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The Crafting of Half-Life 2 - Episode Two

Posted by Zonk on from the headcrab-connects-to-the-zombine dept.

Now that they have some time to stop and think, the folks behind Half-Life 2: Episode Two are making the interview rounds. Halflife2.net has up a discussion with HL2 scribe Marc Laidlaw. They discuss some of the world-shaking events in this latest chapter of the game, with plenty of spoilers. (So be forewarned.) RPS, meanwhile, has an interview with project lead David Speyrer. The developer talks John Walker through the process of playtesting at Valve, what it's like to work at such a creative company, and the decisions they made regarding DX9 vs. DX10 tradeoffs during the dev process. "RPS: You chose to not use DX10 for the new games. Why was that? DS: For this set of products we decided to use some DX10 features, but not through the API itself. It's because we didn't want to be Vista only. We didn't feel there was an enough of an install base for the Orange Box launch. I'm sure we will use it - it's pretty much inevitable. But this time, things like the hardware face morphing is implemented via a back-door API. RPS: DX9 can do what DX10 offers then? DS: Yeah, but through driver-back doors. And I'm sure we'll rethink it at some point. For this roll out it was fine to do it as we did."

4 of 39 comments (clear)

  1. Think about the future by cthulu_mt · · Score: 5, Funny

    Go to OpenGL you idiots. Don't lock yourselves into the Combine's propritary format.

    WWGFD?

    --
    Virginia is for lovers. EVE is for griefers.
    1. Re:Think about the future by ischorr · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Okay, fine, then use OpenGL for the 3d rendering, and platform-specific stuff for the rest. It's still MUCH easier to port, and breaks you out of the Vista lockin (unless the audio and interface handling APIs in DirectX 10 really ARE that much better/required).

      However, I cringe when I hear this argument for the same reason that I cringe every time I see someone correct someone saying "Linux" with "GNU/Linux". Yes, you may be technically more correct, but you KNOW what they meant, and in 99% of cases the pedantism doesn't change the point of their argument one bit. (Please, let's not get off on this tangent)

    2. Re:Think about the future by Chandon+Seldon · · Score: 3, Interesting

      In fact in order to reach the functionality of DirectX, you need to include such goodies as SDL, OpenAL, OpenGL and more than likely a bunch of others.

      So... what's the problem? When you use those things, along with that set of OpenGL extensions that are implemented in the video cards that people have, you've got basically the same capabilities as DirectX - minus the proprietary lock-in.

      --
      -- The act of censorship is always worse than whatever is being censored. Always.
  2. Gnome Achievement by mackil · · Score: 3, Funny

    You obviously haven't completed the Gnome achievement. That should add a few weeks of gameplay. ;)