As you may know, ModDB is an excellent site for modders. Every year, the site hosts a competition where users vote for the mod which they consider the most outstanding.

You can vote for Swelter, but we'd also like to recommend a few Source mods we find deserving. Interestingly, ModDB allows you to nominate mods from any year. However, we will limit our recommendations to those released in 2023, including media, early access, and project updates.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2224920/
https://www.moddb.com/mods/evacuation-demo

A full release featuring a short story mod with nice forest-themed visuals, dynamic gameplay, good music, and original content.



https://www.moddb.com/mods/portal-crumbs-of-truth/downloads

It features puzzles that are not overly complex, but rather concise. It has a decent balance of difficulty, and the playtime is reasonable. The level design is quite good, with a significant plus for Portal mods: the opportunity for the player to explore the backstage.
During the modding process for Portal 2, and through analyzing the game's universe, its future possibilities, and the core philosophy of its world, our affection for the second part gradually diminished. This experience also simultaneously reinforced our love for the original Portal. This shift in preference wasn't unique to just one member of the SDE Dev Team. Therefore, with much curiosity and hope, we are keenly focused on projects dedicated to the classic Portal from the Orange Box.



https://store.steampowered.com/app/1389950/Amalgam/
https://www.moddb.com/mods/amalgam

This mod, which initially released a couple of years ago, has recently received a substantial and expansive update this year — almost like a second release. The mod has indeed improved, becoming more diverse and polished. So, if you've played it before, a replay will still be engaging.



https://www.moddb.com/mods/entropy-zero-uprising

Although the mod was released in early access (only the first chapter is available), it can be seen as a complete product: the scope and quality of production of this first episode alone surpasses many projects.
The gameplay of the mod is interesting; the author has attempted to diversify the shooter with various activities such as transportation sections, puzzles, and exploration segments. We are waiting for the next chapter with anticipation! Script-wise and narratively Uprising is more satisfying than EZ2: the story is more serious and mature, there are more living characters, and the artistic component actively relies on real architectural forms instead of abstract corridors. EZ-Uprising episode 2 seems more promising than EZ3 at the moment.


https://www.moddb.com/mods/portal-ambition

The demo consists of six maps dedicated to the test chambers. The visual quality is comparable to the original game, and the puzzles are especially interesting due to geometrically unusual room designs.




https://www.moddb.com/mods/dark-interval

The mod stands out from other projects dedicated to pre-release concepts of Half-Life 2. This project can be perceived as a special, an author/director's version of HL: instead of mindlessly following the concepts from Raising the Bar pages, much attention is paid to the development of in-game philosophy and world rules, without strict and unnecessary attachments to the subjective and ephemeral, supposedly existing canon. Rather than "restoring" the beta, as many projects do, DI exactly evolves the beta's ideas.
Painstaking work with the HL2 universe, great artwork and non-corridor level design, excellent work with many new assets.





https://www.moddb.com/mods/opposing-force-2

The Half-Life community has seen many attempts to continue the fate of Adrian Shepard or involve him in a side story. Almost all of these projects failed to reach even an average level of quality. Urban Chaos was a pleasant exception, marking a significant breakthrough in quality compared to other Opposing Force sequel projects. This result is expected: the current team has all the necessary knowledge and skills, and the key members of the team are invested in a promising masterpiece with sincere inspiration and enviable dedication.





https://www.moddb.com/mods/blasted-lands-2

This is the sequel to an intriguing modification that was released about two years ago. Noteworthy features include well-staged scenes, gloomy locations, and engaging gameplay. So far, not much media has been published to ascertain the development status, but the author has proven himself with the first part, so we wish further success in the development of the project and wait for the next release with hope.




It should be emphasized that this selection is not the position of the entire team, it is primarily a personal recommendation of the SDE Dev Team leader - MyCbEH (Musien).


We appreciate your interest and look forward to your participation in the voting!

I've been working more on the character sheets. Currently focused on the PF1 sheets and when satisfied with that I will update the other sheets with similar changes.

If folks who are comfortable with PF1 would be willing to play around with the sheets and give some feedback it'd mean the world. I am trying to keep them easy to use and fairly simple while allowing a bit of automation so that they... well, are easy to use. Finding a good balance between manual input and automation can be a delicate process.

I have done a bunch with them. They can now not only be accessed in sessions, but also from the main menu. You can also add attacks and use them to roll automatically. Spells can be saved, etc and so forth.

If people could just give 'em an honest try and let me know your thoughts it'd be really awesome.

Twilight - New Extra
Twilight introduces a new challenge whilst keeping the core mechanics of gameplay.
In Twilight you will be surrounded by darkness and will have to find your way through 15 new levels in this new Extra. Fit with gravity inverters and a projectile that rotates your view, this is a great way to show your determination whilst having some fun!

Player Customisation
Upon clicking yourself in the main menu you will be transported to a new customisation screen with 20 colours to pick from.
You will also unlock an animated skin for beating Evasion which can make your playthrough much more lively!

Other
- Red laser eyes now shoot faster spikes
- Red laser eyes no longer have a projectile offset

Main menu now can operate by controller withhout use ASDF and mouse mode .

In next update, the majority of grand strategy content will be removed in order to create a game centered around storytelling.

Only 3 cities will remain, and the rest will disappear, leaving about 12 towns.

The gaps will be filled with gathering points and dungeons, where players can collect materials to craft items and fulfill quest conditions to advance the story. This will become the main gameplay.

There will be no content for managing cities. Instead, the functionality of carriages will be expanded, similar to tycoon games, with a constant carriage UI on the world map.

The current inventory system, though realistic and immersive, will be downgraded after the update. All items will have a size of 1x1, a result of integrating material and trade items into the same inventory.

If no critical bugs are found in the current early access version, there will be no updates until the final story version. Since all parts of the game must change simultaneously, updates with minor changes are not possible.

- bug fixes

Hello Survivors,

a new patch is now available.

Fixes:

• Foundation building boundaries fixed
  
• Dead Seagull physics adjusted to hopefully prevent it from glitching through the ground sometimes
  
• Fixed a problem that you couldn't open the big loot containers with your iron axe

Thanks everyone for the feedback and support!

Adjust backpack capacity
Modify gun damage annotation
Modify armor values
Add comments to the production interface

- SADF units can be repatriated directly from inside any of the Sector HQ and built Bases inside SWA
- Supply Trucks cannot be repatriated
- SWATF / UNITA units cannot be repatriated
- Currently Battle Groups can't be repatriated/disbanded from inside the base screen, work in progress