Entropy : Zero - Uprising mod for Half-Life 2: Episode Two

As tradition dictates, it is now time to share some progress and look back at what we have achieved.

• Progress on Episode 2
  • Traitors
  • Zombie variety
  • Bloody and his weapon switching
  • Mapping progress
• A short intermission
• A retrospective on Episode 1
• A small gift

Progress on Episode 2

A lot has happened since the last article! Traitors are back with a vengeance, zombies are seeing an increased variety and Bloody is now somehow the smartest NPC in the whole game. But let’s take this one step at a time.

Traitors

Traitors are now implemented in Episode 2 and they have a few added capabilities. Aside from manhacks and grenades, they can now also use flashbangs and molotovs! Below is a small preview of how that looks:

And we just released a gameplay video, showing the Traitors in their full glory:

Zombie variety

The classic zombies have seen an increase in variety. Citizen types, medics and rebels have now been added to the roster, hopefully making fighting these guys more interesting!

Zombiefied citizens are less nutritious than other zombies, which makes the headcrab more likely to detach once damage has been received.

Rebel zombies have more health than regular zombies, but carry weapons and grenades with them, which should give players a reason to engage this type.

Medic zombies are similar to rebel zombies, but carry health related items. In conjunction with the health vial feature (seen in previous updates), this should make for an interesting dynamic.

The models are using Steven Cabbage’s and Maestra Fenix’s models, which you can find here.

Bloody and his weapon switching

Bloody is now capable of dynamically switching between the weapons he carries as well as consuming the various gadgets he has on him.

When he is running low on health, he will either consume the health vial or the battery, which will fully restore his health. Likewise, depending on range, Bloody can switch between different weapons in his arsenal.

These changes should really help in elevating Bloody as an NPC - he’s acting almost like a player would. We really hope people will enjoy their time with him as an ally.

Mapping progress

The mapping progress has been somewhat slow, but steady. Unlike Episode 1, we’re developing these chapters non-sequentially, which makes it harder to grasp how far we already are. At the current pace, we are expecting to have half of the maps in a playable state by the end of the year.

Below are some pictures of our progress.

A short intermission

Since last time, the YouTube channel has become eligible for monetisation. If you want to support us financially, now is your chance! All earnings are currently planned to go into the fee for a definitive Steam release, afterwards, everything else will be divided among the team members. If you become a channel member, you'll be able to see weekly updates on some of our progress.

A retrospective on Episode 1

It has been exactly one year since the release of Episode 1. Since then, the original file has received over 36,000 downloads and is comfortably sitting at a 9/10 review score. Those numbers are a lot higher than we ever could have anticipated and we are all incredibly glad for everyone who has played and enjoyed our mod.

We’re also very happy to see the amount of discussions, videos, fan-art and addons dedicated to Uprising to this day. The amount of talent poured into these things is incredible and we often share things with the rest of the team to marvel at them collectively. It goes to show that three years of hard work paid off.

As we’re wrapping up the developer playthrough, we had many reasons to reflect on Uprising’s development.

Interestingly enough, there never came a point where we seriously considered stopping. We had a very productive start (thanks COVID lockdowns), the team and scope kept on growing and after having gained such momentum, the thought of stopping seemed ridiculous. While Episode 2’s development had a more rocky start (partially to be blamed on a lot of real life things), we are slowly getting back into shape and will hopefully regain the old momentum once more. You will be able to judge yourself in the next anniversary article!

For a more detailed retelling of Uprising’s development history, you can either check out our developer commentary playthroughs or read through the second anniversary article, where the progress up to that point is discussed at length.

A small gift

To give back to everyone, we decided to share some of our development screenshots, as well as our ENTIRE Episode 1 map source folder, which includes the campaign, several prefabs, a LOT of test maps and some old, scrapped maps.

You can take a look at all of it here.

Thank you for reading, here’s to another year of solid modding! We’ll hopefully see you again in the next one…