Valve to unveil a "Flagship VR game" Half-Life: Alyx this thursday

[Vaapukka]

https://twitter.com/valvesoftware/status/1196566870360387584

Huh.

What a time to be alive?

I haven't the slightest clue how to feel about this.

 

[Vaapukka]

Holy shit I feel like I should be excited about this but the fact that the original devs and artists affiliated with the series (most importantly Marc Laidlaw) have left the company makes me feel uncomfortably cynical about this. They better do their legacy justice.

 

[MFL]

*creaks, bones melted into the earth, shivering with electricity- for the first time in millennia*

 

[TechnoHippyChic]

WOW!

Or something is happening.. now to save up for a headset...

 

[Wanted Bob]

Whew, I can finally dust off this old account.

I'm very interested to see how this turns out. Since it's been 12 years since the last Half Life game, there's going to be a lot of pressure to turn out something good. VR has some good games right now, but nothing considered to be a killer app. I'm really hoping Valve can show something that convinces more AAA developers to invest in VR.

 

[10n02]

I'm not a fan of VR ( first of all, because I have no headset at all )
I hope the game will be released for both VR & classic screen.

 

[MFL]

As Valve goes, the world will follow. The headsets and lighthouses will get cheaper (the most recent generation of lighthouses is a particularly relevant example, they are significantly cheaper to manufacture (... if not buy...) than the first). At first I was tenuous, but I've been killing things on a screen for nigh on thirty years now. I need something new. And the Index at 144Hz is just a dream (re: very, very nice).

 

[Vaapukka]

I'm pretty confident that they'll show us some amazing technological advancements and really show people what VR is capable of, but I'm surprisingly doubtful about whether they'll make a good Half-Life game, so to speak. They waited this long for a new entry in the franchise, it definitely feels like they are predominantly using their IP to move units rather than just making great art/entertainment. I'm personally far more interested in the world and characters of Half-Life than I am on any modern tech or "new experiences." I hope they can still deliver on both fronts, even with a new team.

 

[TechnoHippyChic]

I don't think they'd put the Half-Life name on it if it was crap. They've gotta know their reputation and legacy depends on it.

This post over on Reddit makes a good point:

I've seen a lot of comments that everyone who worked on the previous Half-Life games have long since left Valve, and since I'm a loser with no life I thought I'd go through the People section on their site to see if that's true. Here were my findings:

Of people currently working at Valve, 33 worked on HL2 or its episodes (this includes the project lead of HL2 and Ep2), 10 worked on HL1 and HL2, and 3 people didn't work on either but are from the HL mod community. These span the entire gamedev spectrum from programming to art to animation to sound to level design to Gabe Newell. So 46 people in total left are seasoned at half-lifing.

Now, that number is a *minimum*, as nowhere near the entire company is listed on their site, and I had trouble tracking down some notable HL people like Adam Foster (who was doing VR stuff at Valve as of 2018, and would almost certainly be on the project if he still works there).

Doing some very rough back of the napkin math, you're looking at anywhere from a third to half the people working on HL:A having experience making HL games. That seems shockingly good for such an old franchise, especially one dormant for 12 years.

 

[chimpmunk]

Now, that means I gotta buy a VR headset...

 

[Shippi]

I never thought I would see the day.

 

[Solver]

I'm very surprised.

I'm also not sure how to feel about it. If it's a VR game, it's almost certainly not a traditional FPS - dynamic games with lots of first-person movement simply don't work for many people in VR due to nausea. So the game's very likely to be very different from HL in gameplay terms. I'm also not sure how big of a market they expect to have - VR is niche product, and there's currently no chance of a PC VR title selling millions of copies.

On the other hand, Valve is one of the best developers ever when it comes to immersion. HL1, HL2 and the episodes pushed immersion to new heights. If Valve can properly utilize VR and combine it with their immersive game design, they could create the most immersive game in history. Valve's VR controller is allegedly top-notch, other than the lacking game support. Potentially, Valve can pull off something as innovative and fun as HL2's gravity gun, but in VR.

 

[Lizardizzle]

Time to oil and grease this old account back into submission, isn't it?

I'm also not sure how to feel about it. If it's a VR game, it's almost certainly not a traditional FPS - dynamic games with lots of first-person movement simply don't work for many people in VR due to nausea. So the game's very likely to be very different from HL in gameplay terms. I'm also not sure how big of a market they expect to have - VR is niche product, and there's currently no chance of a PC VR title selling millions of copies.

Valve's talk at Digipen somewhat cleared up those concerns for me. I forget the guy's name, but he mentioned that there are different ways to play the game that includes more in-depth simulations in VR for those who are comfortable tasking themselves with it, and also simpler functions for everyone else.

What a time to be alive.

 

[Ennui]

wasnt digipen a poster? or digi something?

alyx looks like a killer app to me

 

[Higlac]

wasnt digipen a poster? or digi something?

alyx looks like a killer app to me

digiq8

 

[Ennui]

digiq8

thats right, used to be a news poster. hello higlac

 

[Lizardizzle]

Time to oil and grease this old account back into submission, isn't it?




Valve's talk at Digipen somewhat cleared up those concerns for me. I forget the guy's name, but he mentioned that there are different ways to play the game that includes more in-depth simulations in VR for those who are comfortable tasking themselves with it, and also simpler functions for everyone else.

What a time to be alive.

I tried to look closer through the Kerry Davis Digipen talk to find what I was talking about but can't remember when he mentions the different ways it works for different comfort levels of VR players can have. It's there within the 50 minute talk.