Episode 3 and Beyond.

[wraithlord56]

I think and hope Episode 3 will be the last of the Half-Life series to use the Source engine. While it still shows awesome visuals it can't be compared to other, newer engines. The physics are wonderful, etc etc, I don't mean to bad mouth Source I just hope like HL2 brought in the new engine, the post episode installment(s) will bring a new engine with them.

What I really was interested in is this image, which has got to be pretty old, as I've had it saved for a long time. I'm sure a lot of you have seen it, what are your thoughts?

 

[Cavalry]

I haven't seen it before,but it sounds like EP3 will be in an Arctic area,not a city,plus,Half-Life uses a Havoc engine developed by Source
EDIT:that pic may be before they Episodes were a thought,a concept of what EP1 is
(EP1 was gonna be HL3 originally,but Valve realized it was too short...)

 

[scotland1]

If that pic was real I would shit bricks.

 

[Cavalry]

could be a real teaser pic or something,probably not though

 

[wraithlord56]

I haven't seen it before,but it sounds like EP3 will be in an Arctic area,not a city,plus,Half-Life uses a Havoc engine developed by Source
EDIT:that pic may be before they Episodes were a thought,a concept of what EP1 is
(EP1 was gonna be HL3 originally,but Valve realized it was too short...)

Yeah I'm not saying this is E3 I'm saying something like this could be possible after E3.


City 18 maybeh? lol.

 

[Absinthe]

Valve isn't going to push out fancy new whoopass tech if their primary demographics can't support it. That's part of the reason they do hardware surveys with Steam. They will will go wherever the average spec is, introducing new elements when possible, but not cutting out the many consumers who can't support any new requirements.

We are only seeing these iterative tech upgrades over the episodes because the content is being released more often. If and when Valve get to working on Half-Life 3, I'm sure they will still be using Source. After all, they put a lot of work into designing it to be highly modular and easily upgradeable. The only question is how much better the engine might look four or five years down the road.

 

[Cavalry]

doubts on that
according to Eli,once you destroy the Borealis,the Combine should be finished
what would city 18 be,Antlions and Manhacks?

 

[-Psy-]

Source is horrible. The end result is nice but using it's tools is a completely different matter.

 

[scotland1]

Valve isn't going to push out fancy new whoopass tech if their primary demographics can't support it. That's part of the reason they do hardware surveys with Steam. They will will go wherever the average spec is, introducing new elements when possible, but not cutting out the many consumers who can't support any new requirements.

We are only seeing these iterative tech upgrades over the episodes because the content is being released more often. If and when Valve get to working on Half-Life 3, I'm sure they will still be using Source. After all, they put a lot of work into designing it to be highly modular and easily upgradeable. The only question is how much better the engine might look four or five years down the road.

It would be better if they released two seperate games, one for super computers, other for average, or just let the game decide what's best for your machine.

 

[cyk]

Basically, I want that image to be Half-Life 3. Just... a playable version of that image. I'd be happy.

 

[wraithlord56]

Just noticed it says "PVI" over the health, assuming this is the new HEV....what would PVI stand for?

 

[k3ithrm]

I shed a tear after viewing that image.

 

[cyk]

"Pointless specVulation [sic] Itt?"

You guys do realize that's just some random art coupled with a fake HL3 logo and HUD, right?

 

[B3nch]

"Pointless specVulation [sic] Itt?"

You guys do realize that's just some random art coupled with a fake HL3 logo and HUD, right?

Yea it is, I'm pretty sure I remember that picture circulating HL forums before HL2 even came out.

As for the Source engine, I think Episode 2 looks just as good as any other game coming out this year sans Crysis.

 

[jondy]

As for the Source engine, I think Episode 2 looks just as good as any other game coming out this year sans Crysis.

I really don't think it does, and I'm sure I'm not the only one thinking this.

Half Life 2 was a landmark game visually, even compared to Doom3 and Farcry. The episodes aren't.

And there are some downright odd graphical decisions made, too - why have cardboard cut-out trees around the edges of valleys when they look like they've been taken from the first Need for Speed? Why cubemap water, especially in one of the game's hugest setpieces, when you've developed some of the nicest-looking render-to-texture water shaders in the industry and used them throughout the game? Why, in 2007, don't you take the opportunity to render grass, instead relying on sporadic fern and weed sprites, like Battlefield, UT, and every other modern game with outdoor enviroments ever?

These are highly-scaleable solutions that wouldn't affect low-end machines, and they're just examples.

I'm not saying the episodes aren't great gaming. They are. It's also likely that having 18 month development cycles doesn't give you a lot of time to develop large quantities of high resolution assets. It's just a shame that the HL series doesn't have the graphical edge it used to.

 

[cyk]

I think that Episode 2 pushed Source too far to its limits- the new particle engine was nice, but dropped my FPS to hell, the ugly skybox when you see the destroyed citadel, etc. Borealis will have a lot of water, but probably won't have to be very detailed... but who knows?

 

[B3nch]

I think that Episode 2 pushed Source too far to its limits- the new particle engine was nice, but dropped my FPS to hell, the ugly skybox when you see the destroyed citadel, etc. Borealis will have a lot of water, but probably won't have to be very detailed... but who knows?

But the whole point of Source is that it doesn't have limits and can continually be upgraded. Since Valve is trying to get the Episodes out faster than if they were making a full game they don't have enough time to upgrade the visuals as much as they could.

 

[-Psy-]

BSP is a pretty major factor. It's getting on a bit now.

 

[Druckles]

*snip*

If that pic was real I would shit bricks.

Seconded.

And the Source engine won't just fly out of the window like that. It's still one of the best technologies out there. The capabilities of it are by far not nearly reached, and the possibilities are endless. Even after Half-Life 2, Gabe said that there was so much that hadn't been done with it that they were planning on doing.

And besides, creating a new Source engine is just too much hard work, do you not remember how long it took for HL2 to come out? While it was worth it, you could simply tweak Source for effects that would rival, if not crush, any graphics out there today. Textures are often the biggest problem with the game, because most people simply don't have the hardware to support games like Crysis, as has already been said, and Valve want to produce games for all, not just the elite.