Sven Co-op

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Sven Co-op is a cooperative game for Valve Software's Half-Life. In this mod, players must work together against computer controlled enemies and solve puzzles as a team. It is currently at version 5.0.

The mod was originally created and released by Sven Viking as a small "mod" with 2 normal single-player maps and the command "sv_allowmonsters" set to 1. Sven Co-op was released on January 19th 1999, before Valve's Team Fortress Classic, and is therefore seen by some as the oldest Half-Life mod in existence that is still in development. Sven Co-op has since grown to become a full blown mod, with a full team, formerly ranked as the 4th most played game on Steam, excluding the official games being sold by Valve.

Sven Co-op is still under development.

Development team

Daniel "Sven Viking" Fearon

Founder, Project Manager

David "Sniper" McDermott

Lead Programmer, Web Design, Mapping

David "Commando" Starr

Mapping, Project Coordination

Oscar "Nev" Björhn

Programmer

Gameplay

In-Game screenshot

Since Sven Co-op is heavily based on the original Half-Life, it is essential that you are at least familiar with Half-Life and its controls, and it is recommended that you have completed Half-Life's Hazard Course. The single-player campaign of Half-Life 1 is supported by Sven Co-op, but in a slightly altered form to create more challenge for multiplayer games.

SC levels are set as missions and are generally separate from each other. Many missions span several maps, and some are collected together in a series. The aim of most levels is to reach the end or to achieve an objective -- obtaining a high score is not essential to beat a level, its just part of the fun. Map scenarios include settings set in Black Mesa, cartoony worlds, World War 2 in Africa, Fantasy-like maps and modern urban warfare set in the Middle East.

Some of the most major features of the mod include:

• In-Game Monster/Player Info System, that displays info about the monster or player you are looking at.
• The ability for mappers to create friendly monsters and let players issue orders to them.
• The ability for mappers to change the models and sounds of each monster and weapon.
• A medkit weapon that heals other players and allies.
• Major Monster AI improvement

Monsters & Weapons

Sven Co-op includes several new monsters and weapons. Most of these come from Half-Life: Opposing Force, but have all been coded from scratch.

The new monsters included in the game are: The Pit Drone, Shock Trooper, Shockroach, Barney and Soldier Zombie, Baby and normal Voltigore, Gonome, Male Assassin including the Osprey, Otis, Cleansuit Scientist and the new Grunts, all from Half-Life: Opposing Force.

Sven Co-op also includes three other monsters, namely the Baby Gargantua, the Robo Grunt and the Heavy Weapons Grunt. The last two were originally supposed to be included in Half-Life, but were cut.

The new weapons included are the Barnacle, Pipewrench and M40a1 Sniper Rifle, from Half-Life: Opposing Force.

Sven Co-op also includes some original weapons, namely a Medkit, Single and Akimbo Uzis and a Minigun. There is also a small secret weapon included.

Mapping and Modeling Community

Sven Co-op has a very active Mapping and Modeling community, as evidenced by the recently released map pack, The Big One 490 map ppack. Sven Co-op also has a busy modeling and model conversion scene, and a group of these once went out to form the Half-Life Improvement Team, dedicated to improving models for all Half-Life games.

The Sven Co-op team has worked together with many HL1:SP mod developers to convert their maps to Sven Co-op. Most notable is the They Hunger Coop project, which will be released some time after Silver.

The community has slowly dwindled over the years, but Sven Co-op still remains one of the mods with most custom content. This success might be because of several reasons: Due to Sven Co-op's single-player nature, it is easier for mappers to create their own worlds and scenarios, and the ability for mappers to change models and sounds give them even more freedom. A backside of the "single-player" style, is that Sven Co-op maps generally take more time to create than maps for multiplayer games, but SC mapping has still managed to thrive.

A common criticism of single-player mapping for games, is that you never know how many people have played your map. When you are mapping for a coop game, you can create your own scenarios and tell a story to the players, and still be able to see how many are playing your game online.

Sven Co-op 4.0

In-game screenshot.

Version 4.0 was completed and released.

A changelog for 4.0 was released but many features have since been added to the mod. Here is a short list of some of the announced features for 4.0:

New gamemodes

• VIP - Players must escort a fellow player or NPC to a defined point. Mappers have the option of setting up spawn points for guards to various routes along a path the VIP must take.
• Assault - Players must run into an area guarded by NPCs and destroy specified objects. Can be an unlimited amount of objects, specified by mapper. Upon destruction, object triggers something. Can have time limit.
• Invasion - Players must defend structures or NPCs within the given time period from invading monsters. Structures and NPCs can be repaired, and the mapper can define whether or not a given entity is allowed to be repaired by the players. Via the class system, players will have the ability to build things like sentry guns or other defensive structures.
• Other: Using the Sven Co-op entities mappers can set up all sorts of combinations of these gamemodes.

Misc features

• A new Player Class System. Through a simple text file, mappers can provide up to 10 player classes on their map. Options like choosing the player model, health, armor, specific abilities, weapon load out, etc. will be available.
• New weapons.
• New monsters.

Sven Co-op 5.0

Todo: Add information about Sven Co-op version 5.0.

Sven Co-op 2

Not to be confused with #Sven Co-op 2.0 (the older version of Sven Co-op [GoldSrc/Svengine], for WON version of Half-Life).

File:Ss scene small.jpg

In-game dramatic screenshot of the Combine Super Soldier.

Sven Co-op 2 is the Source version of Sven Co-op. Development has been halted for unknown reasons.

Notability

Awards

Sven Co-op

• Planet Half-Life's Mod of the Week six times [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]
• Featured at Valve's Half-Life Mod Expo 2002 [7] [8] [9] [10]
• At Mod DB:

• One of the Best Mods Overall of 2002
• Mods Which Have Seen Significant Enhancements of 2002
• Mods You Should Not Leave Home Without of 2002
• Most Improved Mods, Mods You Should Not Leave Home Without and One of the Best Mods Overall of 2003
• Tied Best Action Mod of 2004
• Second Best Mod Overall of 2004
• Fifth Best Mod Overall of 2005

Sven Co-op 2

• At Mod DB:

• Best Upcoming Mod of 2004

Articles

•  PC Zone articles: 7.07.2003, 6.12.2004, 23.8.2005.

Interviews

• Sven Co-op Center, ModPortal.net, HL2Files.com, Game-Jack.

External links

• Sven Co-op - the official website.
• Synergy and Obsidian Conflict - Similar mod, but for Source engine.
• Steam store page
• How to fix the Half-Life single-player maps
• ModDB page
• Sven Co-op Map Database
• GameBanana page