be found at right here!

While you’re at it, make sure to check out Black Mesa and Intruder using the links below!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/362890/Black_Mesa/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/518150/Intruder/

Crowbar Collective x Superboss Games

https://www.instagram.com/blackmesagame/
https://twitter.com/BlackMesaDevs
https://www.facebook.com/BlackMesaDevs
https://twitter.com/SuperbossGames
https://www.facebook.com/SuperbossGames

Black Mesa x Intruder Date Reveal!

Save the date, Scientists!

The Black Mesa x Intruder mapmaking competition is coming on July 28th, and it’s coming in hot! Don’t miss your chance to take part in the best mapmaking contest ever created to win exciting prizes!

https://youtu.be/kZbVvpejxL4

Stay tuned to our socials and keep up with the latest news:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/blackmesagame/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BlackMesaDevs
Twitter: https://twitter.com/BlackMesaDevs

Make sure to check out Intruder on:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SuperbossGames
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SuperbossGames

And reach out to other map makers and players on our Discord server.

See you on the Island, Scientists.

Trailer made by SepkoSFM

Crowbar Collective x Superboss Games