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Half-Life 2 - A Canvas for Original Works

Posted by Zonk on from the paint-young-modders,-paint! dept.

Moe Napoli writes "Nearly six months since its release, Half-Life 2 is not only making ripples for its being a great game, but also for the works being made from the game itself. Garry's Mod (aka GMod) is a extremely popular and fun "sandbox" modification for Half-Life 2, that allows you to play with the game's exceptional physics engine as well as pose characters, create Rube Goldberg-type devices and other physics phun inside of HL2. Taking advantage of GMod's character posing, the compelling and professionally produced Apostasy is an online comic that follows 3 characters from the HL2 universe and is interwoven within and around the game's original narrative. Still Seeing Breen is an excellent machinima music video created by intercutting the game events with a singing G-Man - ultimately displaying Valve's powerful FacePoser software (which comes with the game's SDK) and HL2's capabilities for machinima development (spoiler alert for those who haven't completed the game yet). It's really great stuff - I'm looking forward to what the next six months brings."

32 comments

  1. Wait a sec... by the_unknown_soldier · · Score: 5, Funny

    Did you just link to a 90mg file hosted on a blog webserver?

    Somethings going to burn, and it isn't city 17

    1. Re:Wait a sec... by neithian · · Score: 1

      It will be SERVER 17!

    2. Re:Wait a sec... by ILL+Robinson · · Score: 1

      Hehehhe - that would be pretty funny. Fortunately, the download links are hosted a traditional webserver.

    3. Re:Wait a sec... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0


      "Did you just link to a 90mg file hosted on a blog webserver?"

      It's frickin machinima.org.

      A blog is a tool. Using one is no indication of the quality of the server or the content.

  2. Warning for 56kers by Gothic_Walrus · · Score: 3, Informative

    The images in the comics load in one fell swoop; in Apostasy, for example, the cover and first seven pages are all on one screen. Of course, since it's been linked to on Slashdot, it's not going to be up long enough for it to be an issue. :)

    --
    Goo goo g'joob.
  3. Worse news post, ever. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Some guy praises Half-Life 2 by pointing at a few machinima sites and it becomes newsworthy? Its not even an article for crying out loud!

  4. ...havok by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    is the physics engine that's used in half-life 2.

    same physics engine is in a lot of other games, too.

    and too bad it was never used in hl2 to enable creativity in the player. never, not once. every time the player just has to do something envisioned before.

    1. Re:...havok by wheany · · Score: 1

      What? So the game has to say "be creative here?" I know I used the physics engine (or the ability to move and pile stuff) to make barricades so that the combine soldiers couldn't rush me, and I carried all the turrets with me so that I had 8 turrets in the teleport chamber instead of 3.

    2. Re:...havok by cgenman · · Score: 4, Insightful

      and too bad it was never used in hl2 to enable creativity in the player. never, not once. every time the player just has to do something envisioned before.

      HL2 is a linear FPS with a strong story line element, not Sim City. Besides, there were quite a few interesting sequences that took advantage of the physics. Moving objects so that you could walk around on the sand. Squishing bad guys with shipping crates from a tower. All of the floating / weight puzzles.

      Arguably the best thing in the game was the gravity gun, and that was completely physics based. The second best thing was blowing things up and watching the physics-driven debris take out baddies all around. The third best thing was rolling garbage into the hanging tongues, but maybe that's just me getting petty revenge. And, of course, there were the driving sequences.

      I certainly had a lot of points where I moved things around to get better cover, or to cause more debris to fly. If anything the seamless nature of the integration makes it a success. The game wasn't about physics any more than it was about health or guns, but it used both with reasonable subtly and to good effect.

      --
      The ______ Agenda
    3. Re:...havok by Sparr0 · · Score: 1

      In your examples there was *A* solution to the problem (well, usually two. one involved using the environment, the other involved running and shooting a lot). A game with such a great physics engine shouldnt have a "floating puzzle" for anything more than a novelty. It would be better if they just threw you into an area with a thousand way to solve the problem. Why do I have to use the barrels to float the ramp, instead of building a better ramp, or wedging something under the existing ramp that doesnt float, or (unfortunately NOT possible in HL2) blowing up the wall thats in my way?

    4. Re:...havok by cgenman · · Score: 4, Insightful

      What's wrong with linear gameplay? Why would having a great physics engine imply nonlinear play?

      As a developer, pseudolinear play is a pain in the arse. Sandbox / true nonlinear play is appropriate for certain areas in Tenchu, for example, where your goal is to kill everyone in a level and it doesn't matter how that happens. I love sandbox games, but you have to make the entire game around such things. HL isn't. Most of HL is getting from point A to point B without getting killed, in order to drive the plot forward. Giving the player 1,000 ways to do it will just mean the player takes their sandbuggy, jumps the fence, and the level is over. It's a different type of game.

      If you give the player 3 different ways to do something (which I'm calling pseudolinear), you're now making each level three times. You also have the problem that it isn't always clear what to accept or ignore. And, trust me on this one, players will find a way to wedge themselves into a position they can't get out of.

      If you want nonlinear or pseudolinear play, try Deus Ex 2. Honestly it was a bit of a mess because it was too nonlinear, what with all the keycards and lock picking and getting people to let you in places and blowing things up, etc. But it was an OK game. Deus Ex 2 also used the Havoc physics engine (although an earlier iteration). Not surprisingly, the solutions to puzzles that used physics, basically had one way to solve them. Pile up boxes, move things over, jump on top.

      I love nonlinear play. But with certain goal structures too much nonlinearity is inappropriate. HL2 is one of them.

      --
      The ______ Agenda
    5. Re:...havok by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      I beg to differ.

    6. Re:...havok by xgamer04 · · Score: 1

      and too bad it was never used in hl2 to enable creativity in the player. never, not once. every time the player just has to do something envisioned before.

      Really?

      --
      When you look at the state of the world, how can you not become a radical, liberal anarchist?
  5. Mod parent up! by IoN_PuLse · · Score: 1

    I'm totally sick of all this HL2 hype, ESPECIALLY when it comes to "their amazing physics engine". Havok is great, but give credit where credit is due!

  6. well by Sv-Manowar · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It's not really surprising, Valve developed Half Life 2 with modders in mind, the knew how the Mod Community helped make Half Life the huge success it was.

    By opening the game up for easy modification, they increase the lifespan of their product, and it also allows them to fish for new talented staff from the fans who create the mods. Good going valve, and more importantly, good going to the mod creators.

    --
    Business Voyeur
    1. Re:well by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Allowing fans to create mods is a great thing, and it should be encouraged, but Valve's attitude and track record to to date, regarding fans, is far from laudable.

      In the (extremely long) run-up to the release of HL2, Valve kept emphasising how much they'd done to help fans create mods. However once released, there was absolutely nothing available for months on end, and when tools were eventually released, they were so buggy as to be unuseable (see all previous posts about Steam).

      Valve seem to love blowing their own trumpet, with little or no actual results becoming available to the people who actually prolong the life, and make their game more popular.

      Without mods, HL1 would have been forgotten shortly after its release, and Valve wouldn't have made nearly as much money.

  7. This is nothing new by fozzmeister · · Score: 1

    All this sortof stuff was happening on Quake1, and has happened on every other id game, as well as many other games by diff companies. The fact that it happens with HL2 is not surprising, but totally obvious!

    Still the stuff is cool, and I do like Garry'sMod

  8. News to me. by frikazoyd · · Score: 2, Interesting

    You're missing the point. The whole reason this is posted as "news" is because it is reporting on the status of the mod community, showing that it is hard at work. It isn't praising Half-Life 2 as a game, it is praising it as a canvas. It's news to me, because I don't follow the mod community religiously. It turns out to be kind of hard to find good mods that don't just modify core play in the original game. All I ever seem to be able to find is a swath of mods that are still making models of guns.

    1. Re:News to me. by meehray · · Score: 1

      You're right. Many people were expecting Valve to screw up the entire HL base by getting their hands into CS (the original one). Further patches up to 1.6 caused even greater uproar.

      But everyone's now happy that HL2 came with great modability. --- is that even a word? That's what makes the old school games so great (e.g. Q1).

  9. coral cash by famous_unknown · · Score: 1

    me likey the web comics. just in case of slashdottedness, here's a coupla coral caches for the first issue of the apostasy series:

    Part 1
    http://www.phwcomics.com/index.php?pid=12&cs=13&ci d=148.nyud.net:8090

    Part 2
    http://www.phwcomics.com/index.php?pid=12&cs=13&ci d=150.nyud.net:8090

    Part 3
    http://www.phwcomics.com/index.php?pid=12&cs=13&ci d=151.nyud.net:8090

  10. Re:coral cache by FLEB · · Score: 1

    Someone needs to learn to make a Coral Cache link...

    P1: http://www.phwcomics.com.nyud.net:8090/index.php?p id=12&cs=13&cid=148

    P2: http://www.phwcomics.com.nyud.net:8090/index.php?p id=12&cs=13&cid=150

    P3: http://www.phwcomics.com.nyud.net:8090/index.php?p id=12&cs=13&cid=151

    Note the [nuyd.net] URL and the nyuddy slowness. You've got to add .nyud.net:8090 to the DOMAIN NAME part of the URL, otherwise it's just adding .nyud.net to either the path or the query string on the original server.

    --
    Information wants to be free.
    Entertainment wants to be paid.
    You just want to be cheap.
  11. Physics engine by Lord_Dweomer · · Score: 1
    When will we see more games following suit? I mean, time and time again the most played of these types of games have been fan-made mods. Team Fortress, CS, Desert Combat, DoD, Natural Selection, etc.

    Companies are going to be realizing more and more that innovative gameplay is what wins, and they can't provide it because they're too risk adverse. What they CAN provide is the best physics engines available since they have the time and R&D dollars to sink into it.

    I really wouldn't be surprised if they bring more and more mod groups on board earlier so that mods are ready for release.

    --
    Buy Steampunk Clothing Online!
  12. Don't forget fine art re-enactments! by antdude · · Score: 1

    I posted about it on my AQFL site (might not connect due to domain changes right now).

    See here for amusing screen shots. Be warned some of them contain nudity.

    --
    Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
  13. They already have! by IoN_PuLse · · Score: 1

    Have you played Max Payne 1 or 2? They both used the Havok physics engine, the same one HL2 licensed to use! id Software wrote their own physics engine for Doom3, Far Cry has it's own physics engine, Blood Rayne 2 and S.T.A.L.K.E.R. are both using the open source ODE physics engine, the list goes on...

  14. They didn't provide it. by SanityInAnarchy · · Score: 1

    Havok provided the physics engine. True, Valve gave it to the masses, but that doesn't mean they sunk a cent of R&D into physics, when they could focus on content.

    And focus they did. Source sucks versus every other modern engine in every way imaginable, with one exception: Half-Life 2 runs on it.

    --
    Don't thank God, thank a doctor!
  15. Music game movies by trawg · · Score: 1

    One thing that I don't get is how these movie developers can keep putting in obviously copyrighted music tracks into their movies (I'm assuming even Breen has done this without permission).

    I'm about 97% sure that here in Australia doing such a thing requires two things:

    1) A license from APRA (the not-for-profit that provides licensing for such things) for 'telesyncing'

    2) Explicit permission from the copyright holder

    Does including a whole audio track fall under 'fair use' in the US copyright laws?

    1. Re:Music game movies by ILL+Robinson · · Score: 1

      IANAL, but in the States nearly all of the songs used in these machinima vids do not fall under "fair use" and would require the permission of the label/artist/copyright holder for distribution.

      That said, they usually run below the radar and for the labels that are aware might even see it as promotional use (I said, might).

    2. Re:Music game movies by mink · · Score: 1

      Wasn't "Rebel vs. Thug" done with blessings from the artist, intending it to be the music video?

      --
      Well I've wrestled with reality for thirty five years doctor, and I'm happy to say I finally won out over it.
    3. Re:Music game movies by ILL+Robinson · · Score: 1

      Yup! That and "In the Waiting Line" by Fountainhead/Ghost Robot (for Zero 7) are the two Machinima music videos that were made with the approval of the artist/label. I suspect we'll see more artist/label-backed machinima music vids in the future too.

      btw, my mention of "in these Machinima vids" should have read just "in Machinima vids." Too rude a use of my adjectves. :)

    4. Re:Music game movies by mink · · Score: 1

      In the waiting line? Is that the one with the robot alone on the space station doing it's duties as if the crew were there?
      I loved that song/video and at the same time I cant see it without getting this sad/melancholy feeling. I think it is tying into my childhood memories of seeing Silent Running.

      --
      Well I've wrestled with reality for thirty five years doctor, and I'm happy to say I finally won out over it.
    5. Re:Music game movies by ILL+Robinson · · Score: 1

      Yep, that's the one! Made in Quake III Arena.

      And yeah, it does feel a lot like Silent Running - man, that goes back some.

  16. Oh Whatever by inkless1 · · Score: 1

    A Canvas for Original Works? OK, HL2 is nice and everything and their mod tools aren't bad but a) Unreal still has a much better platform for both mods and machinima and about 100x more content to boot and b) Quake based works have been a "canvas" for years now, including their GPL'd engines.

    It's always interesting to see a quick summary of what people are doing with an engine, but the fanboy title is just more evidence on how lazy slashdot has gotten.