Half Life 2: Episode 3 assets referenced in Alien Swarm SDK

Genesis Knight

Genesis Knight

Member
Click for a larger version:



StickZer0 from the Steam forums gets the credit:

Mama Robotnik said:
What we now know about Episode III:

-There is a blob.

-The blob can spawn, shake, fire and spit.

-The blob can also "brain".

-The blob that has brained can cover and regenerate.

This find has revealed more information about the game than the last few years combined!
Click to expand...
 
B

badcrumble

Member
I'm just happy Episode 3 exists. I don't get the people who want it to go straight into HL3; Episode 3 should close out the City 17/Alyx story arc (and maybe even the Combine story arc) so that Half-Life 3 can take place in a totally different setting/time all over again.

Let's hope Portal 2 has more stuff hidden in the SDK (I'm guessing that it'll also tease a bit more about Episode 3 in the game itself, of course).
 
M

Mama Robotnik

Member
What we now know about Episode III:

-There is a blob.

-The blob can spawn, shake, fire and spit.

-The blob can also "brain".

-The blob that has brained can cover and regenerate.

This find has revealed more information about the game than the last few years combined!
 
Genesis Knight

Genesis Knight

Member
Mama Robotnik said:
What we now know about Episode III:

-There is a blob.

-The blob can spawn, shake, fire and spit.

-The blob can also "brain".

-The blob that has brained can cover and regenerate.

This find has revealed more information revealed about the game than the last few years combined!
Click to expand...

LOL, adding to main. :lol
 
F

FoneBone

Member
badcrumble said:
I'm just happy Episode 3 exists. I don't get the people who want it to go straight into HL3; Episode 3 should close out the City 17/Alyx story arc (and maybe even the Combine story arc) so that Half-Life 3 can take place in a totally different setting/time all over again.

Let's hope Portal 2 has more stuff hidden in the SDK (I'm guessing that it'll also tease a bit more about Episode 3 in the game itself, of course).
Click to expand...
I don't think it'll be called HL3 but I think it won't be Episode 3, and will be a full-priced game.
 
R

Rapstah

Member
Info_node_hint are the AI nodes that Striders and other semi-scripted NPCs use, right? I guess we can assume this AI will be semi-scripted too.
 
V

Visualante

Member
Pretty sure I read that Adam Foster was hired to go work on Episode 3 maps. He was hired a couple years ago now and is still there, so I'd assume he's still on it.

The interesting thing will be if they nodes can actually interact with anything else in the SDK to determine what they do.
 
K

Krev

Unconfirmed Member
badcrumble said:
I'm just happy Episode 3 exists. I don't get the people who want it to go straight into HL3; Episode 3 should close out the City 17/Alyx story arc (and maybe even the Combine story arc) so that Half-Life 3 can take place in a totally different setting/time all over again.
Click to expand...
It feels like Gordon/Vortigaunts really might overcome G-Man and break the cycle of his always waking up somewhere new when an assignment comes up. I can easily see a pessamistic 'G-Man wins' ending where he regains control like always and it all starts again in HL3...but I don't know, I'm not sure if players will feel like going through all that again.
 
E

Easy_D

never left the stone age
Mama Robotnik said:
What we now know about Episode III:

-There is a blob.

-The blob can spawn, shake, fire and spit.

-The blob can also "brain".

-The blob that has brained can cover and regenerate.

This find has revealed more information revealed about the game than the last few years combined!
Click to expand...
Blob is probably an Advisor.
 
B

badcrumble

Member
FoneBone said:
I don't think it'll be called HL3 but I think it won't be Episode 3, and will be a full-priced game.
Click to expand...
Maybe. I dunno. I mean, they can probably get away with making it full-length and calling it Episode 3 because it's Valve and this is Half-Life and everybody will want to buy it. I suspect there'll be some sort of arrangement similar to the Orange Box too, if only to allow Valve to sell the entire Half-Life 2 story in one package.

Of course, there's always the possibility that Portal 2 is much more closely tied to Episode 3 than we realize, though I think that'd be a very weird approach.

Krev said:
It feels like Gordon/Vortigaunts really might overcome G-Man and break the cycle of his always waking up somewhere new when an assignment comes up. I can easily see a pessamistic 'G-Man wins' ending where he regains control like always and it all starts again in HL3...but I don't know, I'm not sure if players will feel like going through all that again.
Click to expand...
I think it'd be pretty dull to have the HL2 episodes end that way when the entire point of the Episodes (in terms of the story, anyway) was to disrupt the fact that HL2 ended so similarly to HL1. Having Gordon simply go back into some sort of temporal imprisonment again at the end would really invalidate the value of that.

But I do think there'll be a Half-Life 3 eventually, that Valve will want to move to a new setting and cast of characters and have the plot jump forward again, et cetera; I'm just not sure how we'll get there.
 
V

Victrix

*beard*
Bizarre, I was going to make a snarky post about the total lack of info and apathy about Ep3/HL3

But I guess brain blobs is something
 
M

Mama Robotnik

Member
So, theories then?

-What is the blob's relationship with The Combine? Is it the colloquial name for a multi-dimensional Empire (The Blob) similar to The Combine but in a cold-war state of hostility? Are they the mysterious bidders for the G-Man's services?

-Is the blob, when brained, a clone of Nihilianth?

-Is the blob Adrian Sheppard, who has been mutated ("brained") by the G-Man, to "spawn", "shake", "fire" and "spit" in hunting down Gordon Freeman?

-Is "the blob" a derogatory nickname given to the gestalt formed when a Combine Advisor took on both the consciousness of Doctor Breen (intended), but also took on took on the escaping AI consciousness of GlaDOS (unintended)?

-Is the blob, brained or not brained, Gordon Freeman from the future?

There's loads to work with here.
 
J

Jay Shadow

Member
Mama Robotnik said:
So, theories then?
Click to expand...
My theory is that it won't end up in the final game and everyone will be outraged about this thing that they never announced in the first place. Followed by years of "Why did they cut the blob? It was so awesome" based on a few level editor hooks.
 
M

Mama Robotnik

Member
Jay Shadow said:
My theory is that it won't end up in the final game and everyone will be outraged about this thing that they never announced in the first place. Followed by years of "Why did they cut the blob? It was so awesome" based on a few level editor hooks.
Click to expand...

They can't cut the blob! Its by far the most well-known central plot point and story arc for the entire game.
 
E

EVIL

Member
my theory is the blob belongs in xen

also my theory is that xen will be way cooler then in hl1 (which probably requires no effort at al since xen in hl1 sucked donkey balls!)
 
S

Scipius

Member
badcrumble said:
Maybe. I dunno. I mean, they can probably get away with making it full-length and calling it Episode 3 because it's Valve and this is Half-Life and everybody will want to buy it. I suspect there'll be some sort of arrangement similar to the Orange Box too, if only to allow Valve to sell the entire Half-Life 2 story in one package.
Click to expand...

Many "modern" shooters are already fast approaching the length of a HL2 episode, despite being supposedly full length. Valve can go right ahead with calling it Episode 3 als long as it's still shorter than HL2.

badcrumble said:
I think it'd be pretty dull to have the HL2 episodes end that way when the entire point of the Episodes (in terms of the story, anyway) was to disrupt the fact that HL2 ended so similarly to HL1. Having Gordon simply go back into some sort of temporal imprisonment again at the end would really invalidate the value of that.

But I do think there'll be a Half-Life 3 eventually, that Valve will want to move to a new setting and cast of characters and have the plot jump forward again, et cetera; I'm just not sure how we'll get there.
Click to expand...

Gordon going back into stasis is a good way of ensuring HL3 can be as different from HL2 as HL2 was from HL1. I wouldn't mind if they used the device again for Ep3; Gordon breaking free from the G-Man's hold should really be the focus of an entire game, not something that occurs at the end of an episode that centres around breaking free from the Combine. The HL series has been going with this lesser/greater master element for some time now; they can afford to let it play out in the next game.
 
E

Easy_D

never left the stone age
Victrix said:
Horribly unfunny cake level memes are all but guaranteed now
Click to expand...


This comic has never been this appropriate.
 
E

EmCeeGramr

Member
As a note, Alien Swarm has a three-legged version of what clearly looks like the Gonarch (which in HL1 could spawn (baby headcrabs) and spit).
 
K

K' Dash

Member
Fucking Valve, I'd gladly bend over for my fucking Ep III.

*Maldito Valve, gustoso me agacharia por mi maldito Ep III.
 
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