Above the Catacombs (Half-Life 2: Episode Two modification)

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Above the Catacombs is a Half-Life 2: Episode Two modification set in an alternate Half-Life universe where women have gone extinct and most of the surviving men have converted to the Universal Union to be freed from the morbid conditions on Earth. The player takes the role of C5568, an average middle-age citizen that lives in the last North American urban center, City 23. The story begins as C5568 wakes up on August 8, 2037 (the day after female extinction) in his apartment complex to be relocated to a distant urban center.

This modification takes a different approach from traditional first-person experiences as it puts the player in a completely insignificant passive role. C5568 is burdened with being human, he is easily beaten by his masked oppressors and cowers at the sound of a distant gunshot. After his train is attacked by insurgents, C5568 is forced to flee into the decaying urban sprawl that surrounds City 23. As the fight between the armed civilian militias and Civil Protection teams continue throughout the ruins, C5568 will have to find a passage into the Forbidden World, a vast barren dust bowl of dead earth and try his best to start a new life outside city barriers.

Niagara Apartments (early screenshots)​

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Niagara Apartments (early pre-alpha footage)​

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This actually seems pretty cool. I think I've seen this somewhere before?

 

There was a short-lived multiplayer project called "PSCN" (Putridity Source: Collective Narrative) that was based off the singleplayer project "Putridity Source" (now titled "Above the Catacombs") that you may have seen posted here months ago. That project was cancelled along with the Halo: Combat Evolved project (both multiplayer servers) when Freedom4Gamers shifted its development focus to singleplayer projects only.

I think I did manage to get a pretty solid whitelisting system in place, but I just could not figure out how to create a system that would somehow limit how time consuming online gaming usually is (particularly roleplay). Unlike in games that have timed rounds, the flow in roleplay is a lot more spontaneous and unpredictable. I did try to enforce time constraints in hope to give players a more healthy experience (i.e. not playing in four hour sessions), but felt that events and other situations would end up awkwardly getting cut off.

Although at times roleplay can be very stimulating to the imagination and can help develop experimental ideas in dystopias, it can also be a source of cognitive dissonance and of course time consumption. Developing singleplayer projects always seemed better to me, I wouldn't have to rely on other people being present in the game to make the experience work properly and could be in full control of what the player experiences with audio and visuals.