Meet the Devs: Adam Engels
[ 2020-08-22 02:23:49 CET ] [ Original post ]
Adam Engels
- Tell us a bit about yourself and your role at Crowbar Collective. Im 35 years old and live in central New York. I started gaming on the original NES and got to grow up with the video game industry. I split my time between gaming and being active outdoors. Today I try to maintain that as a game developer and a volunteer firefighter. I started on the team as an artist, became the art lead, then project lead, and now have the honor of owning the company. These days I manage the business, help manage the team, and provide direction for the games we make!
- What do you enjoy the most about Black Mesa? Ive been really enjoying the new HECU combat we added with 1.0. During the early years of the mod, a lot of us worked in bubbles, as we had not yet quite figured out working remotely around the world. To this day I am still impressed by the level of detail put into the environments, and how the team made the Black Mesa Research Facility come to life. I am still finding new things after over 14 years of being on the project.
- What was the most challenging hurdle that was overcome during development in your role? Ive had a few roles throughout my time on Black Mesa, each with their own unique challenges. I would have to say the hardest part has been maintaining a business and an international decentralized team. There are a lot of resources for learning art, there are some good resources for learning design, but business is like a black hole of information.
- What software did you use for your work? I pretty much live in Google Docs these days...
- How did you get involved with Black Mesa (If you joined later on?) I was in college and our group heard about a remake of Half-Life being made by a mod team. We all figured it would be a great portfolio piece to get hired in the industry, so a lot of us applied. One of us got on the team as a level designer, and worked to get a bunch of us on the team!
- How did you resist getting burnt out over such a long development process for Xen? It was difficult, especially being an all-remote team. At the end of the day, it was our love for the original game, and the crazy good work in progress posts by the team that kept us all going. You may be stalled, but seeing the fantastic progress made by others could motivate you out of it!
- Do you accept pineapple on pizza or are you against it? I love pineapple on pizza. Dont @ me!
- When did your interest in game development begin? It actually started with watching how movies were made in middle school. I used to watch Movie Magic on the Discovery channel, and I loved to see how everything came together. After movies like Jurassic Park and The Matrix, I got more and more into 3D modeling, took CAD classes in high school, and started messing around with the Hammer Editor (called World Craft at the time). I applied to one college for Game Art and Design and got in.
- If you had unlimited time, money, and help, what game would you make? The game were making now ;)
- What is your favorite weapon to use in Black Mesa? The MP5 is my crutch...
Black Mesa
Crowbar Collective
Crowbar Collective
2020-03-06
Indie Adventure Singleplayer Multiplayer
Game News Posts 169
🎹🖱️Keyboard + Mouse
🕹️ Partial Controller Support
Overwhelmingly Positive
(109206 reviews)
http://www.blackmesagame.com
https://store.steampowered.com/app/362890 
The Game includes VR Support
Black Mesa Linux [131.05 M]
Relive Half-Life in this highly acclaimed, fan-made recreation.
Main Info
Black Mesa is the award winning fan-made re-imagining of Gordon Freeman's landmark journey through the Black Mesa Research Facility. Relive Half-Life, Valve Software's revolutionary debut, and experience the game that raised the bar for the entire game industry all over again!
Key Features
Nostalgia has never felt so fresh - Expect tremendously detailed environments, old-school tough-as-nails combat, and a gripping story with memorable characters. The all-new soundtrack, voice acting, choreography and dialogue create a more expansive and immersive experience than ever before!
Heavily updated single player experience - The over 10 hour single player experience has greatly improved from the mod release; new visuals, new voice over, updated gameplay encounters, stability changes and more. Xen is not part of the Early Access release, but will included as a free update when it is ready.
Black Mesa Multiplayer - Fight with or against your friends, in two game modes across 10 iconic maps from the Half-Life universe including Bounce, Gasworks, Stalkyard, Undertow and Crossfire!
Custom Modding Tools & Workshop - Use the same tools as the developers! Create your own mods, modes and maps for Black Mesa and Black Mesa Multiplayer and then share your work, and subscribe to others, on the Steam Workshop!
Complete Steam Integration - Collect the full set of trading cards, backgrounds, emoticons, and achievements! Steam Cloud, Steam Workshop and partial controller support!
Run. Think. Shoot. Source..
Main Info
Black Mesa is the award winning fan-made re-imagining of Gordon Freeman's landmark journey through the Black Mesa Research Facility. Relive Half-Life, Valve Software's revolutionary debut, and experience the game that raised the bar for the entire game industry all over again!
Key Features
Nostalgia has never felt so fresh - Expect tremendously detailed environments, old-school tough-as-nails combat, and a gripping story with memorable characters. The all-new soundtrack, voice acting, choreography and dialogue create a more expansive and immersive experience than ever before!
Heavily updated single player experience - The over 10 hour single player experience has greatly improved from the mod release; new visuals, new voice over, updated gameplay encounters, stability changes and more. Xen is not part of the Early Access release, but will included as a free update when it is ready.
Black Mesa Multiplayer - Fight with or against your friends, in two game modes across 10 iconic maps from the Half-Life universe including Bounce, Gasworks, Stalkyard, Undertow and Crossfire!
Custom Modding Tools & Workshop - Use the same tools as the developers! Create your own mods, modes and maps for Black Mesa and Black Mesa Multiplayer and then share your work, and subscribe to others, on the Steam Workshop!
Complete Steam Integration - Collect the full set of trading cards, backgrounds, emoticons, and achievements! Steam Cloud, Steam Workshop and partial controller support!
Run. Think. Shoot. Source..
MINIMAL SETUP
- OS: Ubuntu 14.0 or Greater
- Processor: 2.6 Dual Core Processor or GreaterMemory: 4 GB RAM
- Memory: 4 GB RAM
- Graphics: 2 GB Dedicated Video Card or GreaterNetwork: Broadband Internet connection
- Storage: 20 GB available spaceAdditional Notes: Does not support the Nouveau display driver
- OS: Ubuntu 14.0 or Greater
- Processor: 3.2 Quad Core Processor or GreaterMemory: 6 GB RAM
- Memory: 6 GB RAM
- Graphics: 3 GB Dedicated Video Card or GreaterNetwork: Broadband Internet connection
- Storage: 20 GB available spaceAdditional Notes: Does not support the Nouveau display driver
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