Should the infamous Half-Life Uplink short film from 1999 be remade and expanded as a mod for GoldSrc Half-Life?

[wadmodder1999]

We are all pretty much familiar Cruise Control's infamous Half-Life Uplink short film from 1999 that was released online in March 1999 after lack of approval from both Valve & Sierra at the time, and quickly pulled after negative feedback from fans. To it's credit, it was the forerunner of the numerous Half-Life fan films still being produced today, and the "with Half-Life SFX" internet meme.

But as far as I can tell nobody has recreated the ill-fated short film itself in the actual Half-Life game as a mod. I've always wanted to see a single-player mod where you play as a journalist (similar to Jaz Meadows from the Half-Life Uplink film) in the same setting as HL1 at the Black Mesa Research Facility.

If said mod was made, it would need to have the following requirements as follows:

- It needs to be released under a different title in order to distinguish it from the actual Uplink demo that Valve released in February 1999, since, while the short film and the game demo share the same name, neither share any similar concepts. Many names that I can think of are "A Journalist's Visit", "A Journalist's Night", "A Journalist's Perspective" & "A Journalist's Report".
- In addition to the movie itself and still images from the short film's production, you must find images of the shooting location of the short movie called Building 210, a decommissioned Cold War bunker located at Alconbury Airfield in Bedfordshire, England. I would recommend using these sources as reference.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/kev_gregory_general/albums/72157672567193852
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/uk/inside-magic-mountain-eerie-cold-war-bunker-will-sit-beneath/
https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna33506583
http://www.ukairfields.org.uk/alconbury.html
- Brushwork must be detailed to resemble the aesthetics of Half-Life 1 (both the 0.52 alpha & retail game, maybe even the Uplink game demo, pre-release screenshots, the two prototypes of the unreleased Dreamcast port & the released PS2 port), Opposing Force, Blue Shift & Decay. In addition, some mods that have unoffical, non-canon perspective like Sweet Half-Life, Azure Sheep, Point of View, Brave Brain, Visitors, Zombie Edition, Black Guard, Residual Life, Echoes, Military Duty, Bootleg Squadrog & Under the Black Moon may somewhat also be referenced & used for details.
- It must be expanded upon by including details and expanding upon it, including the sound effects of the NPCs & enemies from the game that are present in the film, but yet none of the alien creatures actually appear in it (except the Barnacle and possible a Vortigaunt). The plot should also include addition material that references plot-points from other movies & TV shows that take place in bunkers to make it more than just a remake of the short film and more on expanding the story.

Those are some of the requirements that I think should be used when recreating the ill-fated Half-Life Uplink short film from 1999 as a mod for the actual Half-Life.

What do you think, should the infamous Half-Life Uplink short film from 1999 be recreated in the actual Half-Life as a mod, or do you think it should be left forgotten? Your opinion should be featured in this discussion.

[JasperFox]

bruh

[wadmodder1999]

Or maybe recreate the filming location from the short film as a deathmatch map maybe?

[Yzal]

Originally posted by PsyWarVeteran:

No.

It was garbage.

[wadmodder1999]

No? Okay then, maybe not.

[wadmodder1999]

In other words this discussion should be locked.

[musket]

honestly maybe a half life 1 beta mod where you go to the locations in the film would be better than being some defenseless journalist

[UmbralPenumbra]

I'm all for historical preservation, and I'm especially in favor of niche mods and stuff everyone else hates. I say go for it

[Cat]

Never seen it. How bad was it? Something interesting that even a random fan made should be encouraged, instead of being told "your fan-made artwork is bad, remove it from steam so nobody can look at it".

I mean, HDTF is a terrible game but at least the cutscenes alone are very nice to watch. How bad can a 1999 film be if its recreated into a mod?

[Ikagura]

It's like Lost Coast, a scrapped chapter that serves no other purposes.

[UmbralPenumbra]

Uplink would've fit perfectly in the Lambda Complex pre-Xen, just like Lost Coast would've fit perfectly into the Coast chapters. They only serve no purpose because of Valve's arbitrariness

[smoking addiction]

yes