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Half-Life 2 Writer On Plotting Freeman

Posted by simoniker on from the i-am-not-a-number dept.

Thanks to Planet Half-Life for their interview with Marc Laidlaw, writer on both the Half-Life games, who answers questions about Gordon Freeman's (and other less cipher-like NPCs') genesis, suggesting "...some of the character creation process is very analytical... but a large part of it remains intuitive", and goes on to point an admonitory finger at Joseph Campbell's Hero With A Thousand Faces: "I have great respect for Campbell, who never intended to create a boilerplate for insecure storytellers, but the mythological hero has been done to death." Above all, Laidlaw hopes you have a good time come Half-Life 2's September 29th appearance, saying: "I think the only sector of the audience likely to feel any disappointment are those fans who adored long-jumping between bits of floating rock on Xen."

12 of 36 comments (clear)

  1. Freeman isn't a character by PeteyG · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Freeman isn't a character. He never says anything. He never interacts with anyone. You only see him on the game box.

    All the scientists and stuff talk to YOU (yes, they call you Gordon. But that doesn't make him a character). Half-Life is about immersion, and they made Freeman a non-character to help draw you in.

    It pissed me off when Gamespot or IGN or someone named Gordon Freeman the coolest game character ever or something. Because he's not an actual character!

    --
    no thanks
    1. Re:Freeman isn't a character by Iscariot_ · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Freeman isn't a character. He never says anything.

      By that logic, neither is Link, most Final Fantasy main characters (Cloud, Squall, etc.), Crono, the list goes on.

      Just something to think about.

      --

      Go here for teh [sic] funny.
    2. Re:Freeman isn't a character by asjk · · Score: 2, Interesting
      Freeman isn't a character.

      Interesting viewpoint. Of course Marc Laidlaw disagrees with you. Here is what he says.

      I think of these as Gordon's finest qualities (not speaking). They set him apart from any number of other game protagonists. Being Gordon is a very particular kind of experience; it's part of the essence of Half-Life.

      I think the player is meant to appreciate Gordon as a character by how people react to him. And there is always the concept that without the character Gordon there is no story or a very short story in which the aliens win uncontested. I think I can understand your assertion, however. As gameplayer I have much less feeling as to the attributes of the main character then I experience as movie-goer or reader.

      BTW, I enjoyed his joke "Q. What is a millihelen?" "A. The amount of beauty it takes to launch a single ship."

  2. Inreasing the immmersion factor of Half-Life by Kenshiro70 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    One of the most interesting aspects of the original Half-Life is that Gordon Freeman never spoke - all of the lines written by Laidlaw were generic enough that you could imagine yourself asking the question or making the comment which provoked the line. It drew you into the story even further by making you project your own dialog into it. It's strange that very few other games have tried this technique, as it seems to have worked very well.

    1. Re:Inreasing the immmersion factor of Half-Life by Senjutsu · · Score: 2, Insightful

      IIRC, every Zelda game going back to Link to the Past does the same thing.

      Actually, the more I think about it, most games put out by Nintendo that involve dialog use the same technique.

    2. Re:Inreasing the immmersion factor of Half-Life by bluesnowmonkey · · Score: 2, Insightful

      It's strange that very few other games have tried this technique, as it seems to have worked very well.

      It's not a game, but the Matrix did this. Neo only speaks a few dozen lines, all of them insubstantial (except for his final monologue).

    3. Re:Inreasing the immmersion factor of Half-Life by andyt · · Score: 2, Funny

      It's strange that very few other games have tried this technique, as it seems to have worked very well.

      It's not a game, but the Matrix did this. Neo only speaks a few dozen lines, all of them insubstantial (except for his final monologue).

      As did Johnny Mnemonic, Speed and almost every other film where Keanu Reeves plays the central character... hey waitasec!

  3. Contradictions by Etone · · Score: 2, Informative

    "But there will always be those who believe the story was born in a single gush from the spigot in Valve's forehead on September 29th" Didn't PlanetHalfLife just post an editorial about how they were 99% positive HL2 would not be delivered in September? -etone

  4. Here's one... by jvmatthe · · Score: 4, Interesting
    GTA3. That the main character has no name (even less information than Freeman!) and never speaks was a brilliant choice. There are other reasons to think so (many of which I've written here in my review) but that quality of the protagonist in GTA3 is one of the most important distinctions that makes GTA: Vice City much less of an interesting game. Tommy Vercetti might very well be a classic bad-ass, but he doesn't have the every-man quality that the character in GTA3 has.

    Back on topic, I'm not sure I ever thought that there needed to be that much writing to go with Gordon Freeman himself. The writing was mostly in what Cigarette Smoking Man said and what all the people around him said.

    And I'll go ahead and say it now: if Gordon speaks in HL2, then it will ruin the very quality that the parent comment to this one spoke about.

    --
    Curmudgeon Gamer: Not happy
  5. Xen could have been Zen by fbjon · · Score: 3, Funny

    "I think the only sector of the audience likely to feel any disappointment are those fans who adored long-jumping between bits of floating rock on Xen."

    It was kind of hard to do, but still somehow neat, I think. The one letdown was that I didn't have 3d-glasses.

    --
    True confidence comes not from realising you are as good as your peers, but that your peers are as bad as you are.
  6. jumping on xen by Baikala · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Long jumping from a flying rock to a flying manta-thing was extremely frustrating. It was the only part in the original game where I ever considered giving up on beating the game (you don't beat a game if you cheat). The final fight was to damned hard and frustrating with all that jumping and the teletransportation portals the boss shot to you every god damned second. I only finished when I learn read that you can shoot the flying portals and make them teletransport your bullets instead of you

    I'm glad they are ditching that 'gameplay' out.

    --
    16,777,216 comments ought to be enough for any forum!
  7. course hes a character he has a name just that.... by UltimaL337Star · · Score: 2, Funny

    After being attacked by japanese hentai tentacle aliens and having his ass hunted down by the army, it's no wonder he's so silent. He's one tough mother, with the developers being so cruel killing all his temporary barney friends, even if they do all look the same... I'm suprised he doesen't cry everytime he makes a new friend who looks so much like his deceased allies...