By John Walker on November 11th, 2012 at 11:03 pm.
I’m so reluctant here, but it does seem that Gabe Newell has suggested that Valve are working on a completely new version of their previously incrementally improved Source Engine. Source 2, as Newell seems to accept for a title, would rather dismiss the company’s previous frustration at queries over whether such a thing might exist, formerly shaking their fists and crying, “But Source is already Source 2, and 3 and 10!” In the same poorly recorded interview of a gathering of Valve fans interrogating Uncy Gabe, he tells them that they’re also working on “Ricochet 2″, which Reddit is assuming is a code for Half-Li- Nope, can’t bring myself to type it.
The original video is a few days old, but has only had a couple of thousand views until now. The shorter video below, originally sourced from the now very offline Lambdageneration, comes from /v/’s trip to Valve for Gabe’s birthday. And is edited here by ValveTime.
At 1:20 someone asks Gabe about Ricochet 2, presumably meaning a third Half-Life. (Ricochet was Valve’s one flop, a rather peculiarly bland multiplayer game that never really became anything – Ricochet 2 can be filed alongside “Fart Cops” as recurring codenames for Valve’s projects). This is then interrupted by someone else asking about Source 2, to which Gabe appears to reply (it’s very muffled),
“We’ve been working on Valve’s new engine stuff for… a while.”
Someone else asks if it’s not just another upgrade for Source, but an entirely new engine, to which Newell replies with a pretty definitive, “Yeah.”
It’s Erik Johnson who says that Ricochet 2 is now in development, and with a grin on his face. I’m calling bullshit on that one on two levels. First, Half-Life 3 will obviously have been in some sort of development for many years, however many incarnations may have been scrapped. And it seems reasonably sensible to assume that they’re not really developing a sequel to a game that came to nothing. Especially as elsewhere in the original video Newell asks them not to ask about Half-Life 3.
So, well, what do you reckon? Are Newell and Johnson just trolling /v/? It’d be eminently apposite. But it also wouldn’t be surprising if Valve chose this of all ways to announce it.
11/11/2012 at 23:11 Discopanda says:
Source 2: Episode 1
12/11/2012 at 00:15 Godwhacker says:
Assuming Valve are reading this can I just say: everyone wants Half Life 3 to happen very, very much.
12/11/2012 at 01:12 Adekan says:
I personally couldn’t care less about HL3. A new source engine, on the other hand, is exciting news.
12/11/2012 at 09:16 SuperNashwanPower says:
This poor man is mentally unwell. Please disregard his comments. I will pass your sympathies to his family.
12/11/2012 at 20:51 Adekan says:
I know, I know. It’s absolute heresy that someone can have a non-positive reaction to a scripted corridor shooter with a boxed-in vehicle sequence. I am clearly mentally unfit to post on RPS.
12/11/2012 at 23:14 SuperNashwanPower says:
This is good. Accepting it is the first step.
12/11/2012 at 09:17 Derppy says:
25% of my excitement for HL3 is about the new game, which will no doubt be great.
75% is getting to see how the engine works, because that will be a platform for hundreds of games and mods. Games like Portal 3, Team Fortress 3 and Left 4 Dead 3 will all likely share a bit of the same “feel”, like the previous games do with HL2 and other Source-based games.
It will also be interesting to see what the engine is capable of. Compared to new Unreal Engine, CryEngine and even Unity, the current Source is a piece of crap, it’s ancient. It’s going to take quite a bit of work to get anywhere near the amazing visual fidelity and smooth workflow of “next gen” engines, like Unreal Engine 4.
The most severe limitations of current Source engine are the lack of large scale asset streaming and large scale dynamic lighting. It’s impossible to make large scenes without loading screens and it’s hard to change the atmosphere with static lighting. The development tools are also ancient and detach the developer from the actual game world, while new engines allow developers to make adjustments and instantly see the effects in the game world. Hopefully Source 2 catches up in these areas, if Valve claims it’s “next gen”.
12/11/2012 at 01:48 Huxxley says:
I can happily wait for HL3, knowing Valve makes amazing games. The more time, the better it’ll be…hopefully. If not we can just go lynch them!
12/11/2012 at 06:51 AngoraFish says:
The longer it takes, the closer I am to dead.
12/11/2012 at 11:27 dotslash says:
we’ll run out of unix time before HL3 gets released
12/11/2012 at 16:02 faillord_adam says:
@dotslash 64 bit users have longer to wait
12/11/2012 at 23:07 bear912 says:
dotslash was referring to 64 bit users, obviously.
11/11/2012 at 23:13 Memphis-Ahn says:
You’re wrong John, Ricochet was THE bestest ever.
12/11/2012 at 01:25 mr.ioes says:
You are the 1%.
12/11/2012 at 02:09 GreenArchon says:
Maybe not the bestest, but I believe it’s seriously underrated: it was good for random fun with friends.
Plus the whirlpool thingy when you fell to your death was awesome.
12/11/2012 at 09:06 Maxheadroom says:
Glad im not the only one who liked it. Sure it was no masterpiece but in short bursts it was quite fun. I’d welcome a sequel
11/11/2012 at 23:13 Low Life says:
The whole Ricochet 2 thing has been going on for a while, like this interview from April: http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/04/23/gabe-on-ricochet-2-delay-but-he-doesnt-mean-ricochet/
So yeah, obviously HL3 is in development. I wouldn’t expect it any time soon, though (not even soon in Valve time).
And their next-gen engine has also been referenced earlier: http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/08/06/valve-references-next-gen-source-2-in-filmmaker-files/
Granted, video evidence of Gabe calling it a new generation engine is more than we had earlier.
11/11/2012 at 23:15 Adriaan says:
Time to fire up the old speculatron again?
12/11/2012 at 00:04 felisc says:
er, it got permanently damaged after bethesda bought the stalker license :/
12/11/2012 at 00:36 Lord Custard Smingleigh says:
They reconditioned it, with a new optimism coil and a complete replacement of the enthusiasm dampener. I don’t think the cynicism bypass is working though, see the Elite kickstarter for an example. Personally, I think this means it is working better than ever.
12/11/2012 at 05:03 TsunamiWombat says:
Yes but have you solved the nostalgia coefficient issues? We were getting readings way off base for the actual quality of older samples. In fact it seemed like the older something was, the stronger the signal, regardless of the original quality of the sample.
12/11/2012 at 07:28 Lord Custard Smingleigh says:
Hey, don’t blame the tool just because it was calibrated using the original and new X-COM games!
12/11/2012 at 18:53 Inglourious Badger says:
You guys are funny
12/11/2012 at 11:53 phuzz says:
They’re waiting for you Adriaan…in the Test Chamber.
11/11/2012 at 23:18 Alenthas says:
When will they release Source 3 though?
12/11/2012 at 05:25 MadTinkerer says:
It’s scheduled for release on 999999999…
11/11/2012 at 23:20 JBantha says:
New engine, No new half life news. But definitely a new engine. and I really liked Ricochet.
11/11/2012 at 23:21 AmateurScience says:
Wake me when it’s over.
12/11/2012 at 01:15 Snargelfargen says:
Pretty much. It’s safe to assume that Valve has always been working on something related to Half-Life, but that certainly doesn’t mean we’ll be getting a game any time soon.
I don’t think people understand just how many ideas are discarded in pre-production or how long the process can take before a studio commits itself.
12/11/2012 at 01:56 pilouuuu says:
Maybe GMAN can put us on a time stasis until Half-Life 3 is released. But in that case we may have to wait until aliens take over… In the real world! And in that case we would be living in our own post-apocalytic distopia, so no one will care about playing games anymore.
11/11/2012 at 23:25 RagingLion says:
Gabe said about a year ago that they’ve been particularly working on upgrading the tools they use to build games or that that was the next thing they’d be doing. That’s not the same as a new engine but probably has to equate to the same thing ultimately as I doubt new tools would be based on the same aged architecture.
12/11/2012 at 05:27 MadTinkerer says:
Well one of the “new tools” was the editor for Portal 2.
11/11/2012 at 23:26 Salt says:
I recently stumbled on footage of their tech demo of Half Life 2 / The Source Engine from 2003. It really hasn’t aged that badly at all, especially considering it’s roughly the chronological halfway point between now and the release of Doom.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ddJ1OKV63Q
11/11/2012 at 23:29 Lekker Pain says:
I clearly remember that Gabe said in interview somewhere that there will be no Half Life 3 until new engine is out. I think they want to awe the crowd like they did with Half-Life 2. And I don’t see anything wrong there from where I’m standing.
11/11/2012 at 23:33 povu says:
It wouldn’t surprise me if they’re specifically waiting for the next console generation to arrive before letting Source 2 make its debut, possibly with Half Life 3.
That’s been my theory for a long time, I hope I’m right.
11/11/2012 at 23:42 Lekker Pain says:
Well, next-gen consoles won’t be as huge of a leap from previous gen, hardware in them (according to what we know so far) speaks for itself. When they’ll come out, our PCs will still be minimum one generation (ranging from low-end to high-end) ahead.
If Valve wants to push it, they can, it’s easy. Release on PC, port to “next”-gen consoles later. Success is inevitable anyway.
12/11/2012 at 01:39 Stochastic says:
Where are you getting this information from?
12/11/2012 at 01:47 Jac says:
Would be interesting to see what would happen if they developed it only for linux and then dropped HL3.
12/11/2012 at 16:53 iniudan says:
Pretty sure they will have fun releasing it at the same time on linux, osx and windows, but opengl all around just to be a pain the ass to Microsoft (has opengl mean they are no longer tatered to their ecosystem and simultanious release mean they fully completed transition to multiple ecosystem development), while it also make sure no fan will hate on them for favoring one system. (actually in the linux community it would give them insane cred, outside of the hardliners)
12/11/2012 at 02:02 pilouuuu says:
Anything would be a giant leap for consoles! Look at the awful low-res textures, bad animation, compressed sound, short drawing distance and general limitations to work with like 1Mb of RAM of consoles nowadays!
At least with next gen consoles we, pariah PC players may get some better games (technology wise).
12/11/2012 at 07:25 MasterDex says:
1MB of RAM?! Ok, I know it’s cool to hate on consoles around these parts but if you’re going to do it, at least print correct information – they only have 512KB of RAM. :P
12/11/2012 at 16:21 coolwithpie says:
I think that valve is going to release their own, fully modular, console running some sort of steam big picture mode. It will ship with crappy console components, but you can easily upgrade it like a PC. I think this would be the best of both worlds. You satisfy the PC gamers who’s complaints are, “i dont like consoles cause they run like shit” and you satisfy the console kids who dont want to touch the RAM or GPU.
12/11/2012 at 02:18 HisMastersVoice says:
Why would they wait for next years re-release of hardware that is available right here, right now in pretty much every gaming PC? It’s not like next gen consoles are going to run on 8990 or 790 anyway. More like something from the HD5xxx line.
12/11/2012 at 08:35 LionsPhil says:
If nothing else, I suspect they want to sort out streaming and something other than that creaking Quake BSP tech underneath, so that their games no longer have to be partitioned with LOADING.
But, honestly, I suspect they’re keeping most of it. Because they’re not idiots. It might be a hell of a lot of churn in there and some big refactoring efforts, but you don’t do this sort of thing from scratch, throwing away years of tuning and workarounds for various driver/platform/etc. bugs real customers suffered.
11/11/2012 at 23:41 wisnoskij says:
Half Life 3? No way, everyone knows that Gabe just hates the number three. We will see a Half Life 2, Episode 2, Part 2 before we see any threes come out of Valve.
12/11/2012 at 02:51 Slinkyboy says:
Made me lol. But is this true??? OMG!!!
11/11/2012 at 23:42 SlappyBag says:
I started watching this video about 5 mins before this was posted. You’ve given it 1000 extra views in 40 mins. =O
On another note, I fucking love Valve.
On a third note, new engine will be great, especially considering that they absolutely love modders and community created content, the SDK will be fantastic.
11/11/2012 at 23:44 1Life0Continues says:
I still maintain that VALVe doesn’t know how to use the number 3.
If there is a new Half-life game coming, it won’t be Half-life 3, it will probably be a named title, like Half-life: The Freeman Strikes Back or something to that extent.
To tell the truth, I would actually like that. I’d like it if VALVe kept that little idiosyncrasy, and avoided using the number 3 wherever possible. It adds character to the company, and makes them memorable. ‘VALVe? Oh, the company that can’t count to three!” It’s already a running joke, I think they should run with it more.
12/11/2012 at 01:01 Stochastic says:
Maybe they should just rename the series”The Lambda Saga” or something suitably cryptic.
11/11/2012 at 23:53 Radiant says:
They got left for dead two out about 30 seconds after the first one.
I can’t even remember the story for any of the half life bits and bobs out there.
Why not dump Freeman entirely?
I’d rather plan a Freedom Fighters style resistance in a new open Stalker type world than have to sit through 50eleven million bits of exposition that ends on another cliff hanger.
12/11/2012 at 00:55 Narzhul says:
So uh, why don’t you just play other games that give you what you want instead of asking for Half Life to be changed? You may not remember Freeman, but other people do.
12/11/2012 at 05:23 Radiant says:
No you numpty the point I was making was that I’d rather make my own stories.
At this point in time Freeman’s story is basically done.
To extend it further your telling a tale that goes and then this happened and then and then and then and then and then and then and then and then and then and then cliffhanger.
But I get the feeling that’s pretty much the issue with half life 3 and valve. How do you progress the GAME whilst keeping the fans [nutjobs] from murdering you.
12/11/2012 at 07:43 BrendanJB says:
“At this point in time Freeman’s story is basically done.”
Yeah, apart from the fact that absolutely nothing about the overarching plot has been resolved at all, sure, it’s basically done.
12/11/2012 at 17:19 valz says:
Radiant already said he has problems remembering stories anyway. Not worth arguing with.
12/11/2012 at 14:28 H77 says:
How can you say the story is done? What about the G-man (ok, that one we already know: http://m.blog.hu/ga/garrysmod/image/freeman_gman2.jpg )? But what about the flying marshmallows that suck up brains? And will the Freeman get lucky with Alex? So many questions…
I NEED ANSWERS!! ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=IUrbMDt5t4A )
12/11/2012 at 00:01 dE says:
A smart move in my opinion. Too many people seem to be utterly incompatible with the idea of modular changes in an engine without attaching a new number to the end every time.
12/11/2012 at 12:23 Mctittles says:
Yes, just imagine how little news the few changes in HTML would have got if it was just HTML 4.x. A new number is always good business.
Makes me wonder why Microsoft didn’t go with DirectX 12 for the latest update that forces Windows 8. People could have at least imagined they were getting something better.
12/11/2012 at 13:17 Gargenville says:
On the other hand Firefox went from version 4 to SIXTEEN over the past year or so and now no one cares about new releases anymore. I’d say the sweet spot for attention would be about a number a year, or just datemarks like Ubuntu do.
12/11/2012 at 15:12 phelix says:
“Creation Engine”, which turned out to be a rehashed Gamebryo, springs to mind.
12/11/2012 at 16:00 ScubaMonster says:
That’s a pretty narrow view. Sometimes, depending on how the engine is designed, the only way to make real, drastic improvements is a complete rebuild from the ground up. A lot of times modular changes are just little additions that don’t really add anything substantial.
12/11/2012 at 00:16 DickSocrates says:
I almost feel sorry for Half Life fans at this point. Luxoly for me, I don’t.
12/11/2012 at 00:36 D3xter says:
No shit, Valve is working on Source 2 and Half Life 3 to coincide with the “Next Generation” of consoles and upgraded tech, to be announced sometime at next years E3 or slightly afterwards? This comes as total News to me.
12/11/2012 at 00:54 Stochastic says:
I think the “news” here is that Gabe is being uncharacteristically forthright. Then again, using code names like “Richochet 2″ in lieu of HL3 isn’t exactly direct.
And sure, while we all know a new Source engine and Half-Life are in the works, it’s still nice to see it being confirmed, even if unofficially.
I wonder if Valve is going to use HL3 as the flagbearer for the new Source engine much in the way Epic used Gears of Wars for promoting UE3. Also, will HL3 follow shortly after the launch of the new consoles, or will we have to endure several more years post-launches until Valve acquaints themselves with the new hardware?
12/11/2012 at 01:47 Lemming says:
It’s news to me that anyone would genuinely believe that Valve would do anything based around console releases next gen or otherwise, and this is the second comment on the article to speculate as such.
Where does this outrageous bollocks come from?
12/11/2012 at 05:50 Phantoon says:
Imaginationland.
12/11/2012 at 09:23 Asurmen says:
From a bit of logic and common sense? New console release will cause developers to up their engine capabilities.
12/11/2012 at 10:57 HisMastersVoice says:
And why would that make any difference to Valve? Source was never intended as a competitor to something like Unreal Engine, and even if they changed their attitude, there’s literally no reason to wait specifically for the so called next-gen. Not to mention they’d have to have the thing ready about a year ago, because that’s when the next gen title development started.
12/11/2012 at 11:01 D3xter says:
Do you actually believe that they HAVEN’T worked on Half Life 3/Source 2 for several years now?
There have been hints dropped for at least as many, one of the most obvious ones being this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0d6yBHDvKUw
12/11/2012 at 10:59 D3xter says:
Because they, as many other developers are still making fuckloads of money on consoles and the “AAA” gaming world pretty much lags as far behind as the current console generation will allow?
http://www.pcgamer.com/2011/08/31/gabe-newell-portal-2-did-better-on-pc-left-4-dead-did-better-on-consoles/
Come a new console generation every “big player” will have to “up their game” by using new and updated engines fully supporting new DirectX11 features and improved map sizes/AI/objects displayed etc., as well as new graphics card technology (EPIC for instance has Unreal Engine 4, CryTek has a completely scalable CryEngine 3, EA has Frostbite 2, Square Enix has shown off their Luminous Engine recently).
As the new hardware will roll out, games will go through a generational leap and PC gamers will also be expected to upgrade their hardware to be able to play all the new multiplatform games.
Valve can either “get with” everyone else, or they can lag behind the entire industry.
12/11/2012 at 11:28 Lemming says:
Steam is what has made Valve billionaires. Their console releases have been a drop in the ocean compared.
Anyone still playing TF2 on Xbox or PS3? Hardly, and no in that order. Buying Portal 2 on PS3 gave people a free steam copy, why was that? It didn’t work in reverse. They want people on Steam, not on the next Xbox or Playstation.
Why the push for Linux support? That’s the opposite of console-driven. And Big Picture mode? Does encouraging people to hook up their PC to their TV imply getting into bed with consoles? No.
It’s not often I feel comfortable making a blanket statement but, anyone who thinks Valve is driven by the big consoles in any way is just plain wrong.
The ‘generational leap’ you talk about with consoles lasts mere months, if at all. No one panic buys hardware that will last that long, it’s too expensive.
12/11/2012 at 12:07 D3xter says:
Steam/Valve aren’t part of a closed-off Ecosystem where everyone just buys Valve games. They aren’t even large enough yet to single-handedly inflict change on the industry like Microsoft, SONY, Nintendo or arguably Activision.
What ARE they making all that money with?
Look at the “Top Sellers” list on their Store and you will largely see titles like “Call of Duty: Blops II”, “Assassin’s Creed III”, “Dark Souls: PTD”, “Hitman: Absolution”, “XCOM: Enemy Unknown”, “Borderlands 2″ etc. which are almost unilaterally “console ports” and likely some of the last representatives of their kind on this generation of consoles (e.g. I expect the next Assassin’s Creed, Souls, Hitman and likely Borderlands titles to be “Next Gen” games if they don’t release late next year)
I love the rising popularity and amount of Indie games as much as everyone else, but lets be honest, as far as money and market share goes they are still a very small part of the overall industry.
Valve has to adapt to a change in that ecosystem like everyone else (including large companies like EA or Activision who are afraid of their margins and the platform holders themselves), over the last year alone for instance the amount of DirectX 11 compatible cards has tripled according to their own numbers: http://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey
As soon as the new consoles are out and we will get a jump to DirectX11 games with a higher usage of RAM (4-8GB) and generally different design goals across the industry, Valve will have to follow or become irrelevant (at least on the game production side of things, but the new “Xbox Live” or “PlayStation Network” incarnations, including the “Windows 8 App Store” can also be seen as competition to Steam).
12/11/2012 at 13:25 Eddy9000 says:
The push for Linux support has been speculated to be in anticipation of the threat windows 8 might be to steam. It would make perfect sense for Valve to hedge this potential threat to their marketplace profits by developing their games and engine software cross-platform.
14/11/2012 at 03:50 Walter Heisenberg says:
The “big players” will “up their game” by going bankrupt or getting bought out, they’ve been bleeding out for years with games just aiming for 360 level tech, if the budget for next gen is double or even a quarter of what it is now then it’s going to be a bloodbath.
It’s clear Valve sees value in their games running on a every board range of hardware rather than aiming solely for the “welp time to upgrade” crowd.
They have been very upfront about how the awful load times in Source games requires a complete rebuild of the engine, I imagine it being focused on optimization rather than whatever new obnoxious particle and shader effects that DX whatever can do.
12/11/2012 at 00:36 Reckoning says:
The information about “Ricochet 2″ has been out there for some time. Give the Interview Gaben did for the 7 Day Cooldown Podcast back in April.
12/11/2012 at 01:00 DK says:
Ricochet was brilliant concept – it was literally TRONs disc-throwing battles – including the visual style. It was a fantastic game, but preempted the streamlined, ultra-reactive competitive FPS fad by enough to miss the bus by being too early.
12/11/2012 at 08:39 LionsPhil says:
I dunno; I think it might have hit too late. By the time Riccochet was out, people were moving away from straight-up Quake deathmatch into the slower and tenser CounterStrike and the much deeper and more involved Team Fortress Classic, also both competing for Half-Life multiplayer mod time.
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12/11/2012 at 16:38 coolwithpie says:
Hello mr. Spambot
12/11/2012 at 01:47 thepaleking says:
Gabe: “Boy, that was a great turkey sandwich.”
What Reddit Hears: “CONFIRMED ADRIAN SHEPPARD KILLS GORDON FREEMAN IN HALF-LIFE 3!!”
12/11/2012 at 02:38 thecat17 says:
gb2/v/
12/11/2012 at 05:49 Phantoon says:
As if there’s a difference anymore.
Because there isn’t.
12/11/2012 at 01:57 Chubzdoomer says:
And RPS might have created the Source 2 logo, possibly
12/11/2012 at 03:43 SkittleDiddler says:
If this new engine hastens the speed at which Valve can get Half Life 3 out the door, then they might be able to win back some of the goodwill they’ve lost to me over the last couple years. I’m fully expecting them to update Team Fortress with Source 2 before HL3 happens, so I’m not holding my breath.
12/11/2012 at 03:56 Nikolaos says:
Fingers crossed it has Linux compatibility from the start.
12/11/2012 at 10:41 varangian says:
That would seem very likely. Whatever the exact details of Valve’s plan are it’s fairly obvious they do have one. They’re not spending time developing Steam/Source1 for Linux just to please people like me who, for various reasons, use Linux as their prime OS and use Windows only for gaming. We’re not a big enough section of the market to make it worth their while. I’d guess that Valve don’t see a bright future in releasing only to platforms where someone else can keep you out unless you pay up, or just keep you out period if you’re too effective a competitor. The consoles and some other platforms are either already that way or heading there and Windows 8 looks ominously like the first step by MS to try to do the same to the PC. Linux gives them a way to work around this and who knows, maybe the fabled Steambox will come out of that effort.
12/11/2012 at 04:24 mseifullah says:
I might be the odd person out on this one, but I believe Source Engine “2″ refers much more to a generational leap on the development tools rather than the rendering.
My reasoning is that Valve has already shown what the existing Source Engine is still fully capable of via Source Film Maker — which uses in-game assets, and in-engine rendering techniques.
Source Film Maker quality output — which looks amazing — in real-time has been the goal, visually, for a while now. With each iteration of the Source Engine, they’re getting closer to that goal. So that’s the visual end of things.
On the other hand, the current tools for in-engine content creation are antiquated and in much need of enhancement. I believe that Portal 2′s new mapping tools are a nod to the direction that Valve wants to go in, in reference to the ease-of-use for in-engine content creation tools.
So, my prediction is that Source Engine 2 will look amazingly close to what Source Film Maker productions look like, and the back-end development tools will be brought up to today’s expectations.
12/11/2012 at 05:25 Whenn says:
+1
This post basically resonates with everything I thought.
Anyone who ever made a map for Half-Life1/2 or any of its mods, knows how frustrating Valve’s Hammer is.
BSPs, light leaks, the need to actually compile the map (oh and did I mention it can take up to a few hours? It used to take days for complex maps back in the day.)
I remember when Portal 2 came out. The only thing that matched my amazement for that game was the sheer terror I felt trying to imagine an entire dev team working with BSPs, a technology so old and cumbersome it literally takes an entire studio 4 years of constant crunch to make a game.
I was shocked when I saw how easy it is to map using Unity or CryEngine. it’s just a shame Valve is only now starting to think about these tools.
It’s no wonder goldsource/source, once king of modding lost its superiority to the likes of Unity and UDK. It’s a shame really, if Valve had realised the importance of ease of modding (considering their blockbuster mod platforms), dumped BSP architecture they still had lying around from their quake2 engine and pioneered real time editing modding tools before the likes of Unity & UDK I can only imagine Gaben being worth double the billion dollars he’s rumored to be worth.
12/11/2012 at 11:08 D3xter says:
I agree with you about the Tools, but they NEED to update their engine Tech too.
The Source Engine is heavily dated in certain design aspects, for instance the size of the maps or the amount of objects allowed at once on a map and you can’t just “fix” something like that easily by “updating” it. All those loading times during level changes in Portal 2 stem from that and sure they can still push out games using it, but over short or long they’ll lose relevance because of it… There’s a lot more games using say the Unreal Engine or others anyway and it’ll just get worse the longer they push this necessary step back. As I said previously, it will likely coincide with next years Announcement/Release of the Next Generation of consoles.
12/11/2012 at 16:03 ScubaMonster says:
Sorry I just totally disagree. The Source engine desperately needs upgrades to its rendering and graphics capability. During the Global Offensive free weekend, I couldn’t help but notice how remarkably dated the graphics looked compared to any other modern game. If Valve wants to stay relevant they have to evolve.
13/11/2012 at 04:32 Whenn says:
You do have to realize both of those things are intertwined. When your entire tool’s architecture stems directly from Quake 2, you’re literally trying to make next gen maps out of cubes. The only thing you can do is fill your map with custom props to give it the illusion of being complex, and that can only go so far.
12/11/2012 at 06:07 Post-Internet Syndrome says:
How surprised we all are going to be when it turns out they ARE making Ricochet 2.
12/11/2012 at 07:11 mollemannen says:
i am sad to se people didn’t figure this out sooner :/
12/11/2012 at 07:55 phenom_x8 says:
After playing Black Mesa, I hope Newell also hire some of the modder there to work on enemy A.I. Playing against Black Mesa’s Soldier are much more difficult than any combine’s army I’ve ever met in HL 2. Every encounter are such a thrilling experience before I finally found their attacking pattern (and their spawn point ofc). They’re attacking me brutally, going forward while take cover and flanking my hiding spot, before that they also throw a grenade towards me. Damn, the best HL experience ever!!
12/11/2012 at 09:32 GallonOfAlan says:
Seems like so long ago that I was spooging over those pre-release videos showing antlions with HDR lighting…
12/11/2012 at 09:51 Armante says:
no current posts on Planetside 2, so what the hell, I’ll post a free beta key in here :)
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please comment if you use it so others don’t waste their time trying!
12/11/2012 at 10:55 Shake says:
Eternal gratitude!
12/11/2012 at 10:22 Shortwave says:
I’m left wondering if the new engine will be more so well suited to handle things such as virtual/augmented reality as well. It seems to make sense to simply have a new engine tailored to such things rather than tweaking the -old- one to work with it. And yea’ HL3 will totally be the game to kick off this engine.. Or.. So we can continue hoping.. HA.
12/11/2012 at 10:27 Japjappieo says:
It’s just to fuck with those Black Mesa: Source guys. “But we just finished it… Now we have to start all over again?!”
12/11/2012 at 11:19 RaveTurned says:
Next week: Gabe launches HL3 Kickstarter.
‘“Half-Life” has gone down in history as one of the most successful games of the late 1990s…’
12/11/2012 at 11:49 best_jeppe says:
I have all along thought that the reason they are taking such a long time with Half-Life 3 is because they are working on a new graphics engine. A graphics engine can easily take 3 – 4 years to develop and even longer if it’s an ambitious project. I have always thought that they are developing a new engine and that Half-Life 3 will be the launch game on that new engine. I mean, Half-Life 3 is probably the conclusion of the Half-Life saga and it makes sense that they want to make it as awesome and spectacular as possible and that means a new engine since the current one is a bit dated. I think Half-Life 3 will be released within 2 years.
12/11/2012 at 16:05 ScubaMonster says:
They desperately need a Source 2 engine. The Source engine limitations are painfully noticeable in Global Offensive. Looks really dated (not bad mind you, but still, it’s pretty primitive graphically compared to modern shooters).
12/11/2012 at 22:31 BathroomCitizen says:
Ricochet was great.
:_(