Echoes of Episode Two

1up is carrying an interview from the latest CGW, talking with David Speyrer (Half-Life 2: Episode Two Project lead) about what we can expect in the next episodic content release. Typically, Valve is not exactly forthcoming with information on the title, which is expected around Christmas. Just the same, Speyrer has some interesting things to say about Valve's design process. From the article: "It's cool to realize that so many of the elements that we take for granted today, like the gravity gun or our companion A.I., were risky R&D projects during the development of Half-Life 2 or Episode One. Continuing at that rate as we release more episodes is pretty exciting for us as designers, and for our customers. We'll bring many elements from Episode One forward into Episode Two, but we expect to use dynamic scripted sequences extensively. They allow close interaction between NPCs during combat--such as Alyx wrestling with zombies in Episode One--and because they happen spontaneously, every player will see different interactions at different moments in the game."

Portal

[Iwanowitch]

Well... It doesn't really matter for me what Episode 2 is all about, as long as this [youtube.com] is included...

Re:I should really play HL2

[PFI_Optix]

You can't kill them with the g-gun and a soda can. I'm just talking about throwing it when you are just holding it.

I've loaded up the game with the super g-gun to play with. You do it by first loading a map where it is given to you, using the all weapons cheat, and then loading an earlier map, if I remember correctly. One of the more interesting side-effects of this is that scripted NPCs are duplicated when you grab them, so that you're holding the NPC with the gun, but their script continues working like it should. I made a rather large pile of Barneys that way.

(at least, that used to happen. I notice it doesn't work on episode 1, so it may have been fixed in a recent update to HL2.)

Re:Portal

[Conspiracy_Of_Doves]

That is exactly what I was going to say. Prey [prey.com]'s got nothing on Portal.

BTW, have you played Narbacular Drop [nuclearmon...ftware.com]?

As I went to the web site to confirm the URL, I just noticed that there are 15 new fan-made levels. I must play them when I get home.

Re:I should really play HL2

[DesireCampbell]

No, you can't hurt them - you just piss them off. They'll come at you with their electro-batons and give you a couple of good whacks. Though, until you have your HEV suit, I don't think they'll kill you.

The point of the 'pick up the can' scene is the games' way of teaching you how to pick things up and throw them with some accuracy, and in a non-lethal setting. You can keep trying over and over until you get it right. HL2 does this with almost every new item or character in the game (as mentioned in the HL2-ep1 commentary), they'll show you a new tool, or item, or character, or monster and show you what it does in a way that won't kill you. But that's also your cue to watch out for them in the next scene where they will kill you.

Re:I should really play HL2

[fireduck]

Amen to immersive physics. In HL2 there's a lever puzzle, where you've got to put enough weight on one end in order to use the lever to get to a higher ledge. That was a fairly cute little puzzle to demonstrate picking up and dropping of objects as well as the power of in-game physics. (There's actually a couple different variations of this puzzle throughout the game.) Ep1 has a similar puzzle, but no where near enough weight lying around to keep it counterbalanced. So you've got to come up with a different solution. Stumped me for a while, until it suddenly popped to mind. As I was trying it, I though there was no way it was going to work. Surprisingly it did. When that happens in a game, you know they've achieved something special.

The biggest downside to the immersive physics and the interactible world is that the developers have to cheat and put invisible walls in at certain places to keep you following their idea of how a scene is to be carried out. A good example of this in Ep1 is the queen antlion attack. You jump down into the warehouse and if you've moved enough boxes around, you can climb back into the room you came from. However, there's a ledge that Alyx jumps to, at the same height as your room. If you move the boxes over there, you'll find that you aren't allowed to jump on that ledge. The developers wanted you on the ground getting batterred, rather than up on a ledge taking potshots at their big bad monster.

Re:Hmm..

[Drooling Iguana]

The Nazis in the original Medal of Honor didn't say "oh sh*t", but they would throw the grenade right back at you 90% of the time. 'Twas quite the pain in the ass.