Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

10 Years of Half-Life

Posted by Soulskill on from the wisely-done-mr.-freeman dept.

intenscia writes "After 10 years of Half-Life and dealing with its silent protagonist Gordon Freeman, ModDB looks back at everything that Valve made possible with the release of its first game. The freedom and flexibility the Gldsource platform gave modders resulted in a plethora of user-generated content such as Counter-Strike and Team Fortress. In this article they take a brief look at the mods that made the jump to retail as well as the top non-commercial mods that have become perennial classics." Planet Half-Life used the occasion to look back at the history of Valve. Valve is celebrating by offering the original Half-Life for less than a dollar on Steam.

4 of 182 comments (clear)

  1. Open up the engine by Enderandrew · · Score: 5, Insightful

    When a new Quake comes out, they open up the old engine. The original Half Life was OpenGL if I recall, and could be ported by the community to Mac, Linux, etc. etc. etc. Selling the game for $1 is a nice move. Opening the engine (a decade old engine that won't hurt Valve in the least) would be a better move.

    --
    http://blindscribblings.com - Tasty pop-culture in conceptual fashion.
  2. A true innovator by StreetStealth · · Score: 5, Insightful

    A lot of people forget how generally unprecedented it was at the time for an action game to begin with half an hour of context and tone establishment instead of throwing you right into the fire.

    Traveling through the massive subterranean tram network, checking in at the desk and grabbing your equipment to start what would have been a normal day's work... As the tension is slowly built, something goes wrong, and then aliens show up out of that, the effect is something vastly more profound than jumping into Quake and shooting stroggs straight off the bat.

    --
    Your mind is clear / The things that you fear / Will fade with how much you / Believe what you hear
  3. Re:That's awesome but... by bignetbuy · · Score: 5, Informative

    Wait a minute. You buy a game through Steam...an on-line marketplace...then bitch about having to connect to it every now and then? Seriously?

    There is an off-line mode for playing Steam games for those times when your Internet connection is down/missing-in-action.

  4. Re:That's awesome but... by dintech · · Score: 5, Funny

    I'll be a dollar well-spent.

    I dare say. But aren't you selling yourself a bit short? :)