gm_normal_mall_b3
gm_normal_mall is a map I have had in concept since 2018, long before I even knew how to make a map. The idea of this map came from a multitude of dreams I have had about Half-Life 2 in general, just kind of fitting them together into something real; inherently that is the main motivation. Turning dreams into reality is not always impossible.
Lore:
This map is meant to happen during the events of Half-Life 2: Episode Two, a few hours before the termination of the portal storm. The area where it is located is on the very outskirts of City 17. Somehow this area was not run over by Combine Walls, and the Combine themselves have never gone here since there aren’t many reasons. Not even rebels have been here often either, nor has any significant fauna made its presence; it is an area abandoned by all sides. Thus it’s name, a rather normal mall, considering the world it is in.
A few years before the events of Half-Life 1, this mall was built by the state of ████████ as an attempt to bring commercial demand to the region. Along with it, wind turbines were also built to oversupply the electrical demand of the city in general; this was a very large financial decision. Due to the excessive investment, the project did not yield as much as what was spent to complete it, and the mall was quickly abandoned before it even had a chance to properly work, as its maintenance was larger than what it could gain. This explains its almost pristine condition since it was used very little and why all storefronts are closed.
With the passage of time, the world suffered the many events of the Half Life universe, and this area was somehow lucky enough to be generally unaffected by all of it. The systems of the mall were upkept by the few Rebels that did go by the area, with the help of Vortigaunts who can manipulate human technology and repair it without requiring specific tools that might be hard, or even impossible to get during extraordinary times such as the Combine invasion.
The wind turbines are still in working condition, providing electricity to the area. Even during apocalyptic conditions, they still remain effective enough to power the mall and some other portions of the district they are located in.
Credit:
Foliage by Lord Trilobite and INFRA models
Songs used in the mall are;
05 carbon copies – haircuts for men
手ぶらで (Empty hands) – Macroblank
Prewar HL2 Vehicles by -Rusty- and Renafox
The rest was made by me using small portions of reference from multiple Valve titles and Fan titles
