Half-Life 2 single player
Radiator vol. 1, "More Matter"
Radiator is an experimental art mod, a first person shooter without any shooting and a story of two dudes who like dudes. In lieu of shooting things at peoples' heads, instead you: stargaze, repress painful memories, and rationalize how you've hurt others.
All level construction and scripting by me. Other than some textures and reskins of the characters, most of the assets are from Half-Life 2.
» For notes on design, narrative and implementation, refer to the
liner notes on my design blog. In them, I discuss various prototypes I tried, gameplay ideas that didn't work, the feedback that came from playtesters, and what I think are the strengths / weaknesses of each level.
Polaris (1-1) is set in a national park near Fresno, California. There, the narrator recounts a stargazing date that goes awry.
Handle with Care (1-2) continues with the narrator, James, and his relationship to Dylan several years later. Dylan has dragged him into marriage counseling.
James remains distrustful of therapy, struggling to repress (or release, depending on the player's inclination) painful memories that bubble to the surface -- the memories take the form of fragile boxes in the warehouse of James' mind... The dude has a lot of baggage.
[Not released, in-progress] Much Madness (1-3), the final entry in volume 1, details the end of the relationship. James feels guilty for what he's done -- or does he?
Set on a sinking submarine submerged deep in Dylan's subconscious, James tries to rationalize what he's done. (Emily Dickinson's ghost is also on-board the submarine, relentlessly hunting the player.)
Part of the level is also set at the Emily Dickinson house in Massachusetts, a Federal-style residence built in 1813.
Some "behind the scenes" screens for your enjoyment, so you can get a sense of the scripting setups that go into these levels:
Details in "Handle with Care" that players may have missed. Some of them play on the joke that the "Internal Repression Service" in James' brain is like a government agency... others are just brain / psychology jokes.
