Black Mesa

Questionable Ethics

Level Design & Environment Art

Questionable Ethics is the eleventh chapter in Black Mesa; it was designed around two major principles: exploration and story expansion. It acts as an eye opening chapter for the player, a realization that not everything is as it seems at Black Mesa, and that unethical experiments on various recovered Xenian specimens are regular occurrences in the deeper, more restricted sections of the facility.

The overall design of the chapter was done by Chris Horn; both the blockout work on the interior levels and planning the overall look and feel to them.

I was tasked with adding detail and polish to the first interior level giving it a dark and uneasy feel. My other tasks while working on the chapter was both the construction and detailing of the exterior level. Chris had drawn up a plan for this with an outline of the level layout and gameplay ideas; an image of the plan can be found here . Taking from this I expanded the look of the facility exterior with the addition of the employee car park and the building exterior; how it appears the facility was built deep into the rock.

With the 'Definitive Edition' update I also had the oppertunity to revist the exterior level to update the terrain, rocks and foliage to meet the standards of our other updated surface maps. For comparrison here is a before & after.

MTAvMDkvMjAweCAtIERpYXJ5IExvZyBvZiBEciBKIFdlbHNoCgpMSVNUUwpMSVNUUwpMSVNUUwoKU28gbWFueSBsaXN0cywgYWx3YXlzIHdpdGggdGhlIGxpc3RzLiBEciBXZWxz
aCBkbyB0aGlzLCBoYXZlIGl0IG9uIG15IGRlc2sgYnkgMywgRHIgRm9yZW1hbiBoZXJlIGlzIHRvZGF5cyBsaXN0IG9mIHRhc2tzLCBwbGVhc2UgaGF2ZSBpdCBvbiBteSBkZXNr
IGJ5IG5vb24uIFdlbGwsIEkgZ290IGEgY2FsbCBmcm9tIERyIFN0b25lIG92ZXIgaW4gU2VjdG9yIEMsIGFuZCBoZSB0aGlua3MgRHIgSG9ybiBoYXMgYmVlbiBtaXNhcHByb3By
aWF0aW5nIGZ1bmRzIGZyb20gdGhlIGxhYiBidWRnZXQgdG8gYnV5IHBpenphcyB3aXRoLCBhbmQgZnVuZCBzb21lIHNlY3JldCBwcm9qZWN0IHdlIGRvbnQgaGF2ZSB0aGUgYWNj
ZXNzIGxldmVscyB0byBnZXQgYXQuIE9ubHkgRHIgSG9ybiBhbmQgRHIgQm90dG9tbGV5IHNlZW0gdG8gaGF2ZSBhY2Nlc3MgdG8gdGhvc2Ugcm9vbXMsIGhtbSBwZXJoYXBzIERy
IEp1bmVrIHRvby4uLgoKQWxsIEkga25vdyBpcywgd2UgaGFkIGEgY29tcGxhaW50IGZyb20gdGhlIG1haW4gYWRtaW5pc3RyYXRvciBEciBNb250ZXJvIHRoYXQgTGFiIEQgZnVu
ZGluZyBoYWQgYSBncm9zc2x5IGRpc3Byb3BvcnRpb25hdGUgaW1wYWN0IG9uIHRoZSBsYWIgZnVuZGluZywgZXNwZWNpYWxseSBjb25zaWRlcmluZyB3b3JrIGN1cnJlbnRseSB1
bmRlciB3YXkgb24gdGhlIGJpb2RvbWUgaW4gdGhlIHN1YiBsZXZlbHMgb2YgdGhlIGZhY2lsaXR5LgoKV2UgaGF2ZSBhIHBsYW4gdGhvdWdoIHRvIGdldCBiYWNrIGF0IERyIEhv
cm4sIHdlJ3JlIGdvaW5nIHRvIHN0ZWFsIGFsbCBoaXMgbWlzZ290dGVuIGdvb2RzLCBhbmQgaGlkZSB0aGVtIHRocm91Z2hvdXQgdGhlIHdob2xlIGZhY2lsaXR5LCBoZSdsbCBz
cGVuZCBtb250aHMgbG9va2luZyBmb3IgdGhlbS4=

View Project