A thought: the Half-Life games have always essentially been explorations of the possibilities behind new technologies.
• HL1 was an exploration of the possibility-space of having objects interact through emitted “energy” (i.e. by broadcasting messages that get attenuated by distance.)
• HL2 was an exploration of the possibility-space of putting a dynamics simulation engine in a game (and also spawned Gary’s Mod to continue said exploration.)
• The major offshoots of the series, Portal and its sequel, were explorations of the possibility-space created by combining “beams” of matter or energy (lasers, hitscan gunfire, tractor beams, paint), gravity, and wormholes.
In other words, each major new entry in the Half-Life universe was essentially a narrative wrapped around the results of playing around with implementing some journal paper (or reimplementing some prototype) of a novel type of realtime physical simulation, that had obvious game-mechanical implications.
I’m not surprised that we never got an HL3, because for the past 10-odd years, there hasn’t really been a big new obvious realtime physical-simulation tech to turn into game mechanics.
I’m also not surprised that Valve would return to making games under the Half-Life brand in order to explore the implications of a new technology (even if it’s not a new realtime physical-simulation technology. Or maybe they’ve got one of those up their sleeves as well...)
In the cases of Brave and Moana at Pixar and Disney Animation respectively, the story definitely came before the tech was developed. I was an intern at Pixar during the production of Brave, and I worked on Moana, and I can say that in both cases, there was a mad scramble to develop the tech to catch up with the story. We didn't really have the water on Moana working completely correctly until like 6 months before the movie came out.
> • HL1 was an exploration of the possibility-space of having objects interact through emitted “energy” (i.e. by broadcasting messages that get attenuated by distance.)
I played FPS games before HL, and I played all the original HL games including Blue Shift and Opposing Force, plus a bunch of single-player fan-produced games and even Gunman Chronicles, all using the engine, and I don't follow what you mean here.
> for the past 10-odd years, there hasn’t really been a big new obvious realtime physical-simulation tech to turn into game mechanics
Idk about that. I think Valve has simply changed their identity from "Game Developer" to "Gaming Platform Holder".
They have continued to experiment with new tech like they always have. They've made significant contributions to VR, streaming, and (for better or worse) monitization - technologies that are in service to their platform.
Valve as a game developer isn't dead. It just takes the back seat to Valve as a platform holder.
HL1 had a good story and narrative arc. You, the first person scientist are pressed into shooting things, confused as hell about what's going on. You had a direct line of sympathy into the situation, as player. It was very easy to feel the dreamlike-yet-horror narrative, from start to finish. It was quite compelling just how well they did it.
HL2 had some interesting mostly-environmental exposition intermixed with an extremely lame narrative arc. You are basically just a guy with a gun who spends most of your time in transit. If you swapped places with Barney or a random citizen in an early scene, nothing would have changed. Your character is sterile. The main character was the environments, some of which were very good, but it felt more like a very long "demo" than a game. Everyone expressing surprise at how you are in fact Gordon Freeman and it just doesn't matter at all. You're a lunatic with bullets to spend, plus a couple science fair level physics ramps to complete. Tomb raider, every single one of them, did physics puzzles better, and they didn't have a physics engine!
I think everyone was wowed at the tech at the time and didn't realize just how bad the rest of the experience was. Replaying it, its very easy to feel (compared to replaying Deus Ex or Thief or HL1)
There was no emotive force in HL2. The story become uncompelling. I think they realzied HL3 would fall super flat without some new technology to showcase, because they made the Gordon story so damn boring. (You'll notice in a lot of fanfics, people actually talk, or they aren't about Gordon at all.)
> Products are usually the result of an intersection of technology that we think has traction, a group of people who want to work on that, and one of the game properties that feels like a natural playground for that set of technology and design challenges.
> When we decided we needed to work on markets, free to play, and user generated content, Team Fortress seemed like the right place to do that. That work ended up informing everything we did in the multiplayer space.
> Left 4 Dead is a good place for creating shared narratives.
> The major offshoots of the series, Portal and its sequel, were explorations of the possibility-space created by combining “beams” of matter or energy (lasers, hitscan gunfire, tractor beams, paint), gravity, and wormholes.
This isn't a technology, rather it's a set of game mechanics.
To continue your line of reasoning. And I think it's what makes XR so immersive, with immersion being a hallmark of the HL franchise. Is the opening of a possibility-space in VR of having any human player "thought" made manifest as "material" in the virtual world.
HL:A possibly represents a watershed. The 40-hour, single-player narrative action VR experience (not to mention a Counterstrike VR mod). What recently released Asgard's Wrath referred to as "God-scale" gaming
Nintendo is well known for making some games like this too. It's a bunch of cool tech and physical controllers generating new interaction models, and game designers stretching that as far as they can, sometimes cohesively as a full game sometimes a collage of mini-games.
It's been over 12 years since the last entry in this franchise. Outside the memes, I wonder if the name has enough weight to be a system-seller for Valve Index the way Half-Life 2 brought Steam into the mainstream (as much as people disliked it at the time, you can't argue they were unsuccessful).
Convincing people to install software that doesn't cost any money is quite a bit easier than convincing them to invest in an expensive piece of hardware and the even more expensive computer needed to work with it. Not to mention overcoming all the other issues people have with current VR tech, like the space requirements.
Anecdotally, I've got a PC that is VR-capable. I've tried VR as a curiosity, but it hasn't been compelling enough for me to buy my own headset. However, Half-Life 2 is my favorite videogame of all time, and this announcement will probably get me to reconsider and shell out for an Index or similar.
The announcement got like 120k upvotes on r/gaming.
I think it'll be fine. Half-Life hasn't had a proper entry in a long time -- though it's worth pointing out that Portal takes place in the same universe and has some mechanical similarities, at least -- but it still has legendary status among gamers.
While I may not buy Valve Index specifically, the announcement of this game is the decision maker for me to save up for VR. Previously I just wanted it, but probably wouldn't have purchased it. So I think people will buy VR for this game, whether or not it's Valve's Index is unknown though.
> enough weight to be a system-seller for Valve Index the way Half-Life 2
I doubt so. There are inherent issues with VR currently (stuck in a small environment, limited interactions), I can't see how they could make a first-person game extraordinary enough for people to suddenly open and empty their wallets and embrace VR just for one game. But I may be wrong.
If you want to sell something as expensive as VR based on a game franchise, you'd better hope that it's old enough for the initial players to have paid off their mortgage...
In any case or kind of makes sense for something called Half-Life to slow down over time.
It should have been a free launch title with the Index to spur sales. This is not going to do that now as a separate sale. The buzz (what little there was for an expensive VR rig) is over. It may well be good for VR overall, however.
There is no name that could sell a meaningful number of $1000 systems, especially when the game is playable on a $400 system that's barely any worse than the $1000 one.
It has been long enough and Valve quiet enough that delivering anything meets expectations. We aren't in one of those cycles which ended in disappointment like Duke Nukem or Battlecruiser 3000? which took forever to deliver and underwhelmed on all counts.
the only way to alienate fans would be to use it as a platform to deliver a political message; many game players take offense at such and it horribly dates games that do much like music
Not calling it Half Life: 3 seems like a great way to temper expectations a bit. Curious how much focus is put on the knuckles/Index versus generic headsets.
Anecdotally it feels like VR never really took off? From casual perusals of the steam store at https://store.steampowered.com/vr/, there are very few VR games and the ones that do exist are fairly mediocre looking - things you've never heard of from indie developers self-publishing to steam.
Seems like an odd move from Valve - I don't suspect that this on its own will be enough of a draw to lure people to purchase a VR headset for. Especially since this started out as an "exploration of VR" ... I am left wondering if this is basically going to end up being some glorified DLC or mod that adds a couple of levels with a few neat little VR-specific touches/gimmicks rather than a full-blown installment in the HL franchise?
They may well prove me wrong and trigger a renaissance in the VR gaming industry and wow us with a huge and well-executed sequel to HL2 that will lure people in, but I remain skeptical for now.
This is exactly the move many of us in the VR community have been expecting. It may seem like a tiny percentage (because it is) but the VR numbers themselves have been growing massively since launch of Vive/Rift.
The community is alive and vibrant, not what you'd expect of dead technology.
I don't think it's actually trending downward, the hardware survey only shows devices connected at the time. I have two vr headsets and I only plug them in when I'm actually using them, so according to the survey I don't have one. I'm sure a lot of people do the same. Also, totally ancedotal evidence, but four of my friends bought into VR in the last few months since the price finally came down low enough for them to do it and they wanted to play Beat Saber. If that can sell headsets Half Life certainly can.
Oculus store has the quality games, for the most part. Many Rift owners do not have their headset connected when not using VR. Like for example when playing a flat game on Steam.
Supposedly it's being designed around Valve's index controller, letting you grip and manipulate objects in the game. Ars describes a set of Magnet Gloves which can pull stuff toward you from across the room and adjust/use it.
I've enjoyed quite a few VR games over the last few years, but part of why I'm excited about this one is that they are able to design the hardware and the software in conjunction.
Hopefully this will lead to something which can really take advantage of that co-development, like we sometimes see when Nintendo or Apple are able to do both.
Despite once being my favorite game series and developer and I stopped caring about Half-Life and Valve sometime around when they made it obvious they only care about milking their vapid Dota franchise and they have no interest in developing any of their core IPs. I can't force myself get excited about this even if someone paid me to. The ship has sailed a long time ago.
It has to be the 10/10 best game ever to justfiy buying a dedicated hardware piece for at least ~$400 or so depending on the model
I'm from Europe and it's especially bad in that sense cause for example HP and Lenovo has a generic budget headset with controllers for $150 but that's US only. You won't find anything that close in price here
I've been wondering lately whether Steam will be able to hold onto its large commission and market share, given the rise of competition like the Epic Games Store with a much more competitive commission rate. I can imagine these stores will have to increasingly differentiate themselves as technology platforms going forward (e.g. VR on Steam, or Unreal Engine licensing on EGS). In this way VR exclusive games make a lot of sense for Valve, to encourage people to buy into their platform.
The episode 3 plot summary by former Valve writer Marc Laidlaw that this article links to is a great read for those that want to see where the story was headed.
Back when I used to work as a VR developer "Half Life 2 quality cinematics and plot but in VR" was my go to example of how powerful of an experience VR could be if done right. I really hope they don't botch this. If they do this right you'll feel like you were there.
Due to some of the technical limitations with people (motion sickness does not make a popular game) I don't think this is not going to be an open spaces and free-movement heavy game like HL2. Not having some really good expansive panorama scenes would be a disservice to the VR tech but don't expect to be able to drive a go-kart around in them. I'm expecting a lot of semi stationary scenes where the player is free around a small space as the environment smoothly and steadily around them (like all the various freight elevator and rail car scenes in HL1). I expect that in typical Half-Life fashion there will be lots of object manipulation and head crab batting practice while the player remains nearly stationary.
When I saw the news yesterday I thought I was dreaming. Never expected to see this, despite the many rumors of a HLVR.
I'm excited to see what the release brings, but I'm expecting revolutionary VR mechanics. I hope it'll be as big of a leap forward as Half Life 1 and Half Life 2 were.
When are they going to replace SteamVR with OpenXR runtime? Valve are one of the major backers of OpenXR, yet their SteamVR still uses their pre OpenXR, so called "OpenVR" API.
[+] [-] derefr|6 years ago|reply
• HL1 was an exploration of the possibility-space of having objects interact through emitted “energy” (i.e. by broadcasting messages that get attenuated by distance.)
• HL2 was an exploration of the possibility-space of putting a dynamics simulation engine in a game (and also spawned Gary’s Mod to continue said exploration.)
• The major offshoots of the series, Portal and its sequel, were explorations of the possibility-space created by combining “beams” of matter or energy (lasers, hitscan gunfire, tractor beams, paint), gravity, and wormholes.
In other words, each major new entry in the Half-Life universe was essentially a narrative wrapped around the results of playing around with implementing some journal paper (or reimplementing some prototype) of a novel type of realtime physical simulation, that had obvious game-mechanical implications.
I’m not surprised that we never got an HL3, because for the past 10-odd years, there hasn’t really been a big new obvious realtime physical-simulation tech to turn into game mechanics.
I’m also not surprised that Valve would return to making games under the Half-Life brand in order to explore the implications of a new technology (even if it’s not a new realtime physical-simulation technology. Or maybe they’ve got one of those up their sleeves as well...)
[+] [-] ykl|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] shantly|6 years ago|reply
I played FPS games before HL, and I played all the original HL games including Blue Shift and Opposing Force, plus a bunch of single-player fan-produced games and even Gunman Chronicles, all using the engine, and I don't follow what you mean here.
[+] [-] CivBase|6 years ago|reply
Idk about that. I think Valve has simply changed their identity from "Game Developer" to "Gaming Platform Holder".
They have continued to experiment with new tech like they always have. They've made significant contributions to VR, streaming, and (for better or worse) monitization - technologies that are in service to their platform.
Valve as a game developer isn't dead. It just takes the back seat to Valve as a platform holder.
[+] [-] simonsarris|6 years ago|reply
HL2 had some interesting mostly-environmental exposition intermixed with an extremely lame narrative arc. You are basically just a guy with a gun who spends most of your time in transit. If you swapped places with Barney or a random citizen in an early scene, nothing would have changed. Your character is sterile. The main character was the environments, some of which were very good, but it felt more like a very long "demo" than a game. Everyone expressing surprise at how you are in fact Gordon Freeman and it just doesn't matter at all. You're a lunatic with bullets to spend, plus a couple science fair level physics ramps to complete. Tomb raider, every single one of them, did physics puzzles better, and they didn't have a physics engine!
I think everyone was wowed at the tech at the time and didn't realize just how bad the rest of the experience was. Replaying it, its very easy to feel (compared to replaying Deus Ex or Thief or HL1)
There was no emotive force in HL2. The story become uncompelling. I think they realzied HL3 would fall super flat without some new technology to showcase, because they made the Gordon story so damn boring. (You'll notice in a lot of fanfics, people actually talk, or they aren't about Gordon at all.)
[+] [-] mikewhy|6 years ago|reply
> Products are usually the result of an intersection of technology that we think has traction, a group of people who want to work on that, and one of the game properties that feels like a natural playground for that set of technology and design challenges.
> When we decided we needed to work on markets, free to play, and user generated content, Team Fortress seemed like the right place to do that. That work ended up informing everything we did in the multiplayer space.
> Left 4 Dead is a good place for creating shared narratives.
[0]: https://www.reddit.com/r/The_Gaben/comments/5olhj4/hi_im_gab...
[+] [-] soulofmischief|6 years ago|reply
This isn't a technology, rather it's a set of game mechanics.
[+] [-] ArtWomb|6 years ago|reply
HL:A possibly represents a watershed. The 40-hour, single-player narrative action VR experience (not to mention a Counterstrike VR mod). What recently released Asgard's Wrath referred to as "God-scale" gaming
https://uploadvr.com/asgards-wrath-review/
[+] [-] unknown|6 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] inerte|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] hyperpallium|6 years ago|reply
VR could play a part in a physics simulation.
[+] [-] willis936|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] aerovistae|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] kingbirdy|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] AnIdiotOnTheNet|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dgritsko|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] TulliusCicero|6 years ago|reply
I think it'll be fine. Half-Life hasn't had a proper entry in a long time -- though it's worth pointing out that Portal takes place in the same universe and has some mechanical similarities, at least -- but it still has legendary status among gamers.
[+] [-] nimajneb|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ekianjo|6 years ago|reply
I doubt so. There are inherent issues with VR currently (stuck in a small environment, limited interactions), I can't see how they could make a first-person game extraordinary enough for people to suddenly open and empty their wallets and embrace VR just for one game. But I may be wrong.
[+] [-] usrusr|6 years ago|reply
In any case or kind of makes sense for something called Half-Life to slow down over time.
[+] [-] CelestialTeapot|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dcre|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] skohan|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Shivetya|6 years ago|reply
the only way to alienate fans would be to use it as a platform to deliver a political message; many game players take offense at such and it horribly dates games that do much like music
[+] [-] kipchak|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] simlevesque|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nsxwolf|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ehsankia|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mattlondon|6 years ago|reply
Anecdotally it feels like VR never really took off? From casual perusals of the steam store at https://store.steampowered.com/vr/, there are very few VR games and the ones that do exist are fairly mediocre looking - things you've never heard of from indie developers self-publishing to steam.
Seems like an odd move from Valve - I don't suspect that this on its own will be enough of a draw to lure people to purchase a VR headset for. Especially since this started out as an "exploration of VR" ... I am left wondering if this is basically going to end up being some glorified DLC or mod that adds a couple of levels with a few neat little VR-specific touches/gimmicks rather than a full-blown installment in the HL franchise?
They may well prove me wrong and trigger a renaissance in the VR gaming industry and wow us with a huge and well-executed sequel to HL2 that will lure people in, but I remain skeptical for now.
[+] [-] cameronbrown|6 years ago|reply
This is exactly the move many of us in the VR community have been expecting. It may seem like a tiny percentage (because it is) but the VR numbers themselves have been growing massively since launch of Vive/Rift.
The community is alive and vibrant, not what you'd expect of dead technology.
[+] [-] fivefive55|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bni|6 years ago|reply
Oculus store has the quality games, for the most part. Many Rift owners do not have their headset connected when not using VR. Like for example when playing a flat game on Steam.
[+] [-] downrightmike|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] e1ven|6 years ago|reply
I've enjoyed quite a few VR games over the last few years, but part of why I'm excited about this one is that they are able to design the hardware and the software in conjunction.
Hopefully this will lead to something which can really take advantage of that co-development, like we sometimes see when Nintendo or Apple are able to do both.
[+] [-] psweber|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] utf985|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] haunter|6 years ago|reply
I'm from Europe and it's especially bad in that sense cause for example HP and Lenovo has a generic budget headset with controllers for $150 but that's US only. You won't find anything that close in price here
[+] [-] gnode|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] davexunit|6 years ago|reply
http://www.marclaidlaw.com/epistle-3/
[+] [-] dsfyu404ed|6 years ago|reply
Due to some of the technical limitations with people (motion sickness does not make a popular game) I don't think this is not going to be an open spaces and free-movement heavy game like HL2. Not having some really good expansive panorama scenes would be a disservice to the VR tech but don't expect to be able to drive a go-kart around in them. I'm expecting a lot of semi stationary scenes where the player is free around a small space as the environment smoothly and steadily around them (like all the various freight elevator and rail car scenes in HL1). I expect that in typical Half-Life fashion there will be lots of object manipulation and head crab batting practice while the player remains nearly stationary.
[+] [-] unknown|6 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] akhilcacharya|6 years ago|reply
I'm excited to see what the release brings, but I'm expecting revolutionary VR mechanics. I hope it'll be as big of a leap forward as Half Life 1 and Half Life 2 were.
[+] [-] liquid153|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] shmerl|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] rvz|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] WrtCdEvrydy|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|6 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] jammygit|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] yahwrong|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] thdrdt|6 years ago|reply
This was what I always liked about HL2. It is a game but also a kind of protest against oppression.