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The reception desk in the lobby of the Sector C Test Labs.

Chapter Summary

After disembarking the tram, Gordon enters the Anomalous Materials lab of Sector C. At the reception area, a security guard informs him of a system crash in the computer network. Gordon dons his iconic HEV Suit and proceeds to the test chamber. Along the way he observes two scientists, (Dr. Kleiner and Dr. Vance), assessing an equipment malfunction. Once in the test chamber, Gordon is tasked with activating the anti-mass spectrometer and inserting a crystalline sample into the machine. Something immediately goes wrong, alarms begin to sound, and the anti-mass spectrometer cannot be shut down. A resonance cascade occurs, resulting in a horde of alien creatures teleporting into the facility. Gordon is teleported to several strange places before everything goes black. The chapter ends as Gordon awakes in the ruined test chamber, and Unforeseen Consequences begins.

Anomalous Materials is the second chapter of Black Mesa.

Gameplay

Anomalous materials presents the player with his first exploration of the Black Mesa Research Facility. No real threat is present during this sequence (although falling from a high place may cause harm). This chapter's main purpose is making the player adapt to Black Mesa's working activities, and immersing him in the game's world.

The chapter has two load points: bm_c1a1a (Lobby to the elevator after the guard who won't let you pass until you get the HEV suit) and bm_c1a1b (the elevator to the Test Chamber) [2].

Main Locations

The anti-mass spectrometer

The Test Chamber

The Test Chamber is the location of the Anti-mass Spectrometer. It is in this place that the Resonance Cascade occurs. The Test Chamber is entered towards the end of the chapter and is exited at the beginning of the chapter Unforeseen Consequences.

Media

Screenshots

Scientist in a lab. Female scientists. More The H.E.V. Suit containers. The test chamber control room. The cart with the crystal which causes the resonance cascade. The Test Chamber. The moment the experiment hits the skids. Ditto.

Videos

Trivia

• In Black Mesa, it is still possible to annoy the scientist on the toilet in the locker room, just like in Half-Life [3].
• The Half-Life's easter egg of the names in the Locker Room is still present. But this time, of course, there are the name of the Black Mesa Developers [4].

Redesign History

Level Design

Originally, Robert Yang made all the level architecture and lighting, as well most of the environment textures. Robert had to leave the project to focus his schoolwork [5]; then, Anthony Stone continued the level development.

Redesign Gallery An early concept of the Sector C entrance. By BKD86. Yang's brainstorm (#1) for the chapter: "I wanted more moving parts/machinery to plug into the AM-spectrometer, but it didn't seen to fit with the room." Yang's brainstorm (#2) for the chapter. Bathroom in Anomalous Materials. Yang's brainstorm (#3) for the chapter: "Concepts for the beige lab2 section of Anomalous Materials. Keeping the same basic shapes and flow, but having the structure feel more improvised by human means for research purposes." Yang's brainstorm (#4) for the chapter: "More brainstorming on lab2, specifically part before the test chamber control room." Some textures made by Robert Yang for the chapter. The H.E.V. Suit Container mesh. By Alex Allen. The H.E.V. Suit Container (skinned model). Texture by Bard Fleistad. An early version of one of the test labs. This room was completely redone. [1] Ditto. View from outside. Render of a laboratory server, prop used in the chapter. Textures by Jason Wells.

The Sector C lobby was finished eighteen months before Valve releases Half-Life 2: Episode 2 with its own version of the room (shown in a glimpse during a G-man speech) in the Source Engine ^{[CITATION NEEDED]}. The developers decided to not follow Valve's approach and didn't change the Black Mesa lobby. [6]

Even with the possibility of building bigger maps in the Source Engine, the entire chapter couldn't be combined into a single map due to the amount of entities required for the Test Chamber alone [7].

Script

Like in the original Half-Life, the chapter Anomalous Materials comprises the vast majority of the game's dialogue, choreography and scripted sequences. But in Black Mesa the addition of new scenes and dialogues makes it even bigger. To get the whole idea, the finalized script for the chapter has a length of about 50 pages. [8]