Half-Life As A 2D Side-Scroller?

Allen Varney writes "Why wait for Half-Life 2 when you can wait instead for Half-Life 2D? 'Codename: Gordon' is a free, fan-produced jump'n'run side-scroller adapted from the original Half-Life. It'll be done in a month, but for now there's screenshots and a two-minute gameplay video."

Comments

Nice, but I was hoping for an actual Half-Life mod

[grahamwest]

Not to take anything at all away from the people working on this, because it certainly looks pretty cool, but when I read the headline I was thinking someone had made a side-scroller using Half-Life itself (like Pandemonium, for example). A modern 3D game provides a lot of stuff that is useful for making 2D games too. Maybe when Half-Life 2 comes out someone will make a killer side-scroller using all the animation and lighting and physics systems of the core game?

Re:2D games

[Henry V .009]

All modern first person shooters are 3D, and more than that, it's the fps viewpoint from that 2D Doom that is the basis for how most 3D games are organized today.

I had the opposite feeling about Mario 64 that you did. I thought the extra dimensions took quite a bit away from the game. I bought it right when it came out, and I recall that a lot of people at the time agreed with me.

Your last argument is a straw man. All I said was that the 2D game style has a lot more room for innovation than the 3D. Adding that extra dimension means a lot of design compromises because of the extra freedom that you are allowing the gamer. The only game that I can think of which has overcome it well and created a feeling that harkens back to the old button smashers is Serious Sam. There are others, surely, but not too many.

I guess a lot of it boils down to 'aim and click' style versus 'manuver' style. There are certainly games that can overcome this, but it's hard.