Support NeoGAF

[Draugoth]

"I think we had really explored a lot of what made sense in the Half-Life universe and setting," Riller said. Writer Marc Laidlaw echoed that feeling, noting that even Arkane was struggling to do new things in its canceled Ravenholm spin-off.

When Left 4 Dead needed help shipping, the Episode 3 team paused work on the next Half-Life campaign to pitch in, and like a hobby woodworking project that gets put down for just a moment and winds up collecting dust for decades, that was its ultimate demise.

Engineer David Speyrer says that it was "tragic and almost comical" that, after Left 4 Dead was out the door, they felt like they'd missed their opportunity to finish Episode 3 and needed to make a new engine if they were going to continue the series.

"That just seems in hindsight so wrong," Speyrer said. "We could've definitely gone back and spent two years to make Episode 3."

Source

 

[Buggy Loop]

That was me when I got to that part of the documentary

 

[ShadowNate]

I mean they have a point, and it's good to have the reason directly from Gabe's and the Valve team's mouth, but Episode 3 did not really have to be on an new engine, and arguably would make more sense to be compatible with PC's that could run HL2 original, maybe with a few sacrifices.

And then they could move on to thinking about Half Life 3 as a proper sequel on a better engine with more tech and gameplay innovations.

But the more critical thing is that they got stumped on not finding enough cool / never before experience stuff to put in EP3 at the time.

 

[Grildon Tundy]

They don't want to iterate on HL if it isn't a revolution. Half Life 3 will be a neural-interface interactive experience.

 

[Hot5pur]

Alyx is quite good.
But Valve holds itself a bit too much in high regard. They sit on the Steam cash cow and instead of making games they do what exactly??
With so much resource you'd think people who are passionate about games would actually make more games.

 

[Johnny Concrete]

So Episode 3 was left for dead. Got it.

 

[Lucifers Beard]

I understand what they're saying and it's fine by me. I want them to make a game they are proud of and would like to make rather than shit something out and give it the Half Life name.

 

[Balducci30]

Honestly this makes it pretty clear to me they think they’re gonna release half life 3. I don’t think they’d be talking about it this way otherwise

 

[rofif]

We already have this topic

Drama - We never got EP3 because Gaben couldn't think how to reinvent the wheel again...

He says it in the documentary: Watch the final section of the documentary. They say "in the hindsight, it was so wrong. We could've just finished it" Then Gabe says he didn't made EP3 because they couldn't think of a way to revolutionize for it. 'My personal failure was being stumped': Gabe...

www.neogaf.com

 

[TintoConCasera]

Alyx is quite good.
But Valve holds itself a bit too much in high regard. They sit on the Steam cash cow and instead of making games they do what exactly??
With so much resource you'd think people who are passionate about games would actually make more games.

Google Deadlock or Counter-Strike 2.

 

[Hot5pur]

Google Deadlock or Counter-Strike 2.

A generic hero shooter and an update to CS:GO?
I rest my case.

 

[Reaseru]

Excuses, excuses...

When will Gabe (and Valve) admit they don't want make more games because they make a shit ton of money with Steam? It's easier and better to keep a sucessful Steam up to date than to waste years and braincells to develop a game that might sell well or not...

Does anyone here doubt that if Steam hadn't become the success that it is today, that Valve would have made countless Half-Life games by now?

 

[LordOfChaos]

Nah. I've been here too many times, it's been too many years. Every read into hint about it goes nowhere.

 

[chakadave]

I don’t care.

Valve can do what they want. They don’t really have to release games. But I wish they would let someone release games. Instead of just acquiring talent and nothing coming out of it.

Where is campo santo? I liked those guys when they were Idle Thumbs and around Gaf. I assume they are more align with Re at this point. But Firewatch was good and they could have released the follow up but they disappeared.

I’d like to see a few people at Valve do an immersive sim.

 

[HJuggernaut]

Gabe believed that if Half Life 3 was poorly received it would negatively impact the steam store which is why he cancelled it. I don't think many of us remember the backlash against valve and steam after Left 4 Dead 2 was released only a year after Left 4 Dead 1. Gabe wasn't going to risk another backlash.

 

[tkscz]

Gabe believed that if Half Life 3 was poorly received it would negatively impact the steam store which is why he cancelled it. I don't think many of us remember the backlash against valve and steam after Left 4 Dead 2 was released only a year after Left 4 Dead 1. Gabe wasn't going to risk another backlash.

I distinctly remember how bad that got even though L4D2 was a big step up from 1. I could understand not wanting to finish Episode 3 if they felt it would cause more damage to the brand.

 

[HJuggernaut]

I distinctly remember how bad that got even though L4D2 was a big step up from 1. I could understand not wanting to finish Episode 3 if they felt it would cause more damage to the brand.

Gabe had to fly out 2 Aussies that were presidents of the anti-Valve fan club after the L4D2 fallout to give them a tour of the HQ and try to mend things.

 

[archangelmorph]

All pretty much irrelevant now.

I doubt anyone at Valve still knows how to make and ship a game anymore.

I think nearly all of that institutional knowledge is probably long gone.

 

[FireFly]

Excuses, excuses...

When will Gabe (and Valve) admit they don't want make more games because they make a shit ton of money with Steam? It's easier and better to keep a sucessful Steam up to date than to waste years and braincells to develop a game that might sell well or not...

Does anyone here doubt that if Steam hadn't become the success that it is today, that Valve would have made countless Half-Life games by now?

So all the artists and designers they have been hiring recently are coming to work on Steam?

 

[Cyberpunkd]

All pretty much irrelevant now.

I doubt anyone at Valve still knows how to make and ship a game anymore.

I think nearly all of that institutional knowledge is probably long gone.

With how lately EA and Ubisoft have been doing while employing thousands of people that are supposed to know how to ship a game - I don’t think this argument works very well.

 

[AMC124c41]

All pretty much irrelevant now.

I doubt anyone at Valve still knows how to make and ship a game anymore.

I think nearly all of that institutional knowledge is probably long gone.

There's this little game called Half-Life Alyx that proves otherwise. If you can you should check it out as it proves vALVE very much still has the design chops and can still build an awesome single player experience.

 

[rofif]

There's this little game called Half-Life Alyx that proves otherwise. If you can you should check it out as it proves vALVE very much still has the design chops and can still build an awesome single player experience.

It’s a good vr game but very neutered gameplay wise for a half life game.

 

[Barakov]

All pretty much irrelevant now.

I doubt anyone at Valve still knows how to make and ship a game anymore.

I think nearly all of that institutional knowledge is probably long gone.

Nah. If that was the case Half-Life Alyx wouldn't exist. I think the better theory(or what Gabe Newell straight up said in the Half-Life anniversary video unless I'm misremembering) is that they ran out an ideas for episode 3. They basically squeezed all the gameplay ideas they had for the gravity gun dry. I think they realized it wasn't worth anybody's time unless they were able to create at the very least something as interesting as that to make a episode 3 or even a straight up Half-Life 3.

The ending of episode 2 was a gut punch and a cliffhanger. Still I'd rather they end it there and not make something they didn't want to make.

 

[Hudo]

I still think that Arkane's Ravenholm epsiode getting cancelled is a shame.

 

[MrCunningham]

When Left 4 Dead needed help shipping, the Episode 3 team paused work on the next Half-Life campaign to pitch in, and like a hobby woodworking project that gets put down for just a moment and winds up collecting dust for decades, that was its ultimate demise.

Engineer David Speyrer says that it was "tragic and almost comical" that, after Left 4 Dead was out the door, they felt like they'd missed their opportunity to finish Episode 3 and needed to make a new engine if they were going to continue the series.



Source

Yeah, wrapping things up in Episode 3 just so it can hit a conclusion would have been a cop-out. None of the other Half-Life games (including the expansions) have a conclusive ending.

It is interesting how episodic gaming was predicted to be the next big thing in gaming. To be fair, the only company to pull it off was TellTale games. They couldn't maintain that as a business model in the long run.

After that 20th year anniversary documentary. It really became apparent that they will be skipping Episode 3 and moving on to HL3. Alex does cancel out Half Life Episode 3.

 

[AMC124c41]

It’s a good vr game but very neutered gameplay wise for a half life game.

I'll agree that the difficulty of encounters is rather low and I would have liked to have enemies that were a bit faster to maneuver around the play area but when it comes to everything else vALVE is still firing on all cylinders. They are still really good at level design, puzzle design, creating awesome atmosphere, etc. As a massive Half-Life fan I was grinning from ear to ear while playing it, having an awesome time.

 

[rofif]

I'll agree that the difficulty of encounters is rather low and I would have liked to have enemies that were a bit faster to maneuver around the play area but when it comes to everything else vALVE is still firing on all cylinders. They are still really good at level design, puzzle design, creating awesome atmosphere, etc. As a massive Half-Life fan I was grinning from ear to ear while playing it, having an awesome time.

I finished it 3 times so I know.
What matters - the first playthrough is amazing.

 

[SkylineRKR]

HL3 or Episode 3 reached a point where it can never deliver expectations. Its been too long. I can see why Valve has been reluctant to it. The game can potentially only damage the brand, which is synonymous with the biggest PC online store nowadays.

I think the ship has sailed. Its safer to do a VR game, or any experimental thing than a full blown sequel.

 

[AMC124c41]

I finished it 3 times so I know.
What matters - the first playthrough is amazing.

Also, for context, HL Alyx is clearly them just putting a toe back in the water testing things. I got the Final Days of HL Alyx digital book over Christmas and they admit there that they had to cancel so many games including versions of HL3 because Source 2 was a bag of poo for a long time so HL Alyx was a way for them to ship something smaller on the now working engine and help their VR product at the same time.

I'm excited to see what they announce next regarding HL as they're clearly working on something. BTW I'm not arguing here just keeping the discussion going

 

[AJUMP23]

People would have been happy with more of the same.