disappeared
Banned
we'll never know.
Marc Laidlaw reveals Half-Life 2 Episode 3's story synopsis
- Thread starter dex3108
- Start date
we'll never know.
Interficium
Banned
How does listing off (in every case 2+ years old) numbers of devs per game team prove your initial claim that "Valve doesn't work on primary development for anything, they rely on contracting to do the bulk of the actual development."
I'll wait.
Doctor Ironic
Member
They sold Episode 1 and 2, and you bought them, and got Episodes 1 and 2. Congrats. Transaction over.
If they were selling a season pass with the promise of Episode 3 being included that you already paid for, you'd have a right to be mad. Now? Nah.
Frozenprince
Banned
Concepts probably but i doubt anything other than maybe the most BASIC of assets ever existed for it.
Hell I don't think much of anything ever existed for episode 3. We've never even seen a character model. A texture. A potato screenshot from somebody at some point.
This thing had to have just been perpetually trapped in concept phase.
torre_avenue
Banned
Tf2 has about 6-7 actual developers working on it, I believe. The rest are audio designers, artists, story folks, and writers.
Being in this thread has also made me realize that in my entire life, HL Ep3/HL3 is the only vapourware product that I've actually been furious about. Not really even because of the lack of its presence but more about the reasons behind why that's become the case and its handling.
Auto-Reply
Member
In a fictional either/or reality, I'd happily sacrifice HL3 for all the other stuff! HL3 would have been a game I had played years ago and already had replayed a few times, just like HL2... that's not even close to what we got with all the other Valve achievements. (SteamVR is possibly the only reason I'm still playing videogames at all)
Electret
Member
Amazing to consider that:
(1) we've heard just about nothing for years of the successor to Source, an extremely popular and long-lasting engine, and
(2) L4D3 hasn't seen an ounce of daylight since that GAF leak years ago, despite the game ostensibly aligning perfectly with the company's service-based direction.
If this isn't evidence of systemic dysfunction at Valve, I don't know what is.
(1) we've heard just about nothing for years of the successor to Source, an extremely popular and long-lasting engine, and
(2) L4D3 hasn't seen an ounce of daylight since that GAF leak years ago, despite the game ostensibly aligning perfectly with the company's service-based direction.
If this isn't evidence of systemic dysfunction at Valve, I don't know what is.
holy shiiiiiiiiiiiii
TheSecondSpitter
Member
Who is not admitting it? We are just reflecting over the recently published obituary.
Doctor Ironic
Member
L4D3 was likely never a thing. All people had to "confirm" its existence were stuff like an internal project ledger that listed it alongside other such projects as "buttsbuttsbutts" and "Half-Life 7," and a remake of a L4D2 map in Source 2 made as an internal tech demo - which means nothing.
Rad. Nice to have something, whatever Valve decide to do with the IP going forward. I rather have this sort of thing and let Valve make their own plan for it than the "gamerz" centric rationale of "farm it out to naughty gods" etc. I rather see it crash and burn or move forward in a way that is for more interesting than simply getting "more of the same" that this forum seems to adore alone. That isn't what HL should be imo.
https://twitter.com/marc_laidlaw/status/900971191019622400
https://twitter.com/marc_laidlaw/status/900971191019622400
disappeared
Banned
TheSecondSpitter
Member
The nearest we got to an official confirmation was the story about the deaf character and the incorporation of sign language into the game. That was 2009.
https://www.engadget.com/2009/08/07/valve-researching-sign-language-for-use-in-half-life-2-episode/
There was even this video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2LnP3JgbM0
MontyBrown
Banned
Sounds real good.
Fuck Valve for abandoning the fans who made them. They went from the best to a bunch of cunts.
Fuck Valve for abandoning the fans who made them. They went from the best to a bunch of cunts.
We will eventually know
Relaxed Muscle
Member
watch portal videos tomorrow
A bit off topic here but I recently played CSGO for a few days. Those skins are atrocious, I don't understand why everyone has fluro guns like a unicorn vomited on them. I've seen maybe 2-3 skins that I liked. Dota hats I totally understand, but the gun skins? No idea.
I used to love modding CS with custom skins back in the day, but they were still normal looking guns (for the most part).
Rodney McKay
Member
Well said.
I appreciate all the work and effort they put into stuff like Dota 2 and CS:GO, but as someone who doesn't really play multiplayer games, Valve no longer exists as a game developer for me, and it's been that way since Portal 2 came out over 6 years ago.
That doesn't sound like a lot to me at first, but my life has changed immensely since then. And the only thing Valve has put out since then that I've enjoyed at all is the Steam Controller (which I still have several issues with, but the not holding my breath for a redesign for another 6 years).
The story for Half-life Episode 3 leaking is something I've wanted to happen for a long time. I gave up hope for the game ever getting made years ago, but all I wanted was just the basics of what would happen.
Obviously I'd have preferred experiencing this all in game-form (the way Half-life tells its story is one of the main things I love about it), but it least this closes the story they left dangling for so many years.
Bronetta
Ask me about the moon landing or the temperature at which jet fuel burns. You may be surprised at what you learn.
I used to think Valve was waiting to release Source 2 before they'd come out with the trilogy of Half-Life 3, Portal 3 and Left 4 Dead 3 but to see it end like this...
Valve all about their hats and Dota 2 money now.
Valve all about their hats and Dota 2 money now.
TheSecondSpitter
Member
Well, because they cock teased it for years and years.
Also, it was never officially announced.
Also, arrogance.
disappeared
Banned
Sure, yeah. But it won't matter by then, I suppose. We'll be like Marty in the arcade in BttF2.
Valve: Single player games? Baby's toy.
I mean, legally you're perfectly right. Morally and artistically it's perfectly legit today criticize Valve for leaving the series of episodes without a conclusion.
GlassBurrito
Member
There it is. It's finally over. I've gotten closure to Half-Life in the way I expected Shenmue to conclude - in a written summary. I can't believe this year. It's like a loved one being missing for years and after so long is finally confirmed deceased. That hope that was held on to vanishes and you are left with a somber reality. But, at least you can take solice in that there's no reason left to worry. They can't hurt you anymore Gordon.
Doctor Ironic
Member
It holds EVEN LESS water when we think of it "morally and artistically." Morally it's fucking heinous to insist that an artist be captive to their audience's demands, and artistically, it's a great way to ensure either shit art or great art that's entirely about how much the artist hates their audience.
That's totally fine. The "Valve doesn't have to make Half-Life" argument isn't aimed at you, though - it's totally okay to be bummed that one of your favorite developers doesn't make stuff you're interested in anymore, but actually getting mad about it and thinking less of them as a company is what's ridiculous. Imagine if I got shitty with Netflix because they don't do much with DVDs by mail anymore.
The argument is aimed at stuff like this:
CrunchyFrog
Member
I'm not convinced even THIS is happening anymore, unless Valve is planning some crazy out of the blue surprise release. Which frankly at this point is just beyond cruel given the obvious intensely negative reaction to the Artifact announcement. They ported DOTA2 to the engine all the way back in 2015, claiming it would be a test run for their new development pipeline. Fine, take some time to get used to the new engine then maybe we can see something new come out as a followup. Now they not only announce some no-effort card game using recycled assets from DOTA2 but on top of it that the only other thing they wanna announce is that they're now gonna waste time porting CS:GO to Source2 too? What the hell have their engine developers and designers been up to for the last few years? Valve seems perfectly content to play around with esports, endless cosmetics and loot crates (though even the majority of THAT is now getting outsourced to the community), along with meatless VR experiences. And lets be clear, they CHOSE to go down that route. I refuse to believe for one second that with the kind of capital that Steam must rake in on a regular basis that they don't have the resources to do whatever the fuck they want in regards to game development, hiring more devs, releasing episode 3 as a comic if they couldn't do the former, licensing out the IP to another willing developer with strict supervision if they're so damned worried about quality, so throwing their original fans a fucking bone at some point before jettisoning literally the entire team responsible would've been nice. This whole lack of transparency to maintain artistic integrity bullshit is tired at this point. At some point Valve decided that they didn't feel like making Half-Life anymore, at the same time deciding not to tell the rest of us.
Interficium
Banned
Bedameister
Member
Oh boy.
Well at least we got some kind of closure to this thing. I'm actually happy now. That sounds fantastic and just like the game I had wish to play. Would have been amazing.
But now I can finally let go. I accept my fate that I will never play Half-Life 2:EP3 or Half-Life 3. It's over.
Fuck you Valve
Well at least we got some kind of closure to this thing. I'm actually happy now. That sounds fantastic and just like the game I had wish to play. Would have been amazing.
But now I can finally let go. I accept my fate that I will never play Half-Life 2:EP3 or Half-Life 3. It's over.
Fuck you Valve
EatChildren
Currently polling second in Australia's federal election (first in the Gold Coast), this feral may one day be your Bogan King.
Straddling XANDER's superb post, the notion that fans shouldn't expect release of or vocally proclaim disappointment at the absence of a conclusion for a marketed series is utterly absurd. I understand the complexities and artistic weight of investing in projects, but Half-Life as a series is iconic, one Valve marketed to a feverish, long standing fanbase as a three part episodic series, and completely, utterly failed to deliver on or engage in discourse related to an ending.
A creative team clearly struggled to invest fully in a third title after burnout, but there's no evidence energy or effort was put towards addressing this. Worse, Valve chose to consciously disengage from the very real and valid discussion of "Where is Episode 3?" to instead cynically sweep the absence under the rug. To this day Valve still acts like Half-Life either doesn't exist or Episode 3 does exist and may come out but you must wait and see winkyfaceemoticon
The whole experience over the last few years and PR approach has been a rich vein of utter bullshit. One now, with bittersweetness, has been resolved the only backhanded way it could be from arguably one of the last remaining professional bastions of the franchise.
Kitschy tongue-in-cheek comics and wacky press releases cannot obscure legitimate negligence towards their crowning series and legacy fanbase.
A creative team clearly struggled to invest fully in a third title after burnout, but there's no evidence energy or effort was put towards addressing this. Worse, Valve chose to consciously disengage from the very real and valid discussion of "Where is Episode 3?" to instead cynically sweep the absence under the rug. To this day Valve still acts like Half-Life either doesn't exist or Episode 3 does exist and may come out but you must wait and see winkyfaceemoticon
The whole experience over the last few years and PR approach has been a rich vein of utter bullshit. One now, with bittersweetness, has been resolved the only backhanded way it could be from arguably one of the last remaining professional bastions of the franchise.
Kitschy tongue-in-cheek comics and wacky press releases cannot obscure legitimate negligence towards their crowning series and legacy fanbase.
PhantomThief
Banned
So for instance, GRMM shouldnt have to write the final books in the song of fire and ice series because fans should be happy with what they got?
Lol
The signs were all there when the core members started leaving. I tried to stay positive and believe in Gaben but it's come to this I see.
Jan 8, 2016 Eric Laidlaw leaves Valve. Damn, well they hired new writers so they must have something to work with... but he was the only writer for the first two games...
Feb 17, 2017 Erik Wolpaw leaves Valve. Oh okay, he was one of the funny guys but I'm sure they'll be ok. I mean they still got Chet.
May 2, 2017 Chet Faliszek leaves Valve. Oh FUCK he was Erik's bud, they were a real pair, that sucks, who's gonna be funny now?
Jun 7, 2017 Jay Pinkerton leaves Valve. That's okay, I don't think he really worked on Half-life anyways...
Alright cool, there's no more main writers for the Half-life series.. wait are there any writers left at Valve anymore? Heh, it's okay, it's only been what.... 5 years since Gabe hit that crowbar on an anvil? Shit's gonna be so good when it comes out.
Aug 24, 2017 Eric Laidlaw posts the plot of Episode 3 through a twitter post. FUCK the series is truly dead. I can't fucking believe it. Thanks Eric Laidlaw for the closure, but fuck you Valve for wasting this talent.
Jan 8, 2016 Eric Laidlaw leaves Valve. Damn, well they hired new writers so they must have something to work with... but he was the only writer for the first two games...
Feb 17, 2017 Erik Wolpaw leaves Valve. Oh okay, he was one of the funny guys but I'm sure they'll be ok. I mean they still got Chet.
May 2, 2017 Chet Faliszek leaves Valve. Oh FUCK he was Erik's bud, they were a real pair, that sucks, who's gonna be funny now?
(no disrespect to Jay Pinkerton, oh wait he leaves too doesn't he.)
Jun 7, 2017 Jay Pinkerton leaves Valve. That's okay, I don't think he really worked on Half-life anyways...
Did he?
Alright cool, there's no more main writers for the Half-life series.. wait are there any writers left at Valve anymore? Heh, it's okay, it's only been what.... 5 years since Gabe hit that crowbar on an anvil? Shit's gonna be so good when it comes out.
Aug 24, 2017 Eric Laidlaw posts the plot of Episode 3 through a twitter post. FUCK the series is truly dead. I can't fucking believe it. Thanks Eric Laidlaw for the closure, but fuck you Valve for wasting this talent.
He changed the character names. People are just switching them and filling in the blanks.
Sad Affleck
Member
Me too brother. Me too.
TheVampire
Banned
Why did this guy wait so long to tell us the story ?
Oh, I see, so that's why he did all of this.
You're probably right about pretty much everything. I need a drink.
Electret
Member
What if the judge is a Half Life fan?
SoundPulse
Banned
NDA expired, presumably.
Rickenslacker
Banned
NDA
PartTimeWarrior
Banned
Apparently the NDA expired not too long ago
torre_avenue
Banned
This era has come to an end.
Finally, I can let go.
Once Valve inevitably kills TF2 by assigning less & less people, that'll be it for my relationship with them.
Finally, I can let go.
Once Valve inevitably kills TF2 by assigning less & less people, that'll be it for my relationship with them.
