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NeoGAFs Kent Brockman
Half-Life Writer Explains Why Series Shares Same Universe With Portal
The writer behind the Half-Life series, Marc Laidlaw, has revealed some details about why the franchise crossed over with Portal.. Half-Life is one of the most beloved gaming franchises out there. It’s known for some incredibly innovative and creative gameplay with a super original, mind-bending...
comicbook.com
When speaking to RockPaperShotgun, Half-Life writer Marc Laidlaw revealed that there was a canceled VR game that was known as Borealis (likely just a codename) and presumably, would've explored some of those connections. Laidlaw wasn't super thrilled with the idea of connecting Portal and Half-Life, noting that Portal needed art and Valve ended up drawing upon something that was "Combine-y". However, Laidlaw still did his best to try and create a story that would strengthen those ties.
"All we could do is then try to incorporate them somehow," said Laidlaw. "I felt like doing this made both universes smaller, but from a franchise branding perspective, that's a good thing. I eventually did come up with a scenario in which we could connect Aperture and Black Mesa, and we had Borealis lying around from the earliest days of Half-Life 2, so I thought maybe we'd end up with some cool lore and backstory in the long run."
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Half-Life 3 Writer Reveals Why He Regrets Leaking Game's Story
Half-Life writer Marc Laidlaw has some regrets over leaking the story of Half-Life 3. There are a few games that many considered “fabled” in this industry, sequels or big projects that never materialized or have been in the works for an extended period of time that they don’t even seem like a...
comicbook.com
In 2017, Half-Life writer Marc Laidlaw posted a story online that was very clearly an outline for Half-Life 3. He changed the names of the characters and such, but it was all very tongue in-cheek and anyone who had any familiarity with the series knew what it was. However, the most tragic thing about it was that it was posted because it was also clear that it meant Half-Life 3 would not see the light of day beyond this word doc. Speaking with RockPaperShotgun, Laidlaw expressed his regrets about posting the story as he was in an isolating place in his life and didn't fully think it through. He also noted that the story he wrote likely wouldn't have reflected the hypothetical game people would've played due to the way things change in development.
"Eventually my mind would have calmed and I'd have come out the other side a lot less embarrassed," he says. "I think it caused trouble for my friends, and made their lives harder. It also created the impression that if there had been an Episode 3, it would have been anything like my outline, whereas in fact all the real story development can only happen in the crucible of developing the game. So what people got wasn't Episode 3 at all."
