Episodic

So I want to try and make an episodic single player modification for Half-Life 2, in the same vein as the excellent Minerva, but I don't want to be derivative. Everyone's tired of the same Eastern European textures and theming from the original game by now, but I'm kind of limited by those assets. It's a hell of a job making new assets at the same level of quality of the originals, especially with just one person and a limited amount of time. I don't think it's completely tapped out, especially if you mix it up with a few custom elements, but it's hard to get a setting that hasn't been done in the original game or one of the episodes. Most of the traditional areas have already been covered: sewers, city streets, apartments, prisons, countryside, but there's still room for some more. What I have been thinking about is this: the underground V2 assembly plants. Still fit with the European theme, with some interesting possibilities that haven't been covered before. Could be awesome with the right custom props - some rusting V-2 rockets in various states of assembly, new Combine assembly lines, prison labor, some direct echoes of Nazi Germany. Could be interesting, if a little limited if you stick with purely the original place - not a whole lot of exciting pictures, the modern day place looks like an empty, mostly flooded concrete box. RtCW comes to mind, with the sweet airbase mission and the rocket bases, with just enough basis in reality to be believable, at least in a comic book way. Need to get some more reference material, work out some prototype levels.