Science and the Celestial Playlist 1

For-the-road playlist inspired by Neil deGrasse Tyson’s StarTalk Radio and the musical selections of Ivan the sound engineer. StarTalk has both introduced me to new songs and reintroduced me to songs I haven’t heard in years.

These first 75 songs are my Science and the Celestial Playlist 1.

Ch-Check It Out by Beastie Boys
Sounds of Science by Beastie Boys
Space Bound by Eminem
Empty Sky by Bruce Springsteen
Venus vs. Mars by Jay Z

Rocket Man by Elton John
Code Monkey by Jonathan Coulton
No Limit by 2 Unlimited
Clams Have Feelings Too by NOFX
Sabotage by Beastie Boys

Drops of Jupiter by Train
Fly Me to the Moon by Frank Sinatra
Champagne Supernova by Oasis
Subterranean Homesick Alien by Radiohead
Life On Mars? by David Bowie

Man on the Moon by R.E.M.
Ball and Biscuit by The White Stripes
Already Dead by Beck
Hey Fuck You by Beastie Boys
Brain Damage by Pink Floyd

You Are Not Alone by Michael Jackson
Where Is the Love? by Black Eyed Peas
Robotic by Robert Benfer
Chiron Beta Prime by Jonathan Coulton
Insane in the Brain by Cypress Hill

Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds by The Beatles
Pruit Igoe and Prophecies by The Philip Glass Ensemble
Starlight by Muse
No Sleep Till Brooklyn by Beastie Boys
Earthquake Weather by Beck

Bring Out Your Dead by Anti-Flag
Hero by Mariah Carey
Candy Perfume Girl by Madonna
Black Hole Sun by Soundgarden
Eggman by Beastie Boys

I’m Your Moon by Jonathan Coulton
Riders on the Storm by The Doors
TiK ToK by Ke$ha
I’m a Climate Scientist
Lip Gloss by Lil’ Mama

(Don’t Fear) The Reaper by Blue Oyster Cult
Don’t Let the Sun Go Down On Me by Elton John
Turn Off the Light by Nelly Furtado
When the Levee Breaks by Led Zeppelin
Brain Damage by Eminem

Halloween by Aqua
Clocks by Coldplay
House of the Rising Sun by Animals
Space Oddity by David Bowie
Ghost Town by Shiny Toy Guns

Lifestyles of the Rich and the Famous by Good Charlotte
Brooklyn We Go Hard by Jay Z
Every Morning by Sugar Ray
Party People by Nelly and Fergie
Which Side Are You On? by Billy Bragg

Walkin’ On the Moon by The-Dream
Time After Time by Cyndi Lauper
Empire State of Mind by Jay Z and Alicia Keys
American Idiot by Green Day
Galaxies by Laura Veirs

Times Like These by Foo Fighters
Rock Lobster by The B-52’s
Politics by KoRn
Astronaut by Simple Plan
This Is Halloween by Marilyn Manson

I Took a Trip On a Gemini Spacecraft by David Bowie
Black No. 1 by Type O Negative
Underneath the Night Sky by Young Love
Beautiful World by Coldplay
Starstruck by Lady GaGa

Planetary (GO!) by My Chemical Romance
Basket Case by Green Day
Re: Your Brains by Jonathan Coulton
Even Flow by Pearl Jam
Heart-Shaped Box by Nirvana

(WIP) Half-Life: Necrosis (Cancelled)

Update: This project is suspended. It may not be revived.

My next RPG Maker VX Ace project is something of a fan-fiction game set in the world of Valve Software’s beloved Half-Life series. It is called Half-Life: Necrosis. Before I started, I searched the web for a top-down, traditional Half-Life RPG. To my surprise, no one had done it yet. Back when Team Fortress Classic was in its prime, I mapped and modded a great many projects using Half-Life’s older GoldSrc engine. Due to this experience I’m familiar with the audio and graphical resources available to me as a developer, as well as the lore of the series. With Necrosis, I want to translate all of my knowledge and my teenage-years nostalgia into a 2D RPG format.

Necrosis takes place in the Black Mesa Research Facility during the resonance cascade scenario featured in the original Half-Life as well as its three spin-offs: Opposing Force, Blue Shift and Decay. Each of these spin-offs put you into the shoes of a different witness to that disaster. The protagonist of Necrosis is an engineer who, like those other heroes, is forced to confront in his own way the alien invasion that ultimately leads to the subjugation of humanity.

For gameplay, my plan is to adapt as many of the mechanics of the original Half-Life game into the 2D RPG format as possible, while mixing in RPG DNA and avoiding too many needless gimmicks. I want to strike a balance between a compelling story that puts a new spin on Half-Life, as well as fun and engaging gameplay based on exploration, strategy, and moral choices. So far, I’ve only completed the Hazard Course area of the game world, which serves as a tutorial for the player. In doing so I’ve recreated a well-known and often revisited section of the Black Mesa facility, albeit with one fewer dimension than the player would expect of a Half-Life game. Ultimately, I want the player to be able to explore every bit of Black Mesa, and to port that 3D world into a 2D one as faithfully and accurately as possible. Designing the Hazard Course right out of the gate enabled me to design, test, and refine the various mechanics that I’d like to expand upon throughout the rest of the game.

I can go on and on with what I hope to be able to accomplish with Half-Life: Necrosis, but instead I’ll just post screen grabs of what I’ve completed so far. I humbly give you the Black Mesa Hazard Course, in two glorious dimensions!

The tentative title screen.

The employment interview that kicks off the story.

We meet our holographic assistant, who will walk us through the Hazard Course.

For this RPG, I decided to learn the basics of pixel art with the GIMP software. I knew that in recreating the Black Mesa facility I wouldn’t be able to depend solely on RPG Maker’s provided graphics. The wall-mounted health kit in this next image is an example of the art I drew while learning GIMP.

Ah, the equipment management menu: a necessary evil, and pleasure, in any role-playing game. Since I’m trying to port a shooter to the RPG format, it only makes sense that the available weapons, in addition to melee selections like the crowbar and the pipe wrench, would be firearms. And when you’ve got firearms, they’ve got to consume ammo. Necrosis should ultimately feature every weapon ever made available in any of the original games.

An example of combat! I ripped the firing range target graphic straight out of the texture files of the actual Half-Life game.

Like in the original Half-Life, recruiting others to your party, be they scientists or security guards, can be a necessary means of advancing through the Black Mesa Research Facility.

The exit tram, heavily modified from RPG Maker’s futuristic tileset to reflect more closely the tram featured in Half-Life.

And finally, a taste of in-game combat against actual Xen creatures: a pack of headcrabs! The background is taken from an in-game screen grab, and the headcrabs themselves are 2D edited screen grabs of the actual 3D models. I’ve already created rough 2D monster art out of every alien model available from the original PC games, including the monsters that were cut from the final products but whose models we still have, like Mr. Friendly and the Stukabat. My plan is for each creature or combination of creatures to provide a unique combat experience.

So tell me, am I too much of a goddamn geek or what?