19 ms·

Half-Life: Alyx

586 points by arthurfm 7y ago

outworlder 7y ago
I just want to know one thing: what happened to Half-Life 2 Episode III ? As it is, I'll wait for people to play this and tell me if it ends in a cliffhanger too.
- ihuman 7y ago
  From the writer of half life, after he left valve: https://www.marclaidlaw.com/epistle-3/ https://www.marclaidlaw.com/epistle-3/
  - outworlder 7y ago
    Thank you. Maybe I can finally get closure now.
- Jach 7y ago
  Since it says it takes place between HL1 and HL2, what cliffhanger could there be? You can subscribe to https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrMEAJ54k0d2Gvjof4GF6Vg/videos https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrMEAJ54k0d2Gvjof4GF6Vg/vid... if you want a daily update on HL3 news. But the other comment's link to the writer's conclusion is worthwhile for closure since we'll probably never get the game version.
hyko 7y ago
Why does this need to be VR?
- archarios 7y ago
  I'm sure Valve wanted to make a AAA VR game to help sales of their hardware so they made a new Half Life. Rather than they wanted to make a new Half Life game and then decided to make it VR.
- martin1b 7y ago
  Valve's games generally push the envelope WHEN they write games. They don't do what a lot of game developers do, which is, make games, improve gfx, rinse and repeat. Valve likes to walk in the room with something ground breaking and will knock your socks off. VR is the next logical step and it needed a nudge. I think Alyx is that nudge. Although I won't be able to buy it for a while due to hardware expenses, I really applaud them in going the VR route. Personally wouldn't have done a prequel. This would have been a perfect HL3 fit. I'd love to hear why they chose a prequel to HL3. Buuuut, what's done is done and I'm sure they did a great job.
mikl 7y ago
Hope they’ll make a non-VR version at some point. Much as I enjoyed previous Half-Life games, I don’t want to buy a VR-rig. They’re obviously hoping that a Half-Life game will be enough to get gamers to adopt VR, but I don’t see a lot of people willing to remodel their living room to make space for a VR setup, at least over here in Europe, where people have fairly small homes in comparison to the U.S.
- outworlder 7y ago
  How small are we talking about? My PC sits in a very small room, and yet I can use VR. It does not sit in the living room. Size of the room is less of a deal than obstacles. You may have to rearrange some furniture out of the way while you play. I have to move my desk chair out of the way if I'm not playing Elite. Usually you don't move all that much – but stuff has to be out of your arm's way. Most games only require you to be stationary. It's just more immersive if you can move a bit.
- cwkoss 7y ago
  VRcades will probably become a prevalent kind of retail establishment in the next decade. Two people can game together from geographically separate VRcades.
  - mikl 7y ago
    I doubt it. VRcades will have to compete with people being able to play regular video games from their homes. Not only will playing from home be a lot cheaper, it’s also a lot more convenient. Unless VR becomes a lot more compelling, I don’t see a significant chunk of gamers being willing to go down to the local VRcade to do their gaming on a regular basis. And imagine the cost. A VRcade would have to have a lot of space per player, they’d have to be staffed, cleaned, maintained. A good game these days takes at least 40 hours to play through. I’d wager that 40 hours of VRcade time is going to be a lot more than people are willing to pay for a game these days.
    - cwkoss 7y ago
      > A good game these days takes at least 40 hours to play through. I think you are speaking to a very specific segment of the gaming market that will probably not be captured by VR. There are plenty of games (roguelikes, casual, shooters, racing) that have more emphasis on semi-episodic 'rounds' of gameplay vs long form narrative RPGs that would adapt to this model easily.
BuckRogers 7y ago
This is VR's big moment given the mod support. I have a gaming grade PC, but have been completely sold on the Oculus Quest ever since they announced Oculus Link support and that you'd be able to play games on Steam with it as well. I need the standalone support to make it more useful, taking it into another room and using it either for gaming or watching a video. Looks like I'll be picking up that Quest, upgrading to Ryzen 4900X and a Nvidia 3060 when they're out next year for this game.
dfcagency 7y ago
I hate that In The Valley of the Gods was cancelled for this.
- ihuman 7y ago
  Has it been officially canceled, or is this still speculation based on people removing it from their twitter bios? The game's steam page is still up.
microtherion 7y ago
Frankly, I would rather play a new Portal.
- shadowgovt 7y ago
  I think they've officially decided Portal is played out. If you want more Portal, the Perpetual Testing Initiative is still there.
bilekas 7y ago
Critics : "Development studios are making games for Valve hardware, sure, but they're not using everything properly" Valve : "Hold my beer, lets give them what they wanted in 3D, in VR"
willis936 7y ago
Here is a light read for any fans of the series who want a nice conclusion to the story. This is a bit of a myth to me, as I don’t know how substantiated the story is, but it is nice to think that this is a conclusion written by the author. Considering its darkness, it is more likely a piece of fanfiction. It reads like its fanfiction. Anyway, it was nice to go for one last ride with the characters. It sounds like Vincent’s VA is different and the overall tone is lighter. The tone of the trailer did feel very much like the writers involved with portal, which managed to treat its setting with proper respect while still managing to be light for those not paying too close attention. I hope HL:A manages to keep the themes of the series intact. https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2017/08/half-life-3-plot-marc-laidlaw/ https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2017/08/half-life-3-plot-marc...
canada_dry 7y ago
> "Hammer - Valve's level authoring tool, has been updated with all the game's virtual reality gameplay tools and components. Community built environments are possible - that's a pretty huge thing!
SimonPStevens 7y ago
"Play on any SteamVR system. If you have VR hardware that works with a computer, then it works with SteamVR." Bravo Valve. This is why anyone interested in this should get a Vive and stay well clear of Oculus/Facebook's headsets. They are busy trying to capture the VR market by setting up exclusivity arrangements with studios to lock games to their platform to cut others out which just divides up the already small market. Value have built a cross platform framework and SDK and are releasing their games for all headsets.
- ChicagoBoy11 7y ago
  Although I suspect they have carefully made it so that the game has quite a few mechanics that would benefit greatly from the finger-tracking mechanics available only on the.... Valve Index. To be clear, your point is absolutely correct, but I'd be shellshocked if the experience isn't geared heavily to take the most advantage out of their own headset.
  - carlosdp 7y ago
    Sure, but if Oculus came out with a finger-tracking controller, there's no doubt it would be supported given SteamVR's track record.
  - SimonPStevens 7y ago
    Yeah, sure. But I'm all in favour of that. I want to see systems compete on their comparative merits. That hopefully drives innovation. I just dislike the way Oculus are preferring to compete by locking up the market with exclusives. It only hurts gamers by reducing choice. I thought Oculus touch did support finger tracking. Wikipedia describes it as a "system for detecting finger gestures which perhaps is different. I've only ever used a Vive, so I'm not sure.
- Impossible 7y ago
  Vive is 2015 :). Buy an Index and get the game for free.
  - 7y ago
h91wka 7y ago
Too late. Now I am only feeling disappointed that "after another Half-Life is released" meme has become obsolete.
cptskippy 7y ago
Does this feel like an attempt by Valve to flog VR by appealing to player's desire for a new Half-Life game?
- alecco 7y ago
  It's working here.
- SmellyGeekBoy 7y ago
  By that logic Half-Life 2 was an attempt to flog Steam... And we all know how that turned out.
  - cptskippy 7y ago
    Yes and I feel like Half-Life 2 was a game they were going to make regardless of Steam. They just leveraged it to promote Steam. This just feels like they had no intention of making a HL game but VR hasn't taken off as much as they expected so they decided to create a game to promote it.
huhtenberg 7y ago
I sure hope there'll be a non-VR version as well.
- ihuman 7y ago
  The Steam page says its for VR only
- dariusj18 7y ago
  I'm sure you will be able to watch the story on YouTube at some point.
- delive 7y ago
  Doubt it, the website says it was built 'from the ground up' for a VR experience.
  - ofrzeta 7y ago
    I don't doubt this but I think it should be quite easy to make a regular 3D FPS from an original VR game.
    - shadowgovt 7y ago
      Emphatically not. The interaction space of VR is entirely different from the interaction space of a standard mouse-and-keyboard FPS. For starters, players in a VR game have two hands. A lot of games in VR could have been FPSs instead, but only because they're generally vastly under-utilizing the dimension space that two VR input controllers (plus the input of look direction) give a designer. If you used the dimensionality of the VR space and you port it to the FPS space, you'll leave entire game mechanics on the floor.
      - ofrzeta 7y ago
        That makes sense. You could use the scenery from the game (although you would probably provide more for more open world gameplay than in the VR game) and also create FPS specific mechanis such as open world puzzles etc.
notus 7y ago
It looks interesting at least, It's hard to tell how gimmicky it will be though. I've felt like a lot of VR experiences I have had felt gimmicky. Some of my best VR experiences have been more in line with games like beat saber rather than story driven games. I'm also the type of person that pretty much exclusively plays story driven games so I want to like those experiences in VR but they just feel kind of off to me and not relaxing.
- Analemma_ 7y ago
  I'm not pleased that Valve has shifted its focus from developing great games to being a digital platform rent-extractor that tinkers with VR and disinterestedly ships occasional updates to Dota and CS:GO, but I'm optimistic this might be good, even if it's only out of motivated self-interest to drum up the VR hype again. What I mean is, I get the sense Valve is unhappy that VR hasn't had its system-selling killer app yet, and I wonder if Alyx is trying to be that. If so, I'm reasonably hopeful they'll push hard to make this a genuinely good game that shows VR's full potential, rather than a disposable gimmick.
  - AnIdiotOnTheNet 7y ago
    > I'm not pleased that Valve has shifted its focus from developing great games to being a digital platform rent-extractor I actually kinda am. Because they created a really great platform that has helped the market thrive even for tiny nobody indie devs. They've set a seriously high bar for digital store fronts and distribution services. I think I've got a lot more enjoyment from the games Steam has enabled to exist and find an audience than I have from any game Valve itself produced. Hell, they even made Linux gaming a significantly less laughable concept than it once was.
    - sorenn111 7y ago
      +1 to steam for how easy it is to enable mods via steam. modding can be a little daunting to your average user but steam enables communication about a mod (via the comment section which is really helpful for communicating with mod owner), quick and easy installation and uninstallation (underrated feature esp for non tech users), and discovery via the workshop
MaximumMadness 7y ago
Looks like this game's focus is going to be on the player, rather than the game world itself. Where HL1/2 were focused on making the objects, enemies, and places you interacted with feel like real life. HL:A will be focused on the character you control, giving you complete autonomy with finger capture and motion control. Valve is pushing forward gaming with Half Life once again
- wayoutthere 7y ago
  Given the accuracy (or lack of it) of individual finger movements on the Valve Index controller, it's not going to be anything more than a gimmick. The tech looks impressive in a demo, but our hands are used to manipulating things with a much finer touch than the Index controller allows so it doesn't translate very well to games.
  - dvtrn 7y ago
    it's not going to be anything more than a gimmick. Not sure if I share this sentiment, I read elsewhere Valve is treating this as their next "flagship" release, a true first class VR game (hopefully not just some 30 minute "experience" that ends right as it's getting good). It this were literally any other game studio I'd have an eyebrow raised right now, but when Valve puts their full muscle and creative energy behind something as a flagship, lead-off hitter, they've yet to disappoint.
    - zerocrates 7y ago
      > When Valve puts their full muscle and creative energy behind something as a flagship, lead-off hitter, they've yet to disappoint. Genuine question: when would you say is the last time they did that? I don't really think of Dota 2 or CS:GO or whatever to be "flagships." I'd have to go back to, Portal 2, I guess, but I'm not sure even that I would call a "flagship," just a really good game. Certainly the Orange Box as a whole... but that was 12 years ago. Even Portal 2 is 8 years ago.
      - 7y ago
filereaper 7y ago
Bet this game ends at "Red Letter Day" starting Half-Life 2
- ambrice 7y ago
  Probably not, need to leave room for Alyx episode 2.
on_and_off 7y ago
Call me salty but I am not sure I am super interested in half life 1.5 while half life 2 episode 2 has ended on a cliffhanger more than ten years ago. I am still curious to see how they will handle the character of Alyx, she was little more than an admiration delivery device in half life 2. They will have to do a lot more now that she is the center of the game.
- badloginagain 7y ago
  > little more than an admiration delivery device Actually if anything she was the primary driver of the plot. Freeman, being a passive mute, follows what Alyx and co are doing for the majority of the plot(s).
  - on_and_off 7y ago
    What does she like ? Why does she fall in love with the mute player character at first sight ? Don't she already have relationships ? What exactly does she find attractive in that mute guy that appears and disappear ? She is here to as a reward/carrot for teenage boys, not as a full fledged character with her own wants and needs :/
    - leetcrew 7y ago
      to be fair, I haven't actually played the game in a while, but I think you are reading a lot into alyx that isn't really there. I don't remember having the impression that alyx was in love with Gordon or really picking up on any sexual tension at all.
      - on_and_off 7y ago
        It must have been a while :-) , because it was there. one quote I do remember is her dad telling Gordon and Alyx to start working on giving him grandchildren now that the neuteuring field is off. here are 2 articles with more details on Alyx in case you are curious. https://electriccartilage.wordpress.com/2014/08/21/alyx-vance-is-not-a-strong-nor-well-written-female-character/ https://electriccartilage.wordpress.com/2014/08/21/alyx-vanc... https://onemorecontinue.com/alyx-vance-half-life-2/ https://onemorecontinue.com/alyx-vance-half-life-2/ (tbh I only skimmed them right now .. and I unhearthed them with the totally biased "alyx bad character" web search, although I remember reading the second link when it came out)
magashna 7y ago
Wonder if I can do Oculus Quest + PC Link + Index controllers. Don't really want to buy an Index, but the controllers look really nice. Also considering Quest since my biggest gripe before was the wired headset and how heavy it was overall.
- rocky1138 7y ago
  In order to make this work, hardware-wise, you'd need the lighthouses, too.
  - magashna 7y ago
    I have a Vive, just been cagey about updating. The Quest looks like the kind of casual experience that I wanted after having a Vive since launch.
  - neogodless 7y ago
    So I'm assuming that means that Valve programs this in a way that dictates the hardware, instead of having an abstraction layer that accepts player position, viewpoint and hand inputs regardless of the hardware? Is that something you have a source to confirm? I would like to think that if Quest is going to release a way to hook up to the PC to play SteamVR, they'll be sending all that positional data from the headset tracking to the PC through the link.
    - ihuman 7y ago
      No, there's an abstraction layer [0], the problem is the quest and valve's controllers use incompatible methods to track position. The Vive/Index uses its camera to detect the motion of fixed markers (the lighthouses), while the Quest analyzes the surrounding environment directly. The Quest's cameras are looking for lights on the controller to track it, while the controller's cameras are looking for the lighthouse's lights to track themselves. [0] https://github.com/ValveSoftware/openvr https://github.com/ValveSoftware/openvr
      - 7y ago
atonse 7y ago
A cool idea that I'd never ever ever try. Half Life 1 on low res was scary enough. In all seriousness though – is there any studies done on potential PTSD-like effects that arise from this sort of VR game?
- swalsh 7y ago
  I play mostly FPS games in VR. To be honest stabbing a dude was a pretty jarring experience the first time I did it in VR. I also remember hitting the ground pretty hard the first time I heard rounds whizzing over my head. But that kind of adreneline pumping experience goes away really quickly. Once it's normalized your body stops having a reaction to it.
  - panopticon 7y ago
    As a counter anecdote, I had no such reaction. It felt no more "real" than a game played with my mouse and keyboard. The only time I hit the ground was when I tried to go into a crouch and had the floor height misconfigured. That left a mark.
- x220 7y ago
  Actually VR games and simulations reduce the likelihood of developing PTSD.
  - monkeynotes 7y ago
    Source?
    - monkeynotes 7y ago
      I see no mention of VR Games. I am fairly certain the ` well-controlled sensory stimuli` does not cover the latest shooter from the video game industry. I would agree that VR can help with PTSD, but only in the same way as drugs can help with disease. Doesn't mean to say that drugs don't also cause huge problems. The devil, as always, is in the details and life is not simple.
dugditches 7y ago
Appears to be fairly on rails, which I guess eliminates the whole movement thing. Good to see them releasing something, even if it is a narrow market. Seems to be a lot of doubt in them after lackluster Artifact and Epic Store entering their space.
- squeaky-clean 7y ago
  Website says they support teleportation based movement, shift based movement, and continuous movement with the controllers. https://half-life.com/en/alyx/vr https://half-life.com/en/alyx/vr
- strangecasts 7y ago
  The "compatible VR" page lists multiple options for movement: https://www.half-life.com/en/alyx/vr https://www.half-life.com/en/alyx/vr
  - ninkendo 7y ago
    I wonder how good an FPS game can really be with teleportation-based movement. (Edit for clarity: “Because, for each of the non-teleportation motion schemes...”:) Any VR game I've played where the camera moves while I'm standing still, I want to vomit almost immediately. I'm usually sick for the rest of the day. (I think it was a roller coaster simulation I tried, I didn't even make it up the first hill, I had to throw the headset off right away.) I want to play a new half-life game but I'm really skeptical they'll set it up in a way that won't make me puke my brains out.
    - capableweb 7y ago
      "where the camera moves while I'm standing still" and "was a roller coaster simulation I tried" doesn't even match. Of course you're gonna be sitting still while the camera moves in 3d space in the game if you're playing roller coaster. Seems the motion sickness was from something else in the VR than the teleportation-based movement, as a roller coaster would probably not have that.
purpleidea 7y ago
Pretty lame that there's no Linux support. Valve was supposed to be on our side. Oh well :(
- shadowgovt 7y ago
  How is Linux support for VR in general? I wonder if Valve looked at the ecosystem and decided Linux support at this time would be volunteering to boil the ocean.
  - coldpie 7y ago
    Not bad, actually. We test with the Vive and the Index. If your distro has up to date drivers, it works well on both Nvidia (proprietary) and AMD. Nvidia is a little easier to set up, as there's only one real choice of driver, but AMD isn't bad either. Game support is obviously lesser than Windows, but a good number of games run well in Steam Play/Proton. That includes Beat Saber, which is probably the most popular VR game on the market.
- coldpie 7y ago
  I'll see what we can do about that ;)
  - PAGAN_WIZARD 7y ago
    If I know I can play day 1, I'll gladly shell out the $1k for the full index package. I just spent about that on new gpu + monitor so I was gonna wait to save up, but tux == bucks.
    - shadowgovt 7y ago
      > tux == bucks I don't have solid numbers, but a quick Googling suggests the rate of desktop deployments of Linux is under 2%, and VR-ready deployments is going to be a thin slice of any desktop OS deployment (I have no reason to believe Linux users are more likely to have a VR rig attached to their machine than average, and I'd put money on it being actually less likely unless they have a machine configured to dual-boot).
rocky1138 7y ago
A criminally overlooked feature of this game is the release of the dev tools used to make maps and mods. Giving the tools away for such a powerful base game is what gave HL1 and HL2 it's incredible staying power.
- kody 7y ago
  I completely agree. This site is the first I've read of the new dev tools, and I'm excited to see what the community builds on Source 2.
- taurath 7y ago
  Absolutely - the engine is the real product here.
- vorpalhex 7y ago
  That is exactly what turns me from a maybe to absolutely buying this. Even if the base game is disappointing, the mods to come will be excellent.
- squarefoot 7y ago
  Agreed. That helped also to make gems such as Black Mesa, a 100% fan made recreation of the first HL using HL2 engine and graphics. I wonder what would become of this game if they added a proper story, characters interactions, NPCs, subplots etc. (think Mass Effect style). Here's a full walkthrough for those living under a rock when it came out:*) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brFEN4x9Xao https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brFEN4x9Xao
  - the_af 7y ago
    Thanks for posting! Impressive. By the way, back then I really liked the first stages of HL2 -- the dystopian intro absolutely rocks -- but eventually had to stop playing, partly because it was getting too long, and partly because of motion sickness. This really took me by suprise because I was a gamer, had enjoyed the original HL without problems... and suddenly there was a new breed of 3D games where I got motion sickness and had to quit. I distinctly remember two games that made me almost throw up when playing: HL2 and Jedi Outcast. I was wondering if it was simply a stage of my life, so I decided to watch your video and... instant motion sickness. I think it has something to do with the jerky point of view and the rapid motion, but also something about how the "lens" of the viewport deforms the image near the borders. Does it happen to anyone else? :(
eanzenberg 7y ago
I still remember the first time I saw screen grabs of screenshots of Half Life 2 from PC Gamer, back in 2004 (or was it 2003). I thought I was looking at real-life photos and didn't realize they were from a video game initially. Then, watching the tech demo with all the cool physics really excited me. Maybe it's because I'm older now, but this didn't "knock me out" like that did.
- dariusj18 7y ago
  VR is tricky to get a sense for without actually wearing a headset. When a coworker brought in his Oculus for the first time I thought it was going to be gimmicky, and I was blown away by how immersive it is.
  - shadowgovt 7y ago
    Oculus is the first headset kit I ever used that effectively solved the lateral motion problem. Specifically, the human neck isn't hinged so that the head rotates around a pivot right behind the eyes; if you tilt your head up and down, your point of view is moving forward and backward, not just tracking. 3DOF trackers (like Google Daydream) and low-fidelity 6DOF trackers don't capture that dimension of data, and even if you don't consciously notice it's missing, strapping into anything of equivalent fidelity to Oculus Rift or better makes you really notice the difference. It's night-and-day.
- dom96 7y ago
  I wonder if I'm the only one who's getting a TF2 vibe from this trailer. The game's art style doesn't seem like it's going for realism, possibly a decision to make it playable on more hardware?
  - frio 7y ago
    Also to make it better in VR. I've only played a few games, but on earlier kits like the Vive/Oculus, you just don't have the resolution to make high fidelity work. Games like SuperHot were perfect for the platform due to the lower-poly style.
ralfd 7y ago
Question to VR gamers: Why are the arms not animated?
- swalsh 7y ago
  From my experience, you don't notice when there's no arms, but you do notice when there's arms and they're not doing exactly what your real ones are doing.
- neals 7y ago
  They'd block 20% of your view and you would block the part where you would want 'put' your hand ( like a button to press) and since there is no tactile response, it would be impossile to do so. Also, the IK-system would not be able to mimic the exact movement of your own arms, making them feel foreign and weird.
  - moksly 7y ago
    Why are your hands displayed as hands if you’re holding “game-pads”? Or are there actual gloves?
    - sleepybrett 7y ago
      The controllers used for this video are probably the index 'knuckles' controllers that have some finger tracking ability. Therefore good replicas of your hand can be generated given the data passed about the location and rotation of the controller and the general position of each finger. Arms are quite a bit harder as the shoulder joint and wrist joint are both muliaxis (while the elbow is fairly fixed). While the location of the shoulder can be inferred based on the location of the visor and the relative location of the controller the full IK chain can solve a number of ways (With your hands on the keyboard notice that you can change the position of your elbow without much effecting your hand or shoulder position.) because of this an improper solve can throw off immersion, better and easier just to have 'phantom hands'.
    - Rebelgecko 7y ago
      Probably a mix of immersion and practical reasons. It looks like Valve is supporting a huge variety of input devices. Some, like the Index controller do track individual fingers. In a grittier game like this it would be weird to see the Vive magic wand floating around in space. With the gloves, they can also incorporate things like a health bar that would normally go on the HUD.
ben7799 7y ago
This has got to be the most narrowly targeted game ever. I played through all of HL/HL2/Ep1/Ep2 IIRC, but I can barely even remember the story clearly it was so long ago. And it's such a blur maybe I never finished Ep2. I was 21 when HL1 came out but I didn't get to play it till I was like 24 maybe when I had gotten out of school and got a nice computer & some money. HL2 came out when I was 27.. still playing games but I don't remember beating it till much later. Probably 2010, by which point I was married and had bought a house. Now I'm 42 and I have a 7 year old.. so I'm old enough to actually remember this, don't really have the time to play anymore.. and I'd be looking at buying a new PC & VR equipment to play it.. yah no thanks. That and I remember HL2 and Ep1/Ep2 taking forever. The whole thing was good, unlike time sinks like Oblivion and Skyrim that were full of filler, but it still took forever to play through. Just seems like a small target of players who are old enough to fondly remember the original + still have time to play long form games + still have gaming equipment + have VR/are willing to buy VR. Even as an engineer who knows more than a usual amount of gamers including younger players I'm not sure I know anyone who has VR equipment. If you're 15-20 do you care about this or do you just think it's your Dad's stuff?
- shin_lao 7y ago
  I'm also a Gen X and would buy a VR set just to play this game.
  - pier25 7y ago
    Same. I'm 40 and if the reviews are good I will get a VR headset just to play this.
- koheripbal 7y ago
  What if the game could be played by two people together in co-op mode? If so, we could play with our kids, and it becomes more than just a way to have fun ourselves, but an avenue for family bonding (at least that's how I'd sell it to my wife).
  - atq2119 7y ago
whatshisface 7y ago
This game is a lot more cartoony and blue/orange than Half-Life 2, which had a very distinctive low-saturation photorealistic style. However, it's less cartoony than half-life 1. It's fitting that a game set between them chronologically would mix their art styles.
- Sebguer 7y ago
  The requirements to double-render also force a cartoony style in a game at this scale.
  - jessaustin 7y ago
    Can the double-render be turned off for better performance? I only have one eye... b^)
  - whatshisface 7y ago
    The graphics on the promo website are a lot higher resolution than Half-Life 2's graphics. HL2 was photorealistic not by having a high polygon count, but by having desaturated textures that approached the things you would find in a picture of a city. HL2 came out a long time ago.
    - bhhaskin 7y ago
      HL2 wasn't photorealistic by any stretch of the word. Sure it looked great for the time, but go back and play it now.
      - whatshisface 7y ago
        HL2 wasn't photorealistic, it was made in a photorealistic style.
aresant 7y ago
I think a fascinating part of Alyx is Valve choosing a female protagonist. 85%+ of VR users are male, compared to say 70/30 male/female balance of say Fornite. (1/2) Any way you carve it the audience for Alyx is going to weight heavily male. And research suggests that gender-swapping in VR is a profound psychological experience: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8260949 https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8260949 (1) https://www.rakutenintelligence.com/blog/2016/virtual-reality-mostly-mobile https://www.rakutenintelligence.com/blog/2016/virtual-realit... (2) https://www.statista.com/statistics/865625/fortnite-players-gender/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/865625/fortnite-players-... (3) https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8260949 https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8260949
- bluthru 7y ago
  Gordon was famously mute and his hands and forearms were hidden. This allowed anyone to easily immerse themselves. (Same for Portal.) Unlike a third person game where you're controlling a character, I could see how having a different voice and hands in VR would be odd. I bet Valve realized that a mute protagonist no longer works in a story-driven environment.
  - Baeocystin 7y ago
    I remember reading various making of stories regarding the half-life world back when it was still relatively new, and even then the designers spent a lot of time talking about how difficult it was having a mute, non-interactive protagonist. What they pulled off is excellent considering the state of gaming at the time, but I think you're right in that it just wouldn't fly today.
    - dmix 7y ago
      South Park did a really good job with a mute character in both of their recent games. It became almost a running joke in how the conversations would flow and the silence was taken as support for whatever the speaking person wanted it to mean, highlighting narcissism or teasing societal expectations.
- 7y ago
davnicwil 7y ago
Assuming I'm starting from scratch, what's the minimum cost these days to get the hardware that'll play this?
- yboris 7y ago
  I'd say $400 for a great VR set (including hand controllers), and under $600 if you build a PC from scratch. Cheaper if you reuse some parts, cheaper if you buy any parts used. My 3-year old video card (bought for $300 then) is still kicking butt in any VR title I throw at it.
  - fhood 7y ago
    Under 600 is not going to get you a pc that will work 2 years from now. If you have extreme budget concerns sure, but VR is a luxury item so if you are willing to shell out for the equipment, spend a little more to build a PC that will last.
    - wkrp 7y ago
      I think he means that if you dont have a VR ready graphics card, that costs another $200.
  - s9w 7y ago
    This is a valve flagship game. It's made for the index, which is a $1000 piece of hardware
    - penagwin 7y ago
      Yes but it doesn't require the index, it can use any steam vr compatible headset.
      - s9w 7y ago
        That was not the goalpost here. The goalpost was that a "great" VR hardware costs $400, which is not true. Same for a $600 PC for high-end VR and as a bonus: the claim that a 3yo GPU is "kicking butt". All of these are false
xvx 7y ago
Now make a Left 4 Dead VR game and I'm sold!
- x2f10 7y ago
  L4D in VR? What a dream!
tombot 7y ago
The final hours interview has plenty of backstory to dig into https://youtu.be/-9K0eJEmMEw https://youtu.be/-9K0eJEmMEw
hising 7y ago
It will be interesting to see if this title can drive adaption to VR and drive sales of headsets and create a market for VR-games. Hard to find a more hyped IP than Half-Life. Maybe it can breath some life into the "it will happen next year"-hype of VR.
hacker_9 7y ago
Wow this looks like finally a reason to buy VR
s9w 7y ago
As much as a Half-Life fan I am, VR is a gimmick. It's expensive and will not be a "thing" in the foreseeable future. This is such a wasted opportunity. A normal Half-Life 3 would have brought back a lot of goodwill for Valve.
- shadowgovt 7y ago
  Hard to say. VR might be a gimmick in the game space. On the other hand, taking a step back and looking at the hardware, there's been a progression since at least the '70s of working immersive infrastructure getting cheaper, easier to use, and less nausea-inducing. This local maxima of design and hardware may be a fad, but if it is, I expect in my lifetime to see another fad in maybe 10 years. The tech is just getting too cheap for people to not risk throwing a few mil at it every so often.
- swalsh 7y ago
  VR may be niche, but it's not a gimmick. I get about 1-2 hours a week to play games. I choose to spend that time in VR because it's the most enjoyable way to game for me. I don't play pancake games anymore.
- drno_ 7y ago
  You need big money, games and studios to help push the tech forward. I think that's the point of this game
- outworlder 7y ago
  It is not a gimmick. It seems that you have not yet tried it. There are a few improvements required, such as resolution and the freedom of movement. Note that I did not mention price. It will come down – even more, that is. Also, they need Half Life 2 Episode III. The series ended in a cliffhanger.
  - s9w 7y ago
    No one tried it because it's expensive AF. And you need space. And there are so many of them. And the storefronts don't match. And there are no games. And you sweat. And they're heavy. And you need a monster PC. And it doesn't work. And and and. It's a gimmick. Alyx is a $2000 game for a normal gamer, counting an index and a sizeable PC upgrade.
fwxwi 7y ago
Considering the price of the VR headset you must buy to play this, this might be the most expensive game ever.
dsfyu404ed 7y ago
On Tuesday I said: >Due to some of the technical limitations with people (motion sickness does not make a popular game) I don't think this is not going to be an open spaces and free-movement heavy game like HL2. Not having some really good expansive panorama scenes would be a disservice to the VR tech but don't expect to be able to drive a go-kart around in them. I'm expecting a lot of semi stationary scenes where the player is free around a small space as the environment smoothly and steadily around them (like all the various freight elevator and rail car scenes in HL1). I expect that in typical Half-Life fashion there will be lots of object manipulation and head crab batting practice while the player remains nearly stationary. So based on the trailer it looks like I was decently right. I think you're gonna spend a lot of time solving puzzles with one hand while defending yourself with the other. I really hope they nail the cinematic aspect of it like they did in HL2 since that greatly contributes to how immersive the game feels.
- dntrkv 7y ago
  https://half-life.com/en/alyx/vr https://half-life.com/en/alyx/vr This is interesting to me, though I haven't played many VR games. Is this common with other games?
  - dsfyu404ed 7y ago
    It's been 2yr since I was in VR but the only thing that stands out to me is support for finger/gesture tracking controllers which was more bleeding edge back when I was working on it but may be standard now. Everything else looks industry standard. No obvious omissions, no out of the ordinary inclusions.
  - dariusj18 7y ago
    Yes, the teleportation mechanic was great in Robo Recall. Much better IMO than movement with the analog sticks.
thatguyagain 7y ago
I just want to say that this is without a doubt the most exciting thing I have seen in VR so far, and I will definitely buy an Index for this. They got me. Full length game, brand new engine, Half Life story?? Holy s*it
- ChicagoBoy11 7y ago
  I'm pretty bullish on VR in general but a few experiences (like the Aperture lab) were truly a class above. Problem was they were so short. The thing with VR is you really notice shortcuts, but when there is a REAL investment made the experience also can absolutely shine. My mental model for this is essentially the kind of experience that the aperture lab was but blown up to a full-length, AAA game. And that thought is simply awesome.
vhakulinen 7y ago
I guess I'm buying VR gear then.
- criddell 7y ago
  I'm already making space for the headset in the same drawer I keep my 3d glasses for my TV!
d--b 7y ago
Wooooo, parallax vertical scroll.
- akjetma 7y ago
  it's funny, VR doesn't give me motion sickness but browser parallax stuff does. i don't think i've ever seen a good implementation of this and i've seen tons of attempts. highjacking scroll just never feels good.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
nottorp 7y ago
Have they solved motion sickness yet? I borrowed a playstation VR once but got nauseous after half an hour, no matter which game i tried. Are the newer things getting better?
- sillysaurusx 7y ago
  Unfortunately there's a chance it's biological. No matter how high the FPS is or how responsive the screen is, if you're "walking" in VR, your body isn't walking in real life. That's what your brain is probably reacting to.
  - nottorp 7y ago
    Yeah, sadly I think it's the body not walking for me. Guess I should try a wheelchair simulator :)
- BOBOTWINSTON 7y ago
  The short answer is, yes they are getting better. However, it really depends more on what is causing your specific discomfort. For some people it can be the locomotion or just bad visuals. The comfort/heat of the headset also can cause issues. If I don't use VR for awhile, then I get a little nauseous my first 1 or 2 times in, but after that I can handle just about anything for many hours.
martin1b 7y ago
We've been waiting for decades for the release of this. I'm a HUGE fan of HL but not a fan of prequels. Hopefully this will showcase VR as a viable medium. IMHO, I think Portal VR would have given a more immersive experience, along with less locomotion issues. However, I'm sure Valve has done their research. My concern is, if this isn't met with favor, will Valve bow out of game development permanently? It just feels as if they are losing interest in new game development and would rather buy other studios and keep Steam chugging along. More money there..
- dom96 7y ago
  > IMHO, I think Portal VR would have given a more immersive experience, along with less locomotion issues. However, I'm sure Valve has done their research. This was covered in the interview video[1], Valve employees mentioned that they considered Portal but they thought that a game where you spend a significant amount of time jumping through portals at high speed would make you sick. 1 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9K0eJEmMEw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9K0eJEmMEw
bloody-crow 7y ago
I've never understood the appeal of the VR. I play games that benefit from low reaction time and precision and my body is the main source of latency and mistakes. When I watch recordings of my own gameplay, I notice how my brain usually operates a few hundred milliseconds ahead of what my hands controlling mouse & keyboard are capable of executing. Throwing your untrained and sometimes unhealthy body into this mix doesn't seem like a beneficial strategy. Also, characters in the games I play do things that are completely impossible for a regular human body to accomplish. They're running faster, jumping higher, aim and swing swords better than I or any real human even could. Why would you want your character to be a mirror of your real-world tired and untrained self? They say that the biggest sell of VR is immersion. How can something be immersive when it has no capability to provide any kind of feedback besides audio/visual? You can't swing swords in VR cause it has no capability to communicate weight of the thing you're holding back to you. A light sword feels exactly the same as a huge two-handed sword because all you're actually carrying in a lightweight plastic controller. You can't punch a wall because there's nothing in reality to stop your hand from going through. You can't hide behind cover because the object you're trying to lean on doesn't exist in real life. You can't feel an impact of receiving a fatal blow or taking a rocket in your face, cause there's nothing to actually push you in real life. I think VR is dumb and I haven't seen any games yet that would want me to spend money on it. I was a huge fan of HL back in the day, but I guess I'm going to skip this one.
- Ajedi32 7y ago
  Have you tried it? You absolutely can do all those things you just described in VR. I understand why you might think it wouldn't feel realistic, because yes, the technology for realistic full-body tactile feedback isn't there yet. But I can assure you from personal experience; audio/visual feedback is more than enough to immerse you in the game even when the haptics don't precisely match what you'd feel doing the same thing in real life.
  - bloody-crow 7y ago
    > You absolutely can do all those things you just described in VR I haven't seen a single VR game that allows you to do things a typical competitive FPS shooter character does or games like Dark Souls/Sekiro.
mdrachuk 7y ago
Talking about managing expectations: starting the trailer narration with a phrase “what we’re doing here could change things forever” puts a lot of pressure on the game.
2444344978 7y ago
https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-Workspace-ONE-UEM/1904/Android_Platform/GUID-AWT-ENROLL-WORKMAN.html https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-Workspace-ONE-UEM/1904/And...

586 points by arthurfm 7y ago

I just want to know one thing: what happened to Half-Life 2 Episode III ? As it is, I'll wait for people to play this and tell me if it ends in a cliffhanger too.

ihuman 7y ago
From the writer of half life, after he left valve: https://www.marclaidlaw.com/epistle-3/ https://www.marclaidlaw.com/epistle-3/
- outworlder 7y ago
  Thank you. Maybe I can finally get closure now.
Jach 7y ago
Since it says it takes place between HL1 and HL2, what cliffhanger could there be? You can subscribe to https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrMEAJ54k0d2Gvjof4GF6Vg/videos https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrMEAJ54k0d2Gvjof4GF6Vg/vid... if you want a daily update on HL3 news. But the other comment's link to the writer's conclusion is worthwhile for closure since we'll probably never get the game version.

hyko 7y ago

Why does this need to be VR?

archarios 7y ago
I'm sure Valve wanted to make a AAA VR game to help sales of their hardware so they made a new Half Life. Rather than they wanted to make a new Half Life game and then decided to make it VR.
martin1b 7y ago
Valve's games generally push the envelope WHEN they write games. They don't do what a lot of game developers do, which is, make games, improve gfx, rinse and repeat. Valve likes to walk in the room with something ground breaking and will knock your socks off. VR is the next logical step and it needed a nudge. I think Alyx is that nudge. Although I won't be able to buy it for a while due to hardware expenses, I really applaud them in going the VR route. Personally wouldn't have done a prequel. This would have been a perfect HL3 fit. I'd love to hear why they chose a prequel to HL3. Buuuut, what's done is done and I'm sure they did a great job.

mikl 7y ago

Hope they’ll make a non-VR version at some point. Much as I enjoyed previous Half-Life games, I don’t want to buy a VR-rig. They’re obviously hoping that a Half-Life game will be enough to get gamers to adopt VR, but I don’t see a lot of people willing to remodel their living room to make space for a VR setup, at least over here in Europe, where people have fairly small homes in comparison to the U.S.

outworlder 7y ago
How small are we talking about? My PC sits in a very small room, and yet I can use VR. It does not sit in the living room. Size of the room is less of a deal than obstacles. You may have to rearrange some furniture out of the way while you play. I have to move my desk chair out of the way if I'm not playing Elite. Usually you don't move all that much – but stuff has to be out of your arm's way. Most games only require you to be stationary. It's just more immersive if you can move a bit.
cwkoss 7y ago
VRcades will probably become a prevalent kind of retail establishment in the next decade. Two people can game together from geographically separate VRcades.
- mikl 7y ago
  I doubt it. VRcades will have to compete with people being able to play regular video games from their homes. Not only will playing from home be a lot cheaper, it’s also a lot more convenient. Unless VR becomes a lot more compelling, I don’t see a significant chunk of gamers being willing to go down to the local VRcade to do their gaming on a regular basis. And imagine the cost. A VRcade would have to have a lot of space per player, they’d have to be staffed, cleaned, maintained. A good game these days takes at least 40 hours to play through. I’d wager that 40 hours of VRcade time is going to be a lot more than people are willing to pay for a game these days.
  - cwkoss 7y ago
    > A good game these days takes at least 40 hours to play through. I think you are speaking to a very specific segment of the gaming market that will probably not be captured by VR. There are plenty of games (roguelikes, casual, shooters, racing) that have more emphasis on semi-episodic 'rounds' of gameplay vs long form narrative RPGs that would adapt to this model easily.

BuckRogers 7y ago

This is VR's big moment given the mod support. I have a gaming grade PC, but have been completely sold on the Oculus Quest ever since they announced Oculus Link support and that you'd be able to play games on Steam with it as well. I need the standalone support to make it more useful, taking it into another room and using it either for gaming or watching a video. Looks like I'll be picking up that Quest, upgrading to Ryzen 4900X and a Nvidia 3060 when they're out next year for this game.

dfcagency 7y ago

I hate that In The Valley of the Gods was cancelled for this.

ihuman 7y ago
Has it been officially canceled, or is this still speculation based on people removing it from their twitter bios? The game's steam page is still up.

microtherion 7y ago

Frankly, I would rather play a new Portal.

shadowgovt 7y ago
I think they've officially decided Portal is played out. If you want more Portal, the Perpetual Testing Initiative is still there.

bilekas 7y ago

Critics : "Development studios are making games for Valve hardware, sure, but they're not using everything properly" Valve : "Hold my beer, lets give them what they wanted in 3D, in VR"

willis936 7y ago

Here is a light read for any fans of the series who want a nice conclusion to the story. This is a bit of a myth to me, as I don’t know how substantiated the story is, but it is nice to think that this is a conclusion written by the author. Considering its darkness, it is more likely a piece of fanfiction. It reads like its fanfiction. Anyway, it was nice to go for one last ride with the characters. It sounds like Vincent’s VA is different and the overall tone is lighter. The tone of the trailer did feel very much like the writers involved with portal, which managed to treat its setting with proper respect while still managing to be light for those not paying too close attention. I hope HL:A manages to keep the themes of the series intact. https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2017/08/half-life-3-plot-marc-laidlaw/ https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2017/08/half-life-3-plot-marc...

canada_dry 7y ago

> "Hammer - Valve's level authoring tool, has been updated with all the game's virtual reality gameplay tools and components. Community built environments are possible - that's a pretty huge thing!

SimonPStevens 7y ago

"Play on any SteamVR system. If you have VR hardware that works with a computer, then it works with SteamVR." Bravo Valve. This is why anyone interested in this should get a Vive and stay well clear of Oculus/Facebook's headsets. They are busy trying to capture the VR market by setting up exclusivity arrangements with studios to lock games to their platform to cut others out which just divides up the already small market. Value have built a cross platform framework and SDK and are releasing their games for all headsets.

ChicagoBoy11 7y ago
Although I suspect they have carefully made it so that the game has quite a few mechanics that would benefit greatly from the finger-tracking mechanics available only on the.... Valve Index. To be clear, your point is absolutely correct, but I'd be shellshocked if the experience isn't geared heavily to take the most advantage out of their own headset.
- carlosdp 7y ago
  Sure, but if Oculus came out with a finger-tracking controller, there's no doubt it would be supported given SteamVR's track record.
- SimonPStevens 7y ago
  Yeah, sure. But I'm all in favour of that. I want to see systems compete on their comparative merits. That hopefully drives innovation. I just dislike the way Oculus are preferring to compete by locking up the market with exclusives. It only hurts gamers by reducing choice. I thought Oculus touch did support finger tracking. Wikipedia describes it as a "system for detecting finger gestures which perhaps is different. I've only ever used a Vive, so I'm not sure.
Impossible 7y ago
Vive is 2015 :). Buy an Index and get the game for free.
- 7y ago

h91wka 7y ago

Too late. Now I am only feeling disappointed that "after another Half-Life is released" meme has become obsolete.

cptskippy 7y ago

Does this feel like an attempt by Valve to flog VR by appealing to player's desire for a new Half-Life game?

alecco 7y ago
It's working here.
SmellyGeekBoy 7y ago
By that logic Half-Life 2 was an attempt to flog Steam... And we all know how that turned out.
- cptskippy 7y ago
  Yes and I feel like Half-Life 2 was a game they were going to make regardless of Steam. They just leveraged it to promote Steam. This just feels like they had no intention of making a HL game but VR hasn't taken off as much as they expected so they decided to create a game to promote it.

huhtenberg 7y ago

I sure hope there'll be a non-VR version as well.

ihuman 7y ago
The Steam page says its for VR only
dariusj18 7y ago
I'm sure you will be able to watch the story on YouTube at some point.
delive 7y ago
Doubt it, the website says it was built 'from the ground up' for a VR experience.
- ofrzeta 7y ago
  I don't doubt this but I think it should be quite easy to make a regular 3D FPS from an original VR game.
  - shadowgovt 7y ago
    Emphatically not. The interaction space of VR is entirely different from the interaction space of a standard mouse-and-keyboard FPS. For starters, players in a VR game have two hands. A lot of games in VR could have been FPSs instead, but only because they're generally vastly under-utilizing the dimension space that two VR input controllers (plus the input of look direction) give a designer. If you used the dimensionality of the VR space and you port it to the FPS space, you'll leave entire game mechanics on the floor.
    - ofrzeta 7y ago
      That makes sense. You could use the scenery from the game (although you would probably provide more for more open world gameplay than in the VR game) and also create FPS specific mechanis such as open world puzzles etc.

notus 7y ago

It looks interesting at least, It's hard to tell how gimmicky it will be though. I've felt like a lot of VR experiences I have had felt gimmicky. Some of my best VR experiences have been more in line with games like beat saber rather than story driven games. I'm also the type of person that pretty much exclusively plays story driven games so I want to like those experiences in VR but they just feel kind of off to me and not relaxing.

Analemma_ 7y ago
I'm not pleased that Valve has shifted its focus from developing great games to being a digital platform rent-extractor that tinkers with VR and disinterestedly ships occasional updates to Dota and CS:GO, but I'm optimistic this might be good, even if it's only out of motivated self-interest to drum up the VR hype again. What I mean is, I get the sense Valve is unhappy that VR hasn't had its system-selling killer app yet, and I wonder if Alyx is trying to be that. If so, I'm reasonably hopeful they'll push hard to make this a genuinely good game that shows VR's full potential, rather than a disposable gimmick.
- AnIdiotOnTheNet 7y ago
  > I'm not pleased that Valve has shifted its focus from developing great games to being a digital platform rent-extractor I actually kinda am. Because they created a really great platform that has helped the market thrive even for tiny nobody indie devs. They've set a seriously high bar for digital store fronts and distribution services. I think I've got a lot more enjoyment from the games Steam has enabled to exist and find an audience than I have from any game Valve itself produced. Hell, they even made Linux gaming a significantly less laughable concept than it once was.
  - sorenn111 7y ago
    +1 to steam for how easy it is to enable mods via steam. modding can be a little daunting to your average user but steam enables communication about a mod (via the comment section which is really helpful for communicating with mod owner), quick and easy installation and uninstallation (underrated feature esp for non tech users), and discovery via the workshop

MaximumMadness 7y ago

Looks like this game's focus is going to be on the player, rather than the game world itself. Where HL1/2 were focused on making the objects, enemies, and places you interacted with feel like real life. HL:A will be focused on the character you control, giving you complete autonomy with finger capture and motion control. Valve is pushing forward gaming with Half Life once again

wayoutthere 7y ago
Given the accuracy (or lack of it) of individual finger movements on the Valve Index controller, it's not going to be anything more than a gimmick. The tech looks impressive in a demo, but our hands are used to manipulating things with a much finer touch than the Index controller allows so it doesn't translate very well to games.
- dvtrn 7y ago
  it's not going to be anything more than a gimmick. Not sure if I share this sentiment, I read elsewhere Valve is treating this as their next "flagship" release, a true first class VR game (hopefully not just some 30 minute "experience" that ends right as it's getting good). It this were literally any other game studio I'd have an eyebrow raised right now, but when Valve puts their full muscle and creative energy behind something as a flagship, lead-off hitter, they've yet to disappoint.
  - zerocrates 7y ago
    > When Valve puts their full muscle and creative energy behind something as a flagship, lead-off hitter, they've yet to disappoint. Genuine question: when would you say is the last time they did that? I don't really think of Dota 2 or CS:GO or whatever to be "flagships." I'd have to go back to, Portal 2, I guess, but I'm not sure even that I would call a "flagship," just a really good game. Certainly the Orange Box as a whole... but that was 12 years ago. Even Portal 2 is 8 years ago.
    - 7y ago

filereaper 7y ago

Bet this game ends at "Red Letter Day" starting Half-Life 2

ambrice 7y ago
Probably not, need to leave room for Alyx episode 2.

on_and_off 7y ago

Call me salty but I am not sure I am super interested in half life 1.5 while half life 2 episode 2 has ended on a cliffhanger more than ten years ago. I am still curious to see how they will handle the character of Alyx, she was little more than an admiration delivery device in half life 2. They will have to do a lot more now that she is the center of the game.

badloginagain 7y ago
> little more than an admiration delivery device Actually if anything she was the primary driver of the plot. Freeman, being a passive mute, follows what Alyx and co are doing for the majority of the plot(s).
- on_and_off 7y ago
  What does she like ? Why does she fall in love with the mute player character at first sight ? Don't she already have relationships ? What exactly does she find attractive in that mute guy that appears and disappear ? She is here to as a reward/carrot for teenage boys, not as a full fledged character with her own wants and needs :/
  - leetcrew 7y ago
    to be fair, I haven't actually played the game in a while, but I think you are reading a lot into alyx that isn't really there. I don't remember having the impression that alyx was in love with Gordon or really picking up on any sexual tension at all.
    - on_and_off 7y ago
      It must have been a while :-) , because it was there. one quote I do remember is her dad telling Gordon and Alyx to start working on giving him grandchildren now that the neuteuring field is off. here are 2 articles with more details on Alyx in case you are curious. https://electriccartilage.wordpress.com/2014/08/21/alyx-vance-is-not-a-strong-nor-well-written-female-character/ https://electriccartilage.wordpress.com/2014/08/21/alyx-vanc... https://onemorecontinue.com/alyx-vance-half-life-2/ https://onemorecontinue.com/alyx-vance-half-life-2/ (tbh I only skimmed them right now .. and I unhearthed them with the totally biased "alyx bad character" web search, although I remember reading the second link when it came out)

magashna 7y ago

Wonder if I can do Oculus Quest + PC Link + Index controllers. Don't really want to buy an Index, but the controllers look really nice. Also considering Quest since my biggest gripe before was the wired headset and how heavy it was overall.

rocky1138 7y ago
In order to make this work, hardware-wise, you'd need the lighthouses, too.
- magashna 7y ago
  I have a Vive, just been cagey about updating. The Quest looks like the kind of casual experience that I wanted after having a Vive since launch.
- neogodless 7y ago
  So I'm assuming that means that Valve programs this in a way that dictates the hardware, instead of having an abstraction layer that accepts player position, viewpoint and hand inputs regardless of the hardware? Is that something you have a source to confirm? I would like to think that if Quest is going to release a way to hook up to the PC to play SteamVR, they'll be sending all that positional data from the headset tracking to the PC through the link.
  - ihuman 7y ago
    No, there's an abstraction layer [0], the problem is the quest and valve's controllers use incompatible methods to track position. The Vive/Index uses its camera to detect the motion of fixed markers (the lighthouses), while the Quest analyzes the surrounding environment directly. The Quest's cameras are looking for lights on the controller to track it, while the controller's cameras are looking for the lighthouse's lights to track themselves. [0] https://github.com/ValveSoftware/openvr https://github.com/ValveSoftware/openvr
    - 7y ago

atonse 7y ago

A cool idea that I'd never ever ever try. Half Life 1 on low res was scary enough. In all seriousness though – is there any studies done on potential PTSD-like effects that arise from this sort of VR game?

swalsh 7y ago
I play mostly FPS games in VR. To be honest stabbing a dude was a pretty jarring experience the first time I did it in VR. I also remember hitting the ground pretty hard the first time I heard rounds whizzing over my head. But that kind of adreneline pumping experience goes away really quickly. Once it's normalized your body stops having a reaction to it.
- panopticon 7y ago
  As a counter anecdote, I had no such reaction. It felt no more "real" than a game played with my mouse and keyboard. The only time I hit the ground was when I tried to go into a crouch and had the floor height misconfigured. That left a mark.
x220 7y ago
Actually VR games and simulations reduce the likelihood of developing PTSD.
- monkeynotes 7y ago
  Source?
  - monkeynotes 7y ago
    I see no mention of VR Games. I am fairly certain the ` well-controlled sensory stimuli` does not cover the latest shooter from the video game industry. I would agree that VR can help with PTSD, but only in the same way as drugs can help with disease. Doesn't mean to say that drugs don't also cause huge problems. The devil, as always, is in the details and life is not simple.

dugditches 7y ago

Appears to be fairly on rails, which I guess eliminates the whole movement thing. Good to see them releasing something, even if it is a narrow market. Seems to be a lot of doubt in them after lackluster Artifact and Epic Store entering their space.

squeaky-clean 7y ago
Website says they support teleportation based movement, shift based movement, and continuous movement with the controllers. https://half-life.com/en/alyx/vr https://half-life.com/en/alyx/vr
strangecasts 7y ago
The "compatible VR" page lists multiple options for movement: https://www.half-life.com/en/alyx/vr https://www.half-life.com/en/alyx/vr
- ninkendo 7y ago
  I wonder how good an FPS game can really be with teleportation-based movement. (Edit for clarity: “Because, for each of the non-teleportation motion schemes...”:) Any VR game I've played where the camera moves while I'm standing still, I want to vomit almost immediately. I'm usually sick for the rest of the day. (I think it was a roller coaster simulation I tried, I didn't even make it up the first hill, I had to throw the headset off right away.) I want to play a new half-life game but I'm really skeptical they'll set it up in a way that won't make me puke my brains out.
  - capableweb 7y ago
    "where the camera moves while I'm standing still" and "was a roller coaster simulation I tried" doesn't even match. Of course you're gonna be sitting still while the camera moves in 3d space in the game if you're playing roller coaster. Seems the motion sickness was from something else in the VR than the teleportation-based movement, as a roller coaster would probably not have that.

purpleidea 7y ago

Pretty lame that there's no Linux support. Valve was supposed to be on our side. Oh well :(

shadowgovt 7y ago
How is Linux support for VR in general? I wonder if Valve looked at the ecosystem and decided Linux support at this time would be volunteering to boil the ocean.
- coldpie 7y ago
  Not bad, actually. We test with the Vive and the Index. If your distro has up to date drivers, it works well on both Nvidia (proprietary) and AMD. Nvidia is a little easier to set up, as there's only one real choice of driver, but AMD isn't bad either. Game support is obviously lesser than Windows, but a good number of games run well in Steam Play/Proton. That includes Beat Saber, which is probably the most popular VR game on the market.
coldpie 7y ago
I'll see what we can do about that ;)
- PAGAN_WIZARD 7y ago
  If I know I can play day 1, I'll gladly shell out the $1k for the full index package. I just spent about that on new gpu + monitor so I was gonna wait to save up, but tux == bucks.
  - shadowgovt 7y ago
    > tux == bucks I don't have solid numbers, but a quick Googling suggests the rate of desktop deployments of Linux is under 2%, and VR-ready deployments is going to be a thin slice of any desktop OS deployment (I have no reason to believe Linux users are more likely to have a VR rig attached to their machine than average, and I'd put money on it being actually less likely unless they have a machine configured to dual-boot).

rocky1138 7y ago

A criminally overlooked feature of this game is the release of the dev tools used to make maps and mods. Giving the tools away for such a powerful base game is what gave HL1 and HL2 it's incredible staying power.

kody 7y ago
I completely agree. This site is the first I've read of the new dev tools, and I'm excited to see what the community builds on Source 2.
taurath 7y ago
Absolutely - the engine is the real product here.
vorpalhex 7y ago
That is exactly what turns me from a maybe to absolutely buying this. Even if the base game is disappointing, the mods to come will be excellent.
squarefoot 7y ago
Agreed. That helped also to make gems such as Black Mesa, a 100% fan made recreation of the first HL using HL2 engine and graphics. I wonder what would become of this game if they added a proper story, characters interactions, NPCs, subplots etc. (think Mass Effect style). Here's a full walkthrough for those living under a rock when it came out:*) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brFEN4x9Xao https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brFEN4x9Xao
- the_af 7y ago
  Thanks for posting! Impressive. By the way, back then I really liked the first stages of HL2 -- the dystopian intro absolutely rocks -- but eventually had to stop playing, partly because it was getting too long, and partly because of motion sickness. This really took me by suprise because I was a gamer, had enjoyed the original HL without problems... and suddenly there was a new breed of 3D games where I got motion sickness and had to quit. I distinctly remember two games that made me almost throw up when playing: HL2 and Jedi Outcast. I was wondering if it was simply a stage of my life, so I decided to watch your video and... instant motion sickness. I think it has something to do with the jerky point of view and the rapid motion, but also something about how the "lens" of the viewport deforms the image near the borders. Does it happen to anyone else? :(

eanzenberg 7y ago

I still remember the first time I saw screen grabs of screenshots of Half Life 2 from PC Gamer, back in 2004 (or was it 2003). I thought I was looking at real-life photos and didn't realize they were from a video game initially. Then, watching the tech demo with all the cool physics really excited me. Maybe it's because I'm older now, but this didn't "knock me out" like that did.

dariusj18 7y ago
VR is tricky to get a sense for without actually wearing a headset. When a coworker brought in his Oculus for the first time I thought it was going to be gimmicky, and I was blown away by how immersive it is.
- shadowgovt 7y ago
  Oculus is the first headset kit I ever used that effectively solved the lateral motion problem. Specifically, the human neck isn't hinged so that the head rotates around a pivot right behind the eyes; if you tilt your head up and down, your point of view is moving forward and backward, not just tracking. 3DOF trackers (like Google Daydream) and low-fidelity 6DOF trackers don't capture that dimension of data, and even if you don't consciously notice it's missing, strapping into anything of equivalent fidelity to Oculus Rift or better makes you really notice the difference. It's night-and-day.
dom96 7y ago
I wonder if I'm the only one who's getting a TF2 vibe from this trailer. The game's art style doesn't seem like it's going for realism, possibly a decision to make it playable on more hardware?
- frio 7y ago
  Also to make it better in VR. I've only played a few games, but on earlier kits like the Vive/Oculus, you just don't have the resolution to make high fidelity work. Games like SuperHot were perfect for the platform due to the lower-poly style.

ralfd 7y ago

Question to VR gamers: Why are the arms not animated?

swalsh 7y ago
From my experience, you don't notice when there's no arms, but you do notice when there's arms and they're not doing exactly what your real ones are doing.
neals 7y ago
They'd block 20% of your view and you would block the part where you would want 'put' your hand ( like a button to press) and since there is no tactile response, it would be impossile to do so. Also, the IK-system would not be able to mimic the exact movement of your own arms, making them feel foreign and weird.
- moksly 7y ago
  Why are your hands displayed as hands if you’re holding “game-pads”? Or are there actual gloves?
  - sleepybrett 7y ago
    The controllers used for this video are probably the index 'knuckles' controllers that have some finger tracking ability. Therefore good replicas of your hand can be generated given the data passed about the location and rotation of the controller and the general position of each finger. Arms are quite a bit harder as the shoulder joint and wrist joint are both muliaxis (while the elbow is fairly fixed). While the location of the shoulder can be inferred based on the location of the visor and the relative location of the controller the full IK chain can solve a number of ways (With your hands on the keyboard notice that you can change the position of your elbow without much effecting your hand or shoulder position.) because of this an improper solve can throw off immersion, better and easier just to have 'phantom hands'.
  - Rebelgecko 7y ago
    Probably a mix of immersion and practical reasons. It looks like Valve is supporting a huge variety of input devices. Some, like the Index controller do track individual fingers. In a grittier game like this it would be weird to see the Vive magic wand floating around in space. With the gloves, they can also incorporate things like a health bar that would normally go on the HUD.

ben7799 7y ago

This has got to be the most narrowly targeted game ever. I played through all of HL/HL2/Ep1/Ep2 IIRC, but I can barely even remember the story clearly it was so long ago. And it's such a blur maybe I never finished Ep2. I was 21 when HL1 came out but I didn't get to play it till I was like 24 maybe when I had gotten out of school and got a nice computer & some money. HL2 came out when I was 27.. still playing games but I don't remember beating it till much later. Probably 2010, by which point I was married and had bought a house. Now I'm 42 and I have a 7 year old.. so I'm old enough to actually remember this, don't really have the time to play anymore.. and I'd be looking at buying a new PC & VR equipment to play it.. yah no thanks. That and I remember HL2 and Ep1/Ep2 taking forever. The whole thing was good, unlike time sinks like Oblivion and Skyrim that were full of filler, but it still took forever to play through. Just seems like a small target of players who are old enough to fondly remember the original + still have time to play long form games + still have gaming equipment + have VR/are willing to buy VR. Even as an engineer who knows more than a usual amount of gamers including younger players I'm not sure I know anyone who has VR equipment. If you're 15-20 do you care about this or do you just think it's your Dad's stuff?

shin_lao 7y ago
I'm also a Gen X and would buy a VR set just to play this game.
- pier25 7y ago
  Same. I'm 40 and if the reviews are good I will get a VR headset just to play this.
koheripbal 7y ago
What if the game could be played by two people together in co-op mode? If so, we could play with our kids, and it becomes more than just a way to have fun ourselves, but an avenue for family bonding (at least that's how I'd sell it to my wife).
- atq2119 7y ago

whatshisface 7y ago

This game is a lot more cartoony and blue/orange than Half-Life 2, which had a very distinctive low-saturation photorealistic style. However, it's less cartoony than half-life 1. It's fitting that a game set between them chronologically would mix their art styles.

Sebguer 7y ago
The requirements to double-render also force a cartoony style in a game at this scale.
- jessaustin 7y ago
  Can the double-render be turned off for better performance? I only have one eye... b^)
- whatshisface 7y ago
  The graphics on the promo website are a lot higher resolution than Half-Life 2's graphics. HL2 was photorealistic not by having a high polygon count, but by having desaturated textures that approached the things you would find in a picture of a city. HL2 came out a long time ago.
  - bhhaskin 7y ago
    HL2 wasn't photorealistic by any stretch of the word. Sure it looked great for the time, but go back and play it now.
    - whatshisface 7y ago
      HL2 wasn't photorealistic, it was made in a photorealistic style.

aresant 7y ago

I think a fascinating part of Alyx is Valve choosing a female protagonist. 85%+ of VR users are male, compared to say 70/30 male/female balance of say Fornite. (1/2) Any way you carve it the audience for Alyx is going to weight heavily male. And research suggests that gender-swapping in VR is a profound psychological experience: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8260949 https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8260949 (1) https://www.rakutenintelligence.com/blog/2016/virtual-reality-mostly-mobile https://www.rakutenintelligence.com/blog/2016/virtual-realit... (2) https://www.statista.com/statistics/865625/fortnite-players-gender/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/865625/fortnite-players-... (3) https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8260949 https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8260949

bluthru 7y ago
Gordon was famously mute and his hands and forearms were hidden. This allowed anyone to easily immerse themselves. (Same for Portal.) Unlike a third person game where you're controlling a character, I could see how having a different voice and hands in VR would be odd. I bet Valve realized that a mute protagonist no longer works in a story-driven environment.
- Baeocystin 7y ago
  I remember reading various making of stories regarding the half-life world back when it was still relatively new, and even then the designers spent a lot of time talking about how difficult it was having a mute, non-interactive protagonist. What they pulled off is excellent considering the state of gaming at the time, but I think you're right in that it just wouldn't fly today.
  - dmix 7y ago
    South Park did a really good job with a mute character in both of their recent games. It became almost a running joke in how the conversations would flow and the silence was taken as support for whatever the speaking person wanted it to mean, highlighting narcissism or teasing societal expectations.
7y ago

davnicwil 7y ago

Assuming I'm starting from scratch, what's the minimum cost these days to get the hardware that'll play this?

yboris 7y ago
I'd say $400 for a great VR set (including hand controllers), and under $600 if you build a PC from scratch. Cheaper if you reuse some parts, cheaper if you buy any parts used. My 3-year old video card (bought for $300 then) is still kicking butt in any VR title I throw at it.
- fhood 7y ago
  Under 600 is not going to get you a pc that will work 2 years from now. If you have extreme budget concerns sure, but VR is a luxury item so if you are willing to shell out for the equipment, spend a little more to build a PC that will last.
  - wkrp 7y ago
    I think he means that if you dont have a VR ready graphics card, that costs another $200.
- s9w 7y ago
  This is a valve flagship game. It's made for the index, which is a $1000 piece of hardware
  - penagwin 7y ago
    Yes but it doesn't require the index, it can use any steam vr compatible headset.
    - s9w 7y ago
      That was not the goalpost here. The goalpost was that a "great" VR hardware costs $400, which is not true. Same for a $600 PC for high-end VR and as a bonus: the claim that a 3yo GPU is "kicking butt". All of these are false

xvx 7y ago

Now make a Left 4 Dead VR game and I'm sold!

x2f10 7y ago
L4D in VR? What a dream!

tombot 7y ago

The final hours interview has plenty of backstory to dig into https://youtu.be/-9K0eJEmMEw https://youtu.be/-9K0eJEmMEw

hising 7y ago

It will be interesting to see if this title can drive adaption to VR and drive sales of headsets and create a market for VR-games. Hard to find a more hyped IP than Half-Life. Maybe it can breath some life into the "it will happen next year"-hype of VR.

hacker_9 7y ago

Wow this looks like finally a reason to buy VR

s9w 7y ago

As much as a Half-Life fan I am, VR is a gimmick. It's expensive and will not be a "thing" in the foreseeable future. This is such a wasted opportunity. A normal Half-Life 3 would have brought back a lot of goodwill for Valve.

shadowgovt 7y ago
Hard to say. VR might be a gimmick in the game space. On the other hand, taking a step back and looking at the hardware, there's been a progression since at least the '70s of working immersive infrastructure getting cheaper, easier to use, and less nausea-inducing. This local maxima of design and hardware may be a fad, but if it is, I expect in my lifetime to see another fad in maybe 10 years. The tech is just getting too cheap for people to not risk throwing a few mil at it every so often.
swalsh 7y ago
VR may be niche, but it's not a gimmick. I get about 1-2 hours a week to play games. I choose to spend that time in VR because it's the most enjoyable way to game for me. I don't play pancake games anymore.
drno_ 7y ago
You need big money, games and studios to help push the tech forward. I think that's the point of this game
outworlder 7y ago
It is not a gimmick. It seems that you have not yet tried it. There are a few improvements required, such as resolution and the freedom of movement. Note that I did not mention price. It will come down – even more, that is. Also, they need Half Life 2 Episode III. The series ended in a cliffhanger.
- s9w 7y ago
  No one tried it because it's expensive AF. And you need space. And there are so many of them. And the storefronts don't match. And there are no games. And you sweat. And they're heavy. And you need a monster PC. And it doesn't work. And and and. It's a gimmick. Alyx is a $2000 game for a normal gamer, counting an index and a sizeable PC upgrade.

fwxwi 7y ago

Considering the price of the VR headset you must buy to play this, this might be the most expensive game ever.

dsfyu404ed 7y ago

On Tuesday I said: >Due to some of the technical limitations with people (motion sickness does not make a popular game) I don't think this is not going to be an open spaces and free-movement heavy game like HL2. Not having some really good expansive panorama scenes would be a disservice to the VR tech but don't expect to be able to drive a go-kart around in them. I'm expecting a lot of semi stationary scenes where the player is free around a small space as the environment smoothly and steadily around them (like all the various freight elevator and rail car scenes in HL1). I expect that in typical Half-Life fashion there will be lots of object manipulation and head crab batting practice while the player remains nearly stationary. So based on the trailer it looks like I was decently right. I think you're gonna spend a lot of time solving puzzles with one hand while defending yourself with the other. I really hope they nail the cinematic aspect of it like they did in HL2 since that greatly contributes to how immersive the game feels.

dntrkv 7y ago
https://half-life.com/en/alyx/vr https://half-life.com/en/alyx/vr This is interesting to me, though I haven't played many VR games. Is this common with other games?
- dsfyu404ed 7y ago
  It's been 2yr since I was in VR but the only thing that stands out to me is support for finger/gesture tracking controllers which was more bleeding edge back when I was working on it but may be standard now. Everything else looks industry standard. No obvious omissions, no out of the ordinary inclusions.
- dariusj18 7y ago
  Yes, the teleportation mechanic was great in Robo Recall. Much better IMO than movement with the analog sticks.

thatguyagain 7y ago

I just want to say that this is without a doubt the most exciting thing I have seen in VR so far, and I will definitely buy an Index for this. They got me. Full length game, brand new engine, Half Life story?? Holy s*it

ChicagoBoy11 7y ago
I'm pretty bullish on VR in general but a few experiences (like the Aperture lab) were truly a class above. Problem was they were so short. The thing with VR is you really notice shortcuts, but when there is a REAL investment made the experience also can absolutely shine. My mental model for this is essentially the kind of experience that the aperture lab was but blown up to a full-length, AAA game. And that thought is simply awesome.

vhakulinen 7y ago

I guess I'm buying VR gear then.

criddell 7y ago
I'm already making space for the headset in the same drawer I keep my 3d glasses for my TV!

d--b 7y ago

Wooooo, parallax vertical scroll.

akjetma 7y ago
it's funny, VR doesn't give me motion sickness but browser parallax stuff does. i don't think i've ever seen a good implementation of this and i've seen tons of attempts. highjacking scroll just never feels good.

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

nottorp 7y ago

Have they solved motion sickness yet? I borrowed a playstation VR once but got nauseous after half an hour, no matter which game i tried. Are the newer things getting better?

sillysaurusx 7y ago
Unfortunately there's a chance it's biological. No matter how high the FPS is or how responsive the screen is, if you're "walking" in VR, your body isn't walking in real life. That's what your brain is probably reacting to.
- nottorp 7y ago
  Yeah, sadly I think it's the body not walking for me. Guess I should try a wheelchair simulator :)
BOBOTWINSTON 7y ago
The short answer is, yes they are getting better. However, it really depends more on what is causing your specific discomfort. For some people it can be the locomotion or just bad visuals. The comfort/heat of the headset also can cause issues. If I don't use VR for awhile, then I get a little nauseous my first 1 or 2 times in, but after that I can handle just about anything for many hours.

martin1b 7y ago

We've been waiting for decades for the release of this. I'm a HUGE fan of HL but not a fan of prequels. Hopefully this will showcase VR as a viable medium. IMHO, I think Portal VR would have given a more immersive experience, along with less locomotion issues. However, I'm sure Valve has done their research. My concern is, if this isn't met with favor, will Valve bow out of game development permanently? It just feels as if they are losing interest in new game development and would rather buy other studios and keep Steam chugging along. More money there..

dom96 7y ago
> IMHO, I think Portal VR would have given a more immersive experience, along with less locomotion issues. However, I'm sure Valve has done their research. This was covered in the interview video[1], Valve employees mentioned that they considered Portal but they thought that a game where you spend a significant amount of time jumping through portals at high speed would make you sick. 1 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9K0eJEmMEw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9K0eJEmMEw

bloody-crow 7y ago

I've never understood the appeal of the VR. I play games that benefit from low reaction time and precision and my body is the main source of latency and mistakes. When I watch recordings of my own gameplay, I notice how my brain usually operates a few hundred milliseconds ahead of what my hands controlling mouse & keyboard are capable of executing. Throwing your untrained and sometimes unhealthy body into this mix doesn't seem like a beneficial strategy. Also, characters in the games I play do things that are completely impossible for a regular human body to accomplish. They're running faster, jumping higher, aim and swing swords better than I or any real human even could. Why would you want your character to be a mirror of your real-world tired and untrained self? They say that the biggest sell of VR is immersion. How can something be immersive when it has no capability to provide any kind of feedback besides audio/visual? You can't swing swords in VR cause it has no capability to communicate weight of the thing you're holding back to you. A light sword feels exactly the same as a huge two-handed sword because all you're actually carrying in a lightweight plastic controller. You can't punch a wall because there's nothing in reality to stop your hand from going through. You can't hide behind cover because the object you're trying to lean on doesn't exist in real life. You can't feel an impact of receiving a fatal blow or taking a rocket in your face, cause there's nothing to actually push you in real life. I think VR is dumb and I haven't seen any games yet that would want me to spend money on it. I was a huge fan of HL back in the day, but I guess I'm going to skip this one.

Ajedi32 7y ago
Have you tried it? You absolutely can do all those things you just described in VR. I understand why you might think it wouldn't feel realistic, because yes, the technology for realistic full-body tactile feedback isn't there yet. But I can assure you from personal experience; audio/visual feedback is more than enough to immerse you in the game even when the haptics don't precisely match what you'd feel doing the same thing in real life.
- bloody-crow 7y ago
  > You absolutely can do all those things you just described in VR I haven't seen a single VR game that allows you to do things a typical competitive FPS shooter character does or games like Dark Souls/Sekiro.

mdrachuk 7y ago

Talking about managing expectations: starting the trailer narration with a phrase “what we’re doing here could change things forever” puts a lot of pressure on the game.

2444344978 7y ago

https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-Workspace-ONE-UEM/1904/Android_Platform/GUID-AWT-ENROLL-WORKMAN.html https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-Workspace-ONE-UEM/1904/And...