Relapse Mod (PC) - Official Journal

This is a blog documenting the progress, development process and the countless face-melting problems and subsequent work-arounds faced during the making of your average Half-life 2 Modification. I hope that the information provided here will prove both entertaining and useful to the HL2 Modding community.

About the Team:
'Relapse' was initially developed as an assignment submission for Level 2 Interactive Games Design at the UoG (UK) and has a Dev Team of three. Joe Conway (PixelKiwi) is the Art Director and 3D Character animator, he is also responsible for the creation of in game prop models using 3D Studio Max. Imran Najafi is the lead Tester of the project and also will be conducting various continuity research. Finally, Louie (Myself) will be writing the majority of the game's (simple) code.

About the Project Brief:
Relapse will be showcased at the COMX Festival on the 11th of April 2007, which is taking place at the UoG. By that date, a fully playable demo will be available to anyone interested and a refined version of the game will make its way online for public download shortly after.

About the Game:
Our aim is to create a clostrophobic sci-fi horror set in the 1940s. We've drawn a great amount of influence from the classic SNES adventure "Clock Tower" and would like to recapture the feelings of sheer terror and helplessness trying to escape a bloody death.

Relapse is set within the Grey Ridge Centre of Environmental Health and Research, a collection of scientific and medical facilities on the outskirts of an Ontario City after a series of collossal seismic activity.

It's your first day on the job and you're directed towards your new office on the 4th floor. Inside the elevator, the doors close behind you, but before you can press the button for the fourth floor, the tremors came. Plunging down into the basement of the facility with a roaring smash, you're thrown off your feet and the back of your head meets with the steel hand-rail. Perhaps today would have been a good day to take the stairs.

Progress:
The project is still in the early conceptual stages of development, we'll soon be uploading several pieces of concept art drawn by Joe.

In closing:
Any work related to 3D design, Character design, Story & Dialogue are all subject to dramatic change and were all created under the shadow of a large impending deadline. (Less than three working months from Conceptual stage to Final demo)

Thanks, Louie.