Forum Highlights & Community Moments
The heart of the Last Hope community was the phpBB forum hosted at lasthopemod.com/dboard/. This was where ideas were born, work was showcased, feedback was given, and friendships were formed across continents.
Running on the popular subSilver theme, the forums provided a familiar and welcoming environment for modders of all skill levels to come together and contribute to the project.
The forum evolved over time. Here's the structure from 2002-2003:
Website news and updates. Where Salvi announced site changes and project milestones.
"Talk, discuss.. what else?" - The community hub for news, announcements, and general chat. Moderated by Psyguy.
Aug 2002: 45 topics, 547 posts
"Showcase of maps and textures." - Where level designers shared their work. Moderated by Psyguy.
Aug 2002: 10 topics, 188 posts
"Showcase of models and skins." - The creative center for 3D artists. Moderated by Psyguy.
Aug 2002: 16 topics, 477 posts
Official project announcements from the development team.
Non-mod related discussions. Community bonding and casual chat. Moderated by Salvi.
FAQ and help for new members. Learning resources and tutorials.
Showcase gallery for completed artwork, models, and textures.
Project planning and design philosophy discussions.
Development status updates in the style of .plan files popular in the modding community.
Fan fiction, story telling, roleplaying and pen & paper RPG discussions. Moderated by vico and RPG_Jssmfulhud.
2004: 13 topics, 1,033 posts
Read StoriesActual conversations preserved from the Wayback Machine archives.
Thread: "Website coming together!" - November 21, 2002
Salvi (Project Lead)
"Finally, the backend is done fondling with. Its kind of nice, how it works."
Count Spatula (Egypt)
"w00t!!! The website just updated right before my eyes!!! It was great! I am really looking forward to this... bwahhahaahahahahahaha!!!"
Pendra37 (Hungary)
"YIIHAAA! GO LAST HOPE GO! Today the webpage tomorrow the new mod! Any thoughts about a beta/alpha release date?"
Vejita
"btw - salvi, you might want to make it so you can edit your posts here :p"
Thread: "Merry Christmas" - December 24-26, 2002
ApOcaLyPSe_1985 (Netherlands)
"Hey all! [posted Christmas greetings in multiple languages]"
Pendra37
"Apoc please include this in your list: BOLDOG KARACSONYT! (Magyar-Hungary)"
POCTheSainT (South Carolina)
"merry x-comas...."
elyoddej (Wisconsin)
"HOW DID YOU POST IN RUSSIAN (Cyrillic)?!?! (consider this my Christmas present)"
ApOcaLyPSe_1985
"Two words baby... Language Translator"
elyoddej
"i'd like to be able to post stuff in russian to beg nod to make some more models"
From the Wayback Machine capture of August 27, 2002:
Last Hope Forum Index
"The time now is Tue Aug 27, 2002 2:58 am"
Last Hope
Half-Life modification
Recent activity in General Discussion...
Latest post: Mon Aug 26, 2002 7:29 pm by POCTheSainT
Recent activity in Modelling and Skinning...
Latest post: Mon Aug 26, 2002 7:02 am by Cyalume
The lasthopemod.com website featured these main sections:
The Last Hope forums exemplified the best of early 2000s modding culture. Passionate fans of both X-COM and Half-Life came together, often from different countries and backgrounds, united by their love of gaming and creative expression.
In an era before Discord, before Twitter, before GitHub - these forums were how modding communities organized, collaborated, and built amazing things together. The threads may be archived now, but the spirit of that collaboration lives on.