Half-Life series
Encyclopedia
The Half-Life series of video games share a science fiction
alternate history. Nearly all of the games are first-person shooters
on the GoldSource
or Source engines, and most are linear, narrative
, single-player titles.
Valve Corporation
is the developer
, and partly the publisher
and distributor
, for the signature games of the series. Each of these games feature the player as the main protagonist, Gordon Freeman
, a theoretical physicist initially employed by the Black Mesa Research Facility. Two of these games, Half-Life and Half-Life 2
, are full length titles, while two more, Half-Life 2: Episode One
and Half-Life 2: Episode Two
, are shorter, episodic titles. A final episode, Half-Life 2: Episode Three, has been confirmed to be the next installment of the series.
A puzzle-based spin-off series started with Portal in 2007, followed by a sequel, Portal 2
, in 2011.
. Gordon Freeman
, a recently employed theoretical physicist
, is involved in an experiment analyzing an unknown crystalline artifact; however, when the anti-mass spectrometer beam contacts the crystal, it opens a dimensional rift between Black Mesa and another world called Xen, causing monsters to swarm Black Mesa and kill many of the facility's personnel. Attempts by the Black Mesa personnel to close the rift are unsuccessful, leading to a Marine Recon unit being sent in to silence the facility, including any survivors from the science team. Freeman fights through the facility to meet with several other scientists, who decide to travel to the alien dimension to stop the aliens. On Xen, Freeman eliminates the alien "leader" and is confronted by the G-Man
, who offers Freeman employment before putting him into stasis
. Back in Black Mesa, a second alien race begins an invasion, but is stopped when a Marine corporal, Adrian Shephard, collapses its portal in the facility. The G-Man then destroys Black Mesa with a nuclear warhead, and detains Shephard in stasis.
Nearly twenty years later, the G-Man brings Freeman out of stasis and inserts him into a dystopian Earth ruled by the Combine, a faction consisting of human and alien members, that used the dimensional rift caused at Black Mesa to conquer Earth in the interim. In the Eastern European settlement City 17, Freeman meets surviving members of the Black Mesa incident, including Isaac Kleiner, Barney Calhoun, Eli Vance and his daughter Alyx Vance
, and aids in the human resistance against Combine rule. The Xen aliens, the Vortigaunt
s, who have been enslaved by the Combine, also assist the resistance. When his presence is made known to former Black Mesa administrator and Combine spokesman Wallace Breen, Freeman becomes a prime target for the Combine forces. Eventually, Freeman sparks a full revolution amongst the human citizens. Eli Vance and his daughter are subsequently captured by the Combine, and Freeman helps the resistance forces attack the Combine's Citadel to rescue them. Breen attempts to flee in a teleporter, but is presumed dead after Freeman destroys the dark energy reactor
at the Citadel's top.
The G-Man then arrives to extract Freeman before he is engulfed in the explosion, but is interrupted when Vortigaunts liberate Freeman from stasis and place both him and Alyx Vance at the bottom of the Citadel. The two then attempt to stabilize the Citadel's primary reactor while the citizens evacuate the city, discovering that the Combine are attempting to destroy the reactor to call for reinforcements from the Combine's native dimension. After downloading critical data, they move through the war-torn city to the train station to take the last train out of the city. The Combine then destroy the reactor and thus both the Citadel and the city; the resulting explosion causes the train to derail.
Freeman awakens in one of the wrecked train cars with Alyx outside, where a forming superportal is visible from where the Citadel used to stand. They begin a journey through the White Forest to a resistance-controlled missile base in the nearby mountains. Along the way, Freeman and Alyx are ambushed and Alyx is severely injured. However, a group of Vortigaunt
s are able to heal her. During the ritual to heal Alyx, Freeman is briefly spoken to by the G-Man in a hallucination-like vision, indicating that he has caught up to Freeman again. They are able to reach the resistance base and deliver the data, which contains the codes to destroy the portal as well as information on the Borealis, an enigmatic research vessel
operated by Black Mesa's rival, Aperture Science. The base then launches a satellite that is able to shut down the superportal, cutting off the Combine from outside assistance. However, as Alyx and Freeman prepare to travel to the Arctic
and investigate the Borealis, they are attacked by Combine Advisors, who kill Eli Vance before being driven off by Alyx's pet robot, Dog.
. A third episodic game remains in development. In addition, several spin-off titles have been released. These vary in nature, consisting of an arcade game
, technology demonstration
, and a series of puzzle games. The original game and its expansions all use Valve's GoldSrc
game engine
, a heavily modified Quake engine. The later games accompanying the sequel all use Valve's proprietary Source engine.
, a theoretical physicist, after the Black Mesa Research Facility accidentally causes a dimensional rift which allows the facility to be invaded by aliens. Freeman consequently attempts to survive the slaughter and resolve the situation. The game was originally published by Sierra Studios
and released for Windows
, although Gearbox Software
would later port
the game to PlayStation 2
in 2001. Valve themselves later converted the game to use their Source engine. Half-Life received critical acclaim upon release, critics hailing its overall presentation and numerous scripted sequence
s. The game won over 50 Game of the Year awards and its gameplay has influenced first-person shooter
s for years to come. Half-Life has since been regarded as one of the greatest games of all time.
Half-Life was followed by an expansion pack
, Half-Life: Opposing Force
, on November 1, 1999. Unlike Half-Life, Opposing Force was developed by Gearbox Software, although it was still published by Sierra Studios. Opposing Force was first announced as a mission pack for Half-Life in April 1999, and was released for the Windows version of the game. The player no longer assumes the role of Gordon Freeman, but rather sees the later events of the first game from the perspective of a US Marine corporal, Adrian Shephard. Shephard is initially assigned to cover up the events at Black Mesa, but is soon left isolated and has to fight to survive against a new group of alien invaders and black operation
s units. Opposing Force was received favorably by critics, many citing the game as being as influential on setting expansion pack standards as the original game had been in influencing the overall genre. The game won the Computer Game of the Year Interactive Achievement Award of 2000 from the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences
.
Gearbox later went on to develop Half-Life: Blue Shift
, Half-Lifes second expansion pack. Like Opposing Force, Blue Shift was published by Sierra Entertainment. Announced in 2000, the game was initially developed as an add-on for a Dreamcast port of Half-Life; however, the port was cancelled and Blue Shift was instead released for Windows on June 12, 2001. Blue Shift puts the player in the position of Barney Calhoun, a security guard working at Black Mesa. The game takes place within the early parts of Half-Life, with Calhoun attempting to escape the facility with a small group of scientists. Blue Shift also includes a High Definition pack, which upgrades the quality of the models and textures in both Blue Shift and the preceding games in the series. Critics gave Blue Shift a mixed but favorable reception, praising the game's atmosphere and the inclusion of the High Definition pack, but criticizing the otherwise lack of new content and short length of the story.
The third and final expansion for Half-Life was Half-Life: Decay
. The game was again developed by Gearbox and published by Sierra. However, unlike previous titles, Decay is only available with the PlayStation 2 version of Half-Life. Decay is unique within the Half-Life series as the only cooperative game
—two players must work together to progress through the game. Decay focuses on two of Freeman's colleagues, Gina Cross and Colette Green, as the two work with other scientists to counter the effects of the dimensional rift and ultimately attempt to close it. Released on November 14, 2001, Decay received a weak but overall positive reception from critics, many reviewers stating that it was fun to play through with a friend, but that the game's more puzzle-oriented gameplay detracted from the overall experience. An unofficial Windows port of the game was released in September 2008.
, the sequel to the original game. The game had a six-year development cycle, which saw several delays and the leak of the game's source code. Half-Life 2 returns the player to the role of Gordon Freeman. Set twenty years after the original game, Earth has been occupied by the Combine, a transdimensional race that exploited the events of the first game to invade. The G-Man inserts Freeman into City 17 in Eastern Europe
to combat the Combine occupation. Half-Life 2 garnered near-unanimous positive reviews and received critical acclaim, winning over 35 Game of the Year awards for 2004. The game has been critically praised for its advances in computer animation
, sound
, narration
, computer graphics
, artificial intelligence
, and physics
. Half-Life 2 was the first title to use Valve's Steam content delivery system, a system that eventually led to Valve falling out with publisher Sierra Entertainment
.
Following Half-Life 2, the series was continued using a pair of episodic games
, with a third planned. Half-Life 2: Episode One
was the first of these, set around City 17 after the events of the original game, in which Freeman and Alyx Vance
must attempt to escape the city after a dark energy
reactor core they damaged at the end of Half-Life 2 threatens to destroy the city. It was released on June 1, 2006, and introduced several new graphical effects including new lighting features and more advanced facial animation
. Episode One received a generally positive critical reaction, although the game's short length was a point of common criticism.
The second episodic game, Half-Life 2: Episode Two
, continues the story from where Episode One ended. It was released on October 10, 2007, bundled with the games Portal and Team Fortress 2
as well as Half-Life 2 and Episode One in the package The Orange Box
, which was released for Windows PCs and the Xbox 360
and PlayStation 3
consoles. The game was again developed by Valve, and distributed using both Steam and Electronic Arts. Continuing with Valve's policy of orienting each episode around a particular theme or set of technologies, Episode Two focuses on expansive environments, travel and less linear play. As Gordon Freeman, the player travels with Alyx Vance away from the ruins of City 17 into the surrounding countryside, pursued by Combine forces. Episode Twos new technologies and gameplay features were praised by reviewers; however, though it was significantly longer than Episode 1, the short length of the game was again a point of criticism.
Half-Life 2: Episode Three is announced as the third and final installment in the series of episodic expansions. It is planned as the last episode in the story arc, although not necessarily the end of the Half-Life franchise. No release date or other details have been announced, though some concept art has surfaced as well as the possible incorporation of sign language
into the game by including a deaf character. In a March 2010 interview, Newell spoke of "broadening the emotional palette" of the series, and how the next Half-Life game may return to "genuinely scaring the player". In a May 9, 2011, interview with Develop magazine, Newell commented on the episodic release model, saying, "We went through the episodes phase, and now we’re going towards shorter and even shorter cycles," adding, "For me, ‘entertainment as a service’ is a clear distillation of the episodic content model."
is a two-dimensional
Flash
sidescroller
shooter
produced by Nuclearvision Entertainment, and was released over Valve's Steam online delivery system on May 17, 2004, as a promotional game for the then-upcoming Half-Life 2. The developer has since gone bankrupt, but the game itself can still be installed via a direct link to Steam, despite not being listed in the store. Codename: Gordon was well received by reviewers and the public, and attracted over 600,000 players in the first three weeks after its release. Reviewers praised the game for its gameplay and unique dialog style, but also criticized it for its improper optimization, and lack of opponent variety.
Half-Life 2: Lost Coast
is a technology demonstration
, developed by Valve to display new high dynamic range rendering
and a variety of other features. Valve asked for feedback as to whether these features should be used in their future games. The level was designed with a variety of appropriate environments to emphasize these effects. Consisting of a single map, Lost Coast was originally to be part of Half-Life 2, but was dropped during development. The game follows Gordon Freeman as he travels up a coastal cliff to destroy a Combine artillery launcher in a monastery, which is firing on the town of St. Olga. Released over Steam on October 27, 2005, the level received a generally positive reception, and there was consensus among fans that the new features should be implemented into future games released by Valve.
Portal is a puzzle game set in the Half-Life universe, developed by Valve Corporation. It was initially released alongside Episode Two in The Orange Box
on October 10, 2007. The player controls a test subject named Chell as she moves through the laboratories of Black Mesa's primary rival, Aperture Science, completing various tests with a device that allows her to create linked portals in physical space. In the later stages of the game, the player battles GLaDOS, a corrupt artificial intelligence computer that monitors her every move. The game is the spiritual successor to Narbacular Drop
, with many of the same team members working on the game. Portal has been acclaimed as one of the most original games in 2007, receiving praise for its unique gameplay and darkly humorous story. An Xbox Live Arcade
expansion was released on October 22, 2008, and its sequel, Portal 2
, was released on April 19, 2011.
Characters from Half-Life have appeared in other titles. Peggle Extreme
, a special edition of Peggle
bundled with the PC version of The Orange Box
features levels based on Half-Life 2, Team Fortress 2
and Portal. The headcrab is also an unlockable character in Super Meat Boy
when bought on Steam. The Headcrab also appeared in a April Fools event in the MMO Vindictus as an event item along with the Crowbar, possibly due to the game being created on the Source Engine as well.
The video game development company behind the Half-Life series, Valve Corporation
, was founded in 1996 in Kirkland, Washington
by former Microsoft
employees Mike Harrington
and Gabe Newell
. They began working on the first game of the series soon after the company's formation, and settled on a concept for a horror-themed 3D action game
, using the Quake engine
as licensed by id Software
. The game was a hit at the 1997 E3 convention, where its animation system and artificial intelligence
were demonstrated. The game's success led to its first expansion pack, Half-Life: Opposing Force, which was developed by Gearbox Software
, a then-new company based in Plano
, Texas
, and announced on April 15, 1999. Gearbox founder Randy Pitchford
said in an interview that he believed Valve gave them the opportunity to produce a sequel to Half-Life to allow Valve to focus on future titles. The game was demonstrated at the 1999 E3 convention, where new locations, characters, and the story were revealed.
The second Half-Life expansion pack, Half-Life: Blue Shift, was again developed by Gearbox Software and announced by its publisher, Sierra Entertainment
, on August 30, 2000. Sierra intended to release Blue Shift for the Dreamcast, and it was set to include higher detail models and textures that were double the polygon count
of the models from Half-Life. However, after several months of delays, Sierra terminated development on the Dreamcast version of Blue Shift on June 16, 2001, and the company instead released Blue Shift for the PC on June 12, 2001. Afterward, Gearbox began working on a Half-Life game for the PlayStation 2. The game, titled Decay, was showcased at E3 2001, where Gearbox demonstrated the game's use of new model sets, which were around twice as detailed as those in Blue Shift.
For several years, Valve secretly worked on the sequel to the original Half-Life, titled Half-Life 2. For the game, Valve developed a new game engine
called the Source engine
, which handles the game's visual, audio, and artificial intelligence
elements. The Source engine comes packaged with a heavily modified version of the Havok physics engine
that allows for an extra dimension of interactivity in both single-player and online environments. In the trilogy of episodic games that followed Half-Life 2, Valve made minor tweaks to the game's engine. In Half-Life 2: Episode One, Valve modified Alyx's AI to allow her to react to the player's actions because of her significant involvement in the game. The game runs on an upgraded version of Valve's proprietary Source engine
, and features both the engine's advanced lighting effects, and a new version of its facial animation/expression technology.
In early 2009, the Purchase Brothers, a Toronto based film company, released a five-minute film based on Half-Life 2: Episode One called Half-Life: Escape from City-17
. The film combines live-action footage with 3D animation created using the Source SDK
for the video game. It was well received by Valve. On August 25, 2010 they released a nearly 15 minute long part two. In late 2010 a trailer for a Half-Life inspired independent short film entitled Beyond Black Mesa was released. Directed by Brian Curtin, it follows the character Adrian Shephard. The full short film was released online on January 21st, 2011.
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
alternate history. Nearly all of the games are first-person shooters
First-person shooter
First-person shooter is a video game genre that centers the gameplay on gun and projectile weapon-based combat through first-person perspective; i.e., the player experiences the action through the eyes of a protagonist. Generally speaking, the first-person shooter shares common traits with other...
on the GoldSource
GoldSrc
GoldSrc, or Goldsource, is the retronym used internally by Valve Software to refer to the heavily modified Quake engine that powers their science fiction first-person shooter Half-Life ....
or Source engines, and most are linear, narrative
Narrative
A narrative is a constructive format that describes a sequence of non-fictional or fictional events. The word derives from the Latin verb narrare, "to recount", and is related to the adjective gnarus, "knowing" or "skilled"...
, single-player titles.
Valve Corporation
Valve Corporation
Valve Corporation is an American video game development and digital distribution company based in Bellevue, Washington, United States...
is the developer
Video game developer
A video game developer is a software developer that creates video games. A developer may specialize in a certain video game console, such as Nintendo's Wii, Microsoft's Xbox 360, Sony's PlayStation 3, or may develop for a variety of systems, including personal computers.Most developers also...
, and partly the publisher
Video game publisher
A video game publisher is a company that publishes video games that they have either developed internally or have had developed by a video game developer....
and distributor
Distribution (business)
Product distribution is one of the four elements of the marketing mix. An organization or set of organizations involved in the process of making a product or service available for use or consumption by a consumer or business user.The other three parts of the marketing mix are product, pricing,...
, for the signature games of the series. Each of these games feature the player as the main protagonist, Gordon Freeman
Gordon Freeman
Gordon Freeman is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the Half-Life video game series. He is a theoretical physicist who finds himself thrust into a battle for survival against both alien and human forces. Throughout the series, Gordon must prevail in hostile situations despite...
, a theoretical physicist initially employed by the Black Mesa Research Facility. Two of these games, Half-Life and Half-Life 2
Half-Life 2
Half-Life 2 , the sequel to Half-Life, is a first-person shooter video game and a signature title in the Half-Life series. It is singleplayer, story-driven, science fiction, and linear...
, are full length titles, while two more, Half-Life 2: Episode One
Half-Life 2: Episode One
Half-Life 2: Episode One is the first in a series of episodes that serve as the sequel for the 2004 first-person shooter video game Half-Life 2. It was developed by Valve Corporation and released on June 1, 2006. Originally called Half-Life 2: Aftermath, the game was later renamed to Episode One...
and Half-Life 2: Episode Two
Half-Life 2: Episode Two
Half-Life 2: Episode Two is the second episode in a series of sequels to the 2004 first-person shooter video game Half-Life 2. It was developed by Valve Corporation in tandem with Episode One, the first game in the series, and released in Q4 2007 via Valve's Steam content distribution platform...
, are shorter, episodic titles. A final episode, Half-Life 2: Episode Three, has been confirmed to be the next installment of the series.
A puzzle-based spin-off series started with Portal in 2007, followed by a sequel, Portal 2
Portal 2
Portal 2 is a first-person puzzle-platform video game developed and published by Valve Corporation. The sequel to the 2007 video game Portal, it was announced on March 5, 2010, following a week-long alternate reality game based on new patches to the original game...
, in 2011.
Plot
The Half-Life series begins in the early 21st century, at the fictional Black Mesa Research Facility in New MexicoNew Mexico
New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...
. Gordon Freeman
Gordon Freeman
Gordon Freeman is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the Half-Life video game series. He is a theoretical physicist who finds himself thrust into a battle for survival against both alien and human forces. Throughout the series, Gordon must prevail in hostile situations despite...
, a recently employed theoretical physicist
Theoretical physics
Theoretical physics is a branch of physics which employs mathematical models and abstractions of physics to rationalize, explain and predict natural phenomena...
, is involved in an experiment analyzing an unknown crystalline artifact; however, when the anti-mass spectrometer beam contacts the crystal, it opens a dimensional rift between Black Mesa and another world called Xen, causing monsters to swarm Black Mesa and kill many of the facility's personnel. Attempts by the Black Mesa personnel to close the rift are unsuccessful, leading to a Marine Recon unit being sent in to silence the facility, including any survivors from the science team. Freeman fights through the facility to meet with several other scientists, who decide to travel to the alien dimension to stop the aliens. On Xen, Freeman eliminates the alien "leader" and is confronted by the G-Man
G-Man (Half-Life)
The G-Man, voiced by Michael Shapiro, is a mysterious recurring character in the Half-Life series of first-person shooter video games. He is known to display peculiar behavior and capabilities beyond that of a normal human, and his identity and motives remain almost completely unexplained...
, who offers Freeman employment before putting him into stasis
Stasis (fiction)
Stasis , or hypersleep, is a science fiction concept akin to suspended animation. Whereas suspended animation usually refers to a greatly reduced state of life processes, stasis implies a complete cessation of these processes, which can be easily restarted or restart spontaneously when stasis is...
. Back in Black Mesa, a second alien race begins an invasion, but is stopped when a Marine corporal, Adrian Shephard, collapses its portal in the facility. The G-Man then destroys Black Mesa with a nuclear warhead, and detains Shephard in stasis.
Nearly twenty years later, the G-Man brings Freeman out of stasis and inserts him into a dystopian Earth ruled by the Combine, a faction consisting of human and alien members, that used the dimensional rift caused at Black Mesa to conquer Earth in the interim. In the Eastern European settlement City 17, Freeman meets surviving members of the Black Mesa incident, including Isaac Kleiner, Barney Calhoun, Eli Vance and his daughter Alyx Vance
Alyx Vance
Alyx Vance is a non-player character in Valve's 2004 first-person shooter computer game Half-Life 2, and its following episodes: Half-Life 2: Episode One and Half-Life 2: Episode Two...
, and aids in the human resistance against Combine rule. The Xen aliens, the Vortigaunt
Vortigaunt
Vortigaunts are a fictional extra-dimensional species in the Half-Life series by Valve Corporation. In Half-Life and its three expansions, Vortigaunts are frequently encountered by the player as hostile non-player characters...
s, who have been enslaved by the Combine, also assist the resistance. When his presence is made known to former Black Mesa administrator and Combine spokesman Wallace Breen, Freeman becomes a prime target for the Combine forces. Eventually, Freeman sparks a full revolution amongst the human citizens. Eli Vance and his daughter are subsequently captured by the Combine, and Freeman helps the resistance forces attack the Combine's Citadel to rescue them. Breen attempts to flee in a teleporter, but is presumed dead after Freeman destroys the dark energy reactor
Dark energy
In physical cosmology, astronomy and celestial mechanics, dark energy is a hypothetical form of energy that permeates all of space and tends to accelerate the expansion of the universe. Dark energy is the most accepted theory to explain recent observations that the universe appears to be expanding...
at the Citadel's top.
The G-Man then arrives to extract Freeman before he is engulfed in the explosion, but is interrupted when Vortigaunts liberate Freeman from stasis and place both him and Alyx Vance at the bottom of the Citadel. The two then attempt to stabilize the Citadel's primary reactor while the citizens evacuate the city, discovering that the Combine are attempting to destroy the reactor to call for reinforcements from the Combine's native dimension. After downloading critical data, they move through the war-torn city to the train station to take the last train out of the city. The Combine then destroy the reactor and thus both the Citadel and the city; the resulting explosion causes the train to derail.
Freeman awakens in one of the wrecked train cars with Alyx outside, where a forming superportal is visible from where the Citadel used to stand. They begin a journey through the White Forest to a resistance-controlled missile base in the nearby mountains. Along the way, Freeman and Alyx are ambushed and Alyx is severely injured. However, a group of Vortigaunt
Vortigaunt
Vortigaunts are a fictional extra-dimensional species in the Half-Life series by Valve Corporation. In Half-Life and its three expansions, Vortigaunts are frequently encountered by the player as hostile non-player characters...
s are able to heal her. During the ritual to heal Alyx, Freeman is briefly spoken to by the G-Man in a hallucination-like vision, indicating that he has caught up to Freeman again. They are able to reach the resistance base and deliver the data, which contains the codes to destroy the portal as well as information on the Borealis, an enigmatic research vessel
Research vessel
A research vessel is a ship designed and equipped to carry out research at sea. Research vessels carry out a number of roles. Some of these roles can be combined into a single vessel, others require a dedicated vessel...
operated by Black Mesa's rival, Aperture Science. The base then launches a satellite that is able to shut down the superportal, cutting off the Combine from outside assistance. However, as Alyx and Freeman prepare to travel to the Arctic
Arctic
The Arctic is a region located at the northern-most part of the Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean and parts of Canada, Russia, Greenland, the United States, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland. The Arctic region consists of a vast, ice-covered ocean, surrounded by treeless permafrost...
and investigate the Borealis, they are attacked by Combine Advisors, who kill Eli Vance before being driven off by Alyx's pet robot, Dog.
Games
The Half-Life series includes a core set of titles which carry the main storyline. These games were released in chronological order, either portraying the events of one game from the perspective of a different character, or following on from the events that are depicted in the previous title. As of May 2010, the main series consists of the original video game and its sequel, as well as three expansion packs and two episodic gamesEpisodic games
An episodic video game is a video game of a shorter length that is commercially released as an installment to a continuous and larger series. Episodic games differ from conventional video games in that they often contain less content but are developed on a more frequent basis.Such a series may or...
. A third episodic game remains in development. In addition, several spin-off titles have been released. These vary in nature, consisting of an arcade game
Arcade game
An arcade game is a coin-operated entertainment machine, usually installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars, and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, and merchandisers...
, technology demonstration
Tech demo
A tech demo is a prototype, rough example or an otherwise incomplete version of a product, put together with the primary purpose of showcasing the idea, performance, method or the features of the product...
, and a series of puzzle games. The original game and its expansions all use Valve's GoldSrc
GoldSrc
GoldSrc, or Goldsource, is the retronym used internally by Valve Software to refer to the heavily modified Quake engine that powers their science fiction first-person shooter Half-Life ....
game engine
Game engine
A game engine is a system designed for the creation and development of video games. There are many game engines that are designed to work on video game consoles and personal computers...
, a heavily modified Quake engine. The later games accompanying the sequel all use Valve's proprietary Source engine.
GoldSrc games
Half-Life is the first title for the series, and was the debut title of Valve Software. First released on November 19, 1998, Half-Life follows Gordon FreemanGordon Freeman
Gordon Freeman is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the Half-Life video game series. He is a theoretical physicist who finds himself thrust into a battle for survival against both alien and human forces. Throughout the series, Gordon must prevail in hostile situations despite...
, a theoretical physicist, after the Black Mesa Research Facility accidentally causes a dimensional rift which allows the facility to be invaded by aliens. Freeman consequently attempts to survive the slaughter and resolve the situation. The game was originally published by Sierra Studios
Sierra Entertainment
Sierra Entertainment Inc. was an American video-game developer and publisher founded in 1979 as On-Line Systems by Ken and Roberta Williams...
and released for Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
, although Gearbox Software
Gearbox Software
Gearbox Software, LLC is an American video game development company based in Plano, Texas.-History:Gearbox Software was founded in January 1999 by five members of the content team from the defunct developer Rebel Boat Rocker: Randy Pitchford, Brian Martel, Stephen Bahl, Landon Montgomery, and Rob...
would later port
Porting
In computer science, porting is the process of adapting software so that an executable program can be created for a computing environment that is different from the one for which it was originally designed...
the game to PlayStation 2
PlayStation 2
The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony as part of the PlayStation series. Its development was announced in March 1999 and it was first released on March 4, 2000, in Japan...
in 2001. Valve themselves later converted the game to use their Source engine. Half-Life received critical acclaim upon release, critics hailing its overall presentation and numerous scripted sequence
Scripted sequence
In video games, a scripted sequence is a pre-defined series of events that occurs when triggered by player location or actions.Some scripted sequences are merely used to play short cut scenes that the player has little control of...
s. The game won over 50 Game of the Year awards and its gameplay has influenced first-person shooter
First-person shooter
First-person shooter is a video game genre that centers the gameplay on gun and projectile weapon-based combat through first-person perspective; i.e., the player experiences the action through the eyes of a protagonist. Generally speaking, the first-person shooter shares common traits with other...
s for years to come. Half-Life has since been regarded as one of the greatest games of all time.
Half-Life was followed by an expansion pack
Expansion pack
An expansion pack, expansion set, or supplement is an addition to an existing role-playing game, tabletop game or video game. These add-ons usually add new game areas, weapons, objects, and/or an extended storyline to a complete and already released game...
, Half-Life: Opposing Force
Half-Life: Opposing Force
Half-Life: Opposing Force is an expansion pack for Valve Software's science fiction first-person shooter video game Half-Life. The game was developed by Gearbox Software and Valve Corporation and published by Sierra Entertainment on November 1, 1999. Opposing Force is the first expansion for...
, on November 1, 1999. Unlike Half-Life, Opposing Force was developed by Gearbox Software, although it was still published by Sierra Studios. Opposing Force was first announced as a mission pack for Half-Life in April 1999, and was released for the Windows version of the game. The player no longer assumes the role of Gordon Freeman, but rather sees the later events of the first game from the perspective of a US Marine corporal, Adrian Shephard. Shephard is initially assigned to cover up the events at Black Mesa, but is soon left isolated and has to fight to survive against a new group of alien invaders and black operation
Black operation
A black operation or black op is a covert operation typically involving activities that are highly clandestine and often outside of standard military protocol or even against the law.-Origins:...
s units. Opposing Force was received favorably by critics, many citing the game as being as influential on setting expansion pack standards as the original game had been in influencing the overall genre. The game won the Computer Game of the Year Interactive Achievement Award of 2000 from the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences
Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences
The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences , founded in 1996, is a non-profit organization that promotes computer and video game entertainment with the annual D.I.C.E. Summit event, where its Interactive Achievement Awards ceremony has been held annually since 1998...
.
Gearbox later went on to develop Half-Life: Blue Shift
Half-Life: Blue Shift
Half-Life: Blue Shift is an expansion pack for Valve Software's science fiction first-person shooter video game Half-Life. The game was developed by Gearbox Software with Valve Corporation and published by Sierra Entertainment on June 12, 2001...
, Half-Lifes second expansion pack. Like Opposing Force, Blue Shift was published by Sierra Entertainment. Announced in 2000, the game was initially developed as an add-on for a Dreamcast port of Half-Life; however, the port was cancelled and Blue Shift was instead released for Windows on June 12, 2001. Blue Shift puts the player in the position of Barney Calhoun, a security guard working at Black Mesa. The game takes place within the early parts of Half-Life, with Calhoun attempting to escape the facility with a small group of scientists. Blue Shift also includes a High Definition pack, which upgrades the quality of the models and textures in both Blue Shift and the preceding games in the series. Critics gave Blue Shift a mixed but favorable reception, praising the game's atmosphere and the inclusion of the High Definition pack, but criticizing the otherwise lack of new content and short length of the story.
The third and final expansion for Half-Life was Half-Life: Decay
Half-Life: Decay
Half-Life: Decay is an expansion pack for Valve Software's science fiction, first-person shooter video game Half-Life. Developed by Gearbox Software and published by Sierra Entertainment, Decay was released as part of the PlayStation 2 version of Half-Life released on November 14, 2001...
. The game was again developed by Gearbox and published by Sierra. However, unlike previous titles, Decay is only available with the PlayStation 2 version of Half-Life. Decay is unique within the Half-Life series as the only cooperative game
Cooperative gameplay
Cooperative gameplay is a feature in video games that allows players to work together as teammates. It is distinct from other multiplayer modes, such as competitive multiplayer modes like player versus player or deathmatch...
—two players must work together to progress through the game. Decay focuses on two of Freeman's colleagues, Gina Cross and Colette Green, as the two work with other scientists to counter the effects of the dimensional rift and ultimately attempt to close it. Released on November 14, 2001, Decay received a weak but overall positive reception from critics, many reviewers stating that it was fun to play through with a friend, but that the game's more puzzle-oriented gameplay detracted from the overall experience. An unofficial Windows port of the game was released in September 2008.
Source games
On November 16, 2004, Valve released Half-Life 2Half-Life 2
Half-Life 2 , the sequel to Half-Life, is a first-person shooter video game and a signature title in the Half-Life series. It is singleplayer, story-driven, science fiction, and linear...
, the sequel to the original game. The game had a six-year development cycle, which saw several delays and the leak of the game's source code. Half-Life 2 returns the player to the role of Gordon Freeman. Set twenty years after the original game, Earth has been occupied by the Combine, a transdimensional race that exploited the events of the first game to invade. The G-Man inserts Freeman into City 17 in Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
to combat the Combine occupation. Half-Life 2 garnered near-unanimous positive reviews and received critical acclaim, winning over 35 Game of the Year awards for 2004. The game has been critically praised for its advances in computer animation
Computer animation
Computer animation is the process used for generating animated images by using computer graphics. The more general term computer generated imagery encompasses both static scenes and dynamic images, while computer animation only refers to moving images....
, sound
Sound recording and reproduction
Sound recording and reproduction is an electrical or mechanical inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects. The two main classes of sound recording technology are analog recording and digital recording...
, narration
Narrator
A narrator is, within any story , the fictional or non-fictional, personal or impersonal entity who tells the story to the audience. When the narrator is also a character within the story, he or she is sometimes known as the viewpoint character. The narrator is one of three entities responsible for...
, computer graphics
Computer graphics
Computer graphics are graphics created using computers and, more generally, the representation and manipulation of image data by a computer with help from specialized software and hardware....
, artificial intelligence
Game artificial intelligence
Game artificial intelligence refers to techniques used in computer and video games to produce the illusion of intelligence in the behavior of non-player characters . The techniques used typically draw upon existing methods from the field of artificial intelligence...
, and physics
Physics engine
A physics engine is computer software that provides an approximate simulation of certain physical systems, such as rigid body dynamics , soft body dynamics, and fluid dynamics, of use in the domains of computer graphics, video games and film. Their main uses are in video games , in which case the...
. Half-Life 2 was the first title to use Valve's Steam content delivery system, a system that eventually led to Valve falling out with publisher Sierra Entertainment
Sierra Entertainment
Sierra Entertainment Inc. was an American video-game developer and publisher founded in 1979 as On-Line Systems by Ken and Roberta Williams...
.
Following Half-Life 2, the series was continued using a pair of episodic games
Episodic games
An episodic video game is a video game of a shorter length that is commercially released as an installment to a continuous and larger series. Episodic games differ from conventional video games in that they often contain less content but are developed on a more frequent basis.Such a series may or...
, with a third planned. Half-Life 2: Episode One
Half-Life 2: Episode One
Half-Life 2: Episode One is the first in a series of episodes that serve as the sequel for the 2004 first-person shooter video game Half-Life 2. It was developed by Valve Corporation and released on June 1, 2006. Originally called Half-Life 2: Aftermath, the game was later renamed to Episode One...
was the first of these, set around City 17 after the events of the original game, in which Freeman and Alyx Vance
Alyx Vance
Alyx Vance is a non-player character in Valve's 2004 first-person shooter computer game Half-Life 2, and its following episodes: Half-Life 2: Episode One and Half-Life 2: Episode Two...
must attempt to escape the city after a dark energy
Dark energy
In physical cosmology, astronomy and celestial mechanics, dark energy is a hypothetical form of energy that permeates all of space and tends to accelerate the expansion of the universe. Dark energy is the most accepted theory to explain recent observations that the universe appears to be expanding...
reactor core they damaged at the end of Half-Life 2 threatens to destroy the city. It was released on June 1, 2006, and introduced several new graphical effects including new lighting features and more advanced facial animation
Computer facial animation
Computer facial animation is primarily an area of computer graphics that encapsulates models and techniques for generating and animating images of the human head and face. Due to its subject and output type, it is also related to many other scientific and artistic fields from psychology to...
. Episode One received a generally positive critical reaction, although the game's short length was a point of common criticism.
The second episodic game, Half-Life 2: Episode Two
Half-Life 2: Episode Two
Half-Life 2: Episode Two is the second episode in a series of sequels to the 2004 first-person shooter video game Half-Life 2. It was developed by Valve Corporation in tandem with Episode One, the first game in the series, and released in Q4 2007 via Valve's Steam content distribution platform...
, continues the story from where Episode One ended. It was released on October 10, 2007, bundled with the games Portal and Team Fortress 2
Team Fortress 2
Team Fortress 2 is a free-to-play team-based first-person shooter multiplayer video game developed by Valve Corporation. A sequel to the original mod Team Fortress based on the Quake engine, it was first released as part of the video game compilation The Orange Box on October 10, 2007 for Windows...
as well as Half-Life 2 and Episode One in the package The Orange Box
The Orange Box
The Orange Box is a video game compilation for Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360, Mac OS X and PlayStation 3. The Windows and Xbox 360 versions were produced and published by Valve Corporation and released on October 10, 2007 as a boxed retail copy...
, which was released for Windows PCs and the Xbox 360
Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
and PlayStation 3
PlayStation 3
The is the third home video game console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment and the successor to the PlayStation 2 as part of the PlayStation series. The PlayStation 3 competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
consoles. The game was again developed by Valve, and distributed using both Steam and Electronic Arts. Continuing with Valve's policy of orienting each episode around a particular theme or set of technologies, Episode Two focuses on expansive environments, travel and less linear play. As Gordon Freeman, the player travels with Alyx Vance away from the ruins of City 17 into the surrounding countryside, pursued by Combine forces. Episode Twos new technologies and gameplay features were praised by reviewers; however, though it was significantly longer than Episode 1, the short length of the game was again a point of criticism.
Half-Life 2: Episode Three is announced as the third and final installment in the series of episodic expansions. It is planned as the last episode in the story arc, although not necessarily the end of the Half-Life franchise. No release date or other details have been announced, though some concept art has surfaced as well as the possible incorporation of sign language
Sign language
A sign language is a language which, instead of acoustically conveyed sound patterns, uses visually transmitted sign patterns to convey meaning—simultaneously combining hand shapes, orientation and movement of the hands, arms or body, and facial expressions to fluidly express a speaker's...
into the game by including a deaf character. In a March 2010 interview, Newell spoke of "broadening the emotional palette" of the series, and how the next Half-Life game may return to "genuinely scaring the player". In a May 9, 2011, interview with Develop magazine, Newell commented on the episodic release model, saying, "We went through the episodes phase, and now we’re going towards shorter and even shorter cycles," adding, "For me, ‘entertainment as a service’ is a clear distillation of the episodic content model."
Spin-off games
The success of the Half-Life series has spurred the creation of several spin-off games for Half-Life 2. Codename: GordonCodename: Gordon
Codename: Gordon, also known as Half-Life 2D, is a two-dimensional Flash sidescroller shooter game made by Paul "X-Tender" Kamma and Sönke "Warbeast" Seidel. The game was produced on behalf of Nuclear Vision, and was distributed free of charge over Valve Software's Steam online delivery system as...
is a two-dimensional
2D computer graphics
2D computer graphics is the computer-based generation of digital images—mostly from two-dimensional models and by techniques specific to them...
Flash
Adobe Flash
Adobe Flash is a multimedia platform used to add animation, video, and interactivity to web pages. Flash is frequently used for advertisements, games and flash animations for broadcast...
sidescroller
Side-scrolling video game
A side-scrolling game or side-scroller is a video game in which the gameplay action is viewed from a side-view camera angle, and the onscreen characters generally move from the left side of the screen to the right. These games make use of scrolling computer display technology...
shooter
Shooter game
Shooter games are a sub-genre of action game, which often test the player's speed and reaction time. It includes many subgenres that have the commonality of focusing "on the actions of the avatar using some sort of weapon. Usually this weapon is a gun, or some other long-range weapon". A common...
produced by Nuclearvision Entertainment, and was released over Valve's Steam online delivery system on May 17, 2004, as a promotional game for the then-upcoming Half-Life 2. The developer has since gone bankrupt, but the game itself can still be installed via a direct link to Steam, despite not being listed in the store. Codename: Gordon was well received by reviewers and the public, and attracted over 600,000 players in the first three weeks after its release. Reviewers praised the game for its gameplay and unique dialog style, but also criticized it for its improper optimization, and lack of opponent variety.
Half-Life 2: Lost Coast
Half-Life 2: Lost Coast
Half-Life 2: Lost Coast is a small additional level for the 2004 first-person shooter video game Half-Life 2. Developed by Valve Software, it was released on October 27, 2005, through the Steam content delivery service as a free download to owners of the Microsoft Windows version of Half-Life 2...
is a technology demonstration
Tech demo
A tech demo is a prototype, rough example or an otherwise incomplete version of a product, put together with the primary purpose of showcasing the idea, performance, method or the features of the product...
, developed by Valve to display new high dynamic range rendering
High dynamic range rendering
In 3D computer graphics, high dynamic range rendering , also known as high dynamic range lighting, is the rendering of computer graphics scenes by using lighting calculations done in a larger dynamic range. This allows preservation of details that may be lost due to limiting contrast ratios...
and a variety of other features. Valve asked for feedback as to whether these features should be used in their future games. The level was designed with a variety of appropriate environments to emphasize these effects. Consisting of a single map, Lost Coast was originally to be part of Half-Life 2, but was dropped during development. The game follows Gordon Freeman as he travels up a coastal cliff to destroy a Combine artillery launcher in a monastery, which is firing on the town of St. Olga. Released over Steam on October 27, 2005, the level received a generally positive reception, and there was consensus among fans that the new features should be implemented into future games released by Valve.
Portal is a puzzle game set in the Half-Life universe, developed by Valve Corporation. It was initially released alongside Episode Two in The Orange Box
The Orange Box
The Orange Box is a video game compilation for Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360, Mac OS X and PlayStation 3. The Windows and Xbox 360 versions were produced and published by Valve Corporation and released on October 10, 2007 as a boxed retail copy...
on October 10, 2007. The player controls a test subject named Chell as she moves through the laboratories of Black Mesa's primary rival, Aperture Science, completing various tests with a device that allows her to create linked portals in physical space. In the later stages of the game, the player battles GLaDOS, a corrupt artificial intelligence computer that monitors her every move. The game is the spiritual successor to Narbacular Drop
Narbacular Drop
Narbacular Drop is an environmental puzzle video game developed by Nuclear Monkey Software. It was released free online in 2005 on PC . It was the senior game project of students attending DigiPen. The gameplay consists of navigating a dungeon using an innovative portal system...
, with many of the same team members working on the game. Portal has been acclaimed as one of the most original games in 2007, receiving praise for its unique gameplay and darkly humorous story. An Xbox Live Arcade
Xbox Live Arcade
Xbox Live Arcade is a type of video game download distribution available primarily in a section of the Xbox Live Marketplace, Microsoft's digital distribution network for the Xbox 360, that focuses on smaller downloadable games from both major publishers and independent game developers...
expansion was released on October 22, 2008, and its sequel, Portal 2
Portal 2
Portal 2 is a first-person puzzle-platform video game developed and published by Valve Corporation. The sequel to the 2007 video game Portal, it was announced on March 5, 2010, following a week-long alternate reality game based on new patches to the original game...
, was released on April 19, 2011.
Characters from Half-Life have appeared in other titles. Peggle Extreme
Peggle
Peggle is a casual puzzle video game developed by Sukhbir Sidhu and Brian Rothstein of PopCap Games. Initially released for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X systems in 2007, it has since had versions released for Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network, the Nintendo DS , Windows Mobile, the iPod, the...
, a special edition of Peggle
Peggle
Peggle is a casual puzzle video game developed by Sukhbir Sidhu and Brian Rothstein of PopCap Games. Initially released for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X systems in 2007, it has since had versions released for Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network, the Nintendo DS , Windows Mobile, the iPod, the...
bundled with the PC version of The Orange Box
The Orange Box
The Orange Box is a video game compilation for Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360, Mac OS X and PlayStation 3. The Windows and Xbox 360 versions were produced and published by Valve Corporation and released on October 10, 2007 as a boxed retail copy...
features levels based on Half-Life 2, Team Fortress 2
Team Fortress 2
Team Fortress 2 is a free-to-play team-based first-person shooter multiplayer video game developed by Valve Corporation. A sequel to the original mod Team Fortress based on the Quake engine, it was first released as part of the video game compilation The Orange Box on October 10, 2007 for Windows...
and Portal. The headcrab is also an unlockable character in Super Meat Boy
Super Meat Boy
Super Meat Boy is an independent video game designed by Edmund McMillen and Tommy Refenes and developed by Team Meat. It is the successor to McMillen and Jonathan McEntee's October 2008 flash game Meat Boy. Super Meat Boy was released on the Xbox 360 through Xbox Live Arcade in October 2010, on...
when bought on Steam. The Headcrab also appeared in a April Fools event in the MMO Vindictus as an event item along with the Crowbar, possibly due to the game being created on the Source Engine as well.
Development
Valve Corporation
Valve Corporation is an American video game development and digital distribution company based in Bellevue, Washington, United States...
, was founded in 1996 in Kirkland, Washington
Kirkland, Washington
Kirkland is a city in King County, Washington, United States. It is a suburb of Seattle on the Eastside . The population was 48,787 at the 2010 census makes it the 9th largest city in King County and the 20th largest city in the state...
by former Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
employees Mike Harrington
Mike Harrington
Mike Harrington is the co-founder of the computer game development company, Valve Software and a lead programmer of the game Half-Life.Previously a games developer at Dynamix and a developer on the Windows NT operating system at Microsoft, Harrington founded Valve in 1996 with Gabe Newell, another...
and Gabe Newell
Gabe Newell
Gabe Logan Newell is the co-founder and managing director of video game development and online distribution company Valve Corporation.-Work:...
. They began working on the first game of the series soon after the company's formation, and settled on a concept for a horror-themed 3D action game
Action game
Action game is a video game genre that emphasizes physical challenges, including hand–eye coordination and reaction-time. The genre includes diverse subgenres such as fighting games, shooter games, and platform games, which are widely considered the most important action games, though some...
, using the Quake engine
Quake engine
The Quake engine is the game engine that was written to power 1996's Quake, written by id Software. It featured true 3D real-time rendering and is now licensed under the terms of the GNU General Public License ....
as licensed by id Software
Id Software
Id Software is an American video game development company with its headquarters in Richardson, Texas. The company was founded in 1991 by four members of the computer company Softdisk: programmers John Carmack and John Romero, game designer Tom Hall, and artist Adrian Carmack...
. The game was a hit at the 1997 E3 convention, where its animation system and artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its...
were demonstrated. The game's success led to its first expansion pack, Half-Life: Opposing Force, which was developed by Gearbox Software
Gearbox Software
Gearbox Software, LLC is an American video game development company based in Plano, Texas.-History:Gearbox Software was founded in January 1999 by five members of the content team from the defunct developer Rebel Boat Rocker: Randy Pitchford, Brian Martel, Stephen Bahl, Landon Montgomery, and Rob...
, a then-new company based in Plano
Plano, Texas
Plano is a city in the state of Texas, located mostly within Collin County. The city's population was 259,841 at the 2010 census, making it the ninth-largest city in Texas and the 71st most populous city in the United States. Plano is located within the metropolitan area commonly referred to as...
, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, and announced on April 15, 1999. Gearbox founder Randy Pitchford
Randy Pitchford
Randall S. "DuvalMagic" Pitchford II is one of five founders of video game developer Gearbox Software and currently the CEO and president of the company.-Career:...
said in an interview that he believed Valve gave them the opportunity to produce a sequel to Half-Life to allow Valve to focus on future titles. The game was demonstrated at the 1999 E3 convention, where new locations, characters, and the story were revealed.
The second Half-Life expansion pack, Half-Life: Blue Shift, was again developed by Gearbox Software and announced by its publisher, Sierra Entertainment
Sierra Entertainment
Sierra Entertainment Inc. was an American video-game developer and publisher founded in 1979 as On-Line Systems by Ken and Roberta Williams...
, on August 30, 2000. Sierra intended to release Blue Shift for the Dreamcast, and it was set to include higher detail models and textures that were double the polygon count
Polygon (computer graphics)
Polygons are used in computer graphics to compose images that are three-dimensional in appearance. Usually triangular, polygons arise when an object's surface is modeled, vertices are selected, and the object is rendered in a wire frame model. This is quicker to display than a shaded model; thus...
of the models from Half-Life. However, after several months of delays, Sierra terminated development on the Dreamcast version of Blue Shift on June 16, 2001, and the company instead released Blue Shift for the PC on June 12, 2001. Afterward, Gearbox began working on a Half-Life game for the PlayStation 2. The game, titled Decay, was showcased at E3 2001, where Gearbox demonstrated the game's use of new model sets, which were around twice as detailed as those in Blue Shift.
For several years, Valve secretly worked on the sequel to the original Half-Life, titled Half-Life 2. For the game, Valve developed a new game engine
Game engine
A game engine is a system designed for the creation and development of video games. There are many game engines that are designed to work on video game consoles and personal computers...
called the Source engine
Source engine
Source is a 3D game engine developed by Valve Corporation. It debuted in June 2004 with Counter-Strike: Source and shortly thereafter Half-Life 2, and has been in active development ever since...
, which handles the game's visual, audio, and artificial intelligence
Game artificial intelligence
Game artificial intelligence refers to techniques used in computer and video games to produce the illusion of intelligence in the behavior of non-player characters . The techniques used typically draw upon existing methods from the field of artificial intelligence...
elements. The Source engine comes packaged with a heavily modified version of the Havok physics engine
Havok (software)
Havok Physics is a physics engine developed by Irish company Havok. It is designed primarily for video games, and allows for real-time collision and dynamics of rigid bodies in three dimensions. It provides multiple types of dynamic constraints between rigid bodies , and has a highly optimized...
that allows for an extra dimension of interactivity in both single-player and online environments. In the trilogy of episodic games that followed Half-Life 2, Valve made minor tweaks to the game's engine. In Half-Life 2: Episode One, Valve modified Alyx's AI to allow her to react to the player's actions because of her significant involvement in the game. The game runs on an upgraded version of Valve's proprietary Source engine
Source engine
Source is a 3D game engine developed by Valve Corporation. It debuted in June 2004 with Counter-Strike: Source and shortly thereafter Half-Life 2, and has been in active development ever since...
, and features both the engine's advanced lighting effects, and a new version of its facial animation/expression technology.
Film
After separate meetings with Hollywood directors who all pitched unsatisfactory film ideas, Valve’s CEO and co-founder Gabe Newell told PC Gamer that if a Half-Life movie were created, it would be made by themselves. He said further that "Team Fortress 2: Meet the Team" shorts are means of experimenting with the idea of a feature length film.Cultural influence and reception
A short film based upon Half-Life, titled Half-Life: Uplink, was developed by Cruise Control, a British marketing agency, and released on March 15, 1999. However, Sierra withdrew it from circulation, after itself and Valve had failed to resolve licensing issues with Cruise Control over the film. The critical reception of the film was very poor. The film's plot was that of a journalist attempting to infiltrate the Black Mesa Research Facility and discover what was happening there.In early 2009, the Purchase Brothers, a Toronto based film company, released a five-minute film based on Half-Life 2: Episode One called Half-Life: Escape from City-17
Half-Life: Escape from City-17
Half-Life: Escape from City 17 is a Canadian short film written, developed, and filmed by the Purchase Brothers, set in the Half-Life universe, during the events of Half-Life 2 and Half-Life 2: Episode One. Both films were critically acclaimed, especially by Valve, the video game company...
. The film combines live-action footage with 3D animation created using the Source SDK
Source SDK
The Source SDK is a software development kit compiled by Valve Software that is used to create maps or mods for the Source engine, with the exception of Left 4 Dead, Left 4 Dead 2, Alien Swarm, and Portal 2...
for the video game. It was well received by Valve. On August 25, 2010 they released a nearly 15 minute long part two. In late 2010 a trailer for a Half-Life inspired independent short film entitled Beyond Black Mesa was released. Directed by Brian Curtin, it follows the character Adrian Shephard. The full short film was released online on January 21st, 2011.