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Classic Games (Games) First Person Shooters (Games) Entertainment Games

Half-Life As A 2D Side-Scroller? 41

Posted by simoniker from the head-crab-flash-shock dept.
Allen Varney writes "Why wait for Half-Life 2 when you can wait instead for Half-Life 2D? 'Codename: Gordon' is a free, fan-produced jump'n'run side-scroller adapted from the original Half-Life. It'll be done in a month, but for now there's screenshots and a two-minute gameplay video."
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Half-Life As A 2D Side-Scroller? More

Half-Life As A 2D Side-Scroller?

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  • for your NeoGeo... remember that one?
  • Codename: Gordon is a wacky Jump 'n Run Game inspired by Half Life 2 and created using Flash and Photoshop for the graphics.

  • 2D games (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Henry V .009 ( 518000 ) on Monday August 04, 2003 @01:39PM (#6608169) Journal
    Anybody else sorry that 2D games died the death when the consoles all got 3D engines? I like first person shooters, don't get me wrong, but it seems like they have far less possible variety than the old 2D games. 2D seems far better suited to our screens. Games have gotten better as systems have progressed, certainly, but I don't know that they have lived up to their potential. Compare the new 3D versions of Metroid and Zelda to their 2D forbearers. Does the 3D add that much to the game? If the makers had continued on the 2D track with those games would we be better off? Just look at all of the effort that went into Warcraft 3 to make it 3D -- in my mind that effort could have surely been spent better elsewhere.

    • Re:2D games (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Acidic_Diarrhea ( 641390 )
      First of all, 2D games are not dead. There are still 2D games released for all the major consoles each year. And why do you think that a 2D game can have more variety than a 3D game? I mean, anything that can be visualized on screen in 2D can be visualized on screen in 3D. Perhaps the first person shooter market has been flooded with a glut of dark-hallway games but that's not a limitation of the dimensions offered in the game; it's just a lack of creativity from the people who greenlight games and a lack o

      • Re:2D games (Score:5, Interesting)

        by Henry V .009 ( 518000 ) on Monday August 04, 2003 @02:45PM (#6608809) Journal
        All modern first person shooters are 3D, and more than that, it's the fps viewpoint from that 2D Doom that is the basis for how most 3D games are organized today.

        I had the opposite feeling about Mario 64 that you did. I thought the extra dimensions took quite a bit away from the game. I bought it right when it came out, and I recall that a lot of people at the time agreed with me.

        Your last argument is a straw man. All I said was that the 2D game style has a lot more room for innovation than the 3D. Adding that extra dimension means a lot of design compromises because of the extra freedom that you are allowing the gamer. The only game that I can think of which has overcome it well and created a feeling that harkens back to the old button smashers is Serious Sam. There are others, surely, but not too many.

        I guess a lot of it boils down to 'aim and click' style versus 'manuver' style. There are certainly games that can overcome this, but it's hard.
        • And I'll add that while Doom is 2D from a rendering standpoint, it's almost a 3D game from the players point of view. That's because you don't need to use actual 3D polygons to make it look like you're moving through three dimension. Just go back that ancient Nintendo game 'Globewalker' (or something like that). It's even easier to make a 2D game with a 3D redendering system.

      • Although Doom's engine was sorta-2D, the user experience was strictly 3D, as are all FPS games. Calling Doom a 2D game is dishonest. It's just as dishonest as calling Super Smash Bros. a 3D game when it's a 2D game on a 3D engine.

  • retro.c (Score:4, Funny)

    by Andy Smith ( 55346 ) on Monday August 04, 2003 @02:03PM (#6608373)
    <include "warm_and_fuzzy.h">
    <include "recommendations.h">

    if (game_status==AVAILABLE_NOW) {
    download();
    enjoy();
    } else {
    recommend("Download NeoRAGE emulator");
    recommend("Download Metal Slug NeoGeo ROM");
    recommend("Enjoy!");
    }

    // Those screenshots look great!
  • Does anybody remember 'Abuse'? Awesome game, what there was OF it...
    • Yeah, I played the demo, it was real cool. I think I used my mouse for that game before I started mousing in doom/quake. Fun stuff though, i kinda wish i had invested in the full version (although it probably wouldn't run properly on my XP computer now like every other interplay game ever released)
    • Abuse was released to the public domain when crack.com went bankrupt. You can download it and play the full version from underdogs [the-underdogs.org] and not even worry about stealing :)
      It works on 98/XP just fine. Of course if you hate Microsoft then the source code can also be dug up with a little googling allowing someone to make a linux version.
      • Hey, that's cool - when last I played the demo, it was on Linux, and the full version wasn't out, as far as I can recall. I never realized the full game even came out. Nifty.

        And what's a saladpuncher? Is that like a saladshooter, only less violent? :)
        • I found the source code and the most current downloads here [abuse2.com]. You are correct, there is already a linux version (as well as Mac, Dos, Windows and even IRIX!). The source code is done in Lisp. I think this is the first and only time a major game release was made using this language. Someone correct me if I am wrong.
          **Off topic stuff follows**
          Saladpuncher came about when I was younger staying up late watching commercials with some friends. We saw the saladshooter and were suprised that something so worthle
          • I was playing Abuse on Linux in 1996, so 'already' a Linux version is kind of a strange thing to say. :) I wasn't aware until today that it had been made for anything else. *shrug*

            re: saladpuncher

            This could also be like a cowpuncher, only for salad. Now, every time I think of that song, I'm going to think saladpuncher, I'm sure. Thanks so much. :)

          • I think this is the first and only time a major game release was made using this language. Someone correct me if I am wrong.

            Actually, most of Abuse was written in other languages. According to SLOCCount, 115799 lines (91.45%) ANSI C, 6792 lines (5.36%) C++, 2066 lines (1.36%) Lisp, and the rest is shell script and assembly. (I just realized I always have the Abuse source tree ready, for some obscure reason... I haven't even read much of the code =)

            It had a Lisp interpreter for interpreting creature AI

        • And what's a saladpuncher? Is that like a saladshooter, only less violent? :)

          Well, in the phrase "tossing the salad" the "salad" is the arsehole. Therefore, the action "punching the salad" should be pretty obvious.

  • Horror of horrors. (Score:4, Funny)

    by Ayanami Rei ( 621112 ) * <rayanami@@@gmail...com> on Monday August 04, 2003 @02:06PM (#6608393) Journal
    It's a side scrolling game written in flash.

    ::faints::

    On the plus side I can run it on my *nix boxie.

  • 2d to 3d (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Reapy ( 688651 ) on Monday August 04, 2003 @02:08PM (#6608413)
    Moving from 2D to 3D games was more then just a change in graphics... it was the dump of a whole genera. The playstyle in any 3d game is much different then the 3d, if not just for the fact that in 3d you have to fight with the camera.

    Done well, a 3d game is a lot of fun and can look great. But games that handle the 3d camera properly are few and far between. But you miss stuff in a 3d game. I recal watching my friend play half life, missing out on some great scripted sequences because he was looking the wrong way.

    2D is just great with no camera hastles, not missing any content, and the gameplay can be just all around fun. Like was mentioned above, the snes zelda was the best. Zelda was awesome for that top down view, moved to n64, and gc, it was ho hum.

    Really, they should make more games ala donkey kong, creating the world in 3d, then generating the sprites from the renders. I really enjoy that look to a game.

    Anyway, this reminds me of the old duke nukem games which I loved, this should be fun :)
  • It's HL inspired, but I see a lot of Bionic Commando in there too... Don't you guys think?

  • I'll play in a year... (Score:3, Funny)

    by cbuskirk ( 99904 ) on Monday August 04, 2003 @02:30PM (#6608654)
    When someone posts the Counter Strike mod.

  • Nice, but I was hoping for an actual Half-Life mod (Score:5, Interesting)

    by grahamwest ( 30174 ) on Monday August 04, 2003 @02:32PM (#6608681) Homepage
    Not to take anything at all away from the people working on this, because it certainly looks pretty cool, but when I read the headline I was thinking someone had made a side-scroller using Half-Life itself (like Pandemonium, for example). A modern 3D game provides a lot of stuff that is useful for making 2D games too. Maybe when Half-Life 2 comes out someone will make a killer side-scroller using all the animation and lighting and physics systems of the core game?
    • ah, like Duke Nukem Manhatten Project. THe game came with my new grafx card and appears to be the quake 3 engine made into a sidescroller... but with all duke's badassery. i wish more games like this would come out. thje only other one that comes to mind is Super Smash Bros.

  • How much longer until... (Score:3, Funny)

    by M3wThr33 ( 310489 ) on Monday August 04, 2003 @03:06PM (#6608991) Homepage
    How much longer until someone makes a 2D version of Metroid Prime?

  • Yay.. (Score:1)

    by roka ( 211127 )
    this could run on a P60.. oh wait it's in flash.. curses.. *throws away Duron 900*
    • Don't worry. It doesn't look like he's putting too many animation frames int he game (see video), so even if it's unbearably choppy you won't miss all the animation...

  • Possibly short-lived? (Score:2, Interesting)

    by exick ( 513823 )
    How long before Vivendi gets word of this and sues these guys for IP infringement?

  • Soldat: a 2D multiplayer game (Score:1, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Reminds me of Soldat:
    Soldat is a unique side-view multiplayer action game. It takes the best from games like Liero, Worms, Quake and Counter-Strike and gives you fast action gameplay with tons of blood and flesh. Soldiers fight against each other on 2D battle arenas using a deadly military arsenal.

    Home Page [soldat.prv.pl] and the Google-Cache [google.com]
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