mirrors in half-life 2

[mad max 31]

i just realised that if your not going to be able to see yourself in half-life 2 then the the mirrors will have to be grayed like in half-life. either that or their will be no mirrors. in max pain the mirrors were grayed, but in max pain 2 their was mirrors and you could see yourself. it would be a bit funny having a world without mirrors. think of all those appartments in the e3 2004 video, not one of them will have a mirror. or if they do it will be a bit silly having them grayed in the new and mighty source engine.

 

[lans]

i just realised that if your not going to be able to see yourself in half-life 2 then the the mirrors will have to be grayed like in half-life. either that or their will be no mirrors. in max pain the mirrors were grayed, but in max pain 2 their was mirrors and you could see yourself. it would be a bit funny having a world without mirrors. think of all those appartments in the e3 2004 video, not one of them will have a mirror. or if they do it will be a bit silly having them grayed in the new and mighty source engine.

When you look in the mirror, you'll see the G-man instead of yourself, as in the E3 2003 tech demo.

 

[slicktick]

They may reflect, probably just not you, they probably wont have very many clean mirrors considering where the game takes place and how dirty it is. It wont be silly, they dont want you to see gordon, and dirty is diffrent than grayed in.

 

[ShinRa]

Well they could simply just have everything ELSE reflected except for gordon, which wouldn't look bad at all.

 

[PatPwnt]

Well they could simply just have everything ELSE reflected except for gordon, which wouldn't look bad at all.

That's probably what it's going to be, although they go a little to far with this not seeing gordon stuff. They should just have him with a blank face in the mirror.

 

[Ames]

It had to be posted sometime:

HORDON IS A VWAMMPIRE!!!!!1111oneoneone



Gordon might be just a grayed-in blob in the mirror - always a "great" idea

...or there could be a reflection of you. :rolling:

 

[ShinRa]

or put the hazard suit helmet on him. so we cant see his face. i mean really they dont make u feel like you ARE gordon anyway, its rediculous the measures theyre taking so that u cant see him at all or hear him. i think seeing him in mirrors would make me feel more like i was him.

 

[Kon]

i don't think they want you to be identified as anything or whatever.. they want you to experience the game from your point of view, not a character's.. not being reminded that you are gorden is the best way to have it because it allows you to sink into their world and not worry about appearances and if you are acting the right way.. we aren't really role playing , as I see it, we are just experienceing this story as it unfolds and what we do are decided by our actions.. or something.. if we are constantly reminded of being gordon, then we constantly ask ourself what gordon would do..
o_o i dunno.. just random thoughts..

 

[Dr0ndeh]

i dont think it will be THAT hard for them not to have any mirrors in the game.

 

[marksmanHL2 :)]

When you look in the mirror, you'll see the G-man instead of yourself, as in the E3 2003 tech demo.

What mirror is that?!

 

[Alec_85]

in max pain the mirrors were grayed, but in max pain 2 their was mirrors and you could see yourself.

Actually you could see yourself in the mirrors in MP1. I bought it a few weeks ago & I'm sure can see Max in there with my 9800pro... Well there's a slim chance I'm mixing them up with MP2. Too bad I uninstalled MP1 today

 

[lans]

Actually you could see yourself in the mirrors in MP1. I bought it a few weeks ago & I'm sure can see Max in there with my 9800pro... Well there's a slim chance I'm mixing them up with MP2. Too bad I uninstalled MP1 today

Didn't someone say that mirror reflections are a Direct X 9 effect only?

MP.1 is direct x 8.1, oh and alec my MP never works on windows xp, brings me back to the windows screen, your does that too?

 

[Neutrino]

Didn't someone say that mirror reflections are a Direct X 9 effect only?

MP.1 is direct x 8.1, oh and alec my MP never works on windows xp, brings me back to the windows screen, your does that too?

No, mirrors are not a dx9 effect.

 

[Crushenator 500]

What mirror is that?!

the one that has 'joke' written all over it with soap

 

[marksmanHL2 :)]

I'm tired...


No comment.

 

[Hazar]

There is a mirror that shows the g-man instead of gordon. I think its the 'improvised gameplay' or something from fileplanet.

 

[Link]

Why do people care so much about mirrors? Fair enough, if your going to walk around going [Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen voice] "Oh, you so need a mirror there..." [/Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen voice] then you may notice thier lack if they are not in the game. But personally, when I'm shooting combine soldiers left, crowbarring ant lions right, and trying to kick off the zombie thats trying to crawl up my arse behind me, I doubt very much that I am going to stop and notice the lack of appropriate places to fix my hair...

But maybe thats just me.

 

[Johan_Tayn]

Didn't someone say that mirror reflections are a Direct X 9 effect only?

I saw mirrors in Elite Force 1, which was on the Quake ]|[ engine.

 

[Scapegoat]

When you look in the mirror, you'll see the G-man instead of yourself, as in the E3 2003 tech demo.

There is a mirror that shows the g-man instead of gordon. I think its the 'improvised gameplay' or something from fileplanet.

That isn't a mirror it's a screen showing off the input/output system of Source. The screen is displaying what the camera is seeing up ahead in the video, where there is a camera setup trained on a hologram of the G-Man. Reeeemmeeeeeembeer?

 

[Polykarbon]

A mirror effect can be done in almost any engine. Half-Life 1 can be coded to input a mirror effect. The cost though is a duplication of your world polys, which there really isn't a need for on an old engine. If you walk up to a mirror in HL2, I would expect it to either show Gordon, or not. That's a design decision. It just depends on how far Valve wants to go to convey the message that the player is Gordon.

 

[lans]

That isn't a mirror it's a screen showing off the input/output system of Source. The screen is displaying what the camera is seeing up ahead in the video, where there is a camera setup trained on a hologram of the G-Man. Reeeemmeeeeeembeer?

Lighten up, that was meant to be a joke.heh.

 

[poseyjmac]

That isn't a mirror it's a screen showing off the input/output system of Source. The screen is displaying what the camera is seeing up ahead in the video, where there is a camera setup trained on a hologram of the G-Man. Reeeemmeeeeeembeer?

its the same usage though. a mirror in hl2 is simply a camera entity that is facing out from a wall, and tied to a surface. same kind of thing.

 

[theotherguy]

its the same usage though. a mirror in hl2 is simply a camera entity that is facing out from a wall, and tied to a surface. same kind of thing.

no, if that were the case, then when you moved from side to side, the image in the mirror would appear flat, because it would only reflect what was directly in front of the mirror. They use reflection maps, which are basically little reflective balls that the mapper puts in to specify the image reflected by anything

 

[poseyjmac]

no, if that were the case, then when you moved from side to side, the image in the mirror would appear flat, because it would only reflect what was directly in front of the mirror. They use reflection maps, which are basically little reflective balls that the mapper puts in to specify the image reflected by anything

actually both methods can be used to simulate a mirror although reflection maps have a more realistic appearance. so yes

 

[Cybernoid]

Hmh. Even Duke 3D and Quake (GL) had mirror effects back in the day. I sincerely hope that Valve won't make Gordon invisible to mirrors. That would be completely and utterly retarded. If you can't see yourself in the mirror, then others can't see you either, and your weapon won't be display on the screen. That's logic.

As for all this "they don't want you to feel like you're Gordon" stuff: characters call you Gordon, and your personality as a scientist affects the game. So there.

 

[Alec_85]

Didn't someone say that mirror reflections are a Direct X 9 effect only?

MP.1 is direct x 8.1, oh and alec my MP never works on windows xp, brings me back to the windows screen, your does that too?

No there were mirrors where you could see yourself in Q3 so it's not DX9 only. Yeah my MP1 crashed to the desktop too. Then I installed the patch and Hey Presto! (what a weird expression) it worked flawlessly.

 

[PatPwnt]

its the same usage though. a mirror in hl2 is simply a camera entity that is facing out from a wall, and tied to a surface. same kind of thing.

Definitley not the same thing... Camera only remains one angle

 

[lans]

No there were mirrors where you could see yourself in Q3 so it's not DX9 only. Yeah my MP1 crashed to the desktop too. Then I installed the patch and Hey Presto! (what a weird expression) it worked flawlessly.

The patch, I totally forgot!

 

[trizzm]

why couldnt we see gordon in the mirror? what does this add to the game in anyway? gordon is a 3d model that everyone knows what looks like, hell we see his face when the first game ****ing loads, i think it's really dumb if we can't look at gordon in a mirror this time around. i want to see what his animations in the game look like, damnit! am i alone on this?

 

[Polykarbon]

Yes, it indeed is not the same thing, and doesn't apply anything near the same effect. Reflective vectors are used to simulate cubemap space[a reflective surface with proper lighting/proportion/size on distance] on a texture matrix. These are the best methods, and simulate the effect using actual reflective fragment surfaces. This is the best method to make mirrors at the moment. The method you described with the camera would not provide true reflective offset textures, and would look nothing like a mirror. Not to mention the extra gl shaders required used to simulate the effect. Unless the camera was placed and moved WITH the player, which would be stupid because the effect would be ruined unless you used bound textures in front of the cube map.

 

[MagnumPI]

i reckon being able to see yourself (gordon) in the mirror would be more immersive, as if you are looking through his eyes - i imagine it to be like in Quantum Leap when Sam looks in the mirror and is someone else...

-Jim

 

[Alec_85]

Valve thinks it takes the player away from the immersion. But I'd rather see a Gordon than no Gordon at all. BUT if they could implement the player's own face via a webcam or something unto Gordon's image then that would be cool

I personally would like a Hev Suit body in First Person as well. Floating around without legs or anything at all takes me away more from the experience than not having a mirror reflection really. Perhaps Gordon is simply a VAMPIRE!! (connected to the vampire game being created with the same engine?)

 

[lans]

Valve thinks it takes the player away from the immersion. But I'd rather see a Gordon than no Gordon at all. BUT if they could implement the player's own face via a webcam or something unto Gordon's image then that would be cool

I personally would like a Hev Suit body in First Person as well. Floating around without legs or anything at all takes me away more from the experience than not having a mirror reflection really. Perhaps Gordon is simply a VAMPIRE!! (connected to the vampire game being created with the same engine?)

The chances are that there might not be a mirror in the game at all, and since water refracts the image, we might see a reflection of a blurry gordon. Who knows?

 

[PatPwnt]

He's a floating vampire torso...

 

[Alec_85]

You know, I bet someone could make a game based on just that piece of info Pat Man would that be a strange sight to see. A floating vampire torso... Sounds okay with me.

 

[el Chi]

Well they could simply just have everything ELSE reflected except for gordon, which wouldn't look bad at all.

Yes yes it would. Besides that would mean Gordon's a vampire.

EDIT: Oh people have said that already. I feel unoriginal and dirty.

 

[poseyjmac]

yeah, gordon is a vampire that can separate his torso from his lower half. his upper half fights the battles, while his lower half is humping alyx

 

[Vegeta897]

Someone mentioned this on another forum, and I don't nkow if anyone has said this before.

What about when we see ourselves in a camera? Will we see enemies attacking air??

 

[Mr-Fusion]

When you look into a mirror you'll see a reflection of David Hasslehoff.

 

[el Chi]

I think I e-mailed Gabe about this already but got no response.
Maybe City-17 is devoid of mirrors - maybe the closest we get to one is the blur reflection of him in the monitor in Dr. Kleiner's lab.
Although David Hasselhof would be good also.