Followers have been waiting for years for a new story set in this universe, although it is not the expected third installment.
They are not too many, but as in any other cultural field, there are works that transcend and become objects of veneration. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Super Mario 64, The Last of Us, Final Fantasy VII or Half-Life 2 are examples of this. While many sagas have had uninterrupted continuations, Valve's has been silent for far too long. "Half-Life 3, Half-Life 3, Half-Life 3". How many times has that title been repeated on Internet forums, in conversations between friends, on the lips of developers? But Half-Life 3 has not arrived. Instead, the North American company has opted for Half-Life: Alyx, a video game that they consider a relevant installment in the franchise, as much as it is designed for virtual reality. I want to Believe, some would say: are there reasons for it?
Those who do believe are the members of the study, who are certain that Alyx is not going to be the last game in the saga, as they think that it will open the way to unpublished chapters, although as usual, the results in the market will have a lot to say about it. "Half-Life means a lot to us," says Valve's Robin Walker in an interview with Game Informer. "It's been incredibly rewarding to get familiar with the characters, locations, and mechanics." The developer recalls that some members of the original Half-Life 2 team remain with Alyx, as well as a few from the original. ” There are also people who have participated for the first time in the development of the saga with this installment for virtual reality. Walker is clear: “Many certainly hope that it is not the last. We see Half-Life: Alyx as our return to the world (of the saga), not the end of it.
Relevant to the plot
In the narrative field, the new installment focuses on a chronological period prior to the events that occur in Half-Life 2 and in its two subsequent episodes. Still, Walker recommends refreshing the story before donning virtual reality headsets. "It is not a bad idea for players to review the events of Episode 2 before starting Half-Life: Alyx." No specific details have been given, but it would not be surprising if some events in history connected directly to later narrative threads.
According to the developer, Half-Life: Alyx is a full-blown installment of the saga, "both in terms of the large amount of content" and in what it contributes to the history of the series. "It is a critical part of a larger story that propels the argument forward." David Speyrer, one of the programmers of the video game, was also forceful in that regard. He did so in statements to The Verge: "It is not a parallel story, it is not a first episode, it is the next part of the Half-Life story." According to the developer, the duration of the video game will be approximately the same as that of Half-Life 2, about 10-14 hours.
That all these elements work properly is something that Valve has taken very seriously. His return to the saga has also required sacrifices. The North American company acquired Campo Santo, an independent studio that was working on In the Valley of Gods (and which is famous for Firewatch), a production that was stopped indefinitely for studio members to reinforce the Alyx team. “From the moment we are part of Valve, it becomes clear that there is a lot of very valuable work that needs to be done in Half-Life: Alyx,” explains Jade Rodkin, co-founder of Campo Santo.
“As you can imagine, our experience in first person adventure games is very relevant. You hear a lot that Valve can work on what you want. It turns out to be true and there is a lot of work available. ” Rodkin slides that as they were integrated into Valve, they realized that they could contribute to the development of Half-Life: Alyx: "Some of us started by helping out and have since become full-time members of the project" . Others, instead, have relocated to DOTA Underlords and Steam.
This is how Alyx was conceived: the reason for virtual reality
A meeting with Geoff Keighley, journalist and master of ceremonies for The Game Awards, led to some interesting statements about the studio's point of view regarding the video game at hand. Robin Walker himself admits that in 2016 it was practically impossible to think about the possibility of Half-Life 3. "It was a totally daunting prospect." However, they realized that a great virtual reality video game was missing from the market. Actually, Valve's new thing was a VR game before Half-Life, but then they decided to refocus the project. “It was very easy not to try to think of the 'we're doing Half-Life 3' perspective and just focus on 'we're going to try to discover what people enjoy and we are going to improve it. '”
When they thought of a saga that could work in virtual reality, they were left with two candidates: Portal and Half-Life. Still, the first of the franchises didn't make the cut because the developers concluded that it would get dizzy. Instead, the Gordon Freeman saga was a perfect fit, as the first-person shooter, puzzle, and exploration genre offers mechanics that fit VR technology.
"The more we use the controls and the helmet, the more we realized the amount of interactions and possibilities it offers," says Dario Casali in the same interview. "When you move your hands autonomously with respect to your head, you are in a 3D space", something that does not occur with a mouse and keyboard. Translating all of this to a traditional experience is possible in theory, but the developer claims that this would "lose a lot of those interactions," so it wouldn't be a "good idea" to adapt the game to traditional systems. This play has virtual reality devices at the center, so it doesn't seem logical that the company is going to release an alternative version with PC controls.
The immersion that is achieved with VR headsets could not be achieved with a keyboard and mouse. As an example he gives the interactions that can be carried out with a door. Anyone can get the idea that using your hands to emulate the action is already an immersive way. Even so, there are more possibilities to explore, such as the option of half-opening the door, looking through the hole or shooting from that gap. Throwing a grenade through the door is another possibility to consider.
Delving into the first experiments
On the origin of the project, Robin Walker details some aspects in Game Informer. “When HTC Vive came out, we were developing The Lab as a way to understand the possibilities of developing in VR. Something that we were clear about is that as much as experiences like The Lab are exciting, as they point towards some possibilities of VR, there are many players who prefer more ambitious projects in scale and depth ”. In other words, triple A's for virtual reality. "We thought we were in a position to help deliver that. Now, four years later, "there are many more studios that share those goals, so we hope that titles like Half-Life: Alyx will continue to drive" that trend in the future.
The primeval prototype started as a simple test using Half-Life 2 resources and systems, which they moved to VR. “It was a quick way to get some deep scanning mechanics and run them on the graphics engine. But it turned out that the Half-Life set of mechanics fit surprisingly well into VR, even before the work was done to integrate them deeply into that technology. ” According to Walker, from that moment it was clear that virtual reality was going to be very fertile ground for the franchise. "In a simple sense, the game feels like Half-Life because it's Half-Life," he argues. VR has opened new paths to expand the context of the series, while "introducing a lot of new ideas", although "the underlying ties are unmistakable."
Even the Half-Life: Alyx mechanics that are tied directly to traditional first-person shooters and require no fundamental changes, such as aiming a pistol, "end up acquiring a unique VR feel." Walker says that the perception of physically aiming is very different from that of using a mouse and keyboard. All of this revolves around "each of the mechanical aspects of level design, pacing, or even elements such as how often you collect ammo or combat settings." Thus, "many things are provided that Half-Life players will understand from the beginning, but will experience in a new and radical context." It promises that a good number of elements will be perceived as unpublished.
Valve thinks about accessibility
Democratizing the video game also means making facilities for players with disabilities, even in virtual reality titles that require mobility to function. Valve's Greg Coomer spoke in an interview with Tested about the study's decision to design a control system that didn't rely on two hands. Thus, the creators have begun to adapt the gameplay so that it can be controlled with one hand, although it is still running and it is not clear when the functionality will be ready. “You just reminded me that we are in a process where we are studying how Half-Life: Alyx is playable with a single controller and one hand. But we have not completed the process yet. We are trying to make it possible for reasons of accessibility. ”
The path, in any case, is about to come to an end. Or rather, to a new beginning. The development of Half-Life: Alyx culminates, with a product available for all Steam VR compatible virtual reality systems. At the moment, it is only planned for PC. They haven't closed the door on PlayStation VR; after all, who knows what the future may hold. Valve places its hopes on Alyx, which will determine whether the saga continues and in what direction. Will we see Half-Life 3 someday? Again, who knows. Equally strange things have happened, tell Final Fantasy VII Remake or Shenmue III.
