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Source Engine - In The Belly Of The Beast?

Posted by simoniker on from the jonah-and-whale dept.

Thanks to Half-Life 2 Fallout for its fan-written feature discussing the content of Valve's Source videogame engine, as used for Half-Life 2. The piece explains: "The Source engine is not just a 3D engine (in the sense it's not just a renderer) -- it contains many different modules that are all brought together into one package", and tries to clarify discussion on subjects as diverse as lighting ("Something that has caused confusion in the past is 'dynamic lights' [in the Source engine].... All a light has to be in order for it to be qualified as dynamic is to be able to move and have changeable attributes.... It doesn't mean that it will [necessarily] cast real time shadows like in Doom 3 or Unreal Engine 3.0"), and in-game water ("When Valve say the water is physically simulated, they mean objects have buoyancy. They don't mean the Source engine has fluid dynamics.")

7 of 41 comments (clear)

  1. AI is "very, very powerful" by lunarscape · · Score: 5, Interesting
    The sequence where the Strider blows up the bridge was unscripted and unexpected by Valve

    That was unscripted??? Wow. Just wow.

    The NPC's will refuse to take stupid orders

    What do you mean you won't walk into that flaming pool of death? I gave you an order!!!

    1. Re:AI is "very, very powerful" by Winterblink · · Score: 4, Interesting
      That was unscripted??? Wow. Just wow.

      Was it really all that impressive, given what else can be said about the AI? Things react to the environment much more in HL2 it seems, so I'm sure the progression of thought from the Strider's perspective went a little something like this:
      1. Me kill humans
      2. Me tall. Bridge in way.
      3. Me kill bridge.
      4. Me kill humans

      Not bad. Not shockingly great, but not bad. :)
      --
      "I'm a leaf on the wind. Watch how I soar."
      -Hoban Washburn
    2. Re:AI is "very, very powerful" by Soul-Burn666 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      6. Me kill whoever I need to pay rent to.

      --
      ^_^
  2. Unscripted... by th1ckasabr1ck · · Score: 5, Interesting

    When the HL2 source was leaked, it became evident that many of the things Valve claimed were not scripted actually were. Keep that in mind and take this with a grain or two.

    1. Re:Unscripted... by dfj225 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Now I didn't view the HL2 at all and haven't compared what they said was not scripted to what actually was, so I am just taking a guess here as to what they may mean. Perhaps when they say that things weren't scripted they mean that the NPC's reaction to the situation wasn't scripted. For instance, there might be a script to open a door, but it is the NPC's choice as to what action is better: opening the door or simply trying to shoot through a window or other opening. Also, for the scene when the strider blows up the bridge perhaps exploding the bridge is a scripted action, but the choice to do so might not be. For instance, the strider's AI might have noticed that the player was most likely heading for a goal on the other side of the bridge and the best way to slow the player down was to destroy the bridge, this contrasts to the typical AI response of just blasting away at the character (which may be the best course of action depending on the situation). While the animation of the bridge being destroyed might have been scripted it is possible that the characters reaction in the sitution was decided on the fly and not something like this: if character passes certain point, destroy bridge.

      --
      SIGFAULT
    2. Re:Unscripted... by aliens · · Score: 2, Interesting

      He might have been one of those people who got sucked into upgrading last year with the promise of HL2 a month away.

      Not that what they upgraded to is suddenly bad hardware. But for the money he spent last year he could be getting an X800 or 6800 GPU now.

      He also might be pissed if he was somehow involved in business with Valve. Unless they told ATI that the game was in fact going to need another year, and ATI went ahead with the HL2 coupon anyway, I'd be pissed if I was ATI.

      --
      -- taking over the world, we are.
    3. Re:Unscripted... by Zed2K · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Anyone that upgrades their computer for a particular game BEFORE the game is actually on the shelves is an idiot.

      Why would ATI be pissed? They sold a ton of cards they could care less what they are used for as long as they sell their product.