Ok, I just played Eclipse, a total conversion for HL2. It's one of the first SP projects to come out, and boy, it's a nice one.

It's short, but it breathes professionalism and in no way reminds of HL2. If you are bored and own HL2, give it a shot, it's a really nice tc. It's even more impressive if you know they made it in a few month's time...that's very promising for things to come with enthusiastic modders and the Source engine.

Check it out at

http://students.guildhall.smu.edu/~eclipse/

Basically your character can manipulate loose items such as rocks, wooden planks, pumpkins, etc. and aim them in a certain direction with a certain amount of force. That's the basic form of combat. You learn how to distract your enemies and how to summon and use explosive orbs later in the mod too tho.

It's just so very well done for an amateur production. The graphics are very nice, the gameplay is fun, they make good use of the physics (the wooden bridge with the tower construction!), the design is good and the trailer is indistinguishable from a full game imho. I took some screens but most of them came out very dark for me (my pc has that with a lot of games ), so best you watch the trailer. It's very neat.

http://students.guildhall.smu.edu/~ecli ... railer.wmv

So, highly recommend you try it. It's short, but it's and idea of what's to come mod-wise for HL2. I don't think many ppl will complain about value for money with HL2.


Some of my pics attached

two more.

On another note: a comic made using Garry's mod. It's pretty insane and low-key, but I kinda liked it.

http://www.phwcomics.com/index.php?pid=12&cs=31&cid=338

huh...it's from the Guildhall. That's a gaming "hall" that was created in SMU (southern methodist university here in Dallas) with the backing of some really big industry names. Like Id. So it's not so surprising the quailty is high.

Didn't know that. What's the fucking point of being a modder if you do it semi-professional anyway? Just design levels if that's your thing, I say.

Still, nice short mod. Meh. Satis pooped over my party.

heh...I wanna go to that college. I lack the prerequisites, though. Anyone going through that system and doing well is looking at probably being hired by some of the biggest game companies. *sigh* And I'm stuck doing boring tech support.

I only just realized it with not playing HL2 too much of late, but they released the tech showcase lvl, The Lost Coast. You can download it for free over steam if you own HL2.

I only checked it out for a little bit (it's late), but wow!! HDR ftw! I hope it won't be just me and Derf that can enjoy it in its full glory, heh...if not, Satis better buy a new gfx card.

Really, I never knew HDR was this cool. Light looks...real. lol. And the game doesn't even seem to suffer slowdown with full HDR on, very neat. There's still a lot of ass-kicking to do in the level if you like, don't worry. (and it's not easy from what i've seen so far)

You can also get a voice-over tour about the technical niceties, apparently. Very cool. Gotta love HL2 for keeping you entertained for a while for free, despite its shooter-limitations.