5 Years!!!!!

chriso20

chriso20

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To say VAVLe have been 'making' this game for 5 years what COULD they have been doing?

i mean with the technology they had after HL1 they couldn't have even thought about the physics system or better graphics or character muscles (otherwise they'd have done it in HL1), and so what could they have been doing with their time until this technology came about?

GUESS'

1) Inventing the technology :p

2) Making maps. as we can see from the 36hour+ game time they must have spent a LONG time as some point making them.
Also to back this up they've got a mapping prog that changes HL1 maps to new HL2 maps so i'd guess they used this themselves so they made it in HL1 quality then upgraded them. :)

What ever they did pretty damn good job :)

What do you think they did with their time?
 
concept art and writing

o, and expansion packs, patches, CS, other HL mods, made Steam...
 
Uhm.. the bulk of the time was used on developing an engine from the ground up.
 
**NEWS FLASH** Games take time. /**NEWS FLASH**
 
chriso20 said:
To say VAVLe have been 'making' this game for 5 years what COULD they have been doing?

i mean with the technology they had after HL1 they couldn't have even thought about the physics system or better graphics or character muscles (otherwise they'd have done it in HL1), and so what could they have been doing with their time until this technology came about?

GUESS'

1) Inventing the technology :p

2) Making maps. as we can see from the 36hour+ game time they must have spent a LONG time as some point making them.
Also to back this up they've got a mapping prog that changes HL1 maps to new HL2 maps so i'd guess they used this themselves so they made it in HL1 quality then upgraded them. :)

What ever they did pretty damn good job :)

What do you think they did with their time?
Click to expand...

Where do you people get this 36 hours of gameplay from? I hope your not talking about hl1 because it only takes about 3 hours 30 mins tops 4 hours to beat the 1st time around.
 
Valve themselves said 36+ hours...it says in the overview page.

News flash: Hl2.net has content pages, you know. Not just a message board.

Yes, you CAN NOT finish HL1 on hard within 3 hours. Heck, it takes like 15 minutes just to kill one marine on hard...
 
Raziel-Jcd said:
Where do you people get this 36 hours of gameplay from? I hope your not talking about hl1 because it only takes about 3 hours 30 mins tops 4 hours to beat the 1st time around.
Click to expand...
The first time around? Yeah, right... I dunno about you, but most people don't run the whole way through a game on their first play.
 
lans said:
Yes, you CAN NOT finish HL1 on hard within 3 hours. Heck, it takes like 15 minutes just to kill one marine on hard...
Click to expand...

actually you can, wasn't the speed record like 42 min. now? exploits of course, but that's still finishing.
 
SMT said:
**NEWS FLASH** Games take time. /**NEWS FLASH**
Click to expand...

Yeah but not 5years normally lol (that wasnt the point anyways) it was about the technology stuff.
 
It's amusing how some people think programming something as complex as Source should be easily done. They don't understand that really the number of distinct game engines used currently can be counted on one hand.
 
yeah, but that wasnt their first time. I bet they played it at least 20 times b4 that...
 
ACLeroK212 said:
actually you can, wasn't the speed record like 42 min. now? exploits of course, but that's still finishing.
Click to expand...

45:45......
 
yes it can be speed run using loads of tricks and bug exploits in 45 mins 45secs, and its quite an entertaining watch.

But developing a game engine from scratch, that has taken 4 years, the rest of the time was developing content.
 
they haven't just worked on source either. Plus i don't think they were expecting to go gold with their first game ever. It's quite an achievment to go from unknown to the most anticipated game ever and i guess they had to get used to the way they dealt with that.
 
Where can I get the demo? You said you watched it... I must see =D
 
2) Making maps. as we can see from the 36hour+ game time they must have spent a LONG time as some point making them.
Also to back this up they've got a mapping prog that changes HL1 maps to new HL2 maps so i'd guess they used this themselves so they made it in HL1 quality then upgraded them.
Click to expand...

No, it doesn't work that way.
 
Think of it like building a car. If you already have the plans for a car which has been around for a while, and all the facilities to just mass produce what you already want, than the time is small (all things considered). Remember that the body has already been designed, the engine too, all the bugs have been worked out etc etc etc. It's like building a model car...the parts are there on the sprues....just cut them off and glue 'em together.

Now take a concept car which has never been seen before other than from a sketch on some guy's desk (compare that to the source engine). You'd have to design that from absolute scratch....think of all trial and error of getting in what you want to include.

Think of the surprises you find you can do in this new concept, but will take more time to add and could very well influence other areas of the build which, too, may have to change. But it's such a good idea you HAVE to take the extra time to make the game the best it can be.

Think of the things that come along with the constant advancment of technology which you wish to add...more time taken there.

Think of the current hardware vs the hardware which will be available when the game is finally done...that's a big concern.

Think of the things which simply will not work no matter how hard you want them to and spend time trying (and this could be a huge problem). That could take a LOT of time to make things right. Look at HL1...they scrapped a lot of stuff and redid a good portion of the entire game over that year delay at the end.

And all this doesn't even take into account maps/levels/characters/weapons/plot/interaction level/ etc etc.

Using the model car analogy: building from the ground up like SOurce is would be like having to carve each piece individually from metal, mold it in plastic, all the time knowing mistakes will be made and have to be fixed along the way...and then....once things start to fit right, you could START to actually build the model car....but then again, what if you start to build it with some of the first parts and decide you don't like the look of something? Well, what you've built would have to be redone.

It's a pretty complex process overall in my eyes and I respect all game companies for these reasons.

Now HL3...hopefully it will be based on a revamped Source engine so there shouldn't have to be a ton of rebuilding of the main parts of the engine and the game should come a lot faster (hopefully!)
 
They have other games than Half-Life you know.

VALVe spent 5 years on Source, patches, CS, XPacks, and other games.
 
I dunno, Id rather wait a few years for HL3 with a brand new engine, capable of doing so much more, than wait 2 years for a revamped version of Source, struggling under some limitations. Then again, the Source engine is very versatile, and it could be improved enough to break through some barriers.
 
I'm sorry, I didn't read the thread, but isn't it six years?
 
Ol'Master said:
I dunno, Id rather wait a few years for HL3 with a brand new engine, capable of doing so much more, than wait 2 years for a revamped version of Source, struggling under some limitations. Then again, the Source engine is very versatile, and it could be improved enough to break through some barriers.
Click to expand...

HL3 will have the same engine probably. Only updated further (probably)

You'll have to wait for HL4 or 5 for a new engine probably. (If there is even going to be HL4, and 5..:p)

This is my own opinion...some people might think different though...
 
chriso20 said:
To say VAVLe have been 'making' this game for 5 years what COULD they have been doing?

i mean with the technology they had after HL1 they couldn't have even thought about the physics system or better graphics or character muscles (otherwise they'd have done it in HL1), and so what could they have been doing with their time until this technology came about?

GUESS'

1) Inventing the technology :p

2) Making maps. as we can see from the 36hour+ game time they must have spent a LONG time as some point making them.
Also to back this up they've got a mapping prog that changes HL1 maps to new HL2 maps so i'd guess they used this themselves so they made it in HL1 quality then upgraded them. :)

What ever they did pretty damn good job :)

What do you think they did with their time?
Click to expand...


Are you joking or...? I know exactly what they were doing, BUILDING THE ENGINE/GAME. And physics, muscles, etc was exactly what they were thinking about after HL1. That is when they started building HL2. They didn't do it in HL1 because that was many years ago and they had already built the engine... Do you think they spent their time just sitting there? Or that the Source engine was built in like a month? Of course they were making the technology. And making maps? Uh, what? It takes a bit longer to build an engine then to design a map.

chriso20, please don't post until you know more about the game and the engine.
 
The relation between the number of line of code and time is exponential in any project. This is why games no take a great deal longer to make than in the past. Its also why people are using 3rd party tools like havok ect. In the not to distant future some companies will build only game engines and as is already happening others will build only games.
 
Indeed but I prefer VALVe's way of creating everything themselves. They know what they want, so they create it.
 
it was 5years a year ago. Now its 6years. Okay? 6years no longer 5years.

6 Flippin years.....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
 
search for "quake done quick" and you should get Quake in 15 minutes and hl 1 in 42 minutes (something like that)
 
News flash:they weren't workingm on it continuously. They probably waited a couple years to see how thier game would do. They didn't know how popular HL would be. Then they worked on expansions, CS, DOD, patches, etc for a while. They may have planned it, but actual coding, testing, and debugging prolyl didn't start till prolly a couple years a go.
 
i don't mean to flame, but people seriously need to get this into their heads.

IT TAKES YEARS TO MAKE GAME ENGINES.

some people seem to be living in a fantasy world that games are still as complex as pong. as the years go on, and games become more and more complex, the time it takes to make them will become exponentially larger.

you can't just write into a computer: make this object interact with this object; or, splinter this piece of wood. it takes time people. LOTS of time.

/rant. i could go on for longer, but i'm sure you don't want me to.
 
I know what they have been dooing.. they are secretly done the game.... and they are PLAYING IT RIGHT NOW! MEANYSS!
 
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