Half-Life 3 and VR

[Skyace65]

Now let me get this out of the way. I am NOT saying HL3 is going to be a VR exclusive.

Anyways. I've been thinking about some stuff ever since the funhaus post on HL3 and the actual video of them. Where they say Valve wouldn't push a new HL game till they wanted to push a new technology or idea with the game. I already posted in that thread but wanted to expand my thoughts. And I have to believe that it's true to some extent and Valve wouldn't want to push a new game without something big and new to go with it.

Half-Life 1,2 and it's episodes have each tried to push something new when they were originally released. For Half-Life 1 it was the story and telling it through the environment rather than some cutscenes. Half-Life 2 had physics based gameplay and puzzles. And the Episodes pushed for better AI and Alex feeling more alive. So that leaves the question, what's going to be the push in episode 3?

And that most likely would be VR. Let's be real here, Half-Life is the perfect VR game in some ways because it's always in the first person perspective. The way I see it the game is going to be about making the player really experience the world. Adding in even more detail to make it seem more alive. Imagine parts of Half-Life 2 like Black Mesa East or Klieners Lab with even more stuff around for the player to interact with or look at, or higher res textures on stuff already there like the newspaper so that it now has more information. We've already seen that they can put in a lot more detail to places now after the Portal 2 VR demo showing off source 2. So imagine in HL3 going around the borealis and finding papers littered around the floor, being able to crouch down, read some of them and learn about the ship. Or finding a Disc in a room, plugging it into a projector and watching some experiment unfold.

Beyond the environment I could see them pushing something like as many different resistance NPC models as possible(assuming we meet them again) to add to the illusion that we're in another world. And Assuming the tech is possible, procedural loading to remove loading screens

 

[Aizawa]

no. Just no. If Half-Life 3 will be a VR game it will be completely different to previous Half-Life games, so much that it couldn't be called Half-Life anymore (except it's story maybe).

Half-Life 1,2 and it's episodes have each tried to push something new when they were originally released. For Half-Life 1 it was the story and telling it through the environment rather than some cutscenes. Half-Life 2 had physics based gameplay and puzzles. And the Episodes pushed for better AI and Alex feeling more alive. So that leaves the question, what's going to be the push in episode 3?

again No. Half-Life 1 and 2 didn't try to push something new, the goal of Valve with those games was NOT to push the industry forward. They just wanted to make really good games, they had a vision for a game and implemented that no matter how long it took them. Pushing the industry forward was just a side effect of that. They won`t wait to make Half-Life 3 until there is an opportunity to push the industry forward, they will keep working on it until their vision comes to life. If they need VR for that vision, they will use VR, if they need Source 3 for that vision, they will use that.

But again, when making a VR game you have to design your game in a COMPLETELY different way. Movement changes completely, aiming changes completely and interaction with things too. The only way they would do is if Half-Life 3 was VR only, I think they learned from their Half-Life 2 and Team Fortress 2 VR versions that that doesn`t really work. You should watch some VR talks from Valve employees to see how they think about VR.

Currently playing a game with VR is just having the screen on your face instead of on your table, that is not what Valve wants I think.
Also if they plan to make a VR game, they will use the franchise which fits the most or create a new IP if none of them fits. They don`t think about these things as other companys like "oh we should make a HL3 VR, that will make money" or "ooh Portal 2 is long time ago, lets make Portal 3, this time with VR!"

 

[Fatikis]

I hope this isn't the case. I'm not a big VR fan. In my opinion VR is unnecessary. It doesn't add that much gameplay wise and I've never had an immersion problem with a monitor. I feel for any game to be a good VR game it needs to be designed to be a good VR game. This would exclude a huge chunk of people. Unless Valve is going to wait another 5 years for the tech to be common in most households...which they might. Considering from Marc Laidlaw's recent emails it sounds like HL3 is not being worked on yet.

 

[Skyace65]

I hope this isn't the case. I'm not a big VR fan. In my opinion VR is unnecessary. It doesn't add that much gameplay wise and I've never had an immersion problem with a monitor. I feel for any game to be a good VR game it needs to be designed to be a good VR game. This would exclude a huge chunk of people. Unless Valve is going to wait another 5 years for the tech to be common in most households...which they might. Considering from Marc Laidlaw's recent emails it sounds like HL3 is not being worked on yet.

you didn't read my post at all did you? At what point do I suggest anything that would require a VR headset to enjoy?

 

[Fatikis]

you didn't read my post at all did you? At what point do I suggest anything that would require a VR headset to enjoy?

I read it very clearly? I don't know what you are confused about. I specifically stated that in my opinion it would have to be designed to be a VR game to be good as VR.

Things like fine interaction and reading Newspapers do not seem very non-VR friendly in an FPS. I guess they could be made to be, but it would end up being/looking cheesy.

 

[-smash-]

You say that you don't want HL3 to be a VR exclusive, but most of the games and demos being built for VR only work with VR. Meaning that, the mechanics and the way that the story is told with VR in mind first would not be very fun with a monitor. I don't see how they can build a game that's good for both VR and a monitor without sacrificing what's special about one or the other of those output forms. If HL3 is great with a monitor, then the VR HMD will just be a fancy pair of 3D glasses; if HL3 is great with VR, you'll be confined to a box in the game and so it won't be very fun with traditional KB&M and a monitor. Unless they have some secret sauce that they've not shown to anyone yet that can blend the two forms together... Or maybe HL3 will be VR exclusive...

Ultimately, I think Valve will take what's made the other HL games successful and amplify all of that -- story telling, character development, gameplay, etc. Then maybe throw in a new mechanic or two like the F-Stop.