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HALF-LIFE 2: EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW, PART TWO!
Our grilling of Valve Software's Doug Lombardi continues in the second part of our interview focusing on the hottest FPS on the planet
The presence of Valve Software's mighty first-person shooter Half-Life 2 at ECTS this year presented us with the opportunity to interview the developer's director of marketing Doug Lombardi about the game.
Yesterday we brought you part one of that interview (find it a couple of threads down CGA'ers if you missed it), and today we bring you the second and final delectable dish of chat about the most highly-anticipated FPS around.
On with the show...
We've seen quite a few of the enemies - can you reveal anything more about enemies we haven't seen yet?
Lombardi: Not really [laughs]. We're intentionally keeping stuff a surprise. As gamers, we really hate the fact that we've seen a whole game through screenshots during the two-year PR process that happens. So part of our goal of not announcing the game or showing screenshots or whatever was to preserve that mystery - if I plonk down $50 for the game, then I want to see stuff that I haven't seen before. I want to discover some stuff for my $50.
So we're really trying to be respectful of that, of not giving everything away. Having said that, we're in a situation where as soon as people get the game, they're going to give everything away [laughs].
Toward the end of the demo you've shown, there's a bit where Gordon discards his shotgun to pick up a rocket launcher. Does this mean there'll be a limit to what he can carry, or will it be a "carry all" inventory like in the original Half-Life?
Lombardi: Actually, in Condition Zero we really looked at the idea of limiting the amount of weapons that you have and making choices, and that's really something that seems like it will be interesting, but turns out to be not a lot of fun. Some choices are cool, but having to constantly manage your inventory is tedious - at least, that's how I see it.
I wouldn't go so far as to say the inventory in Half-Life 2 is completely unlimited, but I would say that inventory management is not fun so we're not going to place that onto the player.
Can you talk about the weapons you've got finalised for the game?
Lombardi: No. Again that's part of the stuff that we want people to go "Oh wow, check this thing out!" at, and have that experience rather than us going into detail about what the guns are going to be like.
We've seen the car in the Half-Life 2 demo - what other vehicles are we going to be able to drive?
Lombardi: Source allows for all sorts of vehicles, but Half-Life 2's design calls for the use of land-based vehicles. Obviously there's the Gunship [the bio-mechanical airborne enemy in the demo] and other things that you'll encounter, but as far as you being able to jump in and take control, it's all land-based. So APC's, jeeps and so on.
How, as players, do we drive the car that we've seen in the demo and fire the gun on the bonnet at the same time - what are the controls?
Lombardi: Car [at this point Doug pretends to be using the WASD keys on a keyboard]. Gun [Doug pretends he's moving a mouse around].
Does that HEV Suit have any new abilities?
Lombardi: No. Again that was not an area that we really saw room for improvement on.
How have you dealt with health replenishment this time around?
Lombardi: I can only say we are trying to make things more organic in the environment, as it would be in a real setting as opposed to in "the videogame world". There was a tiny experiment of that in the first Half-Life with the health shots from the scientists, and people actually dug that. They thought that was a much better way to deliver that power-up.
Hopefully you'll find that there are more interesting or more plausible delivery mechanisms for both the items as well as the health.
Without going into the story itself, why did you choose Eastern Europe as the setting?
Lombardi: Well, you'll find out when you play the game [laughs]. I think part of it was motivated by the fact that it's a neat place with cool architecture. I mean, games design isn't rocket science, you go with what's fun and with what you like.
You're not talking about multiplayer modes as such, but can you tell us something of your plans for anti-cheat measures in Half-Life 2 online?
Lombardi: Steam.
So how will that work?
Lombardi: You're constantly connected, and we can constantly touch your bits. Steam allows us to do an arbitrary number of updates per day/per hour/per minute, so if your code base is constantly changing then it's hard to write a hack for that code base.
So essentially, anyone playing Half-Life 2 online will have to do so through Steam?
Our grilling of Valve Software's Doug Lombardi continues in the second part of our interview focusing on the hottest FPS on the planet
The presence of Valve Software's mighty first-person shooter Half-Life 2 at ECTS this year presented us with the opportunity to interview the developer's director of marketing Doug Lombardi about the game.
Yesterday we brought you part one of that interview (find it a couple of threads down CGA'ers if you missed it), and today we bring you the second and final delectable dish of chat about the most highly-anticipated FPS around.
On with the show...
We've seen quite a few of the enemies - can you reveal anything more about enemies we haven't seen yet?
Lombardi: Not really [laughs]. We're intentionally keeping stuff a surprise. As gamers, we really hate the fact that we've seen a whole game through screenshots during the two-year PR process that happens. So part of our goal of not announcing the game or showing screenshots or whatever was to preserve that mystery - if I plonk down $50 for the game, then I want to see stuff that I haven't seen before. I want to discover some stuff for my $50.
So we're really trying to be respectful of that, of not giving everything away. Having said that, we're in a situation where as soon as people get the game, they're going to give everything away [laughs].
Toward the end of the demo you've shown, there's a bit where Gordon discards his shotgun to pick up a rocket launcher. Does this mean there'll be a limit to what he can carry, or will it be a "carry all" inventory like in the original Half-Life?
Lombardi: Actually, in Condition Zero we really looked at the idea of limiting the amount of weapons that you have and making choices, and that's really something that seems like it will be interesting, but turns out to be not a lot of fun. Some choices are cool, but having to constantly manage your inventory is tedious - at least, that's how I see it.
I wouldn't go so far as to say the inventory in Half-Life 2 is completely unlimited, but I would say that inventory management is not fun so we're not going to place that onto the player.
Can you talk about the weapons you've got finalised for the game?
Lombardi: No. Again that's part of the stuff that we want people to go "Oh wow, check this thing out!" at, and have that experience rather than us going into detail about what the guns are going to be like.
We've seen the car in the Half-Life 2 demo - what other vehicles are we going to be able to drive?
Lombardi: Source allows for all sorts of vehicles, but Half-Life 2's design calls for the use of land-based vehicles. Obviously there's the Gunship [the bio-mechanical airborne enemy in the demo] and other things that you'll encounter, but as far as you being able to jump in and take control, it's all land-based. So APC's, jeeps and so on.
How, as players, do we drive the car that we've seen in the demo and fire the gun on the bonnet at the same time - what are the controls?
Lombardi: Car [at this point Doug pretends to be using the WASD keys on a keyboard]. Gun [Doug pretends he's moving a mouse around].
Does that HEV Suit have any new abilities?
Lombardi: No. Again that was not an area that we really saw room for improvement on.
How have you dealt with health replenishment this time around?
Lombardi: I can only say we are trying to make things more organic in the environment, as it would be in a real setting as opposed to in "the videogame world". There was a tiny experiment of that in the first Half-Life with the health shots from the scientists, and people actually dug that. They thought that was a much better way to deliver that power-up.
Hopefully you'll find that there are more interesting or more plausible delivery mechanisms for both the items as well as the health.
Without going into the story itself, why did you choose Eastern Europe as the setting?
Lombardi: Well, you'll find out when you play the game [laughs]. I think part of it was motivated by the fact that it's a neat place with cool architecture. I mean, games design isn't rocket science, you go with what's fun and with what you like.
You're not talking about multiplayer modes as such, but can you tell us something of your plans for anti-cheat measures in Half-Life 2 online?
Lombardi: Steam.
So how will that work?
Lombardi: You're constantly connected, and we can constantly touch your bits. Steam allows us to do an arbitrary number of updates per day/per hour/per minute, so if your code base is constantly changing then it's hard to write a hack for that code base.
So essentially, anyone playing Half-Life 2 online will have to do so through Steam?
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Lombardi: Right now, when you go online, you make a couple of handshakes to make sure you're an authorised player who's actually paid for something, whether it be Half-Life or Counter-Strike or any one of our games. And then you're being pointed at a server list, etc.
So once you're online and making those handshakes, it's pretty easy for us to do those things in the background.
You mentioned something when we first got to look at Half-Life 2 about plans to bring some of the Half-Life mod community over to the offices for a kind of Half-Life 2 mod meeting - has that happened yet?
Lombardi: We haven't done that yet. What we've done instead, instead of having a weekend with a bunch of the guys there, which requires everyone to stop what they're doing, we've brought individual teams up one at a time and set them up with a pre-release version of the SDK so that they can get started on their Half-Life 2 mods.
We still intend to do the weekend where we bring in a lot more and give a more open chance for people to come and do that. We still hope to do that before release but we'll see if time permits.
Another interesting thing that's happened is that we've had more than one professional game development company that's working on other projects for other publishers anticipating getting hold of that [the SDK], because they either want to get started on their next commercial project or they want to take their shot at a mod and see where that leads.
What's the reception to the SDK been like? Have mod makers found it as intuitive as you hoped they'd find it?
Lombardi: I think they've thought that the possibilities are around where we thought they were, and being able to expose them to stuff, there's always room to improve.
So we're constantly refining the documentation and interface and tools. You can always make better tools. The better your tools are, the easier they are to use the more people will make mods.
It's rare that we see the level of response from a developer to its fans such as Valve has shown in responding to e-mails from fans asking about Half-Life 2 - with you only revealing info that you've wanted to, of course - and you're renowned for your support of the Half-Life mod community. What's the philosophy behind that whole approach to fans and mod developers?
Lombardi: Well, thanks for noticing first, because I think a lot of people shoot straight past that, but we take it very seriously and think it's very important, so the fact that you've picked up on that and acknowledged it is cool.
It really stems from the fact that it just makes sense, it's the right thing to do, it helps you be better at what you do. Minh Le, John Guthrie, Yahn Bernier, the Day of Defeat team... the list goes on and on of guys that came out of the mod community that are now an important part of Valve Software. That's how they got their start.
People ask me about the best way to break into the games industry - should they go to this or that university? And I'm like: "Screw university, make a mod. Get your feet wet, start building something, get it out there and show it to people".
Game development happens in front of your computer, busting your arse, and so... We try to help those guys get better because we probably want to hire them at some point. And it also helps extend the viability of the product. Natural Selection, Day of Defeat and Counter-Strike - they helped sell Half-Life.
And the fans? The reason we do that is because without them we're out of business.
As far as minimum specs for Half-Life 2 are concerned, are you still aiming for a 733Mhz CPU?
Lombardi: Yeah, and then 128Mb RAM and a DirectX 6 graphics card, so like a TNT 2.
How will the game run on these specs? Will it just be lower detail but run smoothly, with all the facial animation still intact?
Lombardi: The facial animations are mainly handled by the CPU, as are the physics; and we considered those to be two key things - if we took those away, then the game just wouldn't be the same.
At the beginning of the demo we're showing, in the first scene at the docks, where the water's nice and rippling and stuff, on the lower systems that water just isn't going to be as pretty as it is on a higher spec machine.
But framerate, facial animation and physics, these key things will be there on lower spec machines, otherwise it's just a crummy experience for everybody, and the last thing we want is lots of unhappy customers out there - that's suicide.
We get a lot of queries from readers planning to upgrade for Half-Life 2 asking what graphics card to go for. Does the game favour either of the top-end nVidia or ATi cards, or does it perform equally well on both?
Lombardi: Well, we're actually going to release a benchmark pretty soon, and once we put that out and we finalise it, folks will be able to decide for themselves what they want. I don't think that there's a bad experience out there for folks, but for the absolutely hardcore guys, they are going to want take a look at what's available.
If you're a hardcore guy, then you're going to want to look at the latest from ATi and nVidia, and the latest from Intel and AMD.
To be honest, having seen the demo at ECTS, we were a little surprised to find that you're showing exactly the same stuff from E3. Why? Was that down to time constraints, or just not wanting to give anything further away?
Lombardi: A little bit of both [laughs].
Finally, obviously there's been a lot of talk about, and confusion surrounding, Half-Life 2's release date following statements from Vivendi. Can you confirm now whether you're still on track to hit the September 30 date?
Lombardi: The release date's unchanged.
So once you're online and making those handshakes, it's pretty easy for us to do those things in the background.
You mentioned something when we first got to look at Half-Life 2 about plans to bring some of the Half-Life mod community over to the offices for a kind of Half-Life 2 mod meeting - has that happened yet?
Lombardi: We haven't done that yet. What we've done instead, instead of having a weekend with a bunch of the guys there, which requires everyone to stop what they're doing, we've brought individual teams up one at a time and set them up with a pre-release version of the SDK so that they can get started on their Half-Life 2 mods.
We still intend to do the weekend where we bring in a lot more and give a more open chance for people to come and do that. We still hope to do that before release but we'll see if time permits.
Another interesting thing that's happened is that we've had more than one professional game development company that's working on other projects for other publishers anticipating getting hold of that [the SDK], because they either want to get started on their next commercial project or they want to take their shot at a mod and see where that leads.
What's the reception to the SDK been like? Have mod makers found it as intuitive as you hoped they'd find it?
Lombardi: I think they've thought that the possibilities are around where we thought they were, and being able to expose them to stuff, there's always room to improve.
So we're constantly refining the documentation and interface and tools. You can always make better tools. The better your tools are, the easier they are to use the more people will make mods.
It's rare that we see the level of response from a developer to its fans such as Valve has shown in responding to e-mails from fans asking about Half-Life 2 - with you only revealing info that you've wanted to, of course - and you're renowned for your support of the Half-Life mod community. What's the philosophy behind that whole approach to fans and mod developers?
Lombardi: Well, thanks for noticing first, because I think a lot of people shoot straight past that, but we take it very seriously and think it's very important, so the fact that you've picked up on that and acknowledged it is cool.
It really stems from the fact that it just makes sense, it's the right thing to do, it helps you be better at what you do. Minh Le, John Guthrie, Yahn Bernier, the Day of Defeat team... the list goes on and on of guys that came out of the mod community that are now an important part of Valve Software. That's how they got their start.
People ask me about the best way to break into the games industry - should they go to this or that university? And I'm like: "Screw university, make a mod. Get your feet wet, start building something, get it out there and show it to people".
Game development happens in front of your computer, busting your arse, and so... We try to help those guys get better because we probably want to hire them at some point. And it also helps extend the viability of the product. Natural Selection, Day of Defeat and Counter-Strike - they helped sell Half-Life.
And the fans? The reason we do that is because without them we're out of business.
As far as minimum specs for Half-Life 2 are concerned, are you still aiming for a 733Mhz CPU?
Lombardi: Yeah, and then 128Mb RAM and a DirectX 6 graphics card, so like a TNT 2.
How will the game run on these specs? Will it just be lower detail but run smoothly, with all the facial animation still intact?
Lombardi: The facial animations are mainly handled by the CPU, as are the physics; and we considered those to be two key things - if we took those away, then the game just wouldn't be the same.
At the beginning of the demo we're showing, in the first scene at the docks, where the water's nice and rippling and stuff, on the lower systems that water just isn't going to be as pretty as it is on a higher spec machine.
But framerate, facial animation and physics, these key things will be there on lower spec machines, otherwise it's just a crummy experience for everybody, and the last thing we want is lots of unhappy customers out there - that's suicide.
We get a lot of queries from readers planning to upgrade for Half-Life 2 asking what graphics card to go for. Does the game favour either of the top-end nVidia or ATi cards, or does it perform equally well on both?
Lombardi: Well, we're actually going to release a benchmark pretty soon, and once we put that out and we finalise it, folks will be able to decide for themselves what they want. I don't think that there's a bad experience out there for folks, but for the absolutely hardcore guys, they are going to want take a look at what's available.
If you're a hardcore guy, then you're going to want to look at the latest from ATi and nVidia, and the latest from Intel and AMD.
To be honest, having seen the demo at ECTS, we were a little surprised to find that you're showing exactly the same stuff from E3. Why? Was that down to time constraints, or just not wanting to give anything further away?
Lombardi: A little bit of both [laughs].
Finally, obviously there's been a lot of talk about, and confusion surrounding, Half-Life 2's release date following statements from Vivendi. Can you confirm now whether you're still on track to hit the September 30 date?
Lombardi: The release date's unchanged.
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Just happy to post something that doesn't have
Will my computer run...
HL2 or Doom III.....
Will there be Online....
etc.
Will my computer run...
HL2 or Doom III.....
Will there be Online....
etc.
switch
Tank
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second part of the interview has now been posted, not seen any threads on this yet, but dont want to post a new one :x
http://www.computerandvideogames.co...deogames.com/news/news_story.php(que)id=95628
http://www.computerandvideogames.co...deogames.com/news/news_story.php(que)id=95628
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philterlecki
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yippy!
!
!
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One page back on this thread.The whole 2nd interview is there 
FictiousWill
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Sounds like the author missed a few classes of remedial English. I'm sure the interview is good (I have not read it yet) but spelling/grammar errors on published sites really bug me. It's sloppy and unnecessary.
