Well we have returned from Toronto. We have some great stuff coming on both our main site and over at The Hostile Report. We will have more images, more news, and maybe a meeting video or two.
We start this update off with some words from Charles.

Welcome Hostile Intent community to another HI update. This is a big one guys..

I don't update often but when I do I'd like to think it's important.

As most of you know the HI Team had it's first real face to face meeting in Toronto, Canada.

We discussed everything under the HI sun from the next update, to MSA and its future role, to new hires, new maps, gameplay modes, and especially the project's future.

Overall the meeting was productive and incredibly fun. Already we were talking about future "Meets" and some locations mentioned were Quebec City, Europe, and the West Coast, but it looks like we will be having a Hostile Intent ski trip in Burlington, Vermont in December, so start saving your pennies guys.

Now down to the truly important stuff.

A lot of decisions were made between Tuesday and Thursday. It was a long process but everything that came out of it was good.

Here is a synopsis along with some nifty features we will be adding:
· Widget is back on the Development Team and both he and MarmaladeMan have been promoted to Admin.
· Some maps will be declared "finished" so the Level Designers can move on.
· We will be releasing an update soon called 1.3.5.
· The Mapping Team, along with MasterMind, will try their hardest to get a new gameplay mode ready for 1.4, so watch out for a new fgd soon.
· MasterMind will work on Percy's HI Co-Op for version 1.4.
· We went through all the remaining skin work and came to the conclusion that we need more skinning talent.
· Fuse will be looking at some community members to hire in assisting the team. Fuse, along with BIZL, will look into finding talent from their respective colleges.
· We will be on the lookout for texture artists to make high-quality textures for our maps on HL2
· BP is tasked with getting gasmask submodels on all our player models.


Now, on to what we spent most of our time on…besides the drinking and whoring…

Our future and what we'll be doing with it - Well, it would be a shame to kill off everything we made here to begin developing on another engine but we feel we have no other choice (and we REALLY REALLY want to) so we will be shifting development over to the Source engine in the very near future.

That’s right. HI will be on HL2. Pending the timing of HL2's upcoming release, 1.4 will be our last official update. But we will not be abandoning HL, HI, or any of you. We have a plan.

I’ve been struggling with a way to move development over to Source without tearing up the coming release and losing what we already have. I have the solution and it’s a pretty stable one. I can't mention what it is here because it involves the support of many community members that we have yet to discuss it with, but rest assured that even though Version 1.4 is a potential final release by Team Hostile Intent before HL2, it will not be the LAST release of HI on Half-Life.

Why? Well, we have built a fantastic community of great and very talented people. Why would we want to disturb that community by not having an updated product for them to enjoy while we work on the Source version of Hostile Intent? If I had a choice, HL2 would not come out for another 6 months so we can "basque" in the glow of what we created, take a rest, and enjoy HI and some time off. But alas, we must yet again get back to work supporting the community that loves to support HI.

Charles F. D'Arienzo
Game Designer and PM

So hang on for more in the coming days and weeks.