Half-Life and Portal series, general discussion (v6) - Games

[QUOTE=testinglol;49467203]from 2013 [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/JOSjbnx.png[/IMG] probably l4d3[/QUOTE] Shit I don't remember if this was my email or not.

[QUOTE=Crypt19;49480571][URL="http://orig12.deviantart.net/4f6f/f/2011/161/f/e/half_life_1080p_wallpaper_by_caboose6789-d3ikf70.jpg"]You stole a wallpaper[/URL] and slapped some other stuff you didn't make over it. Shit, I can [URL="http://i.imgur.com/uQmcfPs.jpg"]and have[/URL] done that. And better, if I can be honest.[/QUOTE] Considering I have the photoshop skills of a walrus I think it looks good as a proof of concept

Might as well post it here too. The current story on reddit is Marc left Valve: [url]https://www.reddit.com/r/HalfLife/comments/3zzmi2/sent_an_email_to_marc_laidlaw_about_hl3_he/?sort=new[/url] you see pics in the OP and this is the pastebin dump of the supposed email

Wouldn't be surprising if it is true considering he's almost 60.

[QUOTE=jazzpunk;49483066]Might as well post it here too. The current story on reddit is Marc left Valve: [url]https://www.reddit.com/r/HalfLife/comments/3zzmi2/sent_an_email_to_marc_laidlaw_about_hl3_he/?sort=new[/url] you see pics in the OP and this is the pastebin dump of the supposed email[/QUOTE] This isn't gonna be the greatest shift of moral for those 'HL3 is in development' cultists.

Can Valve just admit that Half-Life 3 is cancelled or hand the property over to another company? There's no point keeping it in limbo, it'll become another Duke Nukem Forever. [editline]8th January 2016[/editline] By which I mean the jokes of 'it'll never come' followed by a mediocre game, not the development hell.

Half-Life 3 will be released, on Source 2, and it will be the glorious. And all y'all impatient doubters will have to eat your words. Now bring 'em [img]http://www.clker.com/cliparts/o/A/s/P/3/d/double-rainbow-th.png[/img]

I'd be perfectly happy with a side story unrelated to the main series. I still want a continuation to the cliffhanger but exploring more of the world would be a great tide over.

Honestly I'd be happy if they concluded the story with a comic release or something. Just give us [I]something[/I].

Well, I personally don't just want a continuation of the story. In my opinion the genius of Half-Life's story isn't the plot itself, but how it's delivered. Wow, an oppressive superpower (that happen to be aliens, but that detail's hardly been important thus far, honestly) came and took over earth and people want to fight it? Some notable people died trying to do that? How groundbreaking. No, I love the way it's narrated. How even tiny details and clues and lore are incorporated into the environment and world. It's unlike anything else I've played. Hell yeah I'd be interested in knowing if and how they defeat the combine. Half-Life's been with me basically my entire life, and I'd like to know where the story could progress from where it is, but - and burn me at the stake if you disagree - the overall plot isn't Half-Life's strongest point to me. If you play through simply following the story, it's not spectacular. But get super into it, take in the world and pay attention? That's when it really starts to shine. This is something that I don't feel could be captured well in a comic, and maybe not a movie. It's a very interactive experience. In my opinion Valve's designers really are a bunch of geniuses, I think they could manage to deliver that sort of experience without Laidlaw, as much as he'll be missed.

That, and it doesn't feel like they withhold enough information or give you too much. An example of a game that has some potential is Warhammer: Vermintide. I have absolutely no idea what is happening most of the time in that game with the story, locations and such. Never felt that way in HL2. Felt like I'd been there before. Just knew where I was going, what I was doing.

[QUOTE=jazzpunk;49483066]Might as well post it here too. The current story on reddit is Marc left Valve: [url]https://www.reddit.com/r/HalfLife/comments/3zzmi2/sent_an_email_to_marc_laidlaw_about_hl3_he/?sort=new[/url] you see pics in the OP and this is the pastebin dump of the supposed email[/QUOTE] I find it fairly stupid when people say things like "It's been 8 years of Silence!" (not sure where he got 12 years from) when that is definitely not the case. Valve have said a few times that it's in development, and they're even given the reason why the game hasn't been shown yet, at least twice.

[QUOTE=redBadger;49482758]Shit I don't remember if this was my email or not.[/QUOTE] its mine :pudge:

Imagine if Half Life 3 was released but under the Doki Doki Panic treatment of being painted in another game's themes charactors and setting. Like if suddenly the next Duke Nukem game had sea-saw puzzels, an artic setting, a modest female sidekick charactor with vengene on her mind, a gravity gun and a strange man always appearing just out of view....

It's dishonest, borderline delusional to expect HL3 after all that's been said.

The most I'd expect is a comic explaining the rest of the events, and even then I'm bound to be disappointed.

[QUOTE=Xubs;49484131]I agree with this but with an addendum: expecting something to exist is a very different application of probability from admitting there is a potential for something to happen. I, personally, do not expect Half-Life 3 anytime soon but I do believe there is a [I]potential[/I] for it to exist [I]someday[/I]. I think people who say that it is literally impossible that Valve will EVER make a Half-Life 3 are just as dumb and childish as the people who see 20x20 pixel lambdas and scream "confirmed". The statements made by Gabe Newell in that one podcast a year ago basically said as much. A wishy-washy "it might happen someday" response. Might happen does not equal won't, nor does it equal will. Expecting something to happen is not the same as saying something 'might' happen. Patience is a virtue. So is reservation.[/QUOTE] I just want some closure on the G-Man.

[QUOTE=Xubs;49484308]I understand. I am, in my heart, just as much of a Half-Life fan as anyone else here. That is why it equally pains me to see people get as hyped over nothing as that ARG as it does to see people take no confirmation at all as evidence that Half-Life 3 will never exist. Ultimately, I just want people to act reserved and chill about it. I understand being frustrated 100%, but believing in misinformation from no such information, that makes me feel bad.[/QUOTE] The good news is that Retro is 20-30 years, so we're slowly approaching the point where all the Half-Life babies will be of artisan Game Designer age, and with crowdfunding there is a high probability that people will be making the Half Life equivalent of Shovel Knight in the next few years!

[QUOTE=DeEz;49484101]It's dishonest, borderline delusional to expect HL3 after all that's been said.[/QUOTE] Why exactly? As far as i know nothing they've said has suggested it will never be made, or even suggest that it isn't being worked on in some way. They might not have outright 'announced' the game yet, but they've said several times why they haven't. [QUOTE=Xubs;49484131]I agree with this but with an addendum: expecting something to exist is a very different application of probability from admitting there is a potential for something to happen. I, personally, do not expect Half-Life 3 anytime soon but I do believe there is a [I]potential[/I] for it to exist [I]someday[/I]. I think people who say that it is literally impossible that Valve will EVER make a Half-Life 3 are just as dumb and childish as the people who see 20x20 pixel lambdas and scream "confirmed". The statements made by Gabe Newell in that one podcast a year ago basically said as much. A wishy-washy "it might happen someday" response. Might happen does not equal won't, nor does it equal will. Expecting something to happen is not the same as saying something 'might' happen. Patience is a virtue. So is reservation.[/QUOTE] What did Gabe say?

I just want Shephard back...

[QUOTE=nightlord;49484353]What did Gabe say?[/QUOTE] [QUOTE]"I think, obviously people want to see…you know, if somebody likes Team Fortress, they like to see what we can do with Team Fortress, or Left 4 Dead, or Half Life, or everything. And so, what we are trying to do is come up with ways so that we are both…you know, we love all those games, we love all those characters, and universes, and storylines. And we have no shortage of opportunities, so we try to be a little bit strategic instead of like, okay, this is the piece of the puzzle that we can solve with this set of technologies that we have developed and this is the new piece of technology that we think is going to be generally useful…so this ties up well with this property. "If you think of it, each one of our franchises represents our tool, and you just want to pick up the right tool at the right time. So Dota 2 is incredibly character rich, I mean there are like a 110 characters, so if you have problem that involves wanting to work on the aspect of having lots and lots of those strongly realized characteristics, then Dota 2 is the right place to do it. "So, when we are thinking of the next challenges then we tend to pick the franchises that are most useful in going forward. And if we don’t have one, then obviously we have to create a new one. But you know, I get it, I'm a fan of TV shows, I'm a fan of writers, I'm a fan of movies, I'm a fan of games and I certainly understand why people are like, you know, hey I remember this awesome experience and I'm starting to get worried that I'm never going to have it again. I am fan of Terry Pratchett and he has Alzheimer’s, it’s like, Oh my god, I may never get another great discworld novel. "So we understand it and we feel that, and we think at the end of the day, customers are going to be really happy with where we spent our time and how we have turned that into entertainment for them. "But we are also going to build on what we learned, and we have learned a lot. We aren’t going to go all retro because there are too many interesting things that have been learned. The only reason we would go back and do a ‘super classic’ kind of product is if a whole bunch of people internally at Valve said they wanted to do it, and had a reasonable explanation for why it was. But, you know, if you wanted to do another Half Life game and you want to ignore everything we have learned in shipping Portal 2, and in shipping all the updates on the multiplayer side, that seems like a bad choice. So we will keep moving forward but that doesn’t necessarily always mean what people are worried that it mean. "[/QUOTE] .

[QUOTE=nightlord;49484353]Why exactly? As far as i know nothing they've said has suggested it will never be made, or even suggest that it isn't being worked on in some way. They might not have outright 'announced' the game yet, but they've said several times why they haven't.[/QUOTE] Because the average video game enthusiast operates on a mental timescale different to the one Valve develops video games on. If there are a number of years without communication from a developer on something, the usual conclusion is that it's dead. It's anecdotal, but I've seen this time and again on this forum and others. It's the same reason that Team Fortress 2 was dead, that the Last Guardian was dead, and that Black Mesa: Source was dead. I'm sure I could think of more examples if I tried. Couple that with the fact that Valve, already infamous in the past for taking their time, is now one of the wealthiest developer-publishers out there. This puts them in a unique position which allows them to pretty much take however long they want to finish something. They like to experiment and are clearly not afraid to scrap progress on a title and start over, as we've seen with both Team Fortress 2 and Portal 2. Gabe has gone on record multiple times to say that they want the next Half-Life to be different from the usual singleplayer experience, whatever that means (usually interpreted on this board as HL3 being shit) and that “we [Valve] think that the twists and turns that we're going through would probably drive people more crazy than just being silent about it". Imagine how the debate on HL3 would be on Facepunch (and elsewhere), given how reactionary a considerable portion of the userbase can be when it comes to Valve and their doings (Mann store, micro-transactions, Steam machines, paid mods, etc.), if every time Valve spoke about HL3 it was something different. I agree with Gabe, people would go nuts. Given the fact that Valve are currently in the (presumably) final stages of developing a new game engine, I don't think it's unreasonable that the game has been a development "backburner" for a couple of years. Of course Valve is silent on it, that's their shtick. So HL3 is ~dead~.

[QUOTE=Anderan;49483080]Wouldn't be surprising if it is true considering he's almost 60.[/QUOTE] Retiring at 60 is a waste imo. If you're still in capable health why not still work. Wouldn't you get bored? [editline]8th January 2016[/editline] Then again he works at valve so...

Psh, you gimme some of that Valve money and I'm retiring the second I get bored with my craft.

I think it's pretty obvious that if Half-Life 3 was made at some point, most if not all of the original developers of HL1 and 2 (+episodes) wouldn't be the ones to make it.

[QUOTE=Destroyox;49486525]I think it's pretty obvious that if Half-Life 3 was made at some point, most if not all of the original developers of HL1 and 2 (+episodes) wouldn't be the ones to make it.[/QUOTE] [url=http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=689145]They're pretty much all working on it, actually.[/url]

That was years ago and that list is about half of what the original HL2 was. Hell, those people could've worked on it in the past and aren't currently.

[QUOTE=Chrille;49486608][url=http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=689145]They're pretty much all working on it, actually.[/url][/QUOTE] This was in 2013. Since then we know their VR team grew considerably and lot could have happened since then with the other groups. Also, notice the overlap with the L4D3 group.

Oh my god. I'm playing HL2 again and holy shit I learned how to do ABH manually without any scripts. It's so god damned satisfying. And playing through HL2 is still so satisfying. Also HL2 shotgun IMHO is better than HL1 shotgun.

[QUOTE=Destroyox;49486690]That was years ago and that list is about half of what the original HL2 was. Hell, those people could've worked on it in the past and aren't currently.[/QUOTE] I doubt anything has happened in the past two years that would radically shake up the teams, beyond maybe VR as was mentioned and even then I think it's limited. How much of VR development is hardware and technical stuff? The Source 2 dev teams also have some people from the old HL2 team, so I'm assuming they fulfill much the same roles now as they did then, developing the engine. And two years is not a lot in game development time, and especially not in Valve time, so I don't think you should dismiss it so easily. I can see the L4D3 overlap being a point of contention, but I have no knowledge of how that sort of stuff worked in the past at Valve, so I can't really comment on it. In any case, a lot of people from the old teams have contributed to development. [editline]9th January 2016[/editline] although yes, my statement that they were pretty much all working on it was very misleading