Half-Life: Absolute Zero News

We have released an update for Half-Life: Absolute Zero.
Changes in this update are:

• Restored the fix from November 19th, 2023 for "a3a1" that accidentally got overwritten.
  

Things to note:
Please checkout the road map for the current plans for Half-Life: Absolute Zero here.

If you are having any issues in-regards to starting the game, please refer to this pinned thread on discussions. We’ve likely documented the issue you’re having with a workaround attached. If an issue you’re having in-regards to starting the game is not listed please make a thread in the Support section of the discussions, but only make the thread after confirming the issue you are having is not mentioned in this thread.

If you are noticing a lack of a battery indicator on the main HUD, please note that this is not a bug and is just one of the new HUDs. Please go into Advanced Options to change the HUD to a HUD of your liking.

We have released an update for Half-Life: Absolute Zero.
Changes in this update are:

• Light Switch now works in "a1a0"
  
• Improved ladders in Industrial Arts.
  
• Improved autosaves in Industrial Arts.
  
• There's now doors in "a1a1c" to block the player from progressing in the map without turning on the Generator.
  
• Fixed a non-breakable pushable crate that could cause soft locks in "a1a1c"
  
• Improved autosaves in Security Complex.
  
• Fixed a box that can float in the air after breaking other crates in "a1a3"
  
• Added clipping around the desks in "a1a3b"
  
• Changed signs above power boxes in Fan Unit 2 in "a1a3a"
  
• Fixed miscellaneous texture errors in "a3a1"
  
• Barrels are now temporarily textured different in the sewer section of "a3a1"
  
• Temporary game text will appear on screen when talking to the Barney in the turret room in "a3a1a"
  
• There's now a sign that reads "Security Override" above the power box in "a3a1a"
  
• Satellite Dish in "a3a1b" should no longer have the chance of soft locking the player.
  

Things to note:
Please checkout the road map for the current plans for Half-Life: Absolute Zero here.

If you are having any issues in-regards to starting the game, please refer to this pinned thread on discussions. We’ve likely documented the issue you’re having with a workaround attached. If an issue you’re having in-regards to starting the game is not listed please make a thread in the Support section of the discussions, but only make the thread after confirming the issue you are having is not mentioned in this thread.

If you are noticing a lack of a battery indicator on the main HUD, please note that this is not a bug and is just one of the new HUDs. Please go into Advanced Options to change the HUD to a HUD of your liking.

We have released an update for Half-Life: Absolute Zero.
Changes in this update are:

• Removed "ammo_9mmbox" from "game_player_equip" in "a3a1" in hopes to fix an error that affects a small subset of players with precaching "w_chainammo.mdl" upon loading the level.
  

Things to note:
Please checkout the road map for the current plans for Half-Life: Absolute Zero here.

If you are having any issues in-regards to starting the game, please refer to this pinned thread on discussions. We’ve likely documented the issue you’re having with a workaround attached. If an issue you’re having in-regards to starting the game is not listed please make a thread in the Support section of the discussions, but only make the thread after confirming the issue you are having is not mentioned in this thread.

If you are noticing a lack of a battery indicator on the main HUD, please note that this is not a bug and is just one of the new HUDs. Please go into Advanced Options to change the HUD to a HUD of your liking.

We have released an update for Half-Life: Absolute Zero.
Changes in this update are:

• Post-Mortem Maps now available.
  

Things to note:
Please checkout the road map for the current plans for Half-Life: Absolute Zero here.

If you are having any issues in-regards to starting the game, please refer to this pinned thread on discussions. We’ve likely documented the issue you’re having with a workaround attached. If an issue you’re having in-regards to starting the game is not listed please make a thread in the Support section of the discussions, but only make the thread after confirming the issue you are having is not mentioned in this thread.

If you are noticing a lack of a battery indicator on the main HUD, please note that this is not a bug and is just one of the new HUDs. Please go into Advanced Options to change the HUD to a HUD of your liking.

Yes; in a way you could say it still is.

Back on October 11th, 2020, the mod's fate was sealed and Half-Life: Absolute Zero was no more. At least, as the story was told and I believed it! I had no intentions to return back to mod, but the itch would return. I personally started toying with the project files sometime in Spring of 2021 and started to attempt to finish up certain parts of the mod with the possible idea of releasing them as bite sized experiences. But, the odds of me fully committing to the idea was quite low. I would later find out that LeonelC (another HLAZ developer) was also toying around with the same exact idea. I floated the idea that we should collaborate again and he agreed. Since we were planning on doing something HLAZ related again, we asked ZedMarine610 (another HLAZ developer) to join in and he agreed. So from that point, we started working together again with no real end goal in mind besides the potential of some sort of HLAZ release; whether bite sized or full fledged. The internal name for this version of HLAZ was known as "Post-Mortem."

Then in June of 2021, the atom bomb was dropped.

Brett Johnson, one of the level designers for Half-Life, was showcasing his work on TikTok. This provided so many answers to questions we had and opened up even more questions in some regards. But one thing was for certain... Half-Life: Absolute Zero was back, in some regard.

We agreed upon that point that we should be finishing Half-Life: Absolute Zero as a full experience. We decided to keep it under wraps until we were ready to release it. I got a little cocky and decided to set the deadline for Half-Life's 25th anniversary.

Thus... Half-Life: Absolute Zero is releasing in an active development state on November 19th, 2023.


Yeah... As stated, I got cocky.

Keep in mind, we aren't teenagers in high school anymore. In fact, we're not even college aged anymore. In my mind, I was thinking we were working at a really good pace and that a November date was realistic. Forgetting that anything could stop our momentum.

Thus, our momentum was ruined. One of the chapters we've struggled with ever since the original Day One demo release, Screams and Whispers (Blast Pit,) stopped us dead in our tracks. Ruined our plans for an incognito demo release and stopped any real progress for a few months. Lucky for you, we started making good progress on the chapter again.

We at this time, have no idea what we will ship with the initial Early Access release as we currently have to finish up a few chapters (Screams and Whispers, On a Rail, Abandoned Silo, Cliff Hanger, and the unnamed chapters: a3a3 and a3a4) to get them into a playable state. Rest assured we intend to make it so you don't have to use the developer console to skip over what can't be completed. Right now, the only chapter that for certain won't be available with the release is On a Rail. We have a concrete plan for the chapter, but it was one of the largest chapters in the original Half-Life story.

Right now, the goal is to roll out what we can to the public for testing and keep using our "Post-Mortem" branch for the rougher bits so we can push out more definitive updates to the main branch. Currently the "Post-Mortem" branch is only available to a select number of testers, but could be subject to change in the future.


Well... for starters, the original team is back together unlike the original 2020 Active Development release. Plus with the break we took, we're no longer entirely burnt out and as long as we pace ourselves instead of pushing ourselves this should be a realistic goal.

But, you don't have to trust us! You can wait until we truly hit 1.0 or just watch us crash and burn into a ditch again. I can at least promise you that the build that is on Steam will be less busted after this.


Yes! But we aren't willing to discuss this right at this second. Expect a pinned thread to appear in the Steam Discussions to be created around the November 19th release.


Correct.

The "Post-Mortem" assets will be released under the "Creative Commons" license (where applicable, as you still have to respect Valve's copyright) when the mod is complete or if the mod dies again.