Happy Birthday, Half-Life!
When people talk of defining moments in gaming history and fixed points in the timeline people will mention GoldenEye64, Halo, Doom and of course, Half-Life.
Hitting shop shelves in 1998, it was nothing short of revolutionary. A fully 3D, Immersive action narrative, it is if not the most influential game in history, it’s definitely in the top one.
But its development wasn’t an easy ride.
As it turns 25 this month, to celebrate the anniversary, Valve released an hour-long documentary discussing the development of the game, originally codenamed ‘Quiver’. Here are some cool things I learned about the game’s journey to desktop computers all those years ago:
Black Mesa Inbound
In the late 1990s, amidst the cultural backdrop of flannel shirts and screeching dial-up internet, a group of passionate game developers embarked on a journey. This collective, featuring talents fresh from Microsoft (and Waffle House?) set out to create what would ultimately stand as one of the most groundbreaking games in the history of the industry.
Without Quake, there wouldn’t be a Half-Life. Mike Harrington, one of Valve's co-founders, shared the intriguing story of how Valve initially licensed id Software's Quake Engine. Fun fact, they were just given it. Mike and Gabe Newell had a meeting with John Romero when they first started out and he just handed over a CD with the source code to Quake, all without a formal contract. This unexpected stroke of luck is what got everything going.
Valve faced the challenge of creating an original intellectual property (IP) for Half-Life. They wanted to create something different. Something that nobody had ever seen before, with a nuanced and sophisticated narrative driven by the player. Mike Harrington and Gabe Newell discussed the necessity of starting from scratch, and then ended up drawing inspiration from the unlikeliest of places: Stephen King's story The Mist. The focus was on building tension within the narrative rather than replicating established storylines, setting the foundation for the game's unique identity.
Unforeseen Consequences: The Challenges of Bringing Half-Life... To Life
The initial challenge confronted by the team lay in the nuanced task of refining player control. The art of level design transcended mere obstacle placement, evolving into a meticulous craft aimed at shaping a universal gaming experience. Under the guidance of the youthful yet skilled Steve Bond, the team showcased their artificial intelligence acumen by intricately intertwining environments with adversaries, adding a layer of sophistication to the gameplay dynamics.
Early Valve team members lacked significant game development experience, with some being enthusiasts or having worked on mods. The emphasis was on finding creative individuals, resulting in a diverse team that included people from various backgrounds, even a former Waffle House manager. This unique blend contributed to the unconventional and innovative approach taken during Half-Life's development.
In the pursuit of diversifying the gaming experience, the notion of incorporating a vehicle emerged – a train, to be precise. Opting for the simplicity of a conventional locomotive over flashy cars or futuristic spaceships, the team encountered an unexpected hurdle: players were bypassing the train The ingenious solution? Electrifying the rails, a lesson learned in the perennial cat-and-mouse game between developers and the player community, where gamers perennially seek to push the boundaries.
Extensive testing and review sessions played a crucial role in refining and improving the game. Gabe Newell, the founder, personally played through everyone's levels for two days. The iterative process not only enhanced gameplay mechanics but also emphasised the importance of having orthogonal weapons, each with distinct functionalities.
Sur-Face Tension: The Challenge of Creating Characters
Gordon Freeman, the iconic protagonist, emerged from a collaborative effort, with artist Chuck Jones contributing to the design of the HEV suit. Interestingly, the character's likeness was based on Chuck Jones himself, including the addition of a ponytail—you can see that in Half-Life: Deathmatch, where you’ll see the Freeman model. Originally, it was intended as a bit of a placeholder, at the time Jones had no other frame of reference and needed to come up with something. Like the naming of Black Mesa, the model grew on everyone and ended up sticking.
Freeman’s silence wasn’t by choice, either. The initially intended voice actor faced scheduling conflicts, leading to the adoption of Freeman's iconic muteness, a feature that inadvertently became a defining characteristic.
The voice actor for both G-Man and Barney in Half-Life was Mike Shapiro. The developers liked Mike Shapiro's work, so they brought him in to do the voices for both characters. Initially, they did a take on all the G-Man lines with a more straightforward voice. However, it wasn't particularly exciting. So, they asked Shapiro for something else, and he delivered a crazy “lizard voice” for the G-Man. The team loved it, and that's how Mike Shapiro's distinctive voice became synonymous with these iconic Half-Life characters.
Anomalous Materials: Making Black Mesa Look and Sound Real
The importance of sound in communicating the AI's internal state was underscored. The sound designer, Kelly Bailey, who also composed the soundtrack, employed unique techniques such as using animal sounds and modifying them to create distinct sounds for the game. This emphasis on sound design contributed to the overall atmosphere and player engagement. He mentioned that for the sounds of the aliens, he used animal sounds and modified them to create unique and otherworldly sounds for the game. Fun fact: the Headcrabs get their distinctive sound from rats.
Karen Laur, an artist involved in Half-Life development, revealed that the game's setting drew inspiration from Eastern Washington, specifically the high desert near Ellensburg and the Columbia Gorge. The team embarked on a two-day drive to capture reference imagery and photos that would encapsulate the essence of the landscape. This served as a foundation for the game's distinctive environment. Yes, you read that right: the location for Black Mesa, situated in New Mexico, was developed with imagery from Washington.
The Art of Xen: Building an Alien World
Xen, the alien world within Half-Life, was originally intended to be a lot more ambitious in its setting. The team first had a grand vision of venturing inside a colossal extraterrestrial creature, but this proved to be a little too logistically challenging. The ambitious concept gave way to more practical corridor designs. However, the artistic minds at Valve injected life into Xen by drawing inspiration from electron microscope images, resulting in a unique blend of organic shapes and insectoid aesthetics.
Despite the creative compromises, Xen became a pivotal part of Half-Life, introducing players to a dimension beyond the familiar Black Mesa facility. The textures and design, born out of necessity, embraced the microscopic intricacies of the alien realm.
The final manifestation of Xen, while different from the initial concept, retained its allure, contributing to the game's overall atmosphere and narrative. While it remains rather divisive among fans, at the very least it is an incredibly memorable final act for a game.
Forget About Freeman? Half-Life's Lasting Legacy
As the game reached completion, uncertainty loomed regarding its reception. The Valve team could only hope for the game's success, acknowledging the unpredictable nature of gamers' tastes.
The reception, however, was nothing short of a seismic event in the late '90s gaming landscape. Half-Life descended upon the gaming community like a bomb, earning acclaim for its immersive storytelling, intelligent AI, and sheer thrill. Reviews poured in with loud praise, solidifying Half-Life's status as a transformative force in the gaming cosmos.
The legacy of Half-Life, though monumental, elicited a forward-looking perspective from Valve co-founder Gabe Newell. For him, Half-Life wasn't merely a game; it represented a revolution, a journey marked by creativity, challenges, and unexpected triumphs. As the gaming world celebrated, Valve, true to its ethos, prepared to embark on the next frontier of innovation.
In retrospect, here's a salute to Half-Life – the game that defied expectations, introduced electrifying twists and etched an indelible mark on the ever-evolving canvas of the gaming industry. It even spawned a sequel that improved on the original—the less said about the third the better, though.
You can check out the Half-Life 25th Anniversary documentary on YouTube here. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to reinstall Steam.
For more gaming opinion, and film and telly too, why not check out @thearbitraryreview.
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