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The story actually sounds really fun to play, and fits the Half-Life universe perfectly. Funny that this script has reached the top of Reddit, HN and Twitter wi

The story actually sounds really fun to play, and fits the Half-Life universe perfectly. Funny that this script has reached the top of Reddit, HN and Twitter within hours of posting, and even crashed the authors site. Even to a blind man it's obvious the demand for the game is there, so it's amazing that Valve continues to ignore it and the fans, but I guess without a cash flow problem they really don't see the point in spending time developing it. A shame. Edit, GitHub Mirror: https://github.com/Jackathan/MarcLaidlaw-Epistle3/blob/master/Epistle3_Corrected.md https://github.com/Jackathan/MarcLaidlaw-Epistle3/blob/maste...

zimpenfish 9y ago
It's probably got to the point now that whatever they did would be negatively received because it cannot live up to the hype of the past N years. And since they're basically free-printing money out the wazoo via Steam and DOTA etc. why even bother with the hassle?
- ge96 9y ago
  I still remember the underwater fish sound, eh uh eh uh eh uh eh uh frantically trying to find a way out of the water
bhrgunatha 9y ago
Not sure if you've seen this or not but it sounds really plausible to me. Why valve will never release Half Life 3 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50lSIaSR3zc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50lSIaSR3zc
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
klondike_ 9y ago
First of all, Valve has lost some interest in single player games [1] Valve is also likely waiting for their new game engine, Source 2, to be completed because Source 1 is hideously outdated by today's standards. And finally, they're going to have to come up with something truly great to live up to nearly 10 years of hype [1]https://kotaku.com/5795355/valve-probably-done-with-single-player-games https://kotaku.com/5795355/valve-probably-done-with-single-p...
- gcp 9y ago
  They are already running their largest game, Dota 2, on the Source 2 engine.
- croon 9y ago
  > Valve is also likely waiting for their new game engine, Source 2, to be completed because Source 1 is hideously outdated by today's standards. Source 2 was patched into Dota 2 years ago, and being patched into CS:GO this year. Furthermore Source 1 didn't really get outdated as such, it got iterated on numerous times before introducing Source 2, which I assume will not be "completed" until Source 3 gets named the next version.
  - klondike_ 9y ago
    I'm assuming it's still not complete because there's still no news about a developer SDK (I'd assume they'd love to rake in engine licensing as soon as possible) >Furthermore Source 1 didn't really get outdated as such, it got iterated on numerous times before introducing Source 2, which I assume will not be "completed" until Source 3 gets named the next version. The main outdated thing about Source 1 is the authoring tools, which haven't changed much since Half Life 1 was released. Source 2 is supposed to fix that.
    - erikj 9y ago
      The new authoring tools are already available for Dota 2, you can install them in Steam.
    - cptskippy 9y ago
      > I'd assume they'd love to rake in engine licensing as soon as possible Source does rely on several other technologies (i.e. Miles, Blink, Havok) that you must license from their respective license holders, however Source is free to use if you're distributing on Steam and you only need to license the Source Engine for distribution off Steam or if you choose to distribute the SDK's tools with your game. So with that in mind, I doubt the rely much on licensing fees as a source of revenue.
  - 9y ago
TheRealDunkirk 9y ago
Valve released HL2 along with Steam. I'm convinced they'll release HL3 with their own, Valve-branded console. I'm also guessing that it will be an exclusive to SteamOS for 6 months or something.
- m0th87 9y ago
  Steam was released before HL2. I remember playing HL1-based games on it.
  - rangibaby 9y ago
    The first "game" on Steam 1.0 was a dedicated server app released immediately before CS1.6. The people with the lowest SteamIDs are server operators. Valve bribed people to use Steam by making all HL1 games available with any HL1 engine game CD key.
    - philliphaydon 9y ago
      My steam id is 10###, was required to play half life multi-player / counter strike. Steam came out 1 year 2 months before Half Life 2. They didn't really 'bribe' people, it was more to do with 1.6 CS only working on steam and patching was done via steam.
      - rangibaby 9y ago
        Registering any of these boxed games on Steam got you access to all of them: HL, Opposing Force, Blue Shift, Counter-Strike, Team Fortress Classic. + some Valve made mods: Quake DM, and Ricochet. That's a pretty good "carrot" to use Steam if you ask me.
        adamrezich 9y ago
        Still waiting for Ricochet VR.
        philliphaydon 9y ago
ZoFreX 9y ago
> it's amazing that Valve continues to ignore it Valve isn't a monolithic entity nor a top-down controlled company though. This argument doesn't reflect how they make decisions. They have spoken on a few related points in the past: * Their projects often change dramatically during development, even being scrapped or started over again from scratch (Half-Life is a rework of a scrapped project, Team Fortress 2 was completely rebooted) * They prefer not to talk at all about things that are very hyped because they believe it's more painful to the community to go through those twists and turns than have radio silence * If they aren't happy with the quality of something they produce it doesn't see the light of day, rather than release something that isn't great * For it to happen requires enough people within the company to decide to work on it, and see it through
- sametmax 9y ago
  > If they aren't happy with the quality of something they produce it doesn't see the light of day, rather than release something that isn't great This is very important. If HL would have been a EA game, you would have had it years ago. And it would have sucked, but everybody would have bought it and EA would have made bank. Valve cares. Sometimes that means you will not have what you want, because they know they can't provide it.
  - m3rc 9y ago
    Exactly. Not only will we never see HL3, we SHOULD never see HL3. It's so ubiquitous as some sort of second coming of Gaming Christ that no option existed except to have it be disappointing. It would have been Duke Nukem all over again.
    - jamesrcole 9y ago
      I don't believe that. From all reports Duke Nukem Forever was a pretty flawed game (I haven't played it). If they did HL3 and did a good job of it, then they've made a good game, and I think there'll be enough people who will appreciate that.
swalsh 9y ago
HL3 could solve their VR problem, there's a lot of people who are "waiting", who don't see a reason to get the system yet. HL3 could push them over the edge. Plus, it would be a really sweet game.
petercooper 9y ago
IMHO this is the problem that occurs when things are built by committee. You need a strong person who "owns" a creative project, lives and breathes it, and sees it through.. like a movie director or an author does. We shouldn't be thinking of Valve's motivation to make the game, but some creative who defines what it means to be "Half Life". Valve's structure doesn't feel very supportive of this sort of creative game making even if it's perfect for running infrastructure and creating storyless games like Dota and TF.

zimpenfish 9y ago

It's probably got to the point now that whatever they did would be negatively received because it cannot live up to the hype of the past N years. And since they're basically free-printing money out the wazoo via Steam and DOTA etc. why even bother with the hassle?

ge96 9y ago
I still remember the underwater fish sound, eh uh eh uh eh uh eh uh frantically trying to find a way out of the water

bhrgunatha 9y ago

Not sure if you've seen this or not but it sounds really plausible to me. Why valve will never release Half Life 3 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50lSIaSR3zc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50lSIaSR3zc

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

klondike_ 9y ago

First of all, Valve has lost some interest in single player games [1] Valve is also likely waiting for their new game engine, Source 2, to be completed because Source 1 is hideously outdated by today's standards. And finally, they're going to have to come up with something truly great to live up to nearly 10 years of hype [1]https://kotaku.com/5795355/valve-probably-done-with-single-player-games https://kotaku.com/5795355/valve-probably-done-with-single-p...

gcp 9y ago
They are already running their largest game, Dota 2, on the Source 2 engine.
croon 9y ago
> Valve is also likely waiting for their new game engine, Source 2, to be completed because Source 1 is hideously outdated by today's standards. Source 2 was patched into Dota 2 years ago, and being patched into CS:GO this year. Furthermore Source 1 didn't really get outdated as such, it got iterated on numerous times before introducing Source 2, which I assume will not be "completed" until Source 3 gets named the next version.
- klondike_ 9y ago
  I'm assuming it's still not complete because there's still no news about a developer SDK (I'd assume they'd love to rake in engine licensing as soon as possible) >Furthermore Source 1 didn't really get outdated as such, it got iterated on numerous times before introducing Source 2, which I assume will not be "completed" until Source 3 gets named the next version. The main outdated thing about Source 1 is the authoring tools, which haven't changed much since Half Life 1 was released. Source 2 is supposed to fix that.
  - erikj 9y ago
    The new authoring tools are already available for Dota 2, you can install them in Steam.
  - cptskippy 9y ago
    > I'd assume they'd love to rake in engine licensing as soon as possible Source does rely on several other technologies (i.e. Miles, Blink, Havok) that you must license from their respective license holders, however Source is free to use if you're distributing on Steam and you only need to license the Source Engine for distribution off Steam or if you choose to distribute the SDK's tools with your game. So with that in mind, I doubt the rely much on licensing fees as a source of revenue.
- 9y ago

TheRealDunkirk 9y ago

Valve released HL2 along with Steam. I'm convinced they'll release HL3 with their own, Valve-branded console. I'm also guessing that it will be an exclusive to SteamOS for 6 months or something.

m0th87 9y ago
Steam was released before HL2. I remember playing HL1-based games on it.
- rangibaby 9y ago
  The first "game" on Steam 1.0 was a dedicated server app released immediately before CS1.6. The people with the lowest SteamIDs are server operators. Valve bribed people to use Steam by making all HL1 games available with any HL1 engine game CD key.
  - philliphaydon 9y ago
    My steam id is 10###, was required to play half life multi-player / counter strike. Steam came out 1 year 2 months before Half Life 2. They didn't really 'bribe' people, it was more to do with 1.6 CS only working on steam and patching was done via steam.
    - rangibaby 9y ago
      Registering any of these boxed games on Steam got you access to all of them: HL, Opposing Force, Blue Shift, Counter-Strike, Team Fortress Classic. + some Valve made mods: Quake DM, and Ricochet. That's a pretty good "carrot" to use Steam if you ask me.
      - adamrezich 9y ago
        Still waiting for Ricochet VR.
      - philliphaydon 9y ago

ZoFreX 9y ago

> it's amazing that Valve continues to ignore it Valve isn't a monolithic entity nor a top-down controlled company though. This argument doesn't reflect how they make decisions. They have spoken on a few related points in the past: * Their projects often change dramatically during development, even being scrapped or started over again from scratch (Half-Life is a rework of a scrapped project, Team Fortress 2 was completely rebooted) * They prefer not to talk at all about things that are very hyped because they believe it's more painful to the community to go through those twists and turns than have radio silence * If they aren't happy with the quality of something they produce it doesn't see the light of day, rather than release something that isn't great * For it to happen requires enough people within the company to decide to work on it, and see it through

sametmax 9y ago
> If they aren't happy with the quality of something they produce it doesn't see the light of day, rather than release something that isn't great This is very important. If HL would have been a EA game, you would have had it years ago. And it would have sucked, but everybody would have bought it and EA would have made bank. Valve cares. Sometimes that means you will not have what you want, because they know they can't provide it.
- m3rc 9y ago
  Exactly. Not only will we never see HL3, we SHOULD never see HL3. It's so ubiquitous as some sort of second coming of Gaming Christ that no option existed except to have it be disappointing. It would have been Duke Nukem all over again.
  - jamesrcole 9y ago
    I don't believe that. From all reports Duke Nukem Forever was a pretty flawed game (I haven't played it). If they did HL3 and did a good job of it, then they've made a good game, and I think there'll be enough people who will appreciate that.

swalsh 9y ago

HL3 could solve their VR problem, there's a lot of people who are "waiting", who don't see a reason to get the system yet. HL3 could push them over the edge. Plus, it would be a really sweet game.

petercooper 9y ago

IMHO this is the problem that occurs when things are built by committee. You need a strong person who "owns" a creative project, lives and breathes it, and sees it through.. like a movie director or an author does. We shouldn't be thinking of Valve's motivation to make the game, but some creative who defines what it means to be "Half Life". Valve's structure doesn't feel very supportive of this sort of creative game making even if it's perfect for running infrastructure and creating storyless games like Dota and TF.