Comments on: Half-Life Wars

By: droid

droid — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 22:16:29 +0000

People seem to want to play it as fps and rts. I think that it could be like Dwarf Fortress: you play it once as a rts against a human, then use the replay as the scenario for a fps game. If the main character does nothing his side will lose, replaying precisely the action that the rts went through. A competent AI on either side responds to what the player changes.

Timing might be changed in the replay, have you ever looked at how long it takes to swing a sword in age of empires and compared it to how long a year is? The action in the rts could be considered an abstraction of the single player mode, with the fps combat having interesting details that would be too much bother in the rts.

By: Josh

Josh — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 08:43:45 +0000

I really didn’t notice the bugs of which you speak, Alec. The largest issue I had with the game was the pathfinding AI, which was downright retarded at times, but that was the worst of it. It’s surprisingly functional! Valve would indeed do well to get on top of this ASAP, as it could really, honestly do a great job as an RTS game. Someone email Gabe.

By: GeorgeR

GeorgeR — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 21:03:07 +0000

I’m with everyone else saying that Valve should grab this. It just keeps looking better and better.

By: moonracer

moonracer — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 16:13:27 +0000

While zooming in and out is pretty standard in most RTS, what I find lacking and frustrating is the lack of ability to change the angle in order to look towards the horizon. The lack of which prevents you from enjoying a close up broad view of the battlefield, forcing you to zoom out so far the graphics don’t matter much in epic battles.

By: Radiant

Radiant — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 14:09:56 +0000

Any resource gathering?
Rebel Harvester.
Combine Harvester.

By: Suraj

Suraj — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 11:19:04 +0000

Hmmm. I want to play as combine adviser thing and go ahead and win earth in 7 days :) Perhaps we could make earths troops a little more effective to make the game enjoyable.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 10:37:41 +0000

@Okami – yes, I know, but to say that the implementation in HL2 Wars is somehow different from the camera in every single other 3D RTS game is a bit strange, don’t you think?

By: phuzz

phuzz — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 10:32:16 +0000

Reminds me a lot of the mod Antlion Troopers, well, in tone at least. There’s much fun to be had as a member of the combine facing off against wave after wave of antlions soaring through the air at you…

By: D

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 10:04:28 +0000

@Mr_Day
I think what you’re talking about comes from design flaws. If one side is completely at the mercy of the other, the game should already be over.

So I still think it would be cool to play as FPS Gordon against an RTS controlled combine army. But it would probably lessen the mods impact (like any gimmick), so I don’t honestly hope for it.

By: Okami

Okami — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 08:57:37 +0000

@Andrew: Changing the zoom level to the degree that SupCom allowed you to is an innovation. In most games the ability to zoom is mainly cosmetic. You’ve got your default camera height and can zoom in a bit, in order to see all the badly animated low poly soldiers with sloppy texture work jerking around..

By: Mr_Day

Mr_Day — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 08:34:18 +0000

@ D

No! Do you not remember the Age of series? Nothing can redeem the game if the only unit in your army left alive is gordon, and he begins the laborious task of dismantling each building by hitting it with a crowbar.

Good gravy, Darth Vader did that. Remember those Star Wars RTS games using the Age of engine? Darth Vader would twat Rebel buildings with his lightsaber. It looked ridiculous.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 08:06:45 +0000

Changing the altitude of the camera is hardly an innovation. :P