You will NOT ask this question either now or for another 10 years.

Even those people who are barely familiar with video games have at least once heard of Counter-Strike. Until now, there are sometimes reports on television channels about how poor kids once again took money from their parents without asking and invested it in a skin in CS:GO, and recently they announced Counter-Strike 2, which is in the status CBT. So the series has already been going on for almost 25 years old more than alive and does not think of curtailing its activities.

This part should be out very soon. Do you think CS2 will be as successful as the previous parts??

Most, for obvious reasons, know about the legendary CS 1.6 and the current Global Offensive . About half will remember the port to the Source engine . Somewhere between them all were attempts at conquering the Chinese market (yes, this is the same CS 2 that became famous). And among all this, lurking such an inconspicuous, little-known, experimental Condition Zero .

Do you remember how you came to the computer club, and absolutely everyone there played CS 1.6? And these cries of "Don’t look at my screen!"? There was a time.

Do you remember, when Global Offensive was just released, heated debates flared up about whether it was worth switching to it from CS 1?.6, because the new part was PAID? There was a time.

Remember, you go, for example, to the cs_assault map in Counter-Strike: Source, and the first thought in your head is: “This is my Assault?! I don’t believe it!". There was a time.

And remember. Although no, if you remember THIS, then I have a lot of questions for you.

You can say: "How is this little known? I know I came here because of her, and many people around me know.". And you’ll be right – at the moment there are quite a lot of materials both on YouTube, and on the Internet in this regard. Much more than from the same Source . But statistics say the opposite, and this does not take into account pirated versions.

So what happened to Condition Zero ? How did it happen that a rather interesting project to introduce a plot into a series familiar to us was underway? awry almost from the very beginning? And finally, how much the plans during development were different from what we ended up with? Let’s find out.

Chapter 1. The Birth of Counter-Strike

It all started.. With ambition.

"What if we made our own game about the confrontation between special forces and terrorism using the Half-Life engine??" – from this idea, Counter-strike, familiar to us all, was born . It was made then by two amateurs – Ming Li And Jess Cliff. I would talk about who these people are, but this relates to the development of the original Counter-Strike, and not to our hero of the occasion. It’s important for us to know that these guys are 1999 released the first version of the game as a modification for Half-Life, that is, on the engine GoldSrc, more than breakthrough at that time.

The popularity of the modification gradually grew and reached quite significant personalities in the then video game industry. For example, he spoke laudably Cliff Bleszinski – a man who at that time was the game designer of the great shooter Unreal, and in the future began working on the notorious Gears of War . This is how Counter-Strike developed and was approaching its release (up to this point, modmakers characterized the game as a beta version), when the guys faced their turning point – the appeal Valve.

I don’t think there are people here who don’t know who this is, but just in case, I’ll say this is the studio that developed the original Half-Life and in the future a bunch of truly recognized hits. And what else these developers are respected for is their attitude to modifications and modmakers. While many companies either indifferently monitor fan works or are actively trying to erase them from public access, Valve takes advantage of opportunities and unites or helps amateurs.

Actually, in 2000 year Valve turned to Mina And Jessa with an offer to buy the rights to their video game and employ the guys in their own staff. The modmakers immediately agreed.

When we were offered to sell the rights to the game and a full-fledged place in the state, we did not hesitate for long, because, you know, we were glad that they even noticed us.

Ming Lee, co-founder of Counter-Strike

Chapter 2. Daring Counter-Strike

Yes, Valve decided that the successful multiplayer shooter could be turned into a full-fledged series. Plus, the company was eager to release a single version in this setting. And I think it’s funny that what was originally a multiplayer modification for a single-player video game itself eventually began to lay claim to such development.

Only now Valve I wasn’t going to do Counter-Strike on my own – at that moment work was in full swing on the sequel to Half-Life, so at the very beginning 2001 year began the search for a third-party studio. It is known for sure that they immediately wanted to attract Gearbox , which is logical, since they have proven themselves to be an addition to Opposing Force for the original Half-Life. But the studio was also busy – with the next addition called Blue Shift . As a result, a long (or not so long) search led Valve to a studio like Rogue Entertainment.

Half-Life: Opposing Force (1999).

Half-Life: Blue Shift (2001).

Rogue Entertainment – history of the company before Counter-Strike

Perhaps you don’t even know what this is right now Rogue so I should introduce you a little to her.

I won’t go deep into who founded the studio, what the reasons were, etc. More interesting information would be that “Outcasts» done. And this:

– A full-fledged shooter Strife on the Doom engine, which was generally not bad, but it suffered a similar fate to Titanfall 2 – it was released between the then new Quake and Duke Nukem 3D and got lost among them.

– Two expansion packs for Quake II (fun fact: Rogue Entertainment was in the same building as ID Software – so the collaboration of the studios and the influence on each other is more than clear).

Strife: Quest for the Sigil (1996).

Quake II Mission Pack: Ground Zero (1998).

American MgGee’s alice (2000).

So anyway, why? Rogue I went to make a shooter again, and also to Valve? The fact is that after the release of American McGee’s Alice on PC V December 2000 year, the studio began porting the just released PlayStation 2 , but then I got some disturbing news.

3 days before receiving wages in January 2001, we received a call from E.A and reported that the port Alice For PS2 was canceled and that the termination of the contract takes effect immediately, thereby depriving the funding Rogue Entertainment. The studio tried to explain to them that workers were expecting salaries in 3 days, to which E.A replied: “Sorry, that’s not our problem.”.".

Bobby Pavlok, level designer

So, Rogue Entertainment after a seemingly unbreakable agreement with E.A (according to Bobby Pavloka), ended up on the street and without money. Naturally, conditional Strife 2 it was problematic to do without finances and time, so I had to urgently look for someone to join. This is where I came to the rescue Valve with your project.

After a couple of months of talking with various publishers about working on possible projects, we received a call from Valve with a proposal to create a single-user version Counter-Strike. We were delighted with this offer, because we were all big fans of the original game.»

Bobby Pavlok, level designer

Yes, over Condition Zero officially started working in April Rogue Entertainment. IN May 2001 year, the June issue of the famous magazine I mentioned above came out with the announcement of news about the conditional “CS 2.0”, and, in fact, in June they released the July issue with voluminous material on Counter-Strike: Condition Zero. Let’s find out what readers were told about this part this month.

Rogue Entertainment – Counter Strike: Condition Zero concept

– Condition Zero was also developed on the Half-Life engine, but in some aspects significantly modified.

– This part is aimed at single passing.

The single-player game should feature the same spirit, realism and cooperative play as the original Counter-Strike .

Eric Johnson, Project Manager.

– Without going far from these words – cooperative a game is not about interacting with players. What is meant here is implementation of new bots. But control AI was not intended – the virtual comrades acted basically according to the scheme script.

– However Condition Zero – it’s not only single player, but also multiplayer. True, largely migrated from the original Counter-Strike . They wanted to add some features just with the release to first, and in new part – For example, voice chat And isometric camera view after death.

– Several new weapons and devices have already been proposed for different sides. Weapons include, for example, Jackhammer, M-60 machine gun, M-79 grenade launcher. That is, the expansion was due to heavy weapons. The adaptations appeared in the form binoculars, flyers for illumination and stun grenades. In the end, except machine gun, nothing made it to release.

M-60 from the release Counter-Strike: Condition Zero.

– Two of the most interesting specimens were offered for terrorists. The first is crossbow from Half-Life , nose poison darts, that is, when hit from it, the enemy gradually lost part of his health. Was also cut.

The second weapon is suicide belt. I don’t think it’s worth explaining how it was supposed to work. As a result, it was removed for full use, but in the released version Deleted Scenes such opponents remain.

Crossbow from Half-Life.

Suicide Squad from Counter-Strike: Condition Zero Deleted Scenes.

– It was supposed to add Russian special forces. Eat concept art appearance of one of the special forces and description the unit itself. And get ready, it’s far from pleasant. The article says that Russian special forces were supposed to be like “gray side». That is, he is for law and order, but achieves it by any means, neglecting military laws. So, for comparison, a “situation” is given where this unit used the same captivity to free hostages, but with terrorists, carrying out public execution. And one of the missions for them was aimed at “killing everything and everyone except themselves». In general, they wanted to make a rather scandalous unit.

– Without leaving the missions – they also talked about them. 32 missions on 16 maps – this is what the players should have expected. Goals should have been the same as in the original Counter-Strike, that is, liberation, mine clearance or regular elimination, but everything was determined by the setting. In addition, each card assumed a mission as law, so and terrorists. This is how 32 missions were achieved.

– There are even descriptions of some tasks. Especially opening mission is an operation at the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta. The terrorists’ goal is steal viruses from this center and later evacuate by helicopter. Actually, the task of counter-terrorists is interfere this. Screenshots from the map, a model of the main hall and concept art were prepared.

– There is also a list of locations for some missions:

1) Spain, World Cup, as I understand it, 1982 football (but this is inaccurate).

2) France, Paris, Louvre.

3) A tunnel between England and France inspired by the movie “Mission: Impossible”.

4) Nuclear submarine "Russian Typhoon".

6) France, Devil’s Slots-N-Play-Casino.co.uk Island.

Wow. In general, quite different and unique settings were expected, with very real places and organizations.

Rogue Entertainment – what went wrong?

This concept emerged from Rogue Entertainment – daring, global, ambitious. And this is how he seemed to the players reading the magazine. Only bad luck – to the exit 204-2nd issue Computer Gaming World the information was… outdated and incorrect.

Should I believe it? Bobby Pavlok It’s up to you to decide that the situation went exactly like this, but the fact remains that after the co-founder of the company left, everything went awry and, as a result, the right to develop Condition Zero at Rogue Entertainment taken away. The studio did not survive the second dissolution, and many employees left for other jobs, while they themselves “Outcasts" were bought out. So the story Rogue Entertainment was completed, as was the development era "bold" Counter-Strike.

The second stage of production has begun.

Chapter 3. Experimental Counter-Strike

Yes, I already told you about them earlier, so there is no point in introducing you to them again. And indeed, June 12 The Blue Shift expansion for Half-Life was released, so Gearbox was relatively free from major projects. Because this time Randy Pitchford agreed to a project in the universe Counter-Strike.

It is worth noting that there were no doubts in the studio – Gearbox knew the engine GoldSrc as their own, and the additions behind their production were in great demand. So many believed that the video game was in more than good and strong hands.

Fortunately for young researchers like me, Randy Pitchford left a whole lot of interviews during different periods of the entire development period, so it’s easy to track changes in the concept and highlight, in fact,, single company idea by Gearbox. Let’s dive into them.

Gearbox – Stage 1: June 2001 – February 2002

The first news about the development progress appeared in August 2001 years and were consistently published once every 2-3 months from many major publications. It is worth noting that during this period the concept did not undergo special changes and went in the direction in which it was set from the beginning. What was this direction?

To begin with, Randy Pitchford stated that they are completely refused from developments Rogue Entertainment and started almost from scratch. Here I would argue, because if you look at the interview points, some of them are the same, although they have been revised.

So, with multiplayer they planned to do the same as they wanted "Outcasts» – single base with the original, improvements are coming out simultaneously on both versions. Russian special forces has not gone anywhere, although he got rid of his "gray morality». And so on a few more points. But let’s talk not about where someone embellished, but about interesting and important things:

– Naturally, development proceeded on the same GoldSrc, but this time Gearbox were going to significantly modify it. So, we know for sure that detailing character polygons should have been 75% better compared to the original. In addition, it was planned to introduce technology Alpha mixing. If you don’t go into the deep jungle of technical information, then alpha channel when mixed with flowers it is responsible for transparency objects. This could be done, for example, glass translucency on counter-terrorist helmets or transparency water. And, in fact, the chips were really implemented and even reached release versions.

– Very much Randy Pitchford pressed for work artificial intelligence. So, bot management should have been done using simple commands like "Wait here", "Follow me"and similar ones. According to the developers, this should have been enough for interaction and management wards.

– But they are united not only by allies: opponents also underwent changes. Gearbox tried with all his might to make sure that they behavior was barely distinguishable from the actions of the players. And it’s quite possible that they actually succeeded.

So how much good artificial intelligence? As a joke the guys from Gearbox placed your humble servant in multi-user a game where the names of the opponents were people from the development team CZ [Condition Zero]. After losing several rounds, we found out that the opponents were actually bots, programmed Klingem [Marcus Klinge, AI Developer]. How good were they?? So much so that it was almost creepy. They were skilled in handling AWP, and their ability to cover each other was amazing. Remember what smart there were marines in Half-Life ? Imagine that bots ten times smarter!

Tom Ham, GameSpy journalist

Of course, if you now look at the comparison with the foot soldiers from Half-Life, you can’t do without a grin, but at that time we can assume that the technology really amazed the imagination.

– Addition weapons completely revised. Ideas with multi-charge grenade launchers, suicide belts And crossbows were swept away straightaway. As the developers later explained, they were based on considerations setting and assumptions about the reality of the emergence of new weapons in the context of operations against terrorists. So, the list of new weapons was less extravagant, but that doesn’t make you lose interest. Examples were FAMAS, GALIL, Molotov cocktail, LAW (single-shot hand-held grenade launcher", M60, shield and the like.

It’s worth stopping a little here, because players in CS 1.6 can remember the same automatic rifles or shield in the original CS, so what is their innovation? And the fact is that in 2001 and even first half of 2002 years there and there wasn’t. So, for example, shield was added only in beta for legendary patch 1.6 V January 2003. So at that time these additions sounded more than convincing and unusual.

– What, what, but the campaign really Gearbox We decided to completely change it and make it our own. Moreover, the approach should have significantly differ from those existing at that time.

Most single-player games pit a single character against an army that just stands around and waits for the player to show up and defeat them. Counter-Strike does a much better job of focusing the gameplay on tactics, action, and skill without the burden of solving puzzles or exploring mazes.

Randy Pitchford, director of Gearbox

So, initially the action was supposed to take place on 16 maps and assume 4 campaigns By 5-8 missions in each. In turn, the missions had behind them somewhere around 10 goals. Home the goal remained the original tasks C.S – scenarios with bombs, hostages and VIPs. The rest 9 were basically different tests – for example, passages with a certain weapon, number of headshots or timer. Despite such a large number of targets, each mission took between 4th to 5th minutes, which is not so much. Awarded for completing missions cash reward, for which you could equip your charges in the detachment. Yes, the player entered the arena not entirely with randoms – before the start of the operation he had the right choose certain bots with their own characteristics and distinctive external features. In every interview you can find a number 160 – so much combinations, according to the developers’ calculations, lined up to select squad members. The question about the necessity and actual importance of such a step remains open.

– And once it existed economy, then they existed risks. Yes, when failure mission, the player lost part of his money, and he could reach a state where the ability to equip his fighters was simply absent, which is why the probability of death of his charges was more than 100%-on.

Subsequently, ambitions only grew – in October already stated before 25 cards With 6 campaigns to pass.

Approximately this concept was presented to the public from Gearbox V 2001. At the end of this year the release was supposed to take place in first quarter 2002 years, and a month later and second – supposedly the developers wanted to improve the intelligence of the bots and play around a little more with the single-player campaign.

Gearbox – Stage 2: March 2002

So in March, almost a year after the start of development Condition Zero, at the event Game Developers Conference – for the average person this is more of an exhibition along with E3 And The Game Awards, the game was shown. And they could even play it, which only convinced of the efficiency and, in fact, the existence of the project. Now quite a bit of information has been saved about the show, so I can tell you just a little bit.

IGN talked about the game as "damn funny». It was highlighted that single there is simply no plot in the game, and it is built on a card system with 12-yu (instead of 10) goals! The system was similar to that of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 , which, in fact,, Gearbox ported for PC V 2001. I have already described the principle earlier. Everyone especially admired artificial intelligence, and, having looked at the limited materials in the form of a minute of chopped gameplay, I can say that if this was really a game with bots, then the admiration is more than justified. The enemy could run out with a knife at the opponent like a real player or retreat to his comrades. In general, everything really worked as described Randy Pitchford previously.

It would seem that everything could go wrong..

Gearbox – Stage 3: April 2002 – July 2002

This will be a full-fledged single-player narrative, complemented by cinematic videos and scripted episodes.

Doug Lombardi, Director of Marketing at Valve

And this is where the questions begin. After all, there is no plot and was not mentioned at all. What kind of story if Pitchford talked about the fact that Gearbox I wanted to move away from the usual linear shooters? Quantity missions decreased to 20, and about AI was not said not a word. In general, confusion and misunderstandings appeared in the vision of the new part of CS.

The July interview separately with Pitchford from IGN, in which, when discussing each aspect, the same word was repeated: “Plot». Weapons selected according to plot, locations are selected in accordance with plot… And in addition to the sources of inspiration in the form of the same Tony Hawk, they also highlighted DLC By Half-Life, including in terms of the plot. And you know, I can’t believe that Gearbox she herself decided to move away from her concept, especially after the rave reviews during the March presentation. There was clearly an influence from outside, for example, from Valve. But I won’t say anything, since this is more like speculation without evidence.

In any case, a trailer was released in August aimed at cinematic, as if showing what it is Now Condition Zero.

Wow, this article even has a video. This is the latest trailer for Counter-Strike: Condition Zero from Gearbox.

After that.. There was silence. Silence for almost six months.

Gearbox Software has suspended development of Counter-Strike: Condition Zero in July 2002. Valve Software has been leading development since July. Gearbox aware of participation Ritual Entertainment and approves of it. After developing several games […], Gearbox Software refocuses its efforts on future technologies and a more interesting and innovative game.

Randy Pitchford, director of Gearbox

What caused such a sharp transition is not known for certain. I’m betting on differences between Gearbox And Valve in terms of building a single player campaign. In any case, the second stage of production has been completed, and with August 2002 over Condition Zero started working Ritual Entertainment.

Chapter 4. Sterile Counter-Strike

Actually, who are these guys? Ritual Entertainment? The next nonames? Actually, not really.

Ritual Entertainment – history of the company before Counter-Strike

The studio is not that popular, and it’s not like it made great video games, but ordinary players now remember their projects with warmth. And you won’t believe where their journey began. This… Add-on for Quake . Then they created the shooter SiN on the Quake II and Heavy Metal F engine.A.K.K. 2 is already on the engine of the third Quake . As I said earlier, no one called these projects great, but they were far from failure.

Quake Mission Pack: Scourge of Armagon (1997).

Heavy Metal F.A.K.K. 2 (2000).

After these shooters Ritual released a rather mediocre video game based on the third Blair Witch film – actually, Survival-Horror. And this is definitely a failure – it only sold 8500 copies, which clearly did not suit the studio. So it was necessary to urgently look for a project to equalize the financial situation.

And here I just extended my hands… No, before Valve it was still early. Our beloved extended her hands Electronic Arts. Apparently, the situation with Blair Witch did not scare the company at all, so they gave Ritual another game under license, but for the sequel to The Lord of the Rings, which was definitely more popular than the horror saga. Brilliant solution, isn’t it true?

Ritual didn’t have time finish the rings before the film comes out, and Electronic Arts They decided that since they didn’t meet the deadline, who would need the game at all?? So it came out on the console on time, and PC the port was canceled along with Ritual Entertainment, leaving the studio without finances.

And you know, history doesn’t remind you of anything? Creation of an add-on for Quake, own shooters on the engine from id software, failure, after which I had to go to Electronic Arts and future suspension without finance due to unplanned port cancellation?

And who will talk about the acyclical nature of history after this??

In general, as you might have guessed, after this Ritual Entertainment and was among the developers Condition Zero.

Ritual Entertainment – Counter-Strike: Condition Zero concept

There was a spirit of rather great doubt in society. The developers have changed for the second time, and from recognized professionals to a not very reputable studio, which has been in a difficult situation for two years now. Even reassurance Randy Pitchford about the competence of the decision and its approval did not provide any confidence in the normal implementation of the project.

Those already familiar to us were the first to reveal the situation GameSpy. Actually, what became known from their interview:

– Work on the implementation of new tools for GoldSrc ended already under the auspices Ritual Entertainment, and quite successfully.

– Concept Gearbox in terms of gameplay construction there was discarded (who would doubt it). Now Condition Zero – absolutely linear campaign, literally Half-Life in the setting Counter Strike. 20 missions on independent maps with a plot separated from each other, but maximally connected within individual episodes. The adventure was promised to be cinematic, dynamic and spectacular.

– Despite this, weapons and some developments were retained. FAMAS, GALIL And LAW still had to enter Condition Zero. The only thing that had to be cut out was Molotov cocktails And chemical grenades. No reason was given.

– What else has been cut under the knife (and what is absolutely incomprehensible to me) is the system artificial intelligence. Although it is quite possible that Gearbox I just took my work, but the fact is that work on bots started from scratch. And this time no one spoke about revolution – the loudest statement looked like “better bots in Half-Life ».

– What should have gone into plus unlike past concepts from different studios – diversity in roles main character. So, in one mission he could act as a sniper and cover the team, and in another, on the contrary, he could be the leader in a full-scale offensive.

Trailer for Counter-Strike: Condition Zero in December 2002.

Therefore the presentation Condition Zero at such an exhibition it was more than logical. And visitors could try the demo themselves. There are no materials, so we look at everything from vague words in the public domain. Although, there is nothing special to say, since the participants were shown only improved models and new weapons mixed with promises.

So, in different interviews, representatives threw out different promises and added virtually no information until E3. On it, players began to understand better the essence of the single player campaign, the beginnings of the missions looked intriguing, and the developers promised to expand the number of units. So, in addition to the already tired of appearing everywhere Russian special forces were added Japanese units. But the most important thing was not this.

The game is 98% ready. Expect a release this June.

Doug Lombardi, Director of Marketing at Valve

They won’t throw around such big words a month before release if the game is not ready, so the hotly anticipated part should already be released Counter Strike. It’s true?

You got it right. Firstly because Ritual Entertainment shaken by the failure of Star Trek: Elite Force 2, which they developed in parallel, from the studio key employees left, involved in the development Condition Zero, and later very disappointing news came from the early game previews – the game was raw. The artificial intelligence was useless, the already quite outdated engine was making itself felt, the levels were too linear and did not provide any freedom in solving problems. In general, the problems were at a fairly fundamental level. And the multiplayer part, in turn, was praised, but this was clearly not held in high esteem for a game that focuses on single player playthroughs. It turns out nothing good for Valve that didn’t mean.

And then there’s also Vivendi have already begun marketing the game, including it as a release in various magazines and releasing pre-orders for physical editions. In short, a video game once again moved for an indefinite period.

IN October same 2003 news became known, which, it seems to me, surprised few people at that time – the development studio for the third time changed. At this moment, the leader was Turtle Rock Studios.

So what, Ritual Entertainment closed down??

Before turning the page of this block, it’s worth returning to its beginning, where I drew a parallel to the story Ritual Entertainment With Rogue Entertainment. And it seemed that the same ending happened – rituals at the bottom, we couldn’t recover, bye to everyone. But the reality was different (one of the few times when this phrase is used in a positive way).

Chapter 5. Unitary Counter-Strike

Turtle Rock Games. Who is this??! But in fact, by that time they were nobody.

But that’s what they’ll become.

Turtle Rock Games logo.

Turtle Rock Games – history before Counter-Strike

The studio had just been founded by a man named Michael Booth. He previously took part in some projects E.A, from where he then safely left and founded his own studio. One gets the feeling that E.A and gave the game the opportunity to live. Three times.

Here they are, 3 chances from EA for Counter-Strike from left to right: the cancellation of the port of American McGee’s Alice for PS2, the departure of Michael Booth (sorry, I was too lazy to insert his photo here, so a random wall from Counter-Strike: Condition Zero :3), the cancellation of the port of The Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers for PC.

Actually, Michael got to the right place and at the right time. He specialized in working with artificial intelligence, and then she just left Gearbox with their great achievements, so they literally took it with their hands. And so it turns out that I spent the last block lying to you, saying that I was poor Ritual Entertainment developed Condition Zero one. Actually, from the same August 2002 worked on a video game and Turtle Rock Games. The multiplayer part rested on their shoulders, and as you may remember, to summer 2003 she was praised for years. So Valve decided that turtles you can trust, and now the single player was on their table.

Turtle Rock Games – Counter-Strike: Condition Zero concept

Not again, but again, the developments of the previous studio went into oblivion, a new concept stood at the forefront and… This is not true.

Valve with Turtle Rock Games made, as for me, a brilliant move, deciding to put the so-called “Deleted Scenes” in the appendix to the release, or Deleted Scenes, in which they left 12 the best missions from Ritual without any changes. Thus, the decision was literally made to release two games inside one. So for the first time in all this huge material, what I described earlier was almost completely reflected in the release, which you can try now. And we will return to our turtles.

Valve set a task – build a campaign around new technology artificial intelligence, which was already ready. I’ll talk about it later, because there really is something to discuss there. Now let’s look at the meat around this skeleton.

They called him "Tour of Duty». The analogy to Call Of Duty is very obvious, the first part of which, by the way, has already been released, but let this remain as a thought before going to bed. This tour was a collection of 18 missions, which opened as the hero progressed. There was no plot as such, and the missions themselves included 3-4 tasks in addition to the main goal in the form of standard scenarios C.S. These tasks are presented in the form tests – for example, passages with a certain weapon, number of headshots or timer. Before the start, you could take your partners into the squad, of which there were a sufficient number and..

Wait, before you get the feeling that you’ve heard this somewhere before, I’ll state the obvious – it’s literally an idea Gearbox. Yes, the economy between missions was not intended, progression was added and all that, but it literally looks like reinventing the wheel. It’s funny that everyone is talking about this fact were silent – both the developers and the press, and the hiding literally reached the point of absurdity when they took Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 as inspiration with their approach, which was inspired at the time Gearbox. So you can assume that release version is more Randy Pitchford’s compact concept. Less than a year has passed. Although, wait..

In general, it’s worth talking about the differences then. As mentioned above, progression has been added. That is, each map had to be opened by passing the previous one. But in fact, this also applied to the choice of squad members, who also opened up as you progressed through the video game. That is, you could not from the very beginning go with the tough guys who sniffed gunpowder.

It is worth noting that each bot had a unique set of characteristics. This skill – actually, combat experience; co-op – the degree of influence of your commands on behavior; bravery – how much the character likes to run away from opponents; and him weapon. The course of the rounds and the overall behavior of the team could depend on the selection of teammates. There was no longer any talk about replacing skins and unique appearance, as well as about “160 unique combinations» selection of allies. In principle, ambition was noticeable cut – so, instead of incredible 10-12 goals per card quantity decreased by 3-4 times. But they were treated quite creatively – the fact is that the complexity of the missions is divided into 4 categories, each of which globally affects the intelligence of opponents. However, there is one more change – these are, in fact, the tasks facing the player. If on easy difficulty, in addition to overall victory, you only need to kill at least one enemy with a conditional sniper rifle, then on hard you will find a timer for one of the rounds, flawless destruction of 10 to 15 opponents and killing two opponents without death from a certain model, for example, P-90. That is, with each level of difficulty the challenge also increases in its stated goals. This is how the system turned out adaptive, with the opportunity to attract both new players and hardcore workers.

This was facilitated by the vaunted intelligence, due to which they attracted Turtle Rock Games. It’s worth noting that it was already added at this point in CS 1.6, but as a full-fledged feature it should have been revealed with the release Condition Zero.

The goal was the same as Gearbox – create a bot so that it is similar to the behavior of the player. Only if past developers were fully committed to this goal, Michael Booth completed a few more tasks.

Firstly, the already mentioned difficulty configuration. If at the easy level bots could hover in front of the player for a few seconds and stand like dummies, then at the expert level they calmly waited for the opponent in secluded places, thereby setting up ambushes, or changing weapons instead of reloading.

Secondly – adaptability.

One of the biggest challenges we faced was that there were so many custom maps out there that we simply didn’t have a solution to where and what needed to be edited on the map to support bots on those maps.

Eric Johnson, Project Manager.

According to Michael’s, he understood that quite a large part of the CS were custom maps, why the realized intelligence could explore a new territory in one round and use all the necessary information in the subsequent game on it.

Mini offtopic: does anyone remember these custom parkour maps from CS 1.6? At one time I got stuck in such “tests”.

And thirdly – cooperative. Bots reported their actions via radio and could obey the player’s commands.

Such intelligence seemed killer features Condition Zero, selling this particular part as single player.

It’s quite interesting that, unlike other developers, for all time Turtle Rock Games didn’t change the concept at all. What was said in their first interviews was repeated in their last ones. So everything was approaching the long-suffering end of development.

But there were still events that prevented a calm exit.

Chapter 6. Scandals surrounding the release of Counter-Strike: Condition Zero

Start October 2003 year for Valve it was far from pleasant. Let me remind you that Half-Life 2 was being prepared with all its might, the significance of which, I think, is not worth talking about. October 2, 2003 there was a massive information leak from servers Valve. Naturally, the biggest leak is Half-Life 2 build source code, because of which many disputes, scandals and investigations flared up. But this is not our topic today.

This information is interesting to us because it was also leaked build version of Condition Zero, dateable 24-m September. And, in fact, the most interesting thing about it is 13 cards, cut from release. But basically, many of them really look unfinished, although there are quite interesting examples.

Also different is the rough voice acting of the walkie-talkie and character models, and modified maps in Tour Of Duty. And that’s all. Basically, by September all main part was completely ready for release, what’s about Gabe Newell and spoke in October, reporting that November 18 the long-awaited part will become available, both in the then familiar form – disks, and in a completely new form – a digital store Steam.ABOUT

One of the cut Counter-Strike: Condition Zero maps.

Modified Tour of Duty list from Counter-Strike: Condition Zero build. You can compare with the previous screenshot above.

And this is Steam from 2003-2004. Remember this? I don’t remember, I was still in the nursery then. Zoomer, it turns out.

But here the last difficulty arose, which in the light of everything that was described above looks rather unusual. This problem was.. legal.

As you already know, at that time Valve worked with publishers Sierra And Vivendi. But this does not mean that the relationship between them was in love, harmony and all that. More in August 2002 year Valve found out that Sierra distributes copies of the game without their knowledge contrary to the established contract and filed a lawsuit on their company. They, in turn, sent recrimination about Steam and already a violation of the contract with his help Valve. In general, the companies argued about this issue for several years, as a result of which the Condition Zero.

At first there was drained another version of the game dating back to October, and, according to version Valve, the leak was carried out by their former colleagues, and then Sierra delayed the release of the game from November-December, thereby missing the holidays as a profitable sales period. There were a lot of machinations there, but the result took a few more months delays. And yet, by February the companies somehow agreed, and March 23, 2004 the single player part, which they started making 3-4 years ago, is finally came out.

Chapter 7. Release of Counter-Strike: Condition Zero

What did they say about all this at that time?? In general, the video game was received quite well.

Artificial intelligence really was not bad and delighted the players and the press, Turtle Rock Games’ single-player mode was entertaining, but not completely. Many noted some balance problems and the difficulty of enjoying the game at the first levels, when the intelligence of allies, due to their division into levels, is not revealed at all. But not everyone was ready to survive this stage. By the way, as a modern player I can completely agree with this claim.

Deleted Scenes in general scolded everyone who is not too lazy for its absolute linearity, monotony and bots, which there were absolutely no. Although, if you give me my 2 cents, I think this mode is not so lost and offers interesting moments and solutions with the same special equipment and setting.

Multiplayer And new cards also to many liked it, but since this part was integrated with the original, the game did not add exclusivity.

So Condition Zero could only be of interest as a single player, but here’s the thing – and in 2004 year like this Counter-Strike no one wasn’t needed. Call Of Duty, Medal of Honor, Unreal Tournamnt, Battlefield 1942 and Vietnam, Far Cry – and that’s all it turned out in the period 2003-2004 before Condition Zero or right on the day of its release. What else can all these video games have in common besides being shooters? superiority in technical and gameplay terms. Who needed alpha blends, artificial intelligence and other features? Condition Zero, when the engine GoldSrc is physically obsolete somewhere else by 2002, and if in the first half of 2003 it could have introduced some kind of competition, then at the time of release no one was interested in it anymore. And the construction of the gameplay is not something that surprises players with the same Battlefield or Far Cry . If you look at the situation during the release, many chose to stay in their native 1.6, rather than go and buy Condition Zero for then quite a large amount in the form 40 dollars. And six months later she Valve new projects buried the single-player KS. This is Half-Life 2, which naturally took all the attention and became the standard in many aspects for many years; and a new part of Counter Strike, which switched to a new engine Source. And so, after six months, this part was no longer needed by anyone – the fans’ arguments were clearly not about this part, and the single player could have entertained, but without replay value.

In an ideal world, between them is.

. Counter-Strike: Condition Zero, but something went wrong.

As a result, the long and complex development process with constant reworking of the concept and changing studios did not lead to anything good, issuing outdated product. And even though it is stated that outside Steam it sold better than the same Source, there is little to say about its success compared to the entire series of the main line. Literally, you can only hear about her something like “Yes, there was something like that, funny"and that’s all. It is quite possible that ideal option there would be a version released from Gearbox V 2002 year, when public interest was higher than ever, the technical part could still pleasantly surprise, and the next shooter revolution after the CS did not have time to happen, but everything happened as we saw.

Such was the thorny path of Counter Strike: Condition Zero . I will not draw separate conclusions; I will give everyone the opportunity to draw this for themselves.

Instead, I would like to say that despite the fact that part of the series turned out to be far from ideal and met an unenviable fate, something important is missed – she came out. This is one of the most interesting precedents in the history of video games. Yes, there were long development periods with changes in concepts (Hello, Duke Nukem Forever), but for a video game to be released, it went through a bunch of hands and studios, covering a fairly large layer of companies and events outside of the development itself – I don’t remember this. And the fact that Condition Zero has reached us, not in the highest quality, but still in its form, is great achievement. So let’s leave this detailed history of the single-player experiment of the popular multiplayer series on this note, which we will very soon hear about in a new way, and Condition Zero will be like an instructive and unusual story in the huge video game industry.