BrainBread

BrainBread is a multiplayer mod for the popular first-person shooter computer game Half-Life.
Background
BrainBread was created by IronOak Studios, a German mod team also known for the mod Public-Enemy, a cyberpunk/dark future-themed mod also for Half-Life. BrainBread was originally a side project to Public-Enemy, and borrows the vast majority of its weapon models and at least one map from that earlier mod. PE has faded into relative obscurity, while BrainBread has become a cult success.
Gameplay
Brainbread is supposed to recreate a zombie outbreak. The players work as a team to combat AI controlled zombies, and complete various mission goals. When an AI controlled zombie cuts a human player's health to 1, the human player will start to turn into a zombie himself. The player has two minutes(according to the manual; actual time perceived may be around 30 seconds) to prevent zombification by being killed; if he is unsuccessful, he will become a zombie. Once a zombie, the player must either kill one human controlled player, or two AI controlled soldiers to be able to return back to human form. However, returning to human form is optional, and many players opt to remain in zombie form to enjoy the different playstyle (zombie humans are fast, with strong melee attacks). Brainbread also incorporates a RPG-like system. As players kill more zombies, they gain experience points which allow them to gain levels. Each time a player "levels up", they are given points that allow them to increase several character traits. Health, which increases maximum health by 8 per point, Speed, which increases how fast the player moves by 5% per point, and Skill, which allows the use of different and more powerful weapons, and decreases the recovery time (crosshair-based muzzle climb) for all weapons. The manual also states skill increases weapon damage by 8%, however the effect is barely noticeable. High levels of skill allow the use of certain specialty items, such as the flamethrower, mini-gun, and the wildly powerful gas tank.
A player's level is saved on the server if the server is configured to remember player stats. Also, each player must rebuy their skills in each game; only the number of points a player has is saved, not where they are allocated. However, a server plugin can be installed to automatically place the stats to a certain level or reset them if desired.
Human Gameplay
The human players in most levels have to complete a series of objectives, although some user created maps have no objectives and only consist of staying alive until the map time runs out. The objectives usually consist of waiting for a specified amount of time (usually two minutes), retrieving a brief case, killing a set amount of zombies, killing Fred the mutant zombie (or any of his identical relatives), or a map based objective (like getting to a gun shop, reaching a certain area or destroying an obstacle). After these objectives are completed, the players are evacuated by an AI Black Hawk helicopter, leave through an exit, thus winning the game, or the round simply ends showing the scoreboard before switching to the next map. If not all of the players on the server escaped through an exit or helicopter, those who have may permanently play as zombies until all have escaped.
Any player who would be reduced to 0 life or less by the damage of an AI zombie is instead reduced to 1 health and begins transforming into a zombie. Human players transformed into zombies can kill non-zombie players normally. AI allies of the human players can also kill transformed players just as fully as their former comrades.
The human players have a few AI allies available to them. The most common are the Marines (which are the same marines from Half Life), who also happen to occasionally attempt to throw grenades, though nothing happens. On a few maps, security guards are available instead of marines (these are Barney from Half Life). An AI controlled M1 Abrams tank can also be encountered. The Black Hawk mentioned earlier has miniguns to shoot at zombies from above. The Marines and Barneys can be killed by zombies (AI and Player controlled) while the tank and helicopter are invincible.
Zombie Gameplay
Once a player transforms into a zombie, their only goal will be to return to the human team. To do so, the player must achieve 5 points by killing either two AI (soldiers or security guards), or one human player. The zombies that caused the player to transform then become his allies. There is only one way of eliminating enemies, and that is by a short ranged swipe. Although zombie players only have one attack, they have increased speed, which allows catching prey to be a much easier task. Human players transforming into zombies also receive 200 hit points (although upon death the amount of hit points will go back to the amount that player had as a human), and their skill and speed still affect their damage and movement; a max-level player turned into a zombie is a fearsome foe, moving faster than the humans with great physical endurance, and hitting for great damage. Unlike NPC zombies, player zombies set ablaze by the flame thrower can touch a human player to catch them on fire as well. However, as zombies, player are unable to crouch nor climb ladders.

Main Menu

See Also

Main Menu