Half-Life Short Film Grabs Attention

switchfeet writes "For any of you Half-Life fans out there, this new short film based on the game by The Purchase Brothers is really garnering some attention on pretty much every gaming site out there. 'It's a mixture of live action and game footage, and makes smart use of in-game sound effects, and some really fantastic location hunting. ... The Purchase Bros describe the production as 'guerilla style with no money, no time, no crew, no script, the first two episodes were made from beginning to end on a budget of $500.'"

Comments

From Valve

[Barny]

Valve had this to say in the latest steam news...

The short film Escape from City 17: Part One, viewable on YouTube via the link below, was inspired by the Half-Life 2 episodes and chronicles the escape from City 17 by some members of the citizens resistance. It was created by The Purchase Brothers, a commercial directing duo, and their small team based in Toronto, Canada. They have been Half-Life enthusiasts from the start and have created this short, the first in a series, on a shoestring budget using handmade costumes, some donated equipment, and the Source SDK, not to mention lots of their own blood, sweat and (we assume) tears. It was sent to Valve unannounced, and we were blown away -- the production quality certainly exceeds that of the usual community-made movies we see. We're told the second episode is nearing completion, and we can't wait to see what's in store. We hope that you enjoy the series.

PLEASE NOTE! This live-action video contains scenes of blood and harsh violence, and may not be appropriate for younger audiences or sensitive viewers.

Seems they liked it too :)

Re:Very Cool!

[sanosuke001]

Their site actually said Valve had flown them out to Seattle and has been in touch with them regarding the project. I think their first episode was fantastic and would love to see more. Valve throwing them a bit of cash could definitely increase their vision. A full-length movie would be amazing.

Re:Valve

[Saffaya]

IIRC (read long ago on gaming sites that are now long forgotten), Valve was created by ex-microsoft employees. Half-life's first incarnation was not as good as they hoped to be. Thanks to their wealth (from being rather early microsoft people), they were able to scrap the game as it was, keep the really good parts , and expand those, polishing the whole until they were fully satisfied with their work and finally released it to the world.
Their financial independence made possible the heavy reworking that lead to the genesis of half-life as we know it. A luxury most of the developping teams nowadays can not afford.(blizzard being the exception)

Just to say that the qualificative 'group of dedicated gamers' does not fully describe Valve, imo.
It rather makes me think of the players who wanted more out of the FPS experience and wrote counter-strike, the half-life mod.