Portal - related to Half-life?

[Atomic_Piggy]

I was under the immpresion that Portal was something completly different, however, recent statements have confused me. Is this game a new project for VALVe, or is it connected to Half-life? I expect easter eggs in there for Half-life though, like maybe a G-Man sighting, or a crowbar or summat.

 

[Asknoone]

It isn't related, and we'll be moving the forums shortly.

 

[TheMtR]

It isn't related, and we'll be moving the forums shortly.

And how about this?
From gamespy..

Set in the Half-Life universe but taking a more experimental approach, the trailer featured a character with a special weapon who could open up portals in the world from one place to another; the execution looked similar to the portals in the just-released Prey, except players would be able to place the entrance and exit points themselves. Need to cross a chasm? Simply set up portals on opposite sides of the chasm and step through.

Mr. Adrian?

Edit: Link for lazy-ones http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/half-life-2/718931p1.html

 

[bbson john]

Mr. Adrian?

It will be great if there is appearance of Gman

 

[Asknoone]

Interesting, didn't see it.

 

[MadGuy]

They are testing the technology ? maybe later they implement it to a HL game..

 

[Kadayi]

Wasn't there some thing about the guys behind Prey intending to patent portal technology sometime back so no other game company could copy them?

Yes, I realise that the portals in Portal will operate in a different manner, but I'm pretty sure there was some talk of this floating about.

 

[jondy]

portal gun, gravity gun, strider buster.... keep 'em coming, the only innovations in FPS weapons design that I can see are coming from Valve

 

[AKIRA]

Cooooooooll.

 

[Vass]

So Portal is a story off HL? I'm so confused

 

[jimmyjam]

gamespy is hardly the most credible source in the world, I'd wait til next week before making any calls on whether it's set in the HL universe

kadayi: that was about ten years ago before
A. They discovered the way they were doing portals in the original Prey engine was highly unlikely to go anywhere
B. Prey collapsed
C. Numerous other games (Unreal, Q3) implemented portals

and I'm no expert in patent law, but I think a feature like that would be pretty hard to patent (and pretty easy to get around)


the other day I was speaking with a friend of mine on the topic of episode 1... I did enjoy it greatly but like a lot of people I felt it wasn't really as fresh as it could have been
my exact words were that I wanted to see valve doing 'the next gravity gun'
and now this shit!

edit: I just realized that I'm not certain if Q3 had portals (but U1 definitely did)

 

[Max35]

I hope "Portal" is not just a tech demo, and has an actual story. Also, I wonder what the location will be, off-world or earth? Though I suppose it is more than likely it will be set on Earth.

 

[jimmyjam]

hmm I just noticed that the gamespot thing mentions that it's in the hl universe as well...

The trailer took the form of a training video for a new employee of an advanced corporation in the Half-Life 2 universe.

The video shows a diagram and explains that as an employee of this company, you may have to find the emergency exit to a certain room. However, there are often obstacles in your way, like a gaping chasm. No problem, because all you need to use is your Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device to create dimensional doorways that let you mess with reality.

that seems to imply at least some sort of story

 

[Max35]

Well, if it's in the HL2 universe, then I'm willing to bet it is off-world. How would there be room for an advanced corporation amid pure chaos and revolution? (Earth) Unless you work for the Combine.

 

[poo?]

Mess with reality? Portals? Maybe they've created a little minigame where you play AS the GMAN!.. Or at least as Adrian Shepard working directly for the Gman, either way sounds good.

 

[jimmyjam]

Well, if it's in the HL2 universe, then I'm willing to bet it is off-world. How would there be room for an advanced corporation amid pure chaos and revolution? (Earth) Unless you work for the Combine.

who knows when it takes place

 

[Asknoone]

Well, if it's in the HL2 universe, then I'm willing to bet it is off-world. How would there be room for an advanced corporation amid pure chaos and revolution? (Earth) Unless you work for the Combine.

Or unless its set before HL2, or even HL.

 

[ríomhaire]

Maybe it's set in BM! :O
OR THE G-MANS TRAININC CENTRE!
*head explodes from speculated awshensness*

 

[Max35]

Or unless its set before HL2, or even HL.

I am almost positive that the Gamespy article said it takes place in the HL2 universe (maybe they just meant HL in general), I took it literally. Originally before I saw that I thought it took place during the HL period.

Actually, skimming the post below me jimmyjam has the quote stating it is in the HL2 universe. So, I'm betting it's offworld.

 

[jimmyjam]

the half-life universe and the half-life 2 universe are the same thing?

 

[ríomhaire]

Do you people know the difference between a universe and a point in time? And universe is hardly a good word to use are there are mulitple universes in the HL story.

 

[Max35]

Let us note that it said "HL2 universe" instead of just "HL universe". It seemed very specific. Maybe it was just bad wording. Sometimes, reading between the lines is the best course of action.

 

[jimmyjam]

but the hl universe and hl2 universe are the same thing, so if you say one or the other you always mean both

 

[Max35]

secondary definition of "universe": particular sphere of activity or experience

For one thing, there are drastic differences between the hl/hl2 worlds. They have dramatic differences. the writer made a point to say "HL2 universe" instead of "HL". HL2 is an extension of HL, therefore he SHOULD have said the latter if he simply meant the HL universe in general. Unless he meant the above definition, which I doubt. He should have said "during HL2 timeline" or something to that effect. Or that he simply didn't know whether it took place during the second or first game.

 

[prob101]

Any screens of this yet?

 

[Atomic_Piggy]

secondary definition of "universe": particular sphere of activity or experience

For one thing, there are drastic differences between the hl/hl2 worlds. They have dramatic differences. the writer made a point to say "HL2 universe" instead of "HL". HL2 is an extension of HL, therefore he SHOULD have said the latter if he simply meant the HL universe in general. Unless he meant the above definition, which I doubt. He should have said "during HL2 timeline" or something to that effect. Or that he simply didn't know whether it took place during the second or first game.

*head explodes, chunks of meat go flying and disturb Riomhaire's grave. Dawn of the Dead happens.*:x

EDIT: BTW, prob101, I just got a Steam update mentioning trailers of all three games coming next week.

 

[Max35]

*head explodes, chunks of meat go flying and disturb Riomhaire's grave. Dawn of the Dead happens.*:x

EDIT: BTW, prob101, I just got a Steam update mentioning trailers of all three games coming next week.

Are you saying what I said was stupid, or were you realing from the sheer complexity of it?

 

[ríomhaire]

Any screens of this yet?

Word is there's a trailer next week :E

 

[el Chi]

Wasn't there some thing about the guys behind Prey intending to patent portal technology sometime back so no other game company could copy them?

Yes, I realise that the portals in Portal will operate in a different manner, but I'm pretty sure there was some talk of this floating about.

Which seems a bit like trying to Valve patent grav guns. They haven't, as far as I know, and good on them for it.
If you did it first, people will still remember you for that. If someone else does it better, then that's too bad - you lose.

 

[Max35]

Which seems a bit like trying to Valve patent grav guns. They haven't, as far as I know, and good on them for it.
If you did it first, people will still remember you for that. If someone else does it better, then that's too bad - you lose.

I remember RoE implemented something like the grav gun (you could grab fire balls with it, like in the grav gun's citadel mode where you could grab energy balls). Maybe objects, but the physics sucked. Valve did the grav gun first, and nothing has topped it yet.

 

[ríomhaire]

Actualy I heard you can get the grabber in regular Doom 3 with some console commands and Doom 3 came out before HL2 and didn't the latest Turok have some sort of gravity-related gun?

 

[Max35]

You might be able to use it in D3, but you need the graphic files which can only be obtained with RoE. Don't quote me though, I'm not %100 positive.

 

[ríomhaire]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doom_3:_Resurrection_of_Evil#Feature_additions

Resurrection of Evil has come under some criticism about the use of the Grabber due to the prior popularity of the similar weapon in Half-Life 2. The developers have commented that the tool was originally in Doom 3 before Half-Life 2, and was used to create "damaged" rooms; instead of building a ruined room, they would build a pristine room and use the grabber to "damage" it realistically.

 

[Kadayi]

The principal behind how the Portal game works is found in the game Narbacular Drop, which you can find here:-

http://www.nuclearmonkeysoftware.com/narbaculardrop.html

Valve bought the idea/recruited some/all of the people behind it (Digipen students).

Kudos to Easy_g for bringing this to public notice in the announcement thread:-

http://www.halflife2.net/forums/showthread.php?t=109544

I doubt Valves version will have lava turtles in it (though judging by the TF2 characters look...you never know..).

 

[Absinthe]

Actualy I heard you can get the grabber in regular Doom 3 with some console commands and Doom 3 came out before HL2 and didn't the latest Turok have some sort of gravity-related gun?

They may have had it, but Valve was the first to utilize such a feature in a gameplay paradigm.

As for Turok, I'm not aware of any gravity-related weapons. Of course, the only weapon I do remember from any of those titles is the Cerebral Bore. Kinda left an impression on me.

 

[victor]

maybe we're getting a subtle hint as to what "the project" is.

 

[Atomic_Piggy]

Are you saying what I said was stupid, or were you realing from the sheer complexity of it?

Don't worry, it was the sheer complexity.
As for the Project hint, I was thinking that myself. I think teleportar's is a little cheesy myself though.

 

[Cyber$nake]

Who knows, but I definately DO want to see Adrian in at least one of these upcoming games, since the end of op4 pretty much leaves u the same as the end of hl1, working for the gman. We shall see.

 

[ríomhaire]

Well, if he isn't in Portal there's always EP4.

 

[Max35]

The more I think about it Alyx will be the MC in Ep4.