Gaming has changed too much, and I don't have a lot of faith that the Valve of today is able to adapt to the modern world of Shooters. We all love Half-Life for what it was - a 90's/2000's shooter. But that kind of style just doesn't work anymore.
Very, very rarely does a game franchise go quiet for 12+ years, then make a return without being completely and utterly disappointing.
I don't disagree with you. But you keep saying a lot of gaming has changed and shooters are different and all that but can you give some concrete examples of what you mean by that. We may or may not be on the same page I don't know.
Also, how many franchises are there that go quiet for 12 years and make a come back?
Valve has taken a strange turn. It's as if being the worlds greatest PC game developer simply paved the way for several other enterprises.
Someone made a comparison to the Duke Nukem Forever release, that's silly. Once you remove the nostalgia goggles Duke Nukem was never a great franchise. Half Life however is an incredible franchise.
I'm with @primesuspect - The Cloverfield films are Half Life stories. My bet is that the powers that be are looking for a way to meld all the moving parts together in some way, have film, books, TV, games... build on the mythology, Valve has spent a few years positioning themselves as a broader media company, no longer are they simply a great PC gaming developer. When more Half Life games happen, we will all pay to play them, because they will be immediately relevant in a way that something like Duke Nukem could never attain.
Gaming has changed too much, and I don't have a lot of faith that the Valve of today is able to adapt to the modern world of Shooters. We all love Half-Life for what it was - a 90's/2000's shooter. But that kind of style just doesn't work anymore.
Very, very rarely does a game franchise go quiet for 12+ years, then make a return without being completely and utterly disappointing.
I don't disagree with you. But you keep saying a lot of gaming has changed and shooters are different and all that but can you give some concrete examples of what you mean by that. We may or may not be on the same page I don't know.
The recent DOOM game is a perfect example of this. It's a game that banged the drums of nostalgia for months during it's marketing campaign. A "back to roots" shooter, built just like the originals.
Yet, the game came out, and it's different. It's not like the original games. It's slower, there's 1-shot elaborate kill moves, there's "quickthrow" grenades, there's "quickshot" melee hits. These are the kind of fundamental gameplay mechanics that weren't mainstream when Half-Life 2 came out in 2004.
Regenerating health is another good example in shooters. This is a feature that has become so accepted and commonplace in shooters in the last decade that DOOM made headlines when it didn't have it in the game.
That is not to say that DOOM is a bad game, or that these features are bad. It's just that these are the kind of things that an entire generation of gamers now expect in video games (the generation that is now the target market of these games). These things heavily impact game design, and they're very counter to how a game like Half-Life 2 plays. Modern, young players don't want to pick up health and armor packs (or wait at a suit recharge station), or roll the mouse to select a grenade, pull it out, then toss it. Same with Half-Life's platforming and long vehicle sections - remnants of an old time that most players hate in 2016. There are design elements that go way deeper than these kind of things, but these are the easiest examples to see.
Hope that makes sense. I wrestle with this stuff because I see it every day at work. I want games to be made like the original Half-Life, but every day it becomes more and more apparent that I'm just growing out of the target market for how games are designed.
I'm playing through HL2 on my Shield Tablet and I was reminded of something that the Half Life franchise had that most shooters didn't. They're not just straight FPS games, they're an interesting mix of FPS and puzzler, plus it had a good narrative tying everything together.
Anyone can make a shooter (look at 420 BlazeIt), but a HalfLife comes along once in a lifetime.
SteamSpy has Black Mesa at 300K copies purchased. Six million in revenue for an unfinished remake makes me think someone is still okay with the idea of picking up health along the way. There is room for different mechanics.
@Cliff_Forster said:
SteamSpy has Black Mesa at 300K copies purchased. Six million in revenue for an unfinished remake makes me think someone is still okay with the idea of picking up health along the way. There is room for different mechanics.
The best thing about this was reliving all the nostalgia without the outdated graphics screaming "THIS GAME IS OLD!" It was like playing it for the first time again.
@AlexDeGruven said:
I'm playing through HL2 on my Shield Tablet and I was reminded of something that the Half Life franchise had that most shooters didn't. They're not just straight FPS games, they're an interesting mix of FPS and puzzler, plus it had a good narrative tying everything together.
Anyone can make a shooter (look at 420 BlazeIt), but a HalfLife comes along once in a lifetime.
@Cliff_Forster said:
SteamSpy has Black Mesa at 300K copies purchased. Six million in revenue for an unfinished remake makes me think someone is still okay with the idea of picking up health along the way. There is room for different mechanics.
Not saying your wrong regarding room for different mechanics, but 300K ain't enough to greenlight a project at a studio the size of Valve these days.
@UPSLynx said:
300K ain't enough to greenlight a project at a studio the size of Valve these days.
Do you think it would really still be 300K if that was complete and on the front page of Steam? Maybe add a zero. Or two.
Dear god I want Black Mesa to be completed. I played it when it was still just a mod that you had to download and painfully set up. I would plonk down my hard earned cash for a finished version in a heartbeat.
@Cliff_Forster said:
SteamSpy has Black Mesa at 300K copies purchased. Six million in revenue for an unfinished remake makes me think someone is still okay with the idea of picking up health along the way. There is room for different mechanics.
Not saying your wrong regarding room for different mechanics, but 300K ain't enough to greenlight a project at a studio the size of Valve these days.
Unfinished remake vs new AAA game.... point being Half Life is still incredibly relevant in the hearts of PC gamers.
Comments
I don't disagree with you. But you keep saying a lot of gaming has changed and shooters are different and all that but can you give some concrete examples of what you mean by that. We may or may not be on the same page I don't know.
Also, how many franchises are there that go quiet for 12 years and make a come back?
Valve has taken a strange turn. It's as if being the worlds greatest PC game developer simply paved the way for several other enterprises.
Someone made a comparison to the Duke Nukem Forever release, that's silly. Once you remove the nostalgia goggles Duke Nukem was never a great franchise. Half Life however is an incredible franchise.
I'm with @primesuspect - The Cloverfield films are Half Life stories. My bet is that the powers that be are looking for a way to meld all the moving parts together in some way, have film, books, TV, games... build on the mythology, Valve has spent a few years positioning themselves as a broader media company, no longer are they simply a great PC gaming developer. When more Half Life games happen, we will all pay to play them, because they will be immediately relevant in a way that something like Duke Nukem could never attain.
The recent DOOM game is a perfect example of this. It's a game that banged the drums of nostalgia for months during it's marketing campaign. A "back to roots" shooter, built just like the originals.
Yet, the game came out, and it's different. It's not like the original games. It's slower, there's 1-shot elaborate kill moves, there's "quickthrow" grenades, there's "quickshot" melee hits. These are the kind of fundamental gameplay mechanics that weren't mainstream when Half-Life 2 came out in 2004.
Regenerating health is another good example in shooters. This is a feature that has become so accepted and commonplace in shooters in the last decade that DOOM made headlines when it didn't have it in the game.
That is not to say that DOOM is a bad game, or that these features are bad. It's just that these are the kind of things that an entire generation of gamers now expect in video games (the generation that is now the target market of these games). These things heavily impact game design, and they're very counter to how a game like Half-Life 2 plays. Modern, young players don't want to pick up health and armor packs (or wait at a suit recharge station), or roll the mouse to select a grenade, pull it out, then toss it. Same with Half-Life's platforming and long vehicle sections - remnants of an old time that most players hate in 2016. There are design elements that go way deeper than these kind of things, but these are the easiest examples to see.
Hope that makes sense. I wrestle with this stuff because I see it every day at work. I want games to be made like the original Half-Life, but every day it becomes more and more apparent that I'm just growing out of the target market for how games are designed.
I'm playing through HL2 on my Shield Tablet and I was reminded of something that the Half Life franchise had that most shooters didn't. They're not just straight FPS games, they're an interesting mix of FPS and puzzler, plus it had a good narrative tying everything together.
Anyone can make a shooter (look at 420 BlazeIt), but a HalfLife comes along once in a lifetime.
SteamSpy has Black Mesa at 300K copies purchased. Six million in revenue for an unfinished remake makes me think someone is still okay with the idea of picking up health along the way. There is room for different mechanics.
The best thing about this was reliving all the nostalgia without the outdated graphics screaming "THIS GAME IS OLD!" It was like playing it for the first time again.
I'm still waffling on picking up Black Mesa. I might after I finish HL2 and HL2: Ep1 on my tablet.
I still get chills when I hear:
Uncharted would like a word with you.
Ok, once or twice in a lifetime.
Would you say, perhaps, once in a.... Half Life?
Not saying your wrong regarding room for different mechanics, but 300K ain't enough to greenlight a project at a studio the size of Valve these days.
Do you think it would really still be 300K if that was complete and on the front page of Steam? Maybe add a zero. Or two.
Dear god I want Black Mesa to be completed. I played it when it was still just a mod that you had to download and painfully set up. I would plonk down my hard earned cash for a finished version in a heartbeat.
Unfinished remake vs new AAA game.... point being Half Life is still incredibly relevant in the hearts of PC gamers.
Let's check the butthurt report, I'm seeing a 70% chance of epic trolling.
lol more like 100% chance bro
It's confirmed that he joined Twitter? Seemed self-evident.
10/10 Fake account