Mod News: Clever Girl
Quite a lot of mod news this week, apparently, even though there's very little for you to actually play. There's a long-awaited update from Jurrassic Life, as well as plenty of other gubbins related to Half-Life 2, Crysis, Stalker: Clear Sky, Portal 2 and Dirt 3. That's a lot of games! Read on to find out what's what.
NEWS
There's a quite interesting Half-Life 2: Ep2 mod in the works called Scintilla, which I think I've briefly mentioned before. Two screenshots have popped up this week, one of which looks especially spooky. This is a mod about "mystery, solving puzzles both of the gameplay and of the story, [and] also combat and horror." I'm keeping my beady little eye on this.
Also in the world of Half-Life 2, Jurrassic Life is not dead! Which is awesome news, frankly, as it's been away for long enough that I'd started to worry. The update itself isn't too big, with just a few new model images and barely any new info, but still: the mod continues to be made, and I am happy about that.
Stalker: Clear Sky mod Faction Fronts is entering a closed beta for its second iteration. The new version's set to include hundreds of reworked textures, aslong with a load of new weapons, props, and the like. The weather system's also had an overhaul, as has... well, pretty much everything, really. You'll want to head over and have a look at the full list of changes, probably. Faction Fronts is one of the Stalker mods I can really get behind, because it turns the calamatous runt of the Stalker family into something actually decently playable.
Meanwhile, Crysis mystery mod The Worry of Newport is nearing completion. The demo version that's been doing the internet rounds for a while is being taken offline, and the full version will be available in the next couple of weeks. I still haven't got round to playing this, but I really should. It sounds like Dear Esther. I like Dear Esther. You probably realised that.
Also: more In Peremptorys' Shadow (oh bloody hell fix the apostrophe, developers) screenshots, and what appears to be - gasp - a visual style developing. Lots of crisp lines and soft hues seem to be the order of the day for this Half-Life 2 horror adventure.
Plus: the Portal 2 Aperture Enhancement mod has revealed a new testing element to do with gels. Oh my goodness!
RELEASES
I haven't seen anything interesting come out this week. Have you? If so, lob it in the comments thread, or in an email to me, and I'll include it in next week's roundup. For now: onwards!
UPDATES
There's a new patch for Company of Heroes: Opposing fronts mod Eastern Front. The 1.40 patch contains balance changes, bug fixes, new music, new models and altered units and all sorts of gumph. You can grab the update from ModDB, and you probably should.
AND THE REST
For the first time in ages, there's something to lob in And The Rest! Hooray. Anyway, ModDB has a Dirt 3 editing guide up. It's hardly exhaustive, and basically just tells you what different files do and what you can use to edit them, rather than actually offering anything in the way of a tutorial - but the page can be edited by anyone, so hopefully it's grow nicely and organically.
'Til next week...