Lost Coast playtest

[SolidSnakeKA13]

I just got that Bloom Effect HDR mod for HL2 and I can see a major difference. though it isnt the full force of the real HDR I can tell it looks good. Sometimes I will see shit like that, when there will be a car out on the road that is a silver base color and just hits me in the eyes.

I mean even in the tech demo of the HDR it still just looks way to over-dramatic.

 

[NikolaX]

and now the Ars Technica tour of Valve's Lost Coast :
http://arstechnica.com/articles/culture/lostcoast.ars

DoD: Source shows how the addition of HDR can actually affect game play, and not just because people tended to get killed while admiring the scenery! The auto-adjusting exposure can make running into a darkened room a big mistake, as a sniper lying in wait will already have adjusted his eyes to the darkness, and will see you quite clearly as a silhouette against the bright doorframe. Similarly, rushing out into the bright sunlight is not a good idea either. Gabe mentioned that future mods will be able to take advantage of HDR, with an updated Software Development Kit (SDK) full of examples and sample HDR textures already being prepared for release. Gabe mentioned that a game like Thief would be absolutely ideal for the HDR treatment, as skulking in shadows would take on a whole new meaning

Gabe Newell answers some questions
Some notes from the Q&A with Gabe Newell:

On the topic of ATI versus NVIDIA, Valve officially had no comment, although they had clearly been asked the question so many times before that it had become a bit of an office joke. There appeared to be no particular preference among the developers.
Steam is apparently run off about 50 content servers placed all around the world, as well as about 14 servers internally that handle account registration and other housekeeping tasks.
The developers were excited about Steam because of how it enabled them to deliver new content and games to customers much faster without all the time and effort involved in "putting stuff in a box and getting it on the shelf"
The question of whether mod authors will be left behind by the new technology was addressed, and the consensus was that the new SDK should help mod authors get up to "steam" much faster than Valve did.
It takes a server farm of 32 computers about 40 minutes to compile The Lost Coast level.
About three million copies of Half-Life 2 have been sold so far. While Valve's primary development platform is still the PC, they are excited about the opportunity to sell the upcoming XBOX version. Once that ships, they will start thinking about ports to the upcoming consoles, starting with the XBOX 360.
Someone asked about physics cards for PCs, and Gabe replied that he thought they were interesting only if a brand new game type was developed specifically to support them. He mentioned Valve might be interested in contracting a company to help write such a game.
For anyone who still has stuttering issues with Half-Life 2, the developers ask that you email Valve directly and they can solve your problem one-on-one. Many people have already taken them up on this offer. Most problems have involved drivers, hardware or even dirty video card fans, but occasionally they do find and fix bugs in their code this way.
Turning off HDR may give some players a small advantage in multi player, but servers can be set up to require that players have it on. In addition, new levels can be designed where having HDR on confers a decided advantage.
Gabe is excited about HDR and the possibility for new games in the future that use it to its fullest potential.

 

[G-Dub]

what do u mean u have one coming soon what about the one in ur sig

that's the one i'm waiting for...

 

[MuToiD_MaN]

Meh, I guess your upcoming rig is okay...

Spoiler

It blows my machine right out of the water! Lucky BASTARD!!!!

 

[giant384]

Meh, I guess your upcoming rig is okay...

Spoiler

It blows my machine right out of the water! Lucky BASTARD!!!!

lol a spoiler tab

 

[SFLUFAN]

15 min is kinda disapointing, im definitely not excited too much about this now

It was NEVER intended to be anything more than a glorified tech demo. Valve said previously that it would take at most 20 minutes or so to play through. Don't be disappointed because you didn't understand the nature of what was to be released.

 

[SFLUFAN]

Aftermath is, I hope, more than 4 hours. Blueshift was around 4 hours, I'd hope for more like 10 from Aftermath. If HL2 was 20 for me, Aftermath woud hopefully be 9-10.

Lost Coast is most definitely not 4 hours. It's a level built around the new technology and meant to show it well. I fully expect that on the second run, Lost Coast would be possible to complete in about 10 minutes.

According to previous quotes by Valve, Aftermath is about 1/3 as long as HL2 itself. So you're looking at a "maximum" of 6 hours of gameplay but I'm betting its close to 4 or 5. Keep in mind that Aftermath is NOT a full-fledged expansion, it's an episode and will therefore be shorter in length.

Besides, it's a whopping $13 for Aftermath - how greedy can you get want a 10 hour game for that price? :farmer:

 

[jocky68]

Oooo a whopping $13 dollars, thats fecking pocket change you cheapskate!!