Combine House Onslaught v2
After several months and probably a couple hundred hours of development time, and nearly four years after its predecessor’s release, the sequel nobody asked for is finally here!
This is a followup to my old (and first-ever made and published) maps which had a simple premise: A large house in the Outlands occupied by Combine forces which you need to defend against unending waves of hostile troops with an optional Linear "Story" Mode which requires clearing the house of hostiles before the waves begin. This edition serves to address everything that was poorly executed in the first go-around while also adding some new features and, hopefully, enhancing the gameplay to make it more fun to play for even longer.
Overall I’m relatively happy with the final product here especially compared to the original. I’ve learned a lot dealing with other (still incomplete) Hammer projects in the years since that first map, but I definitely have a lot more yet to learn.
To begin, approach the Jalopy or APC and press the USE key. The option to lock in one or the other will appear after a couple seconds of dialog, and will be confirmed by the engine activating.
Jalopy = Endless Mode | Combine APC = Linear/"Story" Mode
– Performance optimization!
– Fight countless waves of Combine troops & air support in Endless Mode! (Jalopy)
– Clear the mansion room-by-room to obtain critical Combine documents and hold your position in a scripted Linear Mode! (Combine APC)
– 18 lines of original dialog!
(which can be disabled by killing the Citizen in the Garage!)
– Complex interior spaces to battle within!
– A power system!
– Fine-tuned AI pathing and scripting! (kinda)
– Occasional cameos by Airwatch!
– Breaching sequences!
– No less than four (4) easter eggs! Can you find them all?
– Much, much more optimized both with Area Portals and with VisLeafs (I get almost 300 FPS even after prolonged combat)
– Improved visual design with more varied prop usage and brush detailing (and a 3D skybox, ooo)
– Improved overall level design & flow: The mansion is much larger with far more interconnected rooms to provide more varied and interesting combat encounters
– Improved enemy pathing & scripting: Nodes have been placed with care and hints have been given to all AI squads to prevent them getting stuck & to encourage them to continue to put pressure on as well as flank the player(s) where possible
– Linear & Endless modes are now packaged into one map instead of two
Requires content from Half-Life 2: Episode 2, Lost Coast and Counter-Strike: Source. Please verify you have these installed, mounted, and have run them at least once before complaining about errors or missing textures.
If you encounter any bizarre bugs or have any profound insights on gameplay flow or tempo, please let me know via comment. (And thanks for playing!)
