Black Mesa News

Craig Mirfin

[h3]Tell us a bit about yourself and your role at Crowbar Collective.[/h3]
Hi, my name is Craig Mirfin and in my spare time, I am a Level Designer on Black Mesa. I joined the team over 5 years ago mainly to work on the Multiplayer map “Bounce” and then moved from multiplayer to start on the daunting task of creating the Xen Levels.

My day job is as a Senior Level Designer at Studio Gobo working on AAA games like For Honor and the recently released Hyperscape. I really do owe this position to working on Black Mesa, not only giving me the chance to work with a great team of people but to prove to myself that I could do level design as a career. It's been a hell of a ride these last 10 years but so worth it…. Crowbar Collective…. About That Beer I Owe You! :)

[h3]What do you enjoy the most about Black Mesa?[/h3]
It allows me to relive Half-Life with a new coat of paint :) Hopefully playing Blackmesa feels like you are playing the old Half-Life with those rose-tinted glasses off, yet still getting the same buzz from the game. It's a testament to the talent in the team to ship what a lot of people thought wasn't doable.

[h3]What was the most challenging hurdle that was overcome during development in your role?[/h3]
When I first started fleshing out the first few Xen maps it was extremely time-consuming with how displacements work and how to smooth “subdivide” them. As Xen is mainly organic, you couldn't really rely on the traditional BSP method of creating environments. We were really just trying to find how far we could push displacements. After the first year of Xen development we doubled the number of displacements we could have, which not only allowed us more flexibility but also kept us away from hitting displacement limits on a daily basis. Also, a huge hurdle jumped was with subdividing displacements. At the start a Xen map would still take 10 hours to subdivide until we began working with Worm Wall which reduced this to minutes, resulting in a huge increase in productivity.

[h3]How did you get involved with Black Mesa (If you joined later on?)[/h3]
I had spent 3 long years prior creating a 5 map L4D2 campaign and after a little break after releasing this I wanted to get back on the Hammer horse and luckily Crowbar were looking for Level Designers, I applied as I love creating maps. It was only after I got the gig that I was told the team had been greenlit to go commercial. I soon moved from multiplayer to Xen.

[h3]What was your first experience with Half-Life?[/h3]
I had just been given a 486 PC from work and the IT guy gave me a copy of this game called ‘Half-Life’... I was hooked. Little did I know that would be my route into Game Dev as a career years later.

[h3]Any recommendations for people wanting to get into game design?[/h3]
I think if you feel it's too late to get into game design then think again. I got into game dev very late in life (I was about 44 :E) If you're passionate about game design then do something off your own back, be it a game jam, modding project, or be actively testing a project. Doors open, you make great contacts and things happen. The key thing is to enjoy what you do and never give up. If someone is better than you... so what.. try and learn, don't be afraid to ask questions and aim to get better. Never let that put you off. Always leave your ego at the door and your passion for what you do will shine through. All the above is still true if you're just starting out… What are you waiting for? They're waiting for you in the Test Chamberrrrr.

[h3]Was there ever a time you were close to giving up and quitting?[/h3]
Yes. Working full time and then in your spare time, takes its toll on your mental health, family, and friends. It's a huge commitment but I hope this has paid off with what the team has achieved.

[h3]When did your interest in game development begin?[/h3]
A very very long time ago. As a kid I was hooked playing games, it was a way to let my imagination go wild. I used to write small games on a ZX81 and then later ZX Spectrum. Got into modding Duke Nukem on the build engine in my early 20’s, then got into the Hammer Editor and never looked back.

[h3]Anything you would want to add to Black Mesa?[/h3]
When designing the temporary science base in Xen map 1, I always wanted to add a tiny glimpse of human life via some kind of transmission from Kleiner on a screen. Just to add a little human narrative in what is a chapter devoid of human contact. Nothing that would outstay its welcome but I felt by the time you got to the polytunnels it would have been a nice call back to the science team on earth. Maybe I’ll add this as a Mod at some point that could lead onto a small side narrative to flesh out the base a little more.

[h3]Any movies or other games besides Half-Life you took inspiration from during development for your role specifically?[/h3]
The science polytunnels were inspired by watching the Martian. I wanted them to have this vulnerability as the film had. It was a simple design that worked well with what shapes I was trying to create. I worked closely with Spencer and luckily we were on the same page with the design. I did intend it to be bigger but it was easy to get distracted from the main star which is Xen. Fun fact, I designed the little white Xen creature containers based on the scene in the film Evolution. That underground cave in the film always reminded me of what Xen should look like and they had cool science gear that fitted well with the black mesa style. Also, the tripods and theodolites are a call back to when I used to be a Civil Engineer as I did a lot of surveying and thought it was the kind of low tech that the science team would have.

[h3]How does the development pipeline work between the LD’s, artists, and audio engineers?[/h3]
I think the Level design on Black Mesa is a little different from a normal industry studio’s approach. Most Level Designers (LD) would only really block out and then pass to Level Artists (LA) but with Black Mesa, there's enough art already in-game that the designers can set dress a level to a very high standard. This is more of a modding mentality that I personally think helps bridge the LD/LA gap. Its something I’ve really pushed for in my daytime LD work which has proven to be a very positive thing.

[h3]Tell us a bit about yourself and your role at Crowbar Collective.[/h3]
Hello, my name is Kevin Sisk, and I was initially brought onto in late January 2007 to voice the security guard NPCs in Black Mesa.
Over time, I slowly branched out into other departments and lent a helping hand. Departments such as:

- Audio Editing for the Character(s) Dialog,
- Sound Design here and there for things like the overhead vox systems, the retinal scanner (one of my favs), etc
- Recorded some alien voices/SFX, etc.
- Worked bunch on the in-game scenes /choreography,
- Even have done a bit of 3d modeling for a few things.
Oh yeah, I also voiced the Gman...tee hee.

[h3]What software did you use for your work?[/h3]
For straight-up voiceover editing, I typically used Adobe Audition 3.0, and FLStudio for some of the more electronic-based sound design bits I did on the project.

[h3]Do you accept pineapple on pizza or are you against it?[/h3]
All I know is my gut says "maybe"

[h3]How often do you watch youtube videos/Twitch streams of Black Mesa?[/h3]
Pretty often. I always look for YouTubers who have never experienced the Half-Life saga in any shape or form. I’m always surprised to see when someone decides to play "Black Mesa" first instead of Half-Life then goes straight into Half-Life 2 afterward.

I suppose this is a testament to the good word-of-mouth that Black Mesa gets for being a respectful recreation of the original even though we put our spin on things in quite a few places.

That said, I would encourage ppl to play the original HL at some point, so as to better understand and appreciate the historical significance it brings to the first person shooter genre, and how far the HL series has come since that first outing.

[h3]Any favorite mods for Half-Life games?[/h3]
The Hunger" was a favorite of mine back in the day. Good zany zombie-killing fun.

[h3]What kind of microphones & preamps were used to record your vocals?[/h3]
For Microphones, I used an MXL 990 condenser which currently interfaces with a Focusrite 2I2 USB Preamp.

In the earlier days, the 990 would have instead plugged into a Behringer Eurorack 1202 analog mixer and then that mixer’s output went into an M-Audio Delta 1010LT sound card.

It was good for the regular conversation type vo and shouting loudnesses, but the noise floor on the mixer made the more whispery stuff a little tough to handle in post. Once I got the Focusrite though, the newer recordings had like 15+ dB less noise overall and made my life a lot easier.



BOOM. HEADSHOT.
NOW - ISH (2018)



THEN (2009)

[h3]Tell us a bit about yourself and your role at Crowbar Collective.[/h3]
I got into Half-Life and Counter-Strike when they first came out. I immediately got into level design in Worldcraft and modeling in 3ds Max. I made several CS maps for my local gaming group over the years and moved to Hammer when Source came out. My desire to make some more artistic levels was hindered by the unfriendly tools in Source. Fixing what I felt to be a broken pipeline turned into a decade-long adventure of creating Wall Worm, becoming the technical artist on Black Mesa and Product Owner at Autodesk for 3ds Max.

I’m a family man who doesn’t really watch much TV or even play many different games. I have been playing the same set of multiplayer games for decades now (CS and Battlefield mostly, though recently Pubg too). The way I see it is that a game doesn’t get boring just because it’s old--just like basketball never gets old for me. I play CS with my family and close friends; if I’m not playing with people I actually know, my interest wanes quickly. When it comes to single-player games, I get more enjoyment from creating games than from playing them.

At Black Mesa, my role ranges from building pipeline tools between 3ds Max and Source to making some assets here and there, assisting other artists to complete their tasks and teaching teammates how to use various functions and workflows.



[h3]What do you enjoy the most about Black Mesa?[/h3]
There are many things that I love about Black Mesa. For me, as cool as Black Mesa is, the game itself pales in comparison to the opportunities it gave me. Most importantly, I’ve made some great friends. Professionally, Black Mesa helped add a higher level of legitimacy to my work with Wall Worm in the eyes of a wider audience. Black Mesa gave me the opportunity to learn to work with others in a way I had not really done before; facing the challenges of working with a remote group of talented but wildly diverse personalities was a valuable experience for me.

[h3]What was the most challenging hurdle that was overcome during development in your role?
Hammer.[/h3]

One of the things I hoped to accomplish when I was hired in 2015 was to move the whole team to a 3ds Max pipeline that did not use Hammer. While I was well acquainted with the Source community’s deep attachment to Hammer, I naively expected it would be different on our team. As it turned out, I was never able to get our level designers to embrace 3ds Max. They saw the value in what the artists were doing with Max by sculpting the landscapes, but for one reason or another, the level designers did not want to make the leap.

So we settled on a hybrid pipeline of Hammer to Max to Hammer. The challenge for me was that I knew the file formats, capabilities, and limitations of both Hammer and Max better than anyone else--so knowing that the hybrid method of constantly round-tripping exported data was not ideal weighed on me all the time. Iteration was severely hampered because of this, in my opinion. This was probably the greatest frustration I had.

Eventually, I gave in to the reality that the setup we had was not going to change. It worked well enough for the rest of the team to be satisfied, and some of the conventions we developed did make it a little more smooth over time. Learning to accept that was a valuable lesson for me--you may believe you have the right way to do something, but there are always many ways to skin a cat. In the end, we were able to make a game that we all get to share pride in.

[h3]What software did you use for your work?[/h3]
3ds Max.

[h3]Did you go to school for your respective parts of the project?[/h3]
No. I actually dropped out of high school. There are many paths to education. I don’t recommend that path for all people, but the only thing you really need for most fields is a willingness to learn and make yourself better. If you really want to learn and you set goals for yourself, you can learn what you need to succeed. Education should be seen as a lifelong journey.

[h3]Any recommendations for people wanting to get into game design?[/h3]
Just do it. It seems cliche, but that’s my view on a great many things. You learn by doing things. That’s how I’ve always approached everything. It’s also what I’ve tried to instill in all of my children. My son wanted to be a fitness trainer… I’m glad he just decided to do it! The same principle certainly applies to games.


[h3]How did you resist getting burnt out over such a long development process for Xen?[/h3]
I started in 2015, so I didn’t have to wait as long as most of the other members. For the most part, I didn’t have to resist burnout. Even with a few frustrations, I felt lucky to be part of the Black Mesa adventure. Working with creative people invigorates me. And the guys became my friends. Below is a picture of Brian Dale and I visiting the Wright Patterson Airforce Museum together.

[h3]Tell us a bit about yourself and your role at Crowbar Collective.[/h3]
I’ve been with the team from the beginning. I’m the 2nd oldest (was the oldest until Craig joined). I originally started as a concept artist and that role changed many times over the years. I eventually moved to a 3d artist/ environmental artist.

[h3]What do you enjoy the most about Black Mesa?[/h3]
Learning how to do new things and meeting a bunch of cool artists over the years.

[h3]What was the most challenging hurdle that was overcome during development in your role?[/h3]
My lack of personal time to work on things usually around the holidays due to my real job and having to shoehorn things into an outdated engine.

[h3]What software did you use for your work?[/h3]
Photoshop, Substance Painter, Quixel suite, 3DS max, silo3d, World Machine, and blender.

[h3]What was your first experience with Half-Life?[/h3]
The original game that came out in 1997.
Did you go to school for your respective parts of the project? No, I am in the medical field. I started working on the mod as a hobby.

[h3]Any recommendations for people wanting to get into game design?[/h3]
Start using a 3d modeling program and practice, practice, practice. You should also learn to use a substance painter. Start small and work your way up to more complex things. Do your own mods of things and don’t expect to get paid or have success. Expect to fail a bunch and learn how to do something better because you learned what NOT to do. Also, learn to take CONSTRUCTIVE criticism and change your work.

[h3]How did you resist getting burnt out over such a long development process for Xen?[/h3]
I had to treat it like a job sometimes which was difficult when it was just a free mod. When it became a commercial project, I really had to treat it like a job (even though I have a full time plus job). I worked most of my vacations to get my stuff done. Sometimes you have to just walk away from the computer for a week or 2 and then go back and keep plugging away.

[h3]If you had unlimited time, money, and help, what game would you make?[/h3]
A game similar to BF 2142 and something along the lines of X-wing series. Would love to remake wing commander in the style of the box art from the original.

[h3]Tell us a bit about yourself and your role at Crowbar Collective.[/h3]
Hey, I'm Spence! I have been working off and on with the team since 2005 when the project was in its very early days as a Half-Life 2 mod. I had a small amount of experience making maps for Half-Life and initially joined the team as a level designer. My earlier work is found in Black Mesa Inbound, Surface Tension, and On A Rail where I built level geometry and re-imagined a few puzzles and gameplay spaces. In more recent years I've worked as an artist, supporting the team for the Surface Tension Uncut and Xen updates. Now, I continue to contribute as a principal artist for experimental and upcoming projects.

Outside of Black Mesa, I've contributed to two other games built on the Source engine, and as an independent developer, I've contributed to a handful of other game-related projects and teams. If you want to know more about my work or my contributions to Black Mesa you can check out my portfolio website at commonspence.com.

Aside from games and digital art, some of my other biggest interests and hobbies are photography, model-building, and traveling. I love new foods, different languages, and meeting all types of people from all over the world!

[h3]What do you enjoy most about Black Mesa?[/h3]
Working with the team over the years has been rewarding. Everyone has an infectious enthusiasm and I’m constantly able to learn new things and grow as a developer, which is one of the best aspects.
Also, all of the feedback from players and fans is incredibly motivating! So much work on Black Mesa was borne out of genuine love for Half-Life, and it’s an honor to have contributed in some small ways.

[h3]What was the worst part of developing Black Mesa in your role?[/h3]
The pure volunteer nature of the project was a help and a hindrance at some points. In the early days, we were all working in our spare time and for the fun of it. That's not always sustainable, especially when it comes to fixing bugs, design revisions, or things that might not be as fun.

In more recent years, as an artist, it was difficult working with the Source engine while concurrently working on other projects in Unreal 4 or Unity. You become very conscious of the limitations and workflow differences between the engines and find yourself wishing for something that combines the best of all of them.

[h3]Did you go to school for your respective parts of the project?[/h3]
I've attended four different schools throughout my time working on Black Mesa - and only graduated from one of them, well after I began working on the project ;)
I never expected to go into a career doing creative things with computers, and the ways I spent my time and efforts in school reflect this.

After years of working on games and studying other things, I returned to university and graduated in 2016 with a BSc in Creative Technologies. It's only loosely related to the work I contributed to Black Mesa, but the course did better prepare me to take on other roles and think across different disciplines as an independent developer.

[h3]What would you be doing if you weren’t part of the Crowbar Collective team?[/h3]
It's anyone's guess, but most likely working on other games or content for them. If I had pursued my earlier career ambitions, then I'd probably be flying or driving some kind of vehicle - or, alternatively, building physical things instead of digital things.

[h3]Was there ever a time you were close to giving up and quitting?[/h3]
I have come and gone from the team on multiple occasions - I think anyone that works on a project over the course of ~15 years will feel like giving up or quitting at some point, especially considering the volunteer nature of the team for many years.

Leaving the team to work on other projects or develop new skills has allowed me to take on new challenges and roles on each return. While I think it's been beneficial (and necessary) from a personal perspective, I think that it's allowed me to make better contributions to the team as well.

[h3]How much does using Wallworm improve workflow in the Source engine?[/h3]
It's safe to say that the art process for Xen would have been impossible if it wasn't for these tools. The Source engine is not particularly artist-friendly as it is - before switching over to the Wallworm tools, I was using a series of batch files and scripts to compile models and materials. There were a lot of points of failure and a lot of manual effort required to create art assets - not to mention an entire scene.
While the tools don't (and can't) solve all of the workflow issues with Source, they do offer a much smoother "pipeline" to work with. What used to be a lengthy process of preparing and compiling assets can now be done in a few clicks, greatly accelerating things - and also reducing frustration for artists, an important consideration :)

Creating and compiling models is only part of the process - one of the other strengths of the tools is the ability to work directly with map geometry and create entire levels through the modeling program. In this case, we did a lot of terrain sculpting and object placement in 3dsmax, which is far easier than it would have been in Hammer editor.

We were also able to take clusters of props, merge them, and perform boolean operations to remove the parts that would be occluded by geometry or otherwise “hidden” in-game. These kinds of workflow improvements allowed us to create levels that were more detailed (and performant) than anything that we could have created with Hammer alone.

All of this allowed us to spend more time with the "fun" (or at least, more creative) parts of starting up the level, and I think that's the most important workflow improvement.

[h3]Any favorite mods for Half-Life games?[/h3]
Are all the classics (Counter-Strike, Team Fortress Classic, and Day of Defeat) still counted as "mods" these days? :)
I've played a lot of single-player mods for Half-Life...Azure Sheep, They Hunger, Point of View, Poke646 were some of my all-time favorites. I played the heck out of Natural Selection and Science and Industry, too!

[h3]If you had unlimited time, money, and help, what game would you make?[/h3]
Probably some type of simulation/construction/management game. I've always wanted to make something like Sim Tower (or more recently, Project Highrise) but in an isometric style, like The Sims. Of course, I don't have unlimited time, money, or help, but I still work on this project from time to time as a way to improve and expand my programming knowledge. There are a lot of challenges to solve when it comes to things like pathfinding and AI, and I still have a lot to learn and many prototypes to build...
More recently, I've been developing some ideas for simulation games based on the industrial revolution, or exploring the lifecycle of coal over 100 or 200 years, through periods of increasing industrialization before an extensive decline. I don't think I'm a particularly skilled designer, but it is fun to build out game ideas drawing on history or the world(s) around us.

[h3]Do you accept pineapple on pizza or are you against it?[/h3]
- Yes, I accept it. Especially if there is bacon or ham on this pizza ^^