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Dystopia Mod Released for HL2

Posted by Zonk on from the a-dark-day-for-gordon-freeman dept.

fistfullast33l writes "Dystopia, a Matrix meets TRON mod for Half Life 2, has finally been released to the public today. This has been one of the more beautiful and original mods under development for HL2 so far. Files are available all over the place but check out their homepage for more details." From the article: "After 9 long months of heavy development and another year of planning and designing before that, it has been a long and challenging road to this point. We're extremely excited to let the public see what we've been so busy working on all this time and hope that you enjoy it as much as we do. This demo version is limited to only 1 map; Vaccine, but features all of our high powered weapons and extensive range of implants."

46 comments

  1. Re:Happy birthday, Zonk! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Why don't you go fuck yourself, Vladinator?

    I would much rather have Zonk as games editor than that fucker TMM. Although I really wish Simoniker would come back. Him and Timothy are the only good editors /. ever had.

  2. Matrix meets TRON? by ikkonoishi · · Score: 1, Insightful

    I thought that the Matrix was already TRON inspired.

    TRON had a better plot at least.

    1. Re:Matrix meets TRON? by OmgTEHMATRICKS · · Score: 1

      Ignore my name for a moment while I say this:

      A better plot?!
      Whatever you're smoking, can I have some, please?

  3. Amazing by Satertek · · Score: 4, Interesting

    This mod is amazing. The production values are on par with most (and above many) retail games. Looking forward to its full release.

    1. Re:Amazing by ZeroPost · · Score: 2, Informative

      I'll second that. Definitely worth a download, as it's the best third party mod out for HL2 now. (Although there isn't much competition...)

    2. Re:Amazing by acaspis · · Score: 1
      I'll second that. Definitely worth a download, as it's the best third party mod out for HL2 now.

      Well, I had much more fun with Minerva and Antlion Troopers, but I would agree those are not so much mods as sophisticated maps and scripting.

  4. This is amazing by Mukaikubo · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I've been playing this mod for most of the night, and I have to say I'm absolutely loving it. The balance on the map's a little off, but it's very fun on either side.

    Heavy with minigun = doom

  5. Re:Day of Defeat: Source by graincloud · · Score: 1

    Dystopia is

    a) free
    b) out
    c) cooler than DOD:S

  6. *Demo* Version by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    Yeah, it mentioned at the bottom of the summary in the quote, who but read who reads the whole thing! Slashdot topic titles are worse than Fox news headlines... Impeach Zonk!

  7. This may be worth noting. by Elyscape · · Score: 4, Informative

    While noted on the website, the /. post neglected to mention that this is merely a demo. I do not mean to deprecate the Dystopia team's work in any way, but people should bear in mind that this is not yet the finished product.

    --
    I own itburns.net. What should I put there?
    1. Re:This may be worth noting. by moonbender · · Score: 4, Informative
      The developers say:
      Dystopia will always be free if you're running it on top of HL2.

      We've called our first release a demo because we wanted people to realise that we've got a far more polished and stable release than a normal mod beta. Dystopia has been in a closed beta for 6 months now, and the demo release is being released to the public to let everyone get a taste of Dystopia.
      --
      Switch back to Slashdot's D1 system.
  8. A cyberpunk game? by The+Evil+Couch · · Score: 3, Interesting
    Sign me up!

    While this game doesn't look as deep as I'd like to see from a cyberpunk setting, the graphics are really well done and it seems as though they've put a great deal of work into getting the one map that they have really well set up. It looks to have a fair amount of depth, as far as team-based FPSes go.

    The fact that they actually have deckers and allow for the deckers to be put to good use in cyberspace makes for a really great concept.

    I don't know why the article summary references the Matrix. Shadowrun and other cyberpunk sources are clearly much bigger influences on the development team. Their portrayal of cyberspace does look a lot like TRON 2.0, though.

    --
    The World's Worst Webcomic!
    1. Re:A cyberpunk game? by antdude · · Score: 1

      Also, with Prey game element in the cyberspace part.

      --
      Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
  9. MP ONLY by dbhankins · · Score: 3, Informative

    So that those who prefer SP games don't get their hopes up,

    IT'S MULTIPLAYER ONLY

    Not that that little nugget's on the front page or the Slashdot article summary... at least it's on the About page near the top.

    1. Re:MP ONLY by Ford+Prefect · · Score: 4, Interesting

      So that those who prefer SP games don't get their hopes up,

      IT'S MULTIPLAYER ONLY

      Of course, if you want some single-player HL2, there's always my episodic MINERVA (less cryptic site), which had its first chapter released just over a week ago.

      And yes, the first map is a bit of a homage to Halo's Silent Cartographer (it was originally nicknamed 'Flatulent Geographer' for a start), but they should all come with a liberally Marathon-flavoured dollop of mystery and intrigue, through text messages sent by an unnamed third party which guide, goad and cajole the player through the story.

      Entirely different approach to Dystopia too: while they've got some immensely talented modellers, texture artists, sound engineers etc., I'm repurposing existing HL2 content for my own needs. There is some new music, but that was an unexpected gift from someone who really liked the look of the mod when first publicised by Valve themselves. Everything else is done by me - it's the closest you'll get to a one-man mod these days... ;-)

      Still, there's half-an-hour to an hour of gameplay there, so do have fun!

      --
      Tedious Bloggy Stuff - hooray?
  10. Original, not really... by Zeussy · · Score: 1

    The gameplay is very similar Planetside. 3 Armor types, Light, Medium, Heavy. With scaled guns and abilities ( ie Light can Cloak, only Light and Med can hack ). Hack a point and spawn at/near it once hacked. Very much like planetside but smaller scale. and no lag/zerg.

    But its a pretty game, cool graphics. But plays much like any other Team Deathmatch game.

    --
    Automation - The Car Company Tycoon Game
    1. Re:Original, not really... by fistfullast33l · · Score: 1

      Okay, obviously you know nothing about Planetside and probably played it for your free week.

      First off, the minutiae of planetside is similar on paper. Yes, you have three armor classes. Yes you have kind of the same guns. Yes, there is cloaking and meds and so on.

      However, you say "smaller scale." That's the key to Planetside! At a small scale it's going to be very similar to games like Natural Selection and this. But on a larger scale there is a huge strategy in play constantly determining which base to attack when and so on. This is the key to enjoying Planetside.

      Not to mention the fact that Planetside has vehicles and airplanes. But that's just a minor detail that was put in more for cosmetic effect. Right.

      The are several reasons really why you should pay attention to this mod. First, it is graphically beautiful and well balanced. It is the first 3rd-party mod released that is not a CS clone (read: plan of attack). Finally, it has gameplay that is easy to understand and is easy to build upon. I personally see this one becoming one of the top three mods for HL2 mostly because of the fact it came out early on.

    2. Re:Original, not really... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The gameplay is very similar Planetside. 3 Armor types, Light, Medium, Heavy. With scaled guns and abilities ( ie Light can Cloak, only Light and Med can hack ).

      Sounds more like Tribes to me. Not that anything can ever replace the goodness that was Tribes.

    3. Re:Original, not really... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Amen! It rocked! (I particularly liked the Havoc mod myself.)

      Also, how many other games practically gave you a perl interpreter for clientside scripting? You could play freaking tetris if you were bored in the game.

  11. Dystopia, my take. by Kindgott · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I downloaded Dystopia around the hour it came out, and jumped into a server as soon as one with an empty slot became available. While it doesn't have a unique concept, it's a fairly decent mod, so far.

    Releasing this as a demo may have been a mistake for the team, since there are a bit of "known issues" that cause the game to crash, or just slightly inconvenience people. In the day or so I've had it, the mod has crashed no less than eight times. Perhaps they should have called it a "public beta" instead. Another interesting issue I had come across was a server on which the doors on the level had more kills than the players.

    Teamplay, like on most internet games, is hit or miss. When you've got a good team that's working together, it's awesome. When you have a bunch of idiots that are doing things like monopolizing the hack points without knowing what they're doing, it's infuriating.

    The following forum post on their site, here, gives me an uneasy feeling. I don't think the game merits a retail release, and fear if they license the Source engine it will be doomed to failure instead of being an enjoyable mod for anyone to enjoy. Most people I've talked to on servers do not forsee Dystopia being worth buying if it is not released as a free modification.

    Is Dystopia good? Yes. Can it be a lot of fun? Most certainly. But it has its problems which I hope can be hammered out between now and its "real" release.

    --
    If there's anything more important than my ego around here, I want it caught and shot immediately.
    1. Re:Dystopia, my take. by Mukaikubo · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I'll buy it at retail if and only if the devteam can come up with an interesting single player campaign to go with the multi.

  12. Demo or Beta by Bios_Hakr · · Score: 2, Interesting

    So, a demo leads me to belive that the expect people to pay for a finished version. I can't really see myself paying for a mod for a game I already paid $60 for.

    --
    I'd rather you do it wrong, than for me to have to do it at all.
    1. Re:Demo or Beta by Elyscape · · Score: 1

      That's not what I meant. I simply meant that they haven't finished the development process yet. I imagine that it'll be free, upon completion.

      --
      I own itburns.net. What should I put there?
    2. Re:Demo or Beta by nacturation · · Score: 1

      Yeah, all these game developers do is mod the DirectX libraries. Why should I have to pay?

      --
      Want to improve your Karma? Instead of "Post Anonymously", try the "Post Humously" option.
  13. Re:Happy birthday, Zonk! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Trip Master Monkey as an editor? If that ever happens I'll be able to break my Slashdot addiction with ease...

  14. Better than NS by AngryScot · · Score: 2, Interesting

    This is the best mod since natural selection was released on 2001. I think there could be a few changes to let you know whats going on in cyber space but other than that I love it :D

    --

    All spelling mistakes are due to solar flares...honest

  15. They put effort into it to develop it.. by RedLaggedTeut · · Score: 1

    They put effort into the develpment, so they could ask money for it if they wanted to.

    After all, most sequels to computer games are just "mods" in a a way aren't they, and you don't object to paying for them, do you?

    However, I think they should sell mods as standalone, the concept of selling an add-on for the same money that requires the previous version just doesn't make sense - it is practically asking for abuse.

    --
    I'm still trying to figure out what people mean by 'social skills' here.
    1. Re:They put effort into it to develop it.. by Hedonist23 · · Score: 1

      Do you consider Frozen Throne a ripoff for just being an add-on to War3? I think that it added so much that it's absolutely worth the extra money.

    2. Re:They put effort into it to develop it.. by Nick+Harkin · · Score: 1

      No, I don't think they can, simply because they're using Valve's code to make their game, without having paid for it.

      This is obviously fine with Valve (hell, why wouldn't it be, it adds to the value of their game for no cost), but it wouldn't be ok if they were selling it, and Valve would have good grounds to sue them for profiting off their code.

    3. Re:They put effort into it to develop it.. by RedLaggedTeut · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The point is they put work into it, and they control the sources to their game, so yes, they can ask money for it.

      Whether Valve asks them for a part of the money, or whether they make them release the game under the GPL is up to Valve. As you wrote yourself, its up to Valve, and Valve seems to be fine with it

      By the way, you are still allowed to ask money for programs under the GPL, it is just harder to continue finding people who pay your price.

      --
      I'm still trying to figure out what people mean by 'social skills' here.
    4. Re:They put effort into it to develop it.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The point is they put work into it, and they control the sources to their game, so yes, they can ask money for it.

      That depends entirely on licensing. Take, for example, the fact that using id's Quake compiler tools and/or QuArK prevents you from distributing your creations commercially.

  16. ...Demo by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Guys, it wasn't "realeased", it was a DEMO! If you haven't noticed serious play is somthing of a joke right now as too many different things cause lag, I have yet to see a server where everybody has a ping below 100...

    1. Re:...Demo by moonbender · · Score: 1

      You must be in Australia or something. Played some hours yesterday, always with a ping of 30-something. Lots of European servers (most of them full, though).

      --
      Switch back to Slashdot's D1 system.
    2. Re:...Demo by KrisW · · Score: 1

      It's a good thing that is hasn't been "realeased". Seeing as that word doesn't exist, who knows what the consequences could have been?

      --


      "Think you can take me? Go ahead on. It's your move." --Joe Don Baker in Final Justice
  17. Sweet. by cortana · · Score: 1

    Oddly, this is familiar to me, as if it were from and old dream... but I can't exactly remember...

    Accepting singular transmission with bated breath.

  18. Re:Happy birthday, Zonk! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    How bad can it be. Zonk has almost broken mine.

  19. Single player Mods? by necronom426 · · Score: 1

    Is there a list of HL2 mods anywhere? I'd like to play something like the Aliens Total Conversion that came out for Doom all those years ago.

    I'll check the MINERVA one mentioned in a post above when I get home.

    1. Re:Single player Mods? by Quill_28 · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Most of the mods are still being worked on.

      Here is a list I have found

      http://games.moddb.com/61/

    2. Re:Single player Mods? by necronom426 · · Score: 1

      Thanks for that. I'll have a look through them.

      It's a real shame that the Aliens one was stopped being released. I've searched for a release of it in other places, but couldn't find one. :-(

  20. Question about "Jacked In" graphics by popo · · Score: 1


    Why do graphics that are supposed to simulate being "Jacked In" always look so lame?

    If, in the year 2005, we already have games which look nearly photo-realistic... ...in what possible future will a human-computer interface take a graphical step backwards to look like bad sci-fi movies from the early 80's?

    Wouldn't being "Jacked In" look ... well... sort of like Half-Life at least?

    --
    ------ The best brain training is now totally free : )
    1. Re:Question about "Jacked In" graphics by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Don't be stupid. Christ... You are probably one of those people who says things like "Why is it okay for black people to use the N word but not okay for white people to use it?" Seriously. You seem like that kind of a tard. Just slightly autistic. You don't have aspergers do you?

      When you watch Star Wars do you bitch about there being sounds in outer space? I wouldn't be surprised if you did.

    2. Re:Question about "Jacked In" graphics by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually "Why is it okay for black people to use the N word but not okay for white people to use it?"

      Seriously.

      Oh that's right black people can be racist all they want but not the other way around, i keep forgetting.

    3. Re:Question about "Jacked In" graphics by lisaparratt · · Score: 1

      I would imagine it's because the amount of processor power required to render graphics on a screen is minimal compared to the amount of processor power requried to generate the correct train of analogue impulses needed to feed imagery into the human brain.

      Also, it looks cool when done well - take Rez as a prime example. (I will admit you've really got to see it moving to appreciate it's full glory.)

  21. Update Released. by demace · · Score: 1
    Update released for the demo, fixes many bugs etc, check the website http://dystopia-game.com/
    -Fixed several crash bugs in server and in client -Bumping into a stationary team mate will push them a bit (this is to prevent people blocking spawn doors as heavies) -Added voicecomms spam protection -Added support for mp_autoteambalance (on by default) -Added dys_voicecomm_globals_silent convar, so you can disable the audio on global voice comms (eg. "I don't think so sister!") -Added dys_iff convar, to disable IFF drawing (eg. models only) -Added server name to HTML/XML stats output -Fixed names with a "." being shortened in stats -Fixed spawn timer increase if spawn is captured -Fixed stealth appearing white on older video cards -Fixed stealth vmt exploit -Lowered Spider Grenade timer from 7 to 4 seconds
    ~ mace (not actually on the dys team, just a fan :D)