Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post - Half-Life 2 Flaws

MooseMan3000 · 12-17-2004, 06:13 AM

My main complaint with everything is that everybody seems to be expecting too much out of the game. I would give it a 10/10, but not because it's perfect. It is, however, as close to perfect as it could have been given the enormous pressure and numerous problems with development the team had.

First and foremost: they made their own engine. MAKING a game engine, not RENTING one that's already out there generally takes about 3 years on its own. JUST the engine. (Why do you think Unreal games are so light on plot and story? Because they make their own engies... duh) Add a fairly large single player campaign, trying to make it distinct, unique, and above all avoid repetition, and you're talking at least 4 years. Now add an internet scandal where your source code, along with a playable version of a pre-alpha game are released. Many companies would give up there and push for release before things get even more fucked up. No, Valve kept at it. Then add the lawsuit Vivendi brought against Valve for Steam. In all reality, that could have delayed the shipping date indefinitely. We may NEVER have seen Half-Life 2 after that lawsuit. But no, it came.

And that's making an engine based primarily on other engines out there, with a few graphical upgrades, and maybe a minor physics change.

This engine, however, is different. The aim was to take physics and program it in. Not "ragdoll physics" or "Explosion physics" or some other game specific type of physics that all other engines claim they do so well. PHYSICS. ALL OF IT. Whether they succeeded in that aim is a matter of debate, but they're an awful lot closer than any other game out there right now.

As for the AI, my argument stands. It is as good or better than any other AI out there. There are problems with it. Of COURSE there are problems with it. Anyone who has tried to do anything regarding AI will know how extroardinarily diffucult it is. Even making waypoints for a bot is time consuming and taxing, trying to work out all the flaws and get it going smoothly. Now try making that bot. Now try making, instead of a bot, a real-time, dynamic AI that reacts to every situation you throw at it. Good fucking luck, chump.

The aim of the AI is, as the name implies for those of you capable of rational thought, to make artificial INTELLIGENCE. Sure, you could go through every single map and find every possible contingency and program that in. Sure, I could make it so the soldiers look right at you when you're in that dumpster looking through that fence. But that wouldn't be intelligent. Remember in Wolf3D when you fired a single shot every soldier in the level heard that shot and immediately came running to YOU? Not to the sound, but they knew EXACTLY where you were. Sure, we could do that for new games. But that's not what we're trying to do.

People that complain about this game aren't looking at the big picture. This game IS revolutionary. It IS very good in most aspects that they were trying to acheive. Of course there are problems, but that's why we keep making games. I certainly hope Valve keeps with their idea of making newer better games, because when without them pushing the limits, who else would? (Cough... LucasArts, EA, COUGH). Most companies are out there to make money. Valve is out there to make games. I applaud them.

12-17-2004, 06:13 AM	#30 (permalink)
MooseMan3000 wouldn't mind being a ninja. Location: Maine, the Other White State.	My main complaint with everything is that everybody seems to be expecting too much out of the game. I would give it a 10/10, but not because it's perfect. It is, however, as close to perfect as it could have been given the enormous pressure and numerous problems with development the team had. First and foremost: they made their own engine. MAKING a game engine, not RENTING one that's already out there generally takes about 3 years on its own. JUST the engine. (Why do you think Unreal games are so light on plot and story? Because they make their own engies... duh) Add a fairly large single player campaign, trying to make it distinct, unique, and above all avoid repetition, and you're talking at least 4 years. Now add an internet scandal where your source code, along with a playable version of a pre-alpha game are released. Many companies would give up there and push for release before things get even more fucked up. No, Valve kept at it. Then add the lawsuit Vivendi brought against Valve for Steam. In all reality, that could have delayed the shipping date indefinitely. We may NEVER have seen Half-Life 2 after that lawsuit. But no, it came. And that's making an engine based primarily on other engines out there, with a few graphical upgrades, and maybe a minor physics change. This engine, however, is different. The aim was to take physics and program it in. Not "ragdoll physics" or "Explosion physics" or some other game specific type of physics that all other engines claim they do so well. PHYSICS. ALL OF IT. Whether they succeeded in that aim is a matter of debate, but they're an awful lot closer than any other game out there right now. As for the AI, my argument stands. It is as good or better than any other AI out there. There are problems with it. Of COURSE there are problems with it. Anyone who has tried to do anything regarding AI will know how extroardinarily diffucult it is. Even making waypoints for a bot is time consuming and taxing, trying to work out all the flaws and get it going smoothly. Now try making that bot. Now try making, instead of a bot, a real-time, dynamic AI that reacts to every situation you throw at it. Good fucking luck, chump. The aim of the AI is, as the name implies for those of you capable of rational thought, to make artificial INTELLIGENCE. Sure, you could go through every single map and find every possible contingency and program that in. Sure, I could make it so the soldiers look right at you when you're in that dumpster looking through that fence. But that wouldn't be intelligent. Remember in Wolf3D when you fired a single shot every soldier in the level heard that shot and immediately came running to YOU? Not to the sound, but they knew EXACTLY where you were. Sure, we could do that for new games. But that's not what we're trying to do. People that complain about this game aren't looking at the big picture. This game IS revolutionary. It IS very good in most aspects that they were trying to acheive. Of course there are problems, but that's why we keep making games. I certainly hope Valve keeps with their idea of making newer better games, because when without them pushing the limits, who else would? (Cough... LucasArts, EA, COUGH). Most companies are out there to make money. Valve is out there to make games. I applaud them.