Aiie.
This color scheme isn't very good. The blue on the green and sometimes blue on blue is almost impossible to see.
If you need help picking colors, just ask me. I'm sorta a Graphic Designer-type guy.
I'm pretty much fine with whatever you guys are starting off with and such stuff, I'll just sort of give you guys the reason for returning and all that 'shoot.
Anyone who thinks that Black Mesa and Race X are completely gone hasn't thought about Opposing Force/Half-Life enough. Sheesh. I'll TRY to explain the whole reasoning and stuff, even though I hate doing it, as it's not in the game.
So, let's get started.
The game starts with the G-man, perhaps..? Or just him appearing. I'd prefer having the G-man with a well-written opening scene.
The G-man basically says: I've talked with my employers, and they're willing to give you one last shot at getting the job. I'm not going to save you this time, should you fail. Your mission should be apparent in time.
Something along those lines. More G-manny, of course. And we need one of those things that they had at the beginning of Op4, BS, and Half-Life, which said: Name: Adrian Shephard, Occupation: HECU, and stuff like that. It's sorta optional, but it's easy and helps the player to realize they're playing as Adrian and not some other, random guy.
(I've got this idea where Adrian's crashed Helicopter is found by a group of people...But a headcrab gets to Adrian first. The headcrab attacks you and you hear some screaming and a loud "THUD!" and then the screen comes back. The people start nursing you and inform you that your throat has been impaled by the headcrab's teeth, so you'll be unable to talk without proper medical help. If you include this part, then it's good to have the G-man say something like: "I've also made sure you can't spread the word about Black Mesa..." So it sounds like the G-man planned the headcrab attack. In any case, it's good to have this line...Yeah. I can explain more if you need me to..?)
So then we have Adrian crashlanding on Earth in a helicopter or something and Combine portals opening up. Then we can have the antlion nest part, if you feel like having that right here. Keep in mind you can't really extend this area beyond 7 hours of playtime (Assuming the player plays through properly!)
After an hour or two of fighting in the nests, Adrian returns to the surface and is told his upcoming mission from a marine. As they're talking, a Strider comes in (You've said all this, so I'm assuming you know what to do)
The plan the marine talks about should be something like: We're going to take down their citadel (Perhaps call it a spire..?) and see what that does to them!
From that point, you're fighting your way to the Citadel. You fight synths and whatever else happens to be in the way and eventually you get into a skyscraper or large building and use the height to get over some of those large Combine walls. You land on a bridge leading to the "entrance" of the citadel, along with some other marines who are with you.
You basically run around the Citadel, trying to find a way to cause it to self-destruct. While you're inside, Breen makes his surrendering speech and the Combine play it on their screens to try to convince you to give up. At some point, you're in an area with those containers they use to hold humans...
Something happens that forces you to get into one of these (Another marine could push you into one? Perhaps you meet up with the guy who told you the plan originally and he tells you to get into a pod. Once inside, he tells you: "Whatever happens, don't stop fighting!")
While inside the pod, the pod starts moving and synths come into the room. The Marine shoots at them, taking a few out before getting killed.
Your pod continues a short way down a conveyor belt and you end up going through a portal. You black out. With the screen faded to black, the G-man appears once again.
He says something like: "It appears you've failed once again, Shephard. I'm afraid my employers won't allow you to join (Need a better phrasing for that part). As I promised, I'm not going to save you this time, so you'll be left here until the Combine decide they need you."
The screen that normally appears when you lose because of killing a scientist or something appears. It says: "Mission failed: Shephard failed to destroy Combine Citadel."
Annd my reasoning for this part: The G-man wants Shephard to destroy a Citadel AFTER Earth surrenders so that humans will start the war once again. Since the Combine have already taken Humans inside to turn them into synths, the humans inside the Citadels will be able to cause much chaos, possibly destroying more Citadels.
Sound good so far?
If you want to, we can release this in a episodic style...? I'm really not sure.
Anyways, part two!
Adrian wakes up in his pod once again. His HUD is different and notably Combine-esque.
What's happened since the first part: Adrian was placed into storage, waiting for a time he'd be needed. The Combine unknowningly did this, thinking they had killed all of the people in the Citadel Adrian entered. It's been a few years (5..? The HL storyline isn't really clear about dates) and it's basically right before Half-Life 2 takes place. Adrian has been transfered to a small city in New Mexico and suited up as a Metrocop (Meaning he has no mechanical pieces on him. If he were upgraded to a Combine Guard, he'd get parts of him taken out).
The reason Adrian has been sent to New Mexico is because New Mexico is sending out a few squads of Metrocops and Guards to Black Mesa, which has only recently begun showing signs of life. Adrian is only meant to be a replacement guard for one of the guards being sent to Black Mesa.
So, Adrian walks out of the pod and a few other Combine do, too. There's an opportunity for an optional Training/Testing area that is basically a VR mission the player plays as the Combine...Just for fun..? Completely optional, though..? It doesn't really do anything for the storyline.
So, Adrian gets all his gear as a Combine, stunstick, pistol. When he tries to pull out his pistol, he's unable to and an error appears on his HUD, telling him the Combine base is still in safe-mode.
Adrian follows the other Combine out of the room and sees the G-man in the distance, playing with a computer/control console. As Adrian starts to go through the door the other Combine are going through, another Combine pulls him the other direction. He's led to a dropship and gets on with a few other Combine Metrocops.
Reasoning: The G-man still likes Adrian, as he managed to survive the 7-hour war. The G-man has also talked with his employers about making Freeman's success a sure thing. The player doesn't get told any of this...So...yeah. That's just the reasoning the G-man is switching Adrian to the Black Mesa mission.
Adrian sits on the dropship and it soon comes to a stop along the side of a large Plateau in the New Mexico desert. Players may remember this as the cliffside portion of Opposing Force/Half-Life (I forget which). A geiger counter (The thing that measures radiation) is clicking away MADLY and the Metrocops and player jump out and onto the cliff as fast as they can. The Dropship flies away.
Reasoning: You might be thinking: Wtk, Black Mesa is GONE, DESTROOOYED! How can this be!? This is actually answered later by a scientist, and I think I'll include it later. So...yeah..Keep reading!
So, you enter the facility with a few other Metrocops and everything goes smoothly for a little bit, until a fast zombie comes and flies at your group. It hits a guy and ends up knocking over a pillar which causes part of the roof to collapse. They die or are separated from you. You also get a "Lost connection" warning on your HUD, informing you that you have lost connection with the main Combine base.
You're now alone in Black Mesa. Crap.
Onwards you go, until you fall through the ground or see a large hole...or something. Something happens that causes you to fall for a bit and hit the ground. You get knocked out.
When you awake, you're inside an area with lights and screens and such stuff. There's a scientist looking down at you. It's the guy from Opposing Force who woke you (Or was near you when you woke). He introduces himself to you, and he looks pretty old and worn out. (Actually, this guy is kinda optional...It makes the game a bit more character-driven, though.)
He comments on the suit you've gotten and is telling you that he's glad people on the surface are still alive and apparently doing well (mentioning how advanced the new suit is). This shows that the people down here have no idea what's going on with the rest of the world, other than the Resonance Cascade. They don't know about the Combine. He also says something about your Lost Connection, saying that there's so much radiation and random rubble above you guys that it's unlikely you'll be able to get any connection around here, so you'll have to find a different way out. The scientists tell you that they've stayed down here for a while and have been trying to find a way out.
Down here, you also meet "Dr. Gina Cross and Dr. Colette Green," I think were their names. They're from the PS2 version of HL, called Decay.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Half-Life:_Decayand
decay.half-lifecreations.com/(Not out yet!)
These two extra scientists are optional...We can just as easily throw in some random scientists to do the same thing.
Anyways, inside Black Mesa...You basically run around...
In the beginning it's only Humans VS Xenians. Then it's Humans VS Race X. Then it's Humans VS Race X VS Xenians. Finally, the Combine come and it's a battle of Epic proportions, with 4 races fighting for control.
That's the basic idea for Black Mesa.
More in-depth: You get into Black Mesa and they're trying to get out. Someone has a great idea for trying to go for the Missile test site, since the doors to shoot missiles out of might be functional, so you could escape through that. (Missile test site..Satellite Launch site..Anything that launches large, missile-like objects!!! This is sorta required.)
Anyways, halfway before you get there, during a lull in the action, one of the scientists talks about the Satellite Gordon Freeman sent to space all those years ago. They tell you that they think if you took this out it would stop the portal storms (Annd the Combine..? Omigosh, plot device!) from continuting. In Decay, I think the two scientists tried powering down the satellite remotely. It didn't work.
So, you go to the missile test site. When you get there, you see lots and lots of nukes or missiles. The scientists tell you that they banded together with the HECU and the Black Ops after the mission was considered a failure. The Black Ops and HECU figured they were going to be dead so they all formed a truce to disable all the nuclear weapons the government installed there. This is where all the nukes went.
They THOUGHT the had disabled them all and even got a confirmation from everyone but one nuke went off. Only one, though, and it was in the parking facility. A decent portion of the facility was damaged by the explosion, but due to the way facilities are built and how bombs explode, most of the damage went UP, away from the equipment and labs. The explosion DID cause enough radiation to be emitted and enough fallout that the scientists, HECU, and Black Ops had to stay inside to wait for the radiation to disappate to safer levels. The shockwave also caused quite a bit of damage, too, which is why there's soooo much damage to the facility.
Scientists tell you some/all of this.
Reasoning: The g-man is the one who sets off the nuke. Why? So the facility remained and people were still there. If he hadn't set off the nuke, the government would think the facility was still operational and might've attacked the facility. Failing that, the Combine would've gone there, as it was still a human stronghold. Blowing up a single nuke is enough to get the US government to believe the place is gone, since they have the whole portal storm problem to work with. The nuke going off was the G-man saving the facility, not destroying it.
Back to the story...When the scientists start getting the doors to the top of the missile/satellite launch area to open, the only real threat is the fact that you're right in the middle of the Xenian/Race X territory and being attacked from both sides. People are almost ready to escape out the large opening when...who other than the Combine appear. A strider fires and blows open part of the facility and all hell breaks loose.
Xenians, Race X, and the Combine are all unfriendly to one another, and you and the humans are basically toast. So the humans decide: Well, crap, we're all going to die anyway..Let's try going to XEN and taking out this whole facility!!! So a few go and program the nukes to go off on a timer while the rest of you sorta protect them from sure death.
Reasoning: Yeah, you weren't supposed to try to escape. There's a lull in the action after the doors open and everyone is getting prepared to leave. What you were "supposed" to do, according to the G-man, is fire off a missile at the Satellite in space. But...you don't. So, you basically just failed the G-man again. Hehe.
So, all hell breaks loose between the four groups and the humans and you MUST retreat back the way you came (Some people start retreating and yell for you to come back).
As you retreat, you're constantly being chased by Combine synths and Guards while running into both Race Xians and Xenians who are in your path.
Eventually you find yourself in another research lab...And what's that on the table other than your good 'ol friendly Displacement gun!? (From Op4. It teleported you places and was basically like the BFG...Yeah)
But you're not the one who picks it up. Someone else grabs it before you and tells everyone to gather around. You get together and teleport...And now you're in Xen.
But while your screen is still back, the text comes back once again. It tells you that you failed again, this time failure to take down the "Combine Satellite" or something like that (I'm horrible at naming things.)
You end up in Xen with the other scientists. There's some equipment that's obviously from Black Mesa, and some equipment for teleporting.
They tell you that all of this equipment hasn't been used in a while, since there hasn't been a working teleporter ready on Earth. They tell you that Vance, Kleiner, and possibly some other people who escaped the facility long ago had known how to rebuild a teleport and were hoping they could power it on to save the people in Black Mesa.
As far as they know, the scientists were unsuccessful back on Earth. Until today.
As they're telling you this, one of the scientists is flipping through the history on a screen. They notice a brief flash on their screen between two points on a map of the globe. The points are rather close to each other, but it's obvious that it's a possible destination for teleporting. He flips back and looks at it once again and is excited. He flips forward again and notices another few points. One in Eastern Europe and one in New Mexico. As he continues through the history, there's a few other points that appear, usually major cities and the such.
Deciding that New Mexico is the safest (Traveling the least distance requires less energy, too..?), they lock onto the coordinates and prepare the teleporter as Xenians...and possibly Race Xians flood into the area.
Reasoning: The points on the globe refer to times that the machinery has detected a large power supply and a connection to/through Xen. I basically mean that whenever someone on Earth teleports, they have a visible blip on the map. The first two would be Alyx's teleportation between Kleiner's and Vance's place. The other ones would be teleportations between Citadels and Combine outposts/bases. The one that you're teleporting to in New Mexico is actually the base you first arrived at dressed as a Combine. Woah! Also, if you want to have the Race X in Xen, you'd better add some random Xen teleports inside of Black Mesa that still linger there. Sound good?
So, after fending off aliens, you jump into the teleporter with all the other scientists and teleport...to New Mexico!
The Combine in the base are completely taken aback from your arrival in the area. There's some standing at the control panels and such and a few are simply staring at your group. There's striders in the distance walking off and Dropships and Gunships are taking off, all heading in one direction. Something has obviously gotten their attention.
Reasoning: Soo, your nukes haven't exactly gone off as expected. Or perhaps they have!? It doesn't really matter for the story. The nukes are all in a concentrated area in part of the facility, so all it does is blow a massive hole in one area. The idea is that Race X is finally free from the confines of the enclosed space of the facility and is giving the Combine forces a run for their money. (How many Synths do you think they're going to give to a "Major" city in New Mexico? I mean..The population there isn't too big. Basically, the Combine haven't got enough forces to properly take down this new threat and thus are freaking out.) The teleporter in New Mexico's Combine Base was turned on...not to accept your arrival, but to teleport in more Combine synths to fight off the new threat.
The scientists and you take over the Combine base and open the gates to the base. Rebels (Civilians) come into the base to help destroy the Combine menace. These people realize that the Combine's reckoning might be coming, so they encourage you and the scientists, along with some civilians, to take the teleporter to another part of the world and spread the word.
After this part...Well, there's some choices that you guys are going to need to make...
So I won't type anymore for now.
Holycrap, I type a lot, huh?