Happy Holidays from the Half-Life 2: Wars team! It’s been a year to the day since our last news post, and contrary to all appearances we are still very much alive and kickin’. A lot of people have assumed we’re “dead” or inactive, and I assure you that is not the case. Sander and I have been toiling away all year (especially Sander) and finally we have some interesting news.

All of 2009 has been consumed by redevelopment of the game code. Our last public release in mid-2008 had a lot of performance issues related to the structure of client/server interaction and NPC code, so for the entire past year Sander has been slaving over a brand new codebase, rewriting everything in the mod from scratch to optimize the Source engine for multiplayer RTS capabilities. The vast majority of the mod’s code is now written in Python, which Sander has integrated with Source and used to expose much of the engine code. The result of all this technobabble? A more efficient and playable multiplayer RTS experience.

At the same time Sander has been handling the programming, I have been busy with the design and concept side of things, writing and scrapping and rewriting the game design over and over throughout 2009. We’ve finalized an initial design to work towards for our almost-mythical (and still very far off) Beta 1.0 release, but in the meanwhile have decided to go ahead with our original plan: to create a small “demo version” of HLW to showcase the brand new game code and optimized multiplayer capabilities.

This takes the form of a small multiplayer-only game mode where players command opposing Antlion colonies, competing over food and grub resources. It’s a fairly simple game type – we just want you guys to have something new to play, and this will be available long before another full beta release. You can check out a couple of new screenshots, the first showing a Pheromone Marker resource point (which generates Antlion grubs) and the second showing our prototype “direct control” feature where players can take over and command one unit on the battlefield:



We’ll give you more details on the Antlion demo gameplay in the coming weeks and months, along with more media (including video) and a special surprise we have in store for our fellow mod developers out there, which you’ll hear more about soon. We don’t have a release date for you guys yet, but we’re working hard and promise to keep you posted more than once a year from here on out.

It's also time for us to expand the team. Right now we have only two core developers, and we need more talent to help with art content! We're currently looking for 3d Artists, Texture Artists, and Level Designers, but if you have other skills you think could help us out (like sound design or voice acting) feel free to drop us a line. You must have advanced proficiency in your area of development, as well as a solid portfolio or examples of previous work. Experience with Source development is preferred but not required. If you've got what it takes, let us know via email (hl2warsmod@gmail.com) or on our community forums.

Before we sign off, we'd like to thank everyone who voted for us in Mod of the Year 2008 and got us the distinction of being the 10th most popular released modification in the 2008 MOTY competition. Hats off to all of our fans, and here's to 2010 being the biggest and best year yet for Half-Life 2: Wars.

It's been five months since you last heard from us in July and we've been hard at work in the meantime. We're still working diligently towards our first true beta 1.0 release, but a lot has already changed since 0.5. A lot of the focus has been on making multiplayer work and improving the Half-Life 2 code to run better as an RTS online. The scripting language Python has been fully implemented, exposing much of the game code and allowing us to add units, buildings, and abilities through scripts rather than in C++.

Much has also been done to the game to improve latency issues, navigation, and AI, including a brand new NPC system that runs much more smoothly online and allows full control over how all of the units behave. HL2: Wars also now features a traditional RTS game lobby and team colors, which you can see in the screenshots below:



Focus over the coming months will slowly shift from proof of concept and engine optimization to actual gameplay. Both of our releases so far have not been intended to be seen as representative of the final HL2: Wars gameplay, but rather as proof of concept that we're turning HL2 into an RTS. The game is in the process of being fully redesigned to replace the lackluster gameplay, with the help of suggestions from our dedicated forum community.

So, what are you going to see from us in the next few months? We'll continue working on Beta 1.0, and keep you updated on that, and in the meantime we plan on releasing a small multiplayer demo. Nothing special, just to show off our game lobby, new NPC system, and multiplayer capabilities. That should be ready in the next month or two.

In the meantime, show your support by voting for us in this year's ModDB awards!

Half-Life 2: Wars v0.5 now available for download! 0.5 improves just about everything in Half-Life 2: Wars. In addition to new maps, upgraded AI, and basebuilding for both Resistance and Combine, the update features a whole host of upgrades to the game, such as unit sounds, balance and gameplay tweaks, better visuals, and a lot of other small improvements. It now requires the Orange Box to play. This release is still singleplayer, but multiplayer has been in development for some time and is our focus for the next major update. You can play as both Combine and Resistance in 0.5. The following screenshots are from the two new maps (hlw_crashed and a remade hlw_sands):



Short Changelog:
* Two new maps
* Changed to Orange box engine
* Added basebuilding
* Improved stability
* Improved units AI
* Added support for navigation mesh
* Improved balance between units
* Improved various visuals

A full changelog is available in the download itself. Enough talking: you want to play it! Pending further mirrors (if you would like to host one let us know) the mod is available for download on Moddb. Please delete any previous installations and make sure SDK Base - Orange Box and HL2: Episode 2 are installed to avoid problems.

HL2:Wars v0.5 EXE
HL2:Wars v0.5 ZIP

A new media update from hl2wars showing a short gameplay video. The video is showing some of the basebuilding and defending against antlions.
The next release will again be single-player and will require Half-Life 2: episode two. Most of the new features are done and just need to be improved and tweaked.

Feature list
- Two new maps
- Switched to new OB engine
- Basebuilding
- Improved ai
- Several other things...



As you can see, the building models are placeholders (a trainmodel). We are still looking for a modeller. We are also in need for voice actors( for units sounds when getting an order). If you are interested, visit our forum: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=116&p=644#p644

Some random shots:

Small update on the development. I'm currently working working on improving the visuals for the commander. I updated the selection circle for example, see video below.
Most new features are done like basebuilding, improved unit & abilities scripting systemand improved pathfinding and ai. The mod will also be a lot more stable ofcoures. The next release will atleast feature two new maps.
The fog of war will also be improved, but it is currently not possible, because valve didn't included the updated shaders with the orange box code update. The mod will also use the new engine ofcourse and will require Half-Life 2: Episode two to start.
I hope to do a new media update soon, but the building models still need to be finished.



On a side note, we are also in need of a lead sound designer. See the join section if you are interested.

The website has been updated a little bit. News is now being parsed from the news section of our forum and some other small things have been changed.