You can use your hands!

[lans]

Having re-read qckbeam's post - he said that the objects will be at waist level to give the impression of being held from below - so that's okay with me as long as it doesn't look to weird.

 

[Foxtrot88]

So Gordon can use his hands!

Thats why he and Alyx wont end up together.... :naughty:

 

[Sparta]

So basically its the same as DX2? The object thing?

 

[DeltaBlast]

and why waste all those valuable cpu cycles on picking up pointless things?

They shouldn't have included this feature. It's pointless and stupid. Or so I think.

Kinda odd btw that this thread has more posts than the thread @ HL2C

 

[-TaNaKa-]

I wonder if Gordon could use his hands on Alyx . Would be nice

 

[PvtRyan]

They shouldn't have included this feature. It's pointless and stupid. Or so I think.

What? Picking up stuff with your hands? How would you know if it's pointless or not? You'll probably need it to complete the game.

 

[PatPwnt]

"uhh, uhh" "where is it"?

 

[el Chi]

I'd better not pick up stuff - I don't know but it'll look kinda stupid that the object is levitating in the air and there are no hands.

This sucks. It won't look realistic at all.

Yep. Does it go clear too, a la Deus Ex? I liked theat the Manipulator were an inventive and superior alternative to your hands - it seemed a creative solution to the issue of picking things up. But no...

 

[Victor2]

A guy visited valve on another forum and said you can pick up boxes and other things with your hands. In HL you could kinda push and pull crates, I thought it would be the same with HL2 but apparently not.

heres the link http://forums.hl2central.net/index.php?act=ST&f=72&t=3370&st=0#entry50914

I can use my hands too, right now I´m using them to type and post this flood.

 

[Mr.Reak]

Wow… they just gave us another option (read, you can still use manipulator) and you guys still complain about it. Know what, don’t use it, really…

 

[Polykarbon]

Oh please god include this feature for Counter-Strike:Source.

Someone E-Mail Cliffe

*Edit* Nevermind, that would be terrible to implement and would offer many gameplay exploits. Unless it was a server side command...

 

[Rygir]

I was getting scared they wouldn't include it in the final...would have been so weird if you couldn't pick up a can unless with a massive anti-gravity waepon...Allthough considering what quickbeam pointed out, that looks pretty unfinished to me...it's not like you've never seen gordon's hands, so why can't they hold the damn object... probably because they have to keep the object physical and can't have it "pop up" in your hand...

 

[SubKamran]

You know what's sad? This thread isn't old news for me. I never knew you could pick stuff up without the manipulator. I am a sad person.

Same here. This is news to me!

 

[SubKamran]

I'd better not pick up stuff - I don't know but it'll look kinda stupid that the object is levitating in the air and there are no hands.

This sucks. It won't look realistic at all.

Wtf, I play Theif 3 and they did that, I love it...chucking stuff... "Hey! What was that?" Not seeing Gordon at all you could argue isn't realistic

Since when did stuff like not seeing your arms pickup stuff be not realistic? You want clipping and not holding where he should be instead? Jeez.

 

[-TaNaKa-]

Same :] wohoo

 

[kevinb456]

same here

that bit that said:

One more thing i would like to add is that Valve is
done from start to finish with the game. All they have to do is add
some more textures and do some more coding to make it look all nice.
They also mentioned that it should be shipped to Vivendi Universial by
August.

was also very interesting. so basically they just have to send the final RC to vivendi to publish, not much left to do. we might even see it on shelves by early september

i have to say im getting more and more impressed with what valve as done, knowing how long it takes to create a very basic map, and valve must have done hundreds and hundreds of complicated maps since the 'beta' got stolen (there was very little finished in the way of actual maps). oh im just so excited i do hope the story doesnt fall flat (i hope its at least as interesting as some of the theories people have come up with). wahoo gonna rock.

by the way, anyone who has a cd key for hl2 from an ati card etc, im not sure how many know this, but your also entitled to a free copy of hl,dod,cs,tf,opfor etc all the original stuff via steam. just use your hl2 cd key for those games. i know everyone probably owns them already, but the offer runs out as soon as hl2 is released retail. maybe worth creating a new steam account, register the free games to that one, then you will own 2 copies (sell one?) just a thought. i presume most people dont know this, cos it was in the small print on the ati site, but if this is common knowledge, sorry

 

[Rygir]

I wan't to see my hands

edit: wait, do you mean that the boxes and stuff are like half-on your screen and half-off? I guess that would be cool, but for bottles I'm not sure.

You know, that would be a decent solution...

 

[ACLeroK212]

I think it will take you out of the game more by the objects just hovering in front of you instead of actually seeing your hands.

Just be thankful it's not like Jurassic Park: Trespasser, with the 'ol zombie arm hovering in front of ya. Talk about taking you out of the game. :x

 

[Rygir]

Don't be such a monkey. You have an imagination don't you?

He does, doesn't he? He imagines he's holding things from outside the view...you can't "imagine" things that are obviously not there (because you can see they aren't). Otherwise you might imagine you're playing HL2 right now, no?

 

[kaf11]

Basically, you can walk up to small objects (like bottles, boxes, etc.), hit 'e', and pick it up. You don't see Gordons hands or anything, the object simply lifts off of the ground and sits in front of you, centered in your view (it's cool). You can stack boxes by pressing 'e' again and dropping it, or throw it by clicking the left mouse button. The throw isn't strong enough to hurt anyone, but it's fun nonetheless. I picked up a TV playing a bunch of combine propaganda and threw it through the plate glass of a window. Satisfying

I visited Valve HQ last Friday and played for about 30 minutes, so I didn't just make this up. I can't talk about what I played or anything, as it would spoil some moments you guys are going to really enjoy. The game did however, rock. There is nothing to fear. It's core Half-Life goodness taken to the next level

wow, cool info.

 

[Rygir]

This IS a technical limitation. Preset animations for picking up boxes and bottles wouldn't suffice since you can make a box different sizes and shapes and the hands would have to grab them accordingly. To do this, you would need cpu heavy IK, inverse kinematics, what the Strider uses to walk around, and why waste all those valuable cpu cycles on seeing your hands?

http://meqon.com/downloadarea/meqon-demos-1.3.1.zip

Check out the procedural animation demo. You can pick up a fully jointed character and sweep him through the crowds, to guarantee they aren't cutting corners. See how smooth it runs? Then think you only need about the processing power for 1 (one) of those puppets for the hand.

It's probably more because it can get complex when trying to grab something that's almost stuck in the environment or something, where your hand gets stuck as well or something like that... I can think of numerous problems with such direct interaction, but then again, they are usually pretty straightforward to solve :| .

In other words, I'm not so sure it's such a big performance hit... you could build in yanking procedures for items that are stuck, special actions for usefull objects (like drinking cans of soda, so the functionality from HL's dispensers is preserved, while still allowing you to toss them). The biggest problem is making it look for a path (i.e. letting gordon think how to move his arm so he avoids objects while trying to grab "the item", consider trying to grab something from the fridge, and you want the can in the back, you'll have to avoid tossing out everything in front. Now consider those things in front are inanimate and the problem gets worse, you just might not be able to fit your arm through in a comfortable standard sweep, you'll have to squirm; those kinds of motions have to be "decided" on) to the item and bending the arm accordingly...

I hope that was clear (and interesting?)?

 

[Ralfst3r]

It would be sweet if you could break combine necks with your hands :naughty:

 

[FISKER_Q]

that troubled me when i read that..

who knows how fast a comp they have running it and supposedly it took awhile to load..

It took 2 minutes, and it was to load the game, not the map.

And it was also mentioned in another trip to valve thread on hl2fallout i believe.

Yup you guessed it right, it's a bug that needs to be fixed before release.

 

[Icarusintel]

I think it'd be funny if you could find some vasoline,a porno mag, and put those virtual hands to use

 

[FISKER_Q]

It would be sweet if you could break combine necks with your hands :naughty:

Or maybe something completely different :naughty:

I think Alyx will object :naughty:

Edit: Damnit beat me to it

 

[Darkknighttt]

lol icarusintel that'd be cool if we can do that!

 

[lans]

Basically, you can walk up to small objects (like bottles, boxes, etc.), hit 'e', and pick it up. You don't see Gordons hands or anything, the object simply lifts off of the ground and sits in front of you, centered in your view (it's cool). You can stack boxes by pressing 'e' again and dropping it, or throw it by clicking the left mouse button. The throw isn't strong enough to hurt anyone, but it's fun nonetheless. I picked up a TV playing a bunch of combine propaganda and threw it through the plate glass of a window. Satisfying

I visited Valve HQ last Friday and played for about 30 minutes, so I didn't just make this up. I can't talk about what I played or anything, as it would spoil some moments you guys are going to really enjoy. The game did however, rock. There is nothing to fear. It's core Half-Life goodness taken to the next level

qckbeam - how come you never made a thread about your trip to valve? or you didn't want the unwanted attention.

prolly, you didn't want people to ask you to get pictures and stuff?

 

[clarky003]

I'd better not pick up stuff - I don't know but it'll look kinda stupid that the object is levitating in the air and there are no hands.

This sucks. It won't look realistic at all.

Bah., who cares its HL, if you want mega realism , go make a mod :hmph: .

realism = not always fun

real life = realisim as we understand it, (yes then it would look weird with a box infront of you, but no hands )

computer games = a game, no hands wont really detract from the fun of it.. surely, I always wish I couldnt see my arms when I pick things up,, they just get in the way

 

[hegele]

i didn't hear too many complaints when you drove the buggy and didn't see and hands on the wheel.

If you told me you couldn't see his hands on the wheel I would be a little distraut, but after seeing the player drive in action, I don't care, It looks hella' cool anyway. I'm sure it will be similer with the lifting and throwing.

 

[oldagerocker]

If valve things the hands feature detracts from the game, im very sure they'll take it out. dont forget they are playtesting allot and if there are problems, it'll be sorted, have no fear, any strange wacky feature will be great !

 

[WaSwAt]

I think it would be usefull to use your 'hands' in some quest-- err, puzzels especially in the beginning when you don't have the manipulator yet...

 

[Styloid]

I am all for picking things up with hands. Just imagine being chased by the combine while firing at them and picking up everything you can to drop it in their way and watching them stumble over stuff. It's great gameplay (hopefully not like DX2 where picking things up while fighting was clumsy and awkward plus the actual gunfights weren't intense enough to do neat stuff like that).
On the issue of seeing Gordon's hands I think it is part technical limitation, but also Valve's philosophy of building a virtual world and not building a virtual character. I don't want to see Gordon at all because I don't want the feeling that I'm taking care of a character (like RPG's where you have to make your character sleep to recover, arrange his inventory for him, tell the character what to say; you didn't do it for yourself, you did it for your virtual character). I don't want the feeling that I'm controlling a virtual character and everything is happening to him and not directly to myself, I just want a virtual world that I feel is reacting directly to me.

 

[clarky003]

hehe, I can really begin to see people getting real peed off when they try to style out a perfect scene picking stuff up, and using the manipulator only, thinking there gonna rock at it, and do it Perfect..

In reality I can imagine theres gonna be more cock ups than well played bits, but thats a great thing , because it'll really make you appreciate it and feel good when you get it all right, after youve pressed F9 about 12 times before