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Project Mesa: Celebrating Half-Life's 20 Year Legacy
🕑 Added 2018-10-13 12:01:00 +0000 UTC Hey folk! Danny here.Next week we start filming on a brand new documentary - a doc like nothing we've ever filmed before because we are not talking to the developers of the game.
Sound strange? Let me explain.
On November 19th 2018 my favorite game of all time turns 20. Half-Life is the first FPS I ever completed so it holds a great deal of nostalgic power over me. And as somebody who now runs a video game documentary production company, I simply could not allow the date to pass without creating something to mark the occasion.
My worry was that the anniversary would come and go and all we'd have to celebrate it would be some sentimental tweets and a few retrospective articles. It's my feeling that fans of this game deserve a focal point for their nostalgia. Something to surround and celebrate.
I reached out to Valve via a number of channels earlier this year but sadly did not hear back from them. I suspect that this is a difficult anniversary to honor as the unreleased third chapter continues to burden the legacy of this franchise. I still hope we might able to convince them to talk to us some day. I think there is a great deal of interesting history and design to explore. But even if we couldn't do something with them, I wanted to to do something. Creative restrictions are a powerful force, and so the question then became how do we make a doc about Half-Life, without talking to anyone who worked on Half-Life?
So, over the past few months I've come up with a new concept for how we might tackle a doc on this game. Instead of tracking down the developers and interviewing the folks still at Valve - what if we focused on the 20 year period between November 19th 1998, and today. Instead of focusing on the game, why not take a look at its legacy?
Half-Life has cast a long shadow. Be it the many developers who were inspired by it all those years ago, the success and re-success of Counter Strike, or the various modding communities that sprung up in its wake. There are twenty years of human experiences that exist between then and now. Twenty years of stories for us to celebrate.
That's what Project Mesa is.
A gift to Half-Life fans around the world. A documentary celebrating the legacy of their favorite game featuring some of the biggest names in development, journalists who covered it's launch, academia who have studied the game since and veterans of the early days of eSports.
So yes, we are talking to big name developers.
We are talking to journalists who covered the launch of the game.
We are talking to folks involved in the Black Mesa mod.
We are talking to people in the Counter Strike community.
We are talking to the indies who have tried to make "Epistle 3".
For the next two weeks we are filming all around the country; Austin, Dallas, Los Angeles, Phoenix, New York, Baltimore and beyond. I had originally planned to film the bulk of it myself, but thanks to our funding boost this month I've been able to fly Jeremy in to provide filming support for most of the interviews. The doc will look and feel much better as a direct result. We're delighted to show the fruits of your funding right away. Thank you again for your amazing support.
So, when can you expect to watch it? We're aiming to get it out to everyone on the 20th anniversary; Monday, November 19, 2018. Our wish is for fans of this series to be able to sit back, relax and watch a full length documentary film about a game they still love 20 years after they first played it. All for free, made possible by our Patrons and the wonderfully generous people taking time away from their busy lives to talk to us.
It's a pretty big undertaking, but I couldn't do anything less for the game that allowed me to fall in love with first person shooters. I'm not ready to forget about Freeman.
Wish us luck.
Danny
Comments
Delighted to hear this Danny. I'm very excited by the work you will make out of this idea!
Theron Miles
Epic! Can't wait for this! Although poo poo to Valve for not returning your calls.
Daniel Porter (XPorter)
This sounds fucking interesting! Shit, good luck Danny!
Steven Blomkamp
Really looking forward to this. Half life means the world to me and I cant imagine anyone more up to the task than the team at Noclip
Noclip
Oh yea, we're talking to those folks too :)
"Tried to make Epistle 3" They are still trying, its not on a halt
bluphoenix
I think there are a lot of us that have the same nostalgic feeling. There really wasn't anything like it at the time, it will be great to hear about people in the industry reflect on it!
Good luck. Sounds like a great idea. It’s too bad Valve wouldn’t talk to you cuz that would be awesome.
Ben Williams
YES!! Can't wait to see you do your magic with this, Danny! It's one if my favorite games, and definitely one of the most memorable gaming experiences for me. "They're waiting for you, Gordon."
Connor Swenke
Fantastic idea. Good luck!
Philipp Lehner
Thanks for doing this!
Tohir Tillyaev
This is a great idea. I admire that in the middle of everything you guys are taking on this project. Especially because you have a tight deadline to meet. Well, rock on, brother! You and Jeremy will make it happen, I’m sure of it!
Piotr Kostecki
Great idea!
I know you have put out a call for all HL/HL2 creators, but there are some people I know that I'm not sure have come forward. I wanted to suggest to get in touch with the creator of the The Specialists mod (@MorfeoDev) which granted him a job in Crytek and is now an indie. I collaborated with the creator of the Riot Act HL2 mod, I can put you in touch with the creator Germano if you want (doesn't really have social media presence), together with Fabrizio we also run HLItalia for many years, which was the website to go for all things HL for Italians back in the day. It might be nice to talk to Philip (@PlanetPhillip) whom have run PlanetPhillip/RunThinkShootLive for 15 years(!) and in the last few years have managed to round up great level designers in regular contests that have all been published as mods for HL2EP2 and this year Black Mesa - some contributors work in highly regarded studios. Since you mention Counter-Strike, I hope you got in touch with Shawn (@FMPONE), the designer behind the biggest community map hits for CSGO, Cache among all, which you can consider the new Dust 2. And anyway he contributes in running our beloved Mapcore.org forum, which is a nest for designers that have published maps for all Source games and work for the biggest studios. There's so much material for HL and HL2 I hopethis becomes a serie of docs :D
Ps your an isprational father and a top bloke
Love it. I still pay the half life series now and love every minute of it. I'm still somewhat heart broken by the series and half life episode one is my all time favourite game. I will be counting down the days to this one!!!!
Aweesommmeeee! Half-Life defined a generation of gaming. Super cool, even without Valve's direct involvement (shame on you, Valve). Great initiative, Danny!
OnyxOsprey
I can't wait to see it all come together!
Love it!
Michel Cardoso Teixeira
OMG OMG OMG OMG *runs around in happy little circles* This might be the best news I’ve heard(read?!) all year! 😀👍🏻
David Stretch
Really looking forward to this! Thanks!
Can't wait to see this one, Half-Life was one of the first fps I ever played, loved it then and I love it now :)
This sounds so fun! Can’t wait to see what you produce 😄
Can I just say that I’m really looking forward to this Danny! I’ve grown up in the same era as you, and Half-Life was one of those games which sits with me as one of the best FPS games I’ve played. A lot of nostalgia! Thank you!
Gustavo
Good luck Danny. I wish you the best and I'm sure this'll turn out to be great.
Marcel Hedemand
So do I as it turns out! I never knew!
Shamus McNulty
Fun fact: I share a birthday with Half-Life!
