[HN Gopher] Valve developers discuss why Half Life 2: Episode 3 ...
___________________________________________________________________
Valve developers discuss why Half Life 2: Episode 3 was abandoned
Author : speckx
Score : 23 points
Date : 2024-11-18 22:06 UTC (53 minutes ago)
(HTM) web link (arstechnica.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (arstechnica.com)
| fullshark wrote:
| So they had no idea where to go next and were tired. That's
| reasonable. Seems to be what happens to most long running pop
| culture entertainment products, but creators usually have
| mortgages to pay and can't alternatively devote their energies to
| building out something more lucrative like Steam.
| rightbyte wrote:
| L4D was a real hit though. I don't think they let anyone or
| them self (the artistic spirit, not Valve) down.
| davidczech wrote:
| I think Half Life: Alyx really is their "Half Life 3" - there's
| no game I've played that comes close to anything like it. It's
| fairly clear in hindsight they opted for a prequel to
| disassociate with the baggage HL3 carries, in all aspects.
| Wowfunhappy wrote:
| I don't think it's reasonable. When you release part of an
| episodic story, you are making an implicit promise to your
| audience that you _will_ finish the story! Even more so if you
| end on a cliffhanger.
|
| This applies just as much to George R. R. Martin, btw.
| Mistletoe wrote:
| I think a lot of video game companies get into this trap. I
| can't speak for others but for me, I don't care about
| technical innovation, just give me more Skyrim, Witcher,
| Fallout, Half Life, Baldur's Gate, Elden Ring story. It's not
| rocket science. Put all the money you wanted to give to tech
| guys that want to revamp the engine every year into hiring
| amazing writers and art direction people.
| bartread wrote:
| I don't know: then you just end up with the videogame
| equivalent of the MCU which, at my most charitable, I would
| describe as uneven reaching mid at best. However, if we
| look at the median of how I feel about MCU, I'm just bored
| to tears with it. It's utter bilge. You just end up with
| this meaningless churning out of endless content for
| content's sake that goes nowhere and signifies nothing.
| Destiny 2 is actually a great example of this in the world
| of videogames.
| mrbungie wrote:
| I mean, no product is better than a shitty product in this
| case.
| Wowfunhappy wrote:
| I actually don't agree! They need to resolve the
| cliffhanger. Leaving it unresolved retroactively makes the
| whole package worse.
|
| That's not to say they should pull a Mass Effect 3, but it
| doesn't need to be some earth shattering gameplay
| experience.
| zeroCalories wrote:
| Bro it's just a video game, and at the end of the day you
| need inspired people to make a art. I would prefer they just
| stop and refocus instead of forcing out some corporate slop.
| righthand wrote:
| They also built up the myth both internally and externally that
| nothing they developed for the game was good enough, when
| people were already satisfied with the current mechanics. They
| wore themselves out saying it could be anything and accepting
| nothing. A monster of their own creation that is easily killed
| with a little humility. It is their desire to be unreasonable
| that led them there.
|
| Not reasonable at all IMO.
| hnthrowaway0328 wrote:
| What a tragedy. I hope the community projects go better.
| add-sub-mul-div wrote:
| Also, the rent-seeking middleman business for PC games is easier
| and more profitable.
| righthand wrote:
| Hold on, just need to validate this comment by phoning home. In
| the mean time enjoy DOOM for $1 this holiday season.
___________________________________________________________________
(page generated 2024-11-18 23:00 UTC)