Initially developed and released by Gearbox Software in 2001, second Half-Life add-on, Half-Life: Blue Shift is a return to the Black Mesa Research Facility and another look at the Incident's consequences from the eyes of Gordon Freeman's best friend - Barney Calhoun. In 2012, Crowbar Collective has delighted Half-Life fans with release of the magnificent Half-Life remake, but there are still no released remakes for add-ons. This is when we are coming in - HECU Collective are developing the Black Mesa: Blue Shift - a free remake with use of Black Mesa resources and style. We will try to stay as close to the original Blue Shift and Black Mesa as possible. Our mod will be releasing partially, chapter by chapter, so those who are not patient for the full release will finally have something to play!

Report RSS Chapter 5: Focal Point - June 2023 Article

Xen there! Check out our progress on the borderworld for the 5th chapter of our mod!

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HECU Collective is here with news from the borderworld!


It's been a long time since our last media release, so, a few days before Half-Life: Blue Shift's birthday, we wanted to make your day a bit more colorful!


But before that, a few words about Captive Freight's release. It was a triumph for our team. We want to say thanks to all people who played it, made videos, and gave us feedback and helped with translation. We didn't expect that so many people would play and enjoy it! After taking care of the Caretaking Patch, our team took a short break, and now we are fully immersed in Focal Point's production.

Chapter 5, Focal Point, is even more challenging for us. It requires much more time for level design and art. A lot of thought needs to be put into level structure, and creating environments like Xen is really time-consuming and difficult! Those who are familiar with the Source Engine and displacements in Hammer will understand. Needless to say, we have only two level designers in the team who are doing so most of the work, along with assistant level designer.

So, let's start with maps and level design! Two shots of Xen environment, created by Faber:

Black Mesa: Blue Shift | Focal Point


Black Mesa: Blue Shift | Focal Point


Underground lake with a waterfall created by Cyv0:

fp 1206 release 8 2



As you can see in the screenshots, we are using pre-existing Black Mesa assets such as rocks, plants, and materials, in combination with our own new content — we're creating a huge amount of custom materials and props! You can see some of it in next screenshots — water-damaged rock and coral stone surfaces, as well as new mushrooms and glowing ceiling plants, have been made by our talented 3D-artist Rimas.

fp 1206 release 5


fp 1206 release 6


fp 1206 release 7


As for the man-made content, we have reworked the classic crates from Half-Life, which will be used in Xen survey base and in Power Struggle.

fp 1206 release 12


Some time ago, we revealed on Patreon that we will have baby barnacles growing near normal-sized ones. It's time this for this render to go public!

2023 Feb Patr BB



And last thing — Stalker Light. It's a plant that will have some cool lighting coming from its eye. It has tubular design like most of the Xen fauna in the original. It will have three variants: smol, mid and full-grown.



Starting from today, we will show not only screenshots of our maps and models, but also concept art. Recently, the very talented concept artist Skwallie joined the team and already created a lot of cool art that will come handy for creating Xen environment.

Black Mesa: Blue Shift | Focal Point


Black Mesa: Blue Shift | Focal Point



Links

You can join and chat with us on Discord, VK and support us on Patreon where we post some exclusive content!


HECU Collective Discord ServerHECU Collective VK PageHECU Collective Patreon


Your support really matters to us.



#StandWithUkraine


HECU Collective

Post comment Comments  (0 - 50 of 53)
marcus4
marcus4 - - 2 comments

YOOO

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Tony51
Tony51 - - 48 comments

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Excision_Weed
Excision_Weed - - 186 comments

xen when 2

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Forgill
Forgill - - 16 comments

Xen when 3 hahaha silly

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Guest
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X-Ray.
X-Ray. - - 981 comments

Amazing progress! excited to see more of this. Never noticed the absence of XEN Lights in Black Mesa XEN. Good thinking to bring them back in Blue Shift!

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Gloveman
Gloveman - - 19 comments

this is shaping to be amazing. Really excited for this and happy the team is able to chug along with development. Maybe someday you'll be able to publish this on Steam alongside the main game. Fantastic work fellas!

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Radu273
Radu273 - - 1,477 comments

the pictures look amazing. i will definitely try this mod. its 5 stars!

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[CBG]Melih_Oksuzce
[CBG]Melih_Oksuzce - - 2 comments

FANTASTIC WORK! GOOD LUCK GUYS! I BELEIVE H.E.C.U. GROUP! :)

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wolfprince1
wolfprince1 - - 277 comments

Looks magical

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poloscmsa
poloscmsa - - 38 comments

amazing :D

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FlippedOutKyrii
FlippedOutKyrii - - 3,529 comments

Amazing work, I just assumed you would be reusing BM assets for Focal Point, so you guys are going above and beyond! ^^

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ChrisThacoolguy
ChrisThacoolguy - - 135 comments

yay focal point

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Hezus
Hezus - - 566 comments

Very impressive! Really nicely made environments and great model work. Love that new plant light!

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wmf776759
wmf776759 - - 473 comments

OH MY GOD XD

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Guest
Guest - - 693,822 comments

just want to say thank you, it's amazing wht you guys are doing

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SangheiliosThel
SangheiliosThel - - 44 comments

That's really cool. Xen's always been my favourite environment in BM and this definitely lives up to that.

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Guest
Guest - - 693,822 comments

Amazing job

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andrewГО
andrewГО - - 810 comments

great, but will hev scientists or zombie vortigaunts? you added fast zombies and fast headcrabs to the Azure Sheep and here would be a zombie vortigaunt Xen variant of Xenbiegaunt aka Entropy zero 2

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Forgill
Forgill - - 16 comments

Inside the canon of the Half-Life saga: NOPE
Inside the fanon: Yessss..... I will not disagree

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neophus
neophus - - 581 comments

Amazing work I love it !

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JjForcebreaker
JjForcebreaker - - 912 comments

The quality of new assets is amazing. Very promising so far, good luck with future work!

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Forgill
Forgill - - 16 comments

Is not amazing... IS GORGEOUS!!! I WOULD DEFFINITIVELY PAY FOR THIS (But i cant because im poor....)

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Forgill
Forgill - - 16 comments

Im sure this people is planning to heart attack kill everyone here in the Black Mesa, Half-Life and Barney Calhoun Fans community... Because this is so epic, i could even pay for this if i wasn't poor.
Please VALVE give this people their own Steam page because this deserves recognition (And downloading via Steam Workshop or ModDB is not the same as click-play in Steam)

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xjoxas
xjoxas - - 40 comments

its getting closer to finish. cant wait to play the full game.

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Guest
Guest - - 693,822 comments

Great work guys, really lookig forwards to continuing playing this fantastic mod.

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Guest
Guest - - 693,822 comments

When it will be available completed? Try to sell it as complete product like Black Mesa, a lot of people will support you and buy this!
Regards

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Shadow_864
Shadow_864 - - 367 comments

OH YEAH!!! 5TH CHAPTER FOR BLACK MESA: BLUE SHIFT!!!!

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NiiRubra
NiiRubra - - 472 comments

That first concept art is the stuff of dreams. Nice work folks! I wish you the best of luck.

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Guest
Guest - - 693,822 comments

This looks absolutely wonderful. I'm buying this soooooo HARD!

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/TheWolf
/TheWolf - - 845 comments

Amazing

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Guest
Guest - - 693,822 comments

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Guest
Guest - - 693,822 comments

Awesome! I've just tripled my Patreon support from $5/month to $15/month. I love the work you're doing. I can't help with development/graphics/models/etc but I want to support you so this is the way I found to do that!

Remember everyone, we should help them work on this so they are able to release the full game(/mod)!

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Guest
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Guest
Guest - - 693,822 comments

looks amazing, great work guys, cany wait to play it

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peeeto111
peeeto111 - - 1 comments

Thank you for your work

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Zababy2302
Zababy2302 - - 1 comments

Just a small question, will the Nihilanth's tower be seen from where barney is?

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karzick
karzick - - 78 comments

Create Vortigaunt-Zombie with Headcrab and hand strike with electric damage.

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kampfsocke
kampfsocke - - 1 comments

Euer Projekt ist Top! Respekt, echt cool

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