Bloodstone - Released

[Loke]

Bloodstone: The Journey Home is a third person role-playing total conversion of Valve's Half Life 2, using the Source engine. In this modification, Khrinz, a common farm boy is plunged into an unknown world of magic and deceit, on the brink of an unstoppable invasion by a technologically advanced race.

The player must lead our hero through the mysterious land of Darynia in search of the fabled bloodstone, a powerful gem that has the ability to create portals to other planes of existence, whilst also discovering their innate magical powers, so that they may defend themselves from the sinister and evil creatures of the world.

This power can either be used to fuel mystical and powerful spells of the arcane, or infuse deadly weapons with the force of the elements. As the player grows in experience, more potent spells and abilities are unlocked, to use against the ever increasing number of enemies.

Darynia is a fully realized fantasy world where the player will become immersed in an enriching storyline, driving the player’s actions, and pushing their emotions to the limit.

Mirrors:

• Filefront

 

[Shinobi]

damn another mod that flew under my radar then comes straight out

*me downloads*



this needs a post on the front page

 

[Pesmerga]

*downloads*

After playing the game for about two hours, I decided to tell everyone how it went. Here are the stories of... our nameless protagonist.

The intro brings me to a forgettable scene where Bambi books it through a forest because of some noise (oh, and that's totally understandable, something I'll cover shortly). The camera drops to a man (the player) who walks around quite robot-like and touches some mysterious stone as if he did it every day (he showed no hint of hesitance nor intrigue). The screen flashes and scary things happen and we pick back up in a hotel where an old man tells me everything I'd ever want to know about my current pickle of a situation. I'm now free to roam. After moving around like a madman (animations which do not sync up with distance traveled) I got used to the clunky interface and bloated dialog. Controls were pretty typical; WASD, mouse to look, click to attack, etc. I embarked on my first quest! To meet some guy! He told me I used my elemental spirit to ward off hostile aliens. Cool.

First off, this is a dead wolf. I slew him in combat and yet he remains stiff. I must have been imbued with a sort of taxonomy skill. Interesting.

Here, lovely scenery. Well, it would be lovely, if it weren't so ugly. There is no fog, there is no heavy foliage. There's just... ground and trees. And a very LOUD and REPETITIVE wolf howling in the distance. It's the same file that plays at least once every fifteen seconds. That wolf must be ****ing the shit out of a girl wolf, god damn.

Me training for my stealth skill. Blast, you can see my feet! This magical world is filled with many surprises- including floating bushes.

Ah, a black dock thing. This guy has nothing useful to tell me. I continue exploring.

Have at ye, Bambi! If my sword does not slice thee into many pieces, surely my fashion sense will!

Ah, new armor acquired!

More scenery. Not quite up to Crysis standards, but good.

I jump at thee, floating bush! I will uncover your floaty ways!

Sadly, attempting to climb the castle walls proved futile. Thank god for these giant rocks, lest I be carried off by the river!

Do you ever get the feeling you're living in a computer game?

Ah hah! More delicious combat!

A pack of wolves...

Eat sword, babies!

Taxonomy skill increased +1

Bladder control -1

Tell me what to do you old man, or I'll stuff you, as well!

Back in town. Let's get a quest!

This guy's accent is so genuine. It's like I'm really in Scotland.

I'm killing these pests for a quest. I almost died.

But now I'm dressed up in some phat lewt.

All apprentices of awesome have to carry a keg of booze around town as an errand quest- that's what World of Warcraft and this game have taught me.

Nope, these guys aren't dead. The guards just don't give a shit about me and my penis hat.

Let's go back to town. Hey, a Church! Kind of quaint seeing a Christian structure in a land full of pagan magicians and sorcerers. Not out of place at all.

Oh, an altar. Don't jump on it. It'll crash your game. And you'll probably find a strong urge to uninstall it after you restart your computer. Which is what I did. Goodbye, overly ambitious RPG-made-in-an-FPS-engine.

 

[Barnz]

You saved my hours.

 

[Crispy]

Is this a student game project (i.e. a promising-but-unfinished and unpolished proof of concept)?

It looks like they got the basics, well let me rephrase that: it looks like they got the basic back-end RPG stuff working (experience and levelling, quests, open-world, inventory with collectible weapons, items and armour, etc.) into Source and functioning, even if the combat and levels are ropey to say the least.

Any programmers breave enough to jump into the code and see if it's sturdy enough to be used as a basis for other RPG mods? (of course the next step would be to ask permission, I'm not advocating mod thievery).

P.S. Pesh the pictars and comments are much appreciated!

 

[Shinobi]

Pesmerga's name should be changed to babykiller

 

[Gordon-Shepherd]

That was pretty epic, pesh.