lambda^2
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Okay, this article was published on http://www.computerandvideogames.com today, though the author obviously wrote it before or during the E3. But it contains tons of information I haven't read (or seen) anywhere else so far, see for yourself. (And yes, Ive seen the Gamespot videos and interview, this here is totally new, at least to me)
Actually I'd only post a link to the article, but you have to fill a bunch of annoying registering forms there to read it, so I just copy-pasted the whole article... I hope this doesn't violate forum rules.
As i see there's a 10k character limit for every post, I'll have to cut some parts, you know where to find the full article. This here is something like 1/3rd of it.
----
HALF-LIFE 2
Martin Korda travels 6,000 miles to uncover the game the whole world's been waiting for
[...]
The Laws of Physics
"The first thing I'm going to show you is the tech engine, which we're calling Source. We've decided not to come up with a big engine name. First off, I'll show you the physics," began Doug as he panned around the tech-level on screen. Barrels, cans, bullet casings, bottles and dead bodies lay discarded on the ground, all boasting a level of detail I'd never seen in any game before. Although sparse, the environment was crisp and convincing, beautifully textured and shaded. With an object manipulation device (which won't feature in the game itself) he picked up a barrel and dropped it from a height. It slammed to earth, sending a hollow metallic crash resounding round the room, as it wobbled onto its side and began slowly rolling towards the edge of the screen with a satisfying grate.
[...]
Order and Chaos
Suddenly something unexpected happened. The rolling barrel, which we'd both assumed had stopped, had somehow gained enough momentum to drop into a pit on the other side of the level. "Wow, I've dropped that barrel a thousand times and it's never done that before." exclaimed Doug, a wide grin spreading across his face. Chaos Theory in a game engine? Now that's quality.
Over the next ten minutes, Doug let me play with a series of objects, each of which reacted exactly as they would in the real world. Bottles clunked and bullet cases rang as they hit the floor, each material and object making a different sound depending on what it came into contact with, and from what height it was dropped. But it was the rag-doll physics of the dead bodies that were most impressive, spinning and bucking when thrown against walls, sliding convincingly off a ledge when placed precariously on the edge of one. Taking a shotgun, I blew a wooden box to pieces, and watched as it splintered into a heap of jagged-edged planks. Then, walking over the wood-chippings, Gordon's movement became hampered by the irregular surface as he battled to maintain balance. "Both you and the NPCs will be weighted, and have physics properties simulated. Jay Steloy, our lead programmer since 1996, has been working on this technology for the better part of four years." Clearly it's been time well spent, and despite Doug's understated comments, Half-Life 2's physics system is without a doubt the most life-like I've ever seen.
[...]
"There's a guy called Dr Paul Ekman (www.paulekman.com) who did a bunch of research on the mentally ill, to find out what it means to look mentally ill. He came up with this whole language of facial expressions, incorporating the 40-odd facial expressions we all make, which can be mixed to create a sub-set of facial expressions. We basically took things from his research and made it applicable to Half-Life 2's facial animation system. So we have these simple sets of facial animation fonts, and they can be applied to Alyx, to an alien or whoever we want."
[...]
"After we got the faces and expressions right, we decided we had to go beyond the standard puppet, one-bone mouth look that we had in Half-Life, when characters spoke. Creating realistic lip-synching and acting was a really hard thing to do. We came up with a system that can go through and take the basic structures of a WAV file and extract the data for the mouth movement. So you can extract your sound or line of dialogue, inbed it into a WAV file independent of the game's language, and play it back across the facial animation system. This system identifies the sounds and volume which dictate the size of the opening and closing of the mouth. So you could drop in a line in English or Spanish and it will lip-synch it accordingly."
[...]
After this we moved to an area which Doug referred to as his Character Zoo, a series of rooms filled with enemies new and old. Reprising their role as cannon fodder are the Bullsquids and Head Crabs, although this time there's a whole family of the latter, ranging from the tiny to the unsettlingly large. Likewise, Zombies reappear, the symbiosis of the face-hugging Head Crabs and the hapless humans they infest, as do the ceiling hanging, string-on-a-mouth Barnacles, boasting incredibly detail with their multiple moving parts, which made them look little short of horrific. Apparently, there'll be more than 50 different enemies in all.
[...]
"As you can see we're doing full animation on these guys. One of the interesting things about them was getting the collision detection correct, so that it looks right when they're taking steps. These guys may need to climb stairs, or walk over uneven terrain, and all the while there's a whole load of work that's going on under the hood to make sure all this stuff comes to life, which we think will make the game really unique."
Finally, sensing my impatience to see the game in action, Doug quickly showed me a room full of extras, citizens of City 17 who will go about their lives around you. "These people won't have quite the level of facial animation that the main characters will have, as they won't be delivering any heavy duty lines. They'll all be unique, but many of them will be variations of each other." And on that note, he quit out of the level. It was time for me to get my hands dirty.
[...]
But there was no time to celebrate. The other zombie had recovered and was once again advancing, intent on ripping out my lungs and using them as bagpipes. And then, an idea (a first for me). Aiming at the bridge just in front of my assailant I fired. Shards of wood flew into the air just as the zombie stepped into the now gaping hole, flailing wildly as it sunk into the water, helpless as I finished it off.
I looked over at Doug, who was grinning, and realised I was panting like dog in a sauna. Even in that one, short minute, the combination of many of the elements Doug had shown me had came together in one sublime whole.
[...]
And what about the actual combat AI, what nuances can we expect there? "If an enemy sees you as a threat, but there's also another creature in the area that's also a threat, the AI will work out which is the greater threat to it and attack that target first."
To prove his last point, Doug fired up a recording he'd made of one of the levels. In it, Gordon attacked an Antlion Guard before running away and taking cover under some rocks. In a show of canny determination the Antlion probed the makeshift shelter from every side, trying, struggling, but ultimately failing to reach its quarry. From the distance came the rhythmic pulses of an engine. Seeing his opportunity, Gordon sped off towards the sound, pursued by a now incensed Antlion Guard. Within seconds, they were in sight of an armoured vehicle guarded by marines. The terrified soldiers opened fire on sight at the Antlion Guard, who waded in viciously, clawing rabidly at its new targets, and ripping them to shreds. Then it turned to the vehicle. Sniffing at it at first, it gave it a tentative shove, sending the APC rocking sideways onto two wheels. A blue flare arched from the vehicle into the sky, as the marines desperately called for reinforcement. Seconds later, the APC was sliding down a ravine, toppled by a ferocious attack by the Antlion Guard. While it was still occupied, Gordon unloaded a clip into the beast, and as it slumped to the ground, exhaling its last and sending a cloud of dust spiralling into the air, a drop ship full of reinforcements arrived.
Enter The G-Man
"That was all AI, came a voice from the far end of the room." It was Gabe, who had come back to sit through the final parts of the demonstration. "If you played that level yourself, it could have ended up completely differently. Nothing you just saw was scripted." I must have looked amazed, probably disbelieving, as Gabe took a seat next to me, and explained how HL2's AI system has been designed in order to give the player a sense of total freedom and immersion. "Because the AI can react in so many different ways, you'll never know what it's going to do. Is it going to smash through a door, open it, cut a hole in it? This makes them seem scarier and more consequential than your average AI. The way we see it is that if a creature is no more than a weapon's delivery system, then that creates a really narrow choice of interaction possibilities.
[...]
All of a sudden, September seems like a very, very long way away...
Martin Korda
-----
Hope you enjoyed it!
Actually I'd only post a link to the article, but you have to fill a bunch of annoying registering forms there to read it, so I just copy-pasted the whole article... I hope this doesn't violate forum rules.
As i see there's a 10k character limit for every post, I'll have to cut some parts, you know where to find the full article. This here is something like 1/3rd of it.
----
HALF-LIFE 2
Martin Korda travels 6,000 miles to uncover the game the whole world's been waiting for
[...]
The Laws of Physics
"The first thing I'm going to show you is the tech engine, which we're calling Source. We've decided not to come up with a big engine name. First off, I'll show you the physics," began Doug as he panned around the tech-level on screen. Barrels, cans, bullet casings, bottles and dead bodies lay discarded on the ground, all boasting a level of detail I'd never seen in any game before. Although sparse, the environment was crisp and convincing, beautifully textured and shaded. With an object manipulation device (which won't feature in the game itself) he picked up a barrel and dropped it from a height. It slammed to earth, sending a hollow metallic crash resounding round the room, as it wobbled onto its side and began slowly rolling towards the edge of the screen with a satisfying grate.
[...]
Order and Chaos
Suddenly something unexpected happened. The rolling barrel, which we'd both assumed had stopped, had somehow gained enough momentum to drop into a pit on the other side of the level. "Wow, I've dropped that barrel a thousand times and it's never done that before." exclaimed Doug, a wide grin spreading across his face. Chaos Theory in a game engine? Now that's quality.
Over the next ten minutes, Doug let me play with a series of objects, each of which reacted exactly as they would in the real world. Bottles clunked and bullet cases rang as they hit the floor, each material and object making a different sound depending on what it came into contact with, and from what height it was dropped. But it was the rag-doll physics of the dead bodies that were most impressive, spinning and bucking when thrown against walls, sliding convincingly off a ledge when placed precariously on the edge of one. Taking a shotgun, I blew a wooden box to pieces, and watched as it splintered into a heap of jagged-edged planks. Then, walking over the wood-chippings, Gordon's movement became hampered by the irregular surface as he battled to maintain balance. "Both you and the NPCs will be weighted, and have physics properties simulated. Jay Steloy, our lead programmer since 1996, has been working on this technology for the better part of four years." Clearly it's been time well spent, and despite Doug's understated comments, Half-Life 2's physics system is without a doubt the most life-like I've ever seen.
[...]
"There's a guy called Dr Paul Ekman (www.paulekman.com) who did a bunch of research on the mentally ill, to find out what it means to look mentally ill. He came up with this whole language of facial expressions, incorporating the 40-odd facial expressions we all make, which can be mixed to create a sub-set of facial expressions. We basically took things from his research and made it applicable to Half-Life 2's facial animation system. So we have these simple sets of facial animation fonts, and they can be applied to Alyx, to an alien or whoever we want."
[...]
"After we got the faces and expressions right, we decided we had to go beyond the standard puppet, one-bone mouth look that we had in Half-Life, when characters spoke. Creating realistic lip-synching and acting was a really hard thing to do. We came up with a system that can go through and take the basic structures of a WAV file and extract the data for the mouth movement. So you can extract your sound or line of dialogue, inbed it into a WAV file independent of the game's language, and play it back across the facial animation system. This system identifies the sounds and volume which dictate the size of the opening and closing of the mouth. So you could drop in a line in English or Spanish and it will lip-synch it accordingly."
[...]
After this we moved to an area which Doug referred to as his Character Zoo, a series of rooms filled with enemies new and old. Reprising their role as cannon fodder are the Bullsquids and Head Crabs, although this time there's a whole family of the latter, ranging from the tiny to the unsettlingly large. Likewise, Zombies reappear, the symbiosis of the face-hugging Head Crabs and the hapless humans they infest, as do the ceiling hanging, string-on-a-mouth Barnacles, boasting incredibly detail with their multiple moving parts, which made them look little short of horrific. Apparently, there'll be more than 50 different enemies in all.
[...]
"As you can see we're doing full animation on these guys. One of the interesting things about them was getting the collision detection correct, so that it looks right when they're taking steps. These guys may need to climb stairs, or walk over uneven terrain, and all the while there's a whole load of work that's going on under the hood to make sure all this stuff comes to life, which we think will make the game really unique."
Finally, sensing my impatience to see the game in action, Doug quickly showed me a room full of extras, citizens of City 17 who will go about their lives around you. "These people won't have quite the level of facial animation that the main characters will have, as they won't be delivering any heavy duty lines. They'll all be unique, but many of them will be variations of each other." And on that note, he quit out of the level. It was time for me to get my hands dirty.
[...]
But there was no time to celebrate. The other zombie had recovered and was once again advancing, intent on ripping out my lungs and using them as bagpipes. And then, an idea (a first for me). Aiming at the bridge just in front of my assailant I fired. Shards of wood flew into the air just as the zombie stepped into the now gaping hole, flailing wildly as it sunk into the water, helpless as I finished it off.
I looked over at Doug, who was grinning, and realised I was panting like dog in a sauna. Even in that one, short minute, the combination of many of the elements Doug had shown me had came together in one sublime whole.
[...]
And what about the actual combat AI, what nuances can we expect there? "If an enemy sees you as a threat, but there's also another creature in the area that's also a threat, the AI will work out which is the greater threat to it and attack that target first."
To prove his last point, Doug fired up a recording he'd made of one of the levels. In it, Gordon attacked an Antlion Guard before running away and taking cover under some rocks. In a show of canny determination the Antlion probed the makeshift shelter from every side, trying, struggling, but ultimately failing to reach its quarry. From the distance came the rhythmic pulses of an engine. Seeing his opportunity, Gordon sped off towards the sound, pursued by a now incensed Antlion Guard. Within seconds, they were in sight of an armoured vehicle guarded by marines. The terrified soldiers opened fire on sight at the Antlion Guard, who waded in viciously, clawing rabidly at its new targets, and ripping them to shreds. Then it turned to the vehicle. Sniffing at it at first, it gave it a tentative shove, sending the APC rocking sideways onto two wheels. A blue flare arched from the vehicle into the sky, as the marines desperately called for reinforcement. Seconds later, the APC was sliding down a ravine, toppled by a ferocious attack by the Antlion Guard. While it was still occupied, Gordon unloaded a clip into the beast, and as it slumped to the ground, exhaling its last and sending a cloud of dust spiralling into the air, a drop ship full of reinforcements arrived.
Enter The G-Man
"That was all AI, came a voice from the far end of the room." It was Gabe, who had come back to sit through the final parts of the demonstration. "If you played that level yourself, it could have ended up completely differently. Nothing you just saw was scripted." I must have looked amazed, probably disbelieving, as Gabe took a seat next to me, and explained how HL2's AI system has been designed in order to give the player a sense of total freedom and immersion. "Because the AI can react in so many different ways, you'll never know what it's going to do. Is it going to smash through a door, open it, cut a hole in it? This makes them seem scarier and more consequential than your average AI. The way we see it is that if a creature is no more than a weapon's delivery system, then that creates a really narrow choice of interaction possibilities.
[...]
All of a sudden, September seems like a very, very long way away...
Martin Korda
-----
Hope you enjoyed it!
