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. 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.

Human Gameplay

The human players in each level have to complete a series of objectives. These objectives usually consist of 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 or destroying an obstacle). After these objectives are completed, the players are evacuated by AI Black Hawk helicopters or leave through an exit, thus winning the game. If not all of the players on the server escape, 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.

Many weapons are available to humans.

Melee

*Axe The axe can be used to cut a zombie's head off with as little as two hits, though, the zombies have the humans severely outclassed in hand-to-hand combat. On the lighter side, it knocks an AI zombie back a bit, allowing the player to escape. It swings slowly, and hits to the bodies(except the head) of AI zombies deal insignificant damage.

Pistols

*Heckler & Koch USP9
*Beretta 92FS
*Smith & Wesson Revolver
*IMI Desert Eagle
*Glock 18 - Right-click to fire a 3-round burst.
*SIG P225 - Probably the least used pistol, as its meagre 9-round capacity(and 54-round ammunition limit) is significantly outclassed by the 15-round capacities of the Beretta and USP with similar damage.

The USP, Beretta 92FS, and the P225 pistols can be held sideways when the right mouse button is clicked. The purpose of which is "to look cool" and serves no other purpose, as far as anyone else knows. The Beretta and the Glock can be used akimbo, although they count as separate weapons. One thing to note is that, the akimbo version of the Glock, is actually a pair of fully automatic Glocks with 32 rounds each, and no burst-fire. Unlike the akimbo Berettas, the Glock pairs have to be reloaded separately.

hotguns

*Sawed-Off Shotgun -One of the most powerful weapons in the game; capable of killing any normal AI or transformed zombie with a single solid hit. Only player-zombies who have maximum investment in HP are more often than not capable of withstanding two shots from the Sawed-Off Shotgun at point-blank range.
*Benelli M3 Super 90 Shotgun - Is one of the least used weapons in the game. Is only powerful at dangerously close ranges, as is the enemy zombies' melee attacks, and thus isn't safe to use. It is mainly used to weaken or on weakened groups of zombies.

ub-machine guns

*Heckler & Koch MP5/10 -It is weak but has a high rate of fire and is only moderately accurate (especially when zoomed in with the scope).
*IMI Micro Uzi - Another of the least used weapons in the game. Like the pump shotgun, it is mainly used on already weakened enemies, or as back-up due to the high rate of fire and consequently wild muzzle climb. The akimbo version is more popular however, though it also requires separate reloading as the akimbo Glocks.

Rifles

*AK-47 - Rather inaccurate when the trigger is held down. It is used mostly for close range combat.
*Colt M16 - More accurate than the AK-47, though it fires at a slower rate. It can be capable of two modes of fire and is very useful in all ranges.
*Winchester Rifle - An accurate lever-action rifle that is used as a substitute for the Stoner Rifle. Headshots with this rifle will usually result in an instant kill. Rounds are loaded one at a time, like the pump shotgun.
*Stoner Sniper Rifle (Most likely a KAC SR-25, though the game depicts it as a silenced carbine) - More powerful than the Winchester and has a better zoom function than the MP5. It is a popular zombie killer due to its almost-perfect success rate at killing a zombie with a single headshot.

pecial Purpose

*Propane Tank -The propane tank is thrown (preferably into a crowd of undead) and then shot with a weapon. If the thrower of the propane tank is too close (eg:uses his axe to detonate the propane tank), he will be killed along with the zombies. If friendly fire is on, the propane tank may cause more damage to the humans than to the zombies. While it is on the ground, any player with enough points in skill may pick it up and throw it again, so the original thrower must time his shot carefully. Like other weapons, you can only pick up and use one instance of this weapon, so after you've blown one up you can't pick up another from the same weapon spawn. This is usually circumvented by doing suicide bombings, as each player respawn resets the ability to pick up weapons from their spawns.
*Flamethrower - Cosmetically, it's a fictitious blend of an AK-47 with a fuel canister for a magazine. When used, it kills zombies rather slowly and does not net any experience when killing a zombie with it(despite crediting the killer in the scoreboard). Although it is an effective crowd stopper, it would be preferred by most to have the minigun. The Flamethrower also can kill your teammates on friendly-fire enabled servers rather quickly. This weapon also happens to be a cause of worry for even player zombies who are very fast yet have only moderate health. The Flamethrower is also the only weapon capable of killing transforming teammates once they are halfway through the zombification process. This weapon cannot be replenished in ammunition supply.
*Minigun - Is fairly popular. It has the highest rate of fire, low stopping power, and plentiful ammunition. It also cannot be replenished in its ammunition.

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 kill either two AI controlled soldiers, 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 transformed into zombies also receive 200 hit points, 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 thrrower can touch a human player to catch them on fire as well. However, as zombies, player are unable to crouch nor climb ladders.

ee also

*List of Half-Life mods

External links

* [http://ironoak.ch/BB/ Official website for BrainBread]
* [http://storefront.steampowered.com/v2/index.php?area=game&AppId=90006& BrainBread at Valve's Storefront]
* [http://steamcommunity.com/groups/brainbread The Steam community about BrainBread and its successor BrainBread:Source]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eolNguQ3s7U A fan-made YouTube Guide for the mod. Endorced by the Brain Bread community. (The creator has since changed YouTube accounts)]