Archived from the news on the old Black Mesa website and left as it was written, so it reflects the game as it stood in 2007.
Welcome! It's time for more updates and more media! Quite a bit has happened over the last few months, and a more indepth version of this article can be found on our forum thread.
First, the beautiful Alienware PC, awarded to the Black Mesa team by ModDB for winning Best Upcoming Mod of 2006, is now being auctioned off on eBay! This top-of-the-line gaming PC boasts, among other things, two gigs of RAM, dual core processors and an 8800 GTX! All of the funds collected will go towards any expenses necessary to help make this mod even better. The winning bidder will be shipped this PC, along with some exclusive Black Mesa media preloaded on the machine.
A vinyl decal with the Black Mesa logo and developer signatures is also applied to the side of the case, and an honorary Black Mesa developer hoodie is included in the auction. And to make the deal even sweeter, the winner of the auction gets a guaranteed beta testing slot for Black Mesa! We will not be holding a public beta test, so this could be your only chance to obtain a spot in the beta! So check it out, and throw in a bid! You know you want to.
Many thanks to all the voice actors who applied to be on the team! From the hundreds (yes, hundreds!) of applicants, the team have chosen nine very talented voice actors who will bring Black Mesa's characters to life! In addition to the voice actors, several new members of the development team have joined us! Please welcome:
- Anthony "OnboardError" Stone
- Johannes "outlive" Tripolt
- Kim "citric" Dahlgren
- Mark "Jenn0_bing" Foreman
- Matthew "schwenz" Schwenk
- Laurence “b14de” Whaites
- Russ "BurningIce81" Briggeman
- Sean "xensuna" Ryan
With the addition of these new team members, we are now closing all applications for voice acting, animation, and texture art. However, we are opening up two new application positions! We are seeking talented programmers to assist our current ones that are hard at work. In addition, we are seeking someone for the specialized position of Effects Artist. Details on both of these positions can be found on the jobs page.
And yes, we have some more media to show! You may have seen the exclusive render of the WIP skinned loader we showed during a ModDB interview, now the skin is completed and there is a higher quality beauty render on the Media page! In addition, we have some more shots of Residue Processing, new shots of the multiplayer map Rapidcore, and a Bullsquid animation video, showcasing some of this Xenian's animations.
You may have noticed the current Community Projects have been closed. Finalists have been chosen, and three new ones have just been opened! Feel free to check out the details on the Community section of the site, as well as read up on the new ones!
Also, we would very much like to ask everyone to take a look at the portfolios of our own very talented Jeff "CGJeff" Smith and Daniel "Raminator" Junek, both of whom happen to be in the midst of a job search. Help these guys break into the industry! While you are at it, help our level designer Chuck "Atrocity" Wilson win a scholarship by voting for his Black Mesa entry in this contest!
We are making tremendous progress and the Black Mesa team has never been doing better. Soon we'll have some exciting new features to show off and tell you about, along with some surprises! Stay tuned!