
Writing for Half-Life - douche
http://www.marclaidlaw.com/writing-half-life/
======
qwertyuiop924
This echoes what Yahtzee said about the game years later, and it still rings
true: Half-Life is such a powerful experience precisely because you never
leave the shoes of Freeman. Its story interleaves with its gameplay, and the
pieces are all there to see, but if you just want to shoot some aliens, that's
okay too.

It's a collection of innovations and feelings that few other games have been
able to capture.

On an unrelated side-note, if you've played Half-Life, Freeman's Mind is a
must-watch: it's an astoundingly funny bit of comedy that is just so
brilliant.

Yahtzee Crowshaw's (yes, the very same guy I mentioned above) LP of the game
(Let's Drown Out All Of Half-Life), while by no means a must-watch, is also
reccomended.

~~~
M_Grey
I think that's why Half Life 3 is still so desirable for so many who were
influenced by that story, despite the reality that it's almost certainly never
going to be made.

By the way, is Yahtzee still slumming it on the Escapist, or has he done the
Patreon thing like Jim? He always seemed too good for that place.

~~~
m_mueller
I don't think 'never' is very realistic. HL3 would be the perfect killer app
for selling Vive VR headsets, I'm reasonably sure they are working on
something like that. Although Portal does actually make more sense in terms of
how the transport mechanics can work together with a VR rigged room, however
HL3 could easily introduce a teleport mechanic as well based on its backstory.

~~~
M_Grey
All of that is true, but consider that in the years since HL2 came out, that
anticipation and fan theories have gone through the roof and back again. Valve
has since stopped being a developer, and prints money with Steam, and a big
part of the goodwill they garner has to do with their reputation as sterling
game devs.

Now, you have to ask if HL3 could ever hope to meet the expectations of the
modern gamer, many of whom were probably just born when HL2 was big and have
no real connection to it. What do they have to gain from it? What do they have
to lose? I'd argue that they're making so much money now they don't
particularly need the expense and risk of developing a game that, even if it
is quite good, stands to potentially harm their reputation.

~~~
m_mueller
I don't think it's quite true that Valve has completely given up on
developing. Their last release is Dota 2 from three years ago. If you follow
the rumor mill, there's often asset leaks going out from various source
updates to TF and Dota2 - development certainly hasn't stopped, it just seams
that they only announce something when they know they have something that sets
new standards.

~~~
aethr
Valve released a complete engine rewrite for Dota 2 only about 12 months ago,
Dota 2 Reborn. They also release major game updates regularly.

Aside from Steam, Valve (the developer) seems to be putting a lot of focus on
esports right now. Many of the recent updates to Dota 2 seem to be new
features and quality of life improvements for casters and spectators.

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patrickmn
Working link:
[http://web.archive.org/web/20161003094237/http://www.marclai...](http://web.archive.org/web/20161003094237/http://www.marclaidlaw.com/writing-
half-life/)

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AceJohnny2
> _Before beginning work on Half-Life, I encountered a lot of comments to the
> effect that a first person shooter didn’t need a story—that hardcore gamers
> didn’t want one, and that anything more complicated than a bunch of moving
> targets and some buttons to push would be lost on them._

I remember reading a long time ago that John Carmack insisted that Doom and
Quake needed nothing more than one interact button and the depth of level
design of finding keycards to unlock doors.

Considering how ID Games have been received after Half-Life, i.e. criticized
for their lowbrow gameplay and story, I wonder if he ever really understood
how wrong he was.

~~~
jerf
Was he, though? There were actually quite a few very complicated first-person
shooters at roughly similar times. System Shock was released in 1994, Quake
1996. One could argue that System Shock is _currently_ held in higher regard
(and you'd still be having an argument, it would not be universal agreement,
although I'm firmly in the System Shock camp), but System Shock sold 170,000
copies to Doom's millions and Quake's millions.

Sometimes gamers have to learn to walk before they can enjoy running.

~~~
duaneb
Perhaps you can make a successful game without a decent narrative, but I think
he underestimated how much of the enjoyment comes from developing an
attachment to the avatar.

~~~
zanny
You can develop an attachment in a game like Doom or Quake just by feeling
amazing acquiring a new weapon and being terrified when entering a new room on
low health.

The player is supposed to _be_ the avatar. You aren't playing Gordon Freeman,
you _are_ some space marine fighting the hordes of hell or dimensions
incomprehensible.

You have an emotional investment in your character because your success or
failure in combat dictates if you live or die. It is surely a _simple_
connection, but it also certainly exists. It is implicit to almost any video
game.

~~~
duaneb
I guess I've never gotten that vibe before—the only thing tying me to the
protagonist is being human, which sometimes doesn't even hold true. The idea
that I would even _want_ to be a space marine is absurd. Why would I _want_ to
get shot at?

It makes much more sense it you view it as a target practice game instead of
one with a narrative.

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jakebasile
Since HL3 is probably never going to be released, I'd love it if Valve
released any script or story notes they had for it. I want to see what
would/could have happened.

~~~
reubenmorais
Marc Laidlaw has answered this question at least one time: Half-Life doesn't
exist separated from the game. There _is_ no script, since there is no game.
Story and game are developed as a single thing. I guess they still have some
concept art and very sparse ideas, but nothing like a script.

~~~
jakebasile
True. I'd be ok with concept art and notes, anything really. The world and
story were fascinating to me and it just stopped with no closure.

~~~
spyspy
There's probably a treasure trove of storylines and ideas from HL2 that would
be incredible to read, though.

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douche
I would encourage anyone who finds this interesting or just loves Half-Life in
general to also read the preceding entry _Mathoms from the Lamda Files_ [1].

Half-Life was just such an _experience_. Even almost 20 years later, it might
be the best game I have ever played.

[1] [http://www.marclaidlaw.com/mathoms-lambda-
files-c-1998/](http://www.marclaidlaw.com/mathoms-lambda-files-c-1998/)

~~~
pietromenna
I am unable to access at all the sites. Really curious to read the main
article

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Jaruzel
Site is down, and I can't get the archive.org copy to render the top of the
article... If anyone else has this problem I've managed to scrape the article
text into a pastebin:

[http://pastebin.com/MMTDBTr3](http://pastebin.com/MMTDBTr3)

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kowdermeister
Cached version:
[http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:9rY5vbr...](http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:9rY5vbr3xqAJ:www.marclaidlaw.com/writing/half-
life/+&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=hu)

~~~
AceJohnny2
That doesn't seem to be the actual linked page. Confusingly, there's both
/writing-half-life/ (original link) and /writing/half-life/ (your cached link)
on the server.

I can't get google to give me a cache of the actual article.

Edit: server's fixed

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laktak
Anyone remember [http://www.hlcomic.com](http://www.hlcomic.com)?

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van_gaal
Hug of death?

