Although Swift left Valve around the time F-STOP was scrapped, it wasn't her darling. Her team made something conceptually similar to Quantum Conundrum during the experimental phase that Valve went through and it failed to gain traction despite very obviously being her vision for Portal 2.
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Game Informer's Andrew Reiner on Alleged Half-Life 3 Prototypes (Live Action? RTS?)
- Thread starter dancrane212
- Start date
Although Swift left Valve around the time F-STOP was scrapped, it wasn't her darling. Her team made something conceptually similar to Quantum Conundrum during the experimental phase that Valve went through and it failed to gain traction despite very obviously being her vision for Portal 2.
This is the real reason it's dead. Even if they bring it back, the original artists are gone and they're not getting Hideo Kojima to resurrect it. I don't want HL3 anymore because it won't be Half-Life. The end.
Jay Shadow
Member
That's what I've always assumed. A whole bunch of various test stuff that never grabbed the company's attention enough to go forward over other projects.
afternoon delight
Member
I'm not sure I'm ready or able to believe this, and I might not ever be.
Wisdom! Did you see those Call of Duty/Doom 4 almost hybrid version's conceptual art? Oof.
Valve seems like what Rare would've become if Rare had money. Endless promising prototypes that lead to nothing.
The live action FMV style stuff seems unbelievable though, maybe they meant recorded performances like LA Noire? After Half Life 2's focus on animation I could kinda see that, that seems like a sane idea, and an easy misunderstanding... I just don't buy FMVs, that's too crazy.
The live action FMV style stuff seems unbelievable though, maybe they meant recorded performances like LA Noire? After Half Life 2's focus on animation I could kinda see that, that seems like a sane idea, and an easy misunderstanding... I just don't buy FMVs, that's too crazy.
Sounds like bullshit, but I don't doubt the game will never come out. Valve's just not interested in working on it, and found other ways to rake in the cash so they don't have to.
I do wish someone would leak, or "leak" the prototypes though. At least then we'd have something.
I do wish someone would leak, or "leak" the prototypes though. At least then we'd have something.
I can't imagine the only thing they're going to do with Source 2 is a Dota2 port.
That's probably the worst part about all of this. Just tell the fans you don't have shit and let everybody move on.
Rodney McKay
Member
As much as I love the Half Life games I think part of the problem was them making the expectations too high for themselves.
HL1 pushed the FPS genre with the storytelling and AI, and then HL2 had really good physics. So I guess they just couldn't figure out how to push the genre again with HL3.
Frankly I don't think they really need to. I just want a conclusion to the story which was left WIDE open with the cliffhanger in HL2 epi.2. I don't have any more expectations, just make a good/great GPS that finishes up the story.
Stuff like Inside recently scrated my itch for Half Life 3 strangely enough. It's a sidescroller, but the world gave me some definite HL2 vibes. I think if Valve Co tines to do nothing with the series, eventually more developers will put out games that fill that void.
HL1 pushed the FPS genre with the storytelling and AI, and then HL2 had really good physics. So I guess they just couldn't figure out how to push the genre again with HL3.
Frankly I don't think they really need to. I just want a conclusion to the story which was left WIDE open with the cliffhanger in HL2 epi.2. I don't have any more expectations, just make a good/great GPS that finishes up the story.
Stuff like Inside recently scrated my itch for Half Life 3 strangely enough. It's a sidescroller, but the world gave me some definite HL2 vibes. I think if Valve Co tines to do nothing with the series, eventually more developers will put out games that fill that void.
friskykillface
Banned
VR's true killer app, only way to play Half Life 3
We
Are
Now
The
Freeman
We
Are
Now
The
Freeman
Hell, we'll probably never even get the end of that TF2 comic series.
http://store.steampowered.com/app/466270/
lol?
I'd say yeah. I mean, they were just extensions of HL2. Same world and character assets, same art design, same weapons, same engine. They were just HL2 expansion packs.
So accurate it gives me heart ache
To sell VR? Besides Valve makes games for OpenVR. Not just the Vive. Whatever they make (like with The Lab) will work on whatever headset is supported in Steam (Vive, Rift, OSVR etc) So if they took a couple more years to release a HL game (or whatever other huge property) exclusively on VR there would be a lot more headsets sold, and unlikely any massive changes to hardware that wouldn't be overcome in software at the same time. The headsets and limb objects are just looking for a sensor. They don't really care how you track, as long as you do.
ultratruman
Banned
The third game is always the hardest, and Valve does not want to make a bad game.
Mushroomer25
Member
I know that the situations are VERY different, but this reminds me of kids & parents who got angry about Nintendo making Mario 64, instead of making another 2D sidescrolling Mario game for the SNES.
Half-Life 2 Episode 3/Half-Life 3 didn't always have to be a revolutionary game. Episodes One and Two are just Half-Life 2. Portal 2 is Portal 1 writ large. They could've made another Half-Life, but instead they loitered around making hats and mobas and other admittedly profitable enterprises. So now this game has become a myth and people expect it to be Jesus.
ashecitism
Member
.
Never bought the 'expectations' and 'quality' arguments. They don't want to make it. The end.
They might as well. I mean it started at least 6 years ago, and things could have changed since then. Also, it's going to be 2 years since they announced it and the SDK, no beep since then. Their VR stuff is almost all Unity and given you're a Facepunch regular yould should know the discussion around Source 2 hasn't been great. I.e. recently there was a discussion how there doesn't seem to be a collective effort behind it.
Psychotic_Mantis
Member
Andrew put the interview conversation out... kind of depresses me.
http://www.gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2017/01/11/searching-for-half-life-3.aspx
http://www.gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2017/01/11/searching-for-half-life-3.aspx
ThoseDeafMutes
Member
They should probably just release a 1 minute cutscene where rocks fall on all of the main characters and then they just throw up a "~fin".
There was a time when I cared about getting HL3, but that's long since passed.
There was a time when I cared about getting HL3, but that's long since passed.
Comfort Jones
Banned
As someone who has spent a considerable amount of hours with Valve's titles and is constantly working a HL2 mod as well I have a real fondness for a lot of things they've done. That being said I've genuinely given up hope on HL3 at this point, even if it is ever released I honestly don't see it being what I want at all. I'm pretty sure literally every major creative person who worked on 1 and 2 has left the company by now, at this point Valve is a shallow husk of what they once were. We've seen basically nothing and honestly I don't think the average person working there gives a fuck about it at this point.
Even if they actually announce it there's zero reason to expect this new version of Valve to recapture what made people love those original games at all.
They have absolutely never said that. How on Earth did you get this idea?
Even if they actually announce it there's zero reason to expect this new version of Valve to recapture what made people love those original games at all.
They have absolutely never said that. How on Earth did you get this idea?
Well, I'm feeling down in the dumps now!
I hope we get some closure to Freeman's story one day; even a plot outline would do.
Pretty much seems like everything Valve does.
GlassAwful
Member
Valve is the poster child of creative bankruptcy for this industry.
I used to imagine what a game developer could produce that had a wealth of talent, no publisher breathing down their neck and access to an endless pool of income. Then Valve showed me exactly what that was, greedy microtransaction focused games followed by nothing cause who fucking cares we're rich.
Do the devs walk the halls with their heads held high collecting their paychecks while accomplishing nothing? I wonder.
That interview shines a light into why they've become so useless. They are running their company like one of those Silicon Valley startups from the 2000s except instead of their bubble bursting, they were propped up by early success and then a literal goldmine in Steam. Now the kids are free to stroll into work to play hackey sack all day and get paid. Gee I wonder why they don't produce shit?
I used to imagine what a game developer could produce that had a wealth of talent, no publisher breathing down their neck and access to an endless pool of income. Then Valve showed me exactly what that was, greedy microtransaction focused games followed by nothing cause who fucking cares we're rich.
Do the devs walk the halls with their heads held high collecting their paychecks while accomplishing nothing? I wonder.
That interview shines a light into why they've become so useless. They are running their company like one of those Silicon Valley startups from the 2000s except instead of their bubble bursting, they were propped up by early success and then a literal goldmine in Steam. Now the kids are free to stroll into work to play hackey sack all day and get paid. Gee I wonder why they don't produce shit?
I wish they'd just say, through official channels, that "we're not working on it now and until we find the right idea, it's not coming, so don't expect anything."
It feels like they wanted or want to continue to trade off of the desire and goodwill gamers have for Valve over their titles like Portal and Half-Life, but they don't want to do anything to please those fans. It just doesn't feel quite right that the group that basically carried Steam aloft in the early days when it was complete forced shit is now a mere afterthought because there's other, way less risky revenue fire hoses to play with at Valve.
Stiler
Member
I don't get why Valve doesn't make HL3 a VR game.
I mean each HL game pushed the envelope and used new technology to do so.
With HL1 it was the scripting and telling a story without resorting to cutscenes out of game, etc.
With Hl2 it was the use of physics and things as a core gameplay element.
Naturally HL3 they would want something new and exciting, and that's where VR comes in. With Valve being so close to the Vive and such it boggles my mind why they haven't went that route.
I mean could you imagine a full on VR Half life game? It would be amazing. It would also help push VR so much and VR really needs its "killer app" that drives people toward it.
I mean each HL game pushed the envelope and used new technology to do so.
With HL1 it was the scripting and telling a story without resorting to cutscenes out of game, etc.
With Hl2 it was the use of physics and things as a core gameplay element.
Naturally HL3 they would want something new and exciting, and that's where VR comes in. With Valve being so close to the Vive and such it boggles my mind why they haven't went that route.
I mean could you imagine a full on VR Half life game? It would be amazing. It would also help push VR so much and VR really needs its "killer app" that drives people toward it.
Pie and Beans
Look for me on the local news, I'll be the guy arrested for trying to burn down a Nintendo exec's house.
There's that flawless lack of management hierarchy at work again :/
GuitarAtomik
Member
Honestly, I think the only way we get it any time "soon" is if it's a VR game. For that same reason though, I don't think they'll even try to have it out for maybe 2-3 years at the minimum so that VR and the VR market can mature some. Hypothetically of course.
HL3 cant be a platform for future content so they have no business investing time and money into it.
Not to mention the company is a shell of its former self that lost talent over the years so theyre better off letting someone else do it for them. Kind of amazing how people work there solely to push cosmetic updates.
Not to mention the company is a shell of its former self that lost talent over the years so theyre better off letting someone else do it for them. Kind of amazing how people work there solely to push cosmetic updates.
Coffee Dog
Banned
I mean, this is exactly what people figured happened, but it's still a shame. Nobody at valve that was worth a shit considered it worth their time. It was just a video game, after all. Not a service that could generate gorillions of dollars and upend the industry.
Coffee Dog
Banned
I'm pretty sure they got farther with L4D3 than they ever did with Ep 3.
Yea doesn't sound legit to me at all. Also the idea that various teams working on different prototypes of HL3 seems really odd since it's such a big franchise.
I'm surprised so many people are taking this RTS/live action claim seriously. Sounds to me like Andrew Reiner isn't dishonest--just far too credulous to be a journalist. I'm almost positive he was had by his source who likely hasn't stopped laughing since this story broke.
If Reiner is a fan of the series, I can understand why he would want to accept an answer as to why HL3 hasn't happened, regardless of how absurd that answer appears to some of us without an emotional investment in the game. That sort of personal interest can lead people to accept even the most implausible of explanations.
There is absolutely no way that HL3 wasn't or isn't going to be an FPS rendered in real-time.
If Reiner is a fan of the series, I can understand why he would want to accept an answer as to why HL3 hasn't happened, regardless of how absurd that answer appears to some of us without an emotional investment in the game. That sort of personal interest can lead people to accept even the most implausible of explanations.
There is absolutely no way that HL3 wasn't or isn't going to be an FPS rendered in real-time.
I agree with Reiner: at this point I don't even have to play the game, I just want to read the script to know how it ends.
It sounds like they have a crazy way of developing. Although I do have to admit that I can somewhat relate to that work style. At my current job as long as all our current tasks are done my boss basically gives my co-workers and I carte blanche to test whatever we want and if we think it will work well for us and we can get it working he'll give us the go ahead to push it into our production environment. We've been able to integrate some really cool stuff into our web stack because of this, but A LOT of stuff we test doesn't make it.
It sounds like they have a crazy way of developing. Although I do have to admit that I can somewhat relate to that work style. At my current job as long as all our current tasks are done my boss basically gives my co-workers and I carte blanche to test whatever we want and if we think it will work well for us and we can get it working he'll give us the go ahead to push it into our production environment. We've been able to integrate some really cool stuff into our web stack because of this, but A LOT of stuff we test doesn't make it.