Black Mesa News

[h3]Tell us a bit about yourself and your role at Crowbar Collective.[/h3]
I’ve been a level designer at Crowbar Collective since around 2007. My first task after joining was to rework Undertow and bring it up to the standards of other multiplayer maps we had at the time, although that version was never released and was subsequently redone again; it was still a great learning experience. Following after Undertow I started work on the later parts of Unforeseen Consequences (the coolant labs & lower canals sections) & then onto assisting with detailing and level design work on a few parts of Questionable Ethics.

Following the mod release in 2012 I & others set about working through the large number of bug reports we had received and endeavored to resolve all possible combined with making level design & visual improvements where possible. A few old blog posts I wrote regarding the fixing endeavors can be found here & here if you are interested in reading more. I also assisted in detailing & optimization work on the multiplayer map Crossfire.

My primary focus for Xen development was assisting in extra detail work that was needed on the Xen chapter followed by early blockout work and assisting in arting sections of the Gonarch chapter; in particular the headcrab canyon and water cave & assisting in detailing sections of Interloper chapter both interior and exterior.

[h3]When did your interest in game development begin?[/h3]
I’d always enjoyed tinkering with map editors that came with games I played like the Age of Empire series & Red Faction, but I think my interest in modding and then subsequently game development stems from being introduced to Half-Life modding by an old secondary school friend of mine. He was part of a modding community called TWHL (The Whole Half-Life) from there I started to experiment & make levels for various competitions they ran and then onto joining various Half-Life and Half-Life 2 mods before joining Black Mesa.

[h3]What was the most challenging hurdle that was overcome during development in your role?[/h3]
I don’t think I could point to one specific thing but trying to figure out creative ways to overcome hurdles that are thrown your way due to engine limitations and such has been the general gist of working as a level designer while on Black Mesa.

[h3]What was the worst part of developing Black Mesa in your role?[/h3]
When the Hammer model viewer would break constantly requiring it to be restarted. But then realizing that I could fix it by simply closing the browser and moving the mouse cursor between the 3D & 2D views to resolve the issue instead of restarting the entire program: that was definitely a boost to my productivity when it came to arting levels and in particular the various parts of Xen.

[h3]Did you go to school for your respective parts of the project?[/h3]
While I didn’t directly study game design, I did however for Graphic Design & Communication which indirectly helped in regards to composition, lighting & detailing among others for my role as a level designer & environmental arting.

[h3]How often do you watch youtube videos/Twitch streams of Black Mesa?[/h3]
I try to watch streams of Black Mesa when I have the chance, usually lurking, however. They’re a great source of seeing a wide spectrum of people playing your game and seeing if something does or doesn't work to perhaps try and improve it. My particular favorite thing to do is watch people's reactions to seeing parts of Black Mesa for the first time, the reveals of Xen & Gonarch and its subsequent chapter-long battle never get old to see.

[h3]Any favorite mods for Half-Life games?[/h3]
Poke 646 is usually one that springs to mind whenever I think of old Half-Life mods that I had a lot of fun playing, But I think special mention should be given to the many multiplayer based mods that I have sunk many hours in to like Day of Defeat, The specialists and in particular Natural Selection which was a personal favorite with its interesting gameplay & setting. In recent years Half-life: Echoes has been a standout, along with Caged, Year Long Alarm & Azure sheep among others.

[h3]Do you accept pineapple on pizza or are you against it?[/h3]
I will always accept pineapple placed atop a delicious pizza, especially on a sourdough base.

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.