[Mikko]

uraganotkirki, on 30 June 2013 - 10:22 AM, said:

What's wrong with games being used as tech demos? Well, it's in the question, really.

There's nothing wrong in showing off new tech, but using franchises people care about as guinea pigs might upset people.
Moreover, an over reliance is placed on the new tech to carry the game. This includes gameplay mechanics specifically designed to include these features.
Some of Half Life 2's physics puzzles were a little overbearing, the friendly AI system was great back then and is passable today, but I didn't feel it was necessary at all.

Well why should we assume Half-Life 3 is gonna be merely a "tech demo"? Half-Life 2 was awesome even if you didn't like it and certainly benefited from the (then) new engine.

[uraganotkirki]

After HL2's creative decisions, I don't believe Valve are capable creators anymore.
(In the sense of old school, gameplay driven games, as opposed to narratives)

What's more important is that gaming and gamers have changed A LOT, the major developers have shifted their priorities. On the rise is engine creation and licensing.
It's what feeds EPIC games and iD Software and I fear Valve are following suit. Unreal Engine 4 will roll out, ID Tech 5 has a headstart and Source 2 will enter the competition.

New and improved technology and competition is very, very good.. but why wasn't there a great title released the past 10 years?

You are right, though, it shouldn't be an outright assumption that HL3 is going to be a tech demo. Also they are being very secretive about Source 2 and it's capabilities.

[Master Fibbles]

HL2 was fun.

Has Valve ever made a "3" of their series?

I stand that they are not making HL3, just twiddling their thumbs and sucking the sweet sweet teat of TF2 and Steam.

[Kathy]

id tech 5 is a local engine of Bethesda/Zenimax. Thus it is not a viable competition to Source or UE, just like Frostbite isn't.

[----]

Source 2 also needs a serious change in wokrflow and production pipeline if they even want to compete in the licensing business.

CryEngine 3 will be used for a few projects but not as many as UE4 for example.

Unity will be dominant in smaller scaled projects and on mobile.

[Kathy]

Right now UE4 isn't being used much.

[----]

Cathy, on 30 June 2013 - 07:07 PM, said:

Right now UE4 isn't being used much.

It isn't fully ready yet, of course. They even just started the integrated partners program. for UE4 I meant when it is fully finihsed it will dominate.

[ReaperMan]

fuegerstef, on 30 June 2013 - 11:15 PM, said:

It isn't fully ready yet, of course. They even just started the integrated partners program. for UE4 I meant when it is fully finihsed it will dominate.

Unless Build 2 is created.

[Player Lin]

fuegerstef, on 30 June 2013 - 09:41 AM, said:

Do you really believe that there still will be a third HL2 episode and they haven't already thrown episodic content out of the window?

Look, Santa is not real and the Easter Bunny neither.

No, I guess my wrong grammar usage fucked myself up again...I mean that should be happened before they decided to thrown all episodic bullshit, for now it(HL2EP3) never be happens after Gabe said they already gave up on the episodic bullshit. HL3 or not, not considered it until it's sure to out and I have a new computer for it.

I don't believe miracle would be happens unless it happened.

[OpenMaw]

fuegerstef, on 30 June 2013 - 01:59 PM, said:

Source 2 also needs a serious change in wokrflow and production pipeline if they even want to compete in the licensing business.

CryEngine 3 will be used for a few projects but not as many as UE4 for example.

Unity will be dominant in smaller scaled projects and on mobile.

I can't see the workflow changing too much, given that they have massive community that is very comfortable with the tools in place. Though I could Worldcraft maybe being made over to have real-time compilation functionality and a little more intuitive control over placing map objects and such.

[Hank]

Commando Nukem, on 03 July 2013 - 05:27 AM, said:

Though I could Worldcraft maybe being made over to have real-time compilation functionality and a little more intuitive control over placing map objects and such.

Explain please, I am lost, like in the middle of the ocean, and cloudy sky, type of lost.

[OpenMaw]

Hank, on 03 July 2013 - 01:26 PM, said:

Explain please, I am lost, like in the middle of the ocean, and cloudy sky, type of lost.

Well what I mean is that one of the biggest issues Hammer/Worldcraft has is the way the maps are handled. You have to compile them which can be very time consuming (Light calculation and so forth.). Instead, the engine really needs to adopt a more traditional real-time rendering capability for Hammer. Even ol' Eduke32 has this capability these days. Basically it makes doing small tweaks to lighting and object placement very time consuming, because you can't see what it will actually look like until you're in the game to check it out.

[Micky C]

Commando Nukem, on 03 July 2013 - 09:02 PM, said:

Even ol' Eduke32 has this capability these days

Hasn't build always had real time rendering?

[NightFright]

In order to say something about HL3 again:

Maybe Valve has also become careful when observing how their competitors were doing in the meantime. Just consider Bioware which used to be a guarantee for top-notch RPGs until Dragon Age 2, Mass Effect 3 or SWTOR got released. Or as another example, id with Rage (actually not a bad game, but fans simply expected more). Players are possibly spoiled after many high quality releases, and as soon as you deliver something more average, it's already considered being "bad" and flops (which is a relative term since the media already speak of a flop when a highly anticipated blockbuster title sells "only" a few million copies).

It has become more difficult to satisfy player demands, and as long as HL3 can't live up to those expectations, I doubt they will dare to ever even consider a release. However, they are about to suffer from the DNF syndrome: The longer they wait, the higher the expectations are - and the more likely it is to disappoint them.

I have read about many speculations regarding HL3 recently, e.g. that it would actually depart from the FPS genre and tend towards an adventure, quest/mission-based and with reduced action. Whether it's true or not I can't tell, but I don't think it's such a good idea to keep fans waiting for so long. I prefer "transparent" development, i.e. devs involving the community, telling them where things are heading, asking for feedback and put it to good use to apply changes before release. From personal job experience, I can say it's NOT a success-promising model to create a game which is perfect in your own opinion, but without asking those you are making it for. In the end, you want them to buy and play it, and in order to accomplish that, they need to like it. So show them something! By the time you just throw it at them and it fails, it's too late. Avoiding damage is always a lot better than trying to repair it.

However, I guess since Valve has never done it like that, at least not regarding Half-Life and not as far as I can remember, I doubt it will be any different for HL3 in the end. Personally, I don't expect to see it before 2014 or even later. We can safely assume that development is going on for a long time already and should be in an advanced state, provided they haven't thrown it all into the garbage and restarted from scratch (which isn't too unusual by now, unfortunately). Let's hope the Half-Life tradition continues and we'll get a game that deserves its name. It doesn't need to be a milestone again, just a great game.

[Mikko]

The less they say the better.

[Richard Shead]

ReaperMan, on 01 July 2013 - 02:05 AM, said:

Unless Build 2 is created.

Don't tease like that...I've yearned for a sequel to Ken's Labyrinth for almost as long as I can remember.

[Master Fibbles]

Big fucking surprise: Valve isn't working on Half-Life 3.

[Engel220]

Personally I don't believe they'll further the HL series until they create a new engine, which Gabe Newell said was "under development" in late 2012 and was waiting "for a game to release it with". Portal 2's modified Source engine was good, but there's no way Valve would consider HL3 until they've got enough new tech to go with it. Considering that HL2 was Source 1's main pièce de résistance it stands to reason that Valve would want to promote their future new engine by using something that would set the world on fire after its announcement.

[Kathy]

"as far as I know"

[Gambini]

So you believe on what a voice actor says? based on his presumption that they´re not doing mocap? He´s not even a mocap actor....

[leilei]

I read it as "Source 2's inverse kinematic animation system isn't working right now"

[CryptKiller]

Blake Stone 3 would make me more interested at the moment than another faux-news regarding HL3. It's colosally stupid that with every non-news about HL3 everyone stops breathing for a moment. We're like pavlow's dogs right now in this manner :/

[Lunick]

Of course they aren't working on Half-Life 3, they are working on Left For Dead 3

[OpenMaw]

They're working on Half-Life 2 Part 2. That way it can be done.

[Master Fibbles]

They are working on making more money from Steam and sucking that cow dry. They are also working on how to get as much money from people who are waiting for Hal-Life 3 as possible.

I'm actually at a point where I may not even buy Half-Life 3 if it ever comes out.

[Hank]

http://www.theguardi...alve?CMP=twt_gu

this article sums it up more nicely, Valve may not want to work on a project so hyped up, that it wont be able to satisfy the hype.

[MusicallyInspired]

Actually, I heard that they ARE working on L4D3.

[Richard Shead]

Commando Nukem, on 17 August 2013 - 05:03 PM, said:

They're working on Half-Life 2 Part 2. That way it can be done.

Bit late to the party, eh?

[OpenMaw]

Duke Rocks, on 17 August 2013 - 06:01 PM, said:

Bit late to the party, eh?

Of course not.

[Inspector Lagomorf]

Duke Rocks, on 17 August 2013 - 06:01 PM, said:

Bit late to the party, eh?