Page 1 of 1

Half-Life 2 (and the episodes)

Posted: 22 Oct 2016, 22:26
by lysol
I just finished playing Half-Life 2: Episode 2 for the second time now (finished it the first time around when it came out). Dammit why can't Valve make Half-Life 3 yet?! Episode 2 is such an epic game I can't understand why they would do this to themselves. Do what, you ask? Well, wait so long so that the hype is so friggin high they'll never be able to live up to the expectations. Also, the story writer of the half-life series left Valve too, so I don't know how they're gonna pull it off now.

I hate cliffhangers.

Discuss.

Re: Half-Life 2 (and the episodes)

Posted: 22 Oct 2016, 22:54
by Kael
Well, judging by the post, it seems like the writer has nothing even planned for HL3. I guess if they payed him a lot of money he might do it, but seems unlikely.

Re: Half-Life 2 (and the episodes)

Posted: 23 Oct 2016, 00:10
by AnyOldName3
The most credible leak I've seen about this is that Valve got scared after seeing how much flak Bioware got for the ending of Mass Effect 3, and put the project on hold indefinitely. The ending of the Half Life series has far more hype than that of the Mass Effect series, and even though it would be almost impossible for Valve to put out something as insulting as EA/Bioware did, it's a big enough concern to be taken seriously.

Now there's always the option for Valve to make a good game and avoid problems that way, but it's been so many years since they did anything other than make skins that they might have forgotten how.

Re: Half-Life 2 (and the episodes)

Posted: 23 Oct 2016, 03:53
by raevol
Here's my speculation:

Valve working continuously on the HL engine from HL1 to HL2. Even though there was a long gap between the games, they never stopped working. I would assume that even if they had a bit of a kerfuffle with the episodes, they're actually hard at work in Ep3 or HL3 right now, and just haven't announced it.

And my interpretation of Marc Laidlaw's statement that he wanted "a break from the collaborative chaos of game production" is that there's more than one cook in the kitchen when it comes to the writing for the HL series, even if he was the "official" writer, so his departure, while a setback, is probably far from the "end" of things.

Re: Half-Life 2 (and the episodes)

Posted: 23 Oct 2016, 06:03
by DestinedToDie
My guess as to what is going on.

Valve works on Half Life 3 for 3 years. Tester time.

Tester:"It's kind of average, not what I'd expect from the final conclusion of Half Life."

Valve reworks their game for 1 year.

Tester:""It's kind of average..."

6 years later. So much has been reworked, the game entirely changed.

Tester:"This is HL3? Not what I'd expect from HL3. I can hardly recognise it as the successor to HL2."

Re: Half-Life 2 (and the episodes)

Posted: 23 Oct 2016, 08:58
by lysol
@AnyOldName: Yeah, I've heard about that too, but I'm not sure if I believe it or not. I mean, to me, not releasing HL3 ever after the cliffhanger in Ep. 2 is just as bad as releasing a bad HL3.

Or wait, just came to think of the Star Wars prequels. Nevermind. Don't release a HL3 that is that bad, Valve!

@Raevol: I hope you're right of course, but it has been twelve years since HL 2 now (Crap I'm getting old...). Could they really have been working non-stop for twelve years with HL3?

@Destined: Who knows. It would suck if that's the case.

Re: Half-Life 2 (and the episodes)

Posted: 23 Oct 2016, 12:00
by Chris
I imagine Valve is too busy raking up all the Steam money to worry about developing a game. When was the last time they made a game? Left 4 Dead was done by someone else, and IIRC, Portal was as well (those are several years old at this point, also).

Re: Half-Life 2 (and the episodes)

Posted: 23 Oct 2016, 13:27
by lysol
Chris wrote:I imagine Valve is too busy raking up all the Steam money to worry about developing a game. When was the last time they made a game? Left 4 Dead was done by someone else, and IIRC, Portal was as well (those are several years old at this point, also).
Portal one was made by Valve as far as I know. Didn't they do Dota 2 also? But still, that game is four years old anyway, so I agree. Who knows if they even have any game developers still working there. If they do, they appear to just sit around, costing money.

Re: Half-Life 2 (and the episodes)

Posted: 23 Oct 2016, 15:42
by Svetomech
Portal one was made by Valve as far as I know
No, it wasn't. Well, not from the very start, at least. Ever heard of Narbacular Drop?