EP3 and Source updates Thread

[MaestraFénix]

The thread was closed and deleted, and their user, banned.


Hmmm, that would explain the "movements" of VALVe.

[PrplFlavrdZombe]

Fascinating. I'm resigned to the idea that Valve isn't going to announce that they are making HL3 or episode 3 or which ever it is supposed to be. I think that one day I'm going to go to steam's main page and HL3 will just be there. That would troll the shit out of the gaming media.

Either way, this is some great creepy pasta.

[DisConnected]

I knew it! I bloody knew it! Gabe DID eat it!

But no seriously, Valve is probably trying to make Episode 3 the best game ever. There's tough competition between CoD and Battlefield and releasing something like an Episode 2 now would just spoil Valve's rep for making amazing games. Yawn, solving simple physics puzzles and unloading half a clip into a zombie before it dies. Needs new innovations.

[Baddtraxx]

...Valve is probably trying to make Episode 3 the best game ever...

It will be the best game ever

[DisConnected]

...Valve is probably trying to make Episode 3 the best game ever...

It will be the best game ever

And then 12 years later it falls flat under everyone's expectations and becomes the next Duke Nukem Forever.

I don't think Episode 3 will impress me as much to be honest. A basic physics puzzle and some small combat won't sway me as much as it did in 2007. Even then I only bought the Orange Box because of the hype, to continue with the story, and Team Fortress 2. Valve needs to start thinking of some brand new game mechanics and heavily improve the Source engine for Episode 3 to stand a chance between those Calls for Duty and their Battlefields of the Bad and such. If Episode 3 came out with the same quality as Episode 2, I'd facepalm and go back to some other game. Portal 2 was successful because of the hype and the new mechanics it had, which had never been seen in gaming before. Don't care how many faces you've ruined with a hardware tool, Gordon, but it won't save you this time.

[MaestraFénix]

And then 12 years later it falls flat under everyone's expectations and becomes the next Duke Nukem Forever.

I don't think Episode 3 will impress me as much to be honest. A basic physics puzzle and some small combat won't sway me as much as it did in 2007. Even then I only bought the Orange Box because of the hype, to continue with the story, and Team Fortress 2. Valve needs to start thinking of some brand new game mechanics and heavily improve the Source engine for Episode 3 to stand a chance between those Calls for Duty and their Battlefields of the Bad and such. If Episode 3 came out with the same quality as Episode 2, I'd facepalm and go back to some other game. Portal 2 was successful because of the hype and the new mechanics it had, which had never been seen in gaming before. Don't care how many faces you've ruined with a hardware tool, Gordon, but it won't save you this time.

You cant compare Duke Nukem Forever or EP3 with COD or BF3. Mainly because there are distinct genres (adventure action with the FPS of COD/BT3). That's the reason people dont like DNF. All of they are COD fanboys that must be like COD (High graphics, realism, action....).

VALVe never failed us (well, maybe with Ricochet and HLS).

[fug4life]

Erm COD (which I never played) wasn't really around, back then. COD games came from stuff like Medal of Honour.

The point of Halflife was that the game didn't have to totally rely on scripted sequences. Which I'd say 75% Half-Life 2 does now.
Which other games may fully rely on.


Tbh, I think disconnected was lookign at engine capabilities. I bought Half-life 2, just because I was an addict of HL and HL's mod scene. Though by the end of HL days, bf1942 and tribes 2 were kicking arse in multiplayer vehicle combat and net coded 64-100 player servers, I was also a fan of operation flashpoint, though multiplayer sucked. Those were the advances I wanted to see in HL2.... I never saw them sadly (Empires maybe).


I enjoyed HL2's physics, its story and some puzzle and action. I enjoy Hammers felxibility and the varied mod scene.

[DisConnected]

And then 12 years later it falls flat under everyone's expectations and becomes the next Duke Nukem Forever.

I don't think Episode 3 will impress me as much to be honest. A basic physics puzzle and some small combat won't sway me as much as it did in 2007. Even then I only bought the Orange Box because of the hype, to continue with the story, and Team Fortress 2. Valve needs to start thinking of some brand new game mechanics and heavily improve the Source engine for Episode 3 to stand a chance between those Calls for Duty and their Battlefields of the Bad and such. If Episode 3 came out with the same quality as Episode 2, I'd facepalm and go back to some other game. Portal 2 was successful because of the hype and the new mechanics it had, which had never been seen in gaming before. Don't care how many faces you've ruined with a hardware tool, Gordon, but it won't save you this time.

You cant compare Duke Nukem Forever or EP3 with COD or BF3. Mainly because there are distinct genres (adventure action with the FPS of COD/BT3). That's the reason people dont like DNF. All of they are COD fanboys that must be like COD (High graphics, realism, action....).

VALVe never failed us (well, maybe with Ricochet and HLS).

You sure as hell can compare games, regardless of what genre they are. They are all still FPS's whose point is to go around and shoot things. The only difference between a game like CoD and DNF is that one is realistic that tends to get you immersed in it, and the latter is just a game to play when you're kinda bored. But they both serve the same purpose: to entertain. So yes, you can compare them.

Now, I'm more or less a fan of Duke Nukem. But I still would only give DNF a 7/10. It's just the fact that it doesn't live up to standards of the current gaming community that other games set. I'm not saying it's a bad game, since people have different views on what makes a game good or bad. But each game does have characteristics which can be judged. Graphics is the most obvious one which games like CoD and even Portal 2 have set pretty damn high. Not all games have to reach or surpass this point, but I honestly can't stand to look at a game with bad design that claims to be a modern game. Especially games that try to have a realistic theme, but still have PS2 graphics. That's why people don't pick on Minecraft, because it meant to have these graphics as a unique theme. Mechanics is probably the biggest one, because if a game has you doing the exact same stuff as another 40 different titles it will become boring. Maybe some people like vintage gameplay, but I for one can't stand watching the same 5 episodes of the same show over and over and over again. And mechanics is the main reason DNF suffered: because I can go to the store and pick up another 20 games that do the same thing. One guy murdering aliens for the duration of the game. Real creative. Which is why I wonder how Super Smash Bros is still alive, but I think they add new characters and a bunch of new attacks with each game.

And me, I play Bad Company 2 and CoD (well, stopped at CoD 4 after realizing where the series was going, but that's beside the point), and MoH and all of that stuff. Team Fortress I love. Why? Because it's something NEW. Or at least it has enough new content to make it stand out from all the other games. It's a unique shooter, which greatly overshadows the fact that the graphics and game engine aren't the best, unlike DNF which suffers in almost all categories. If DNF would've added new twists to gameplay (like guns that we haven't seen in 10 different games before not counting the series) it would've been a much better game.

tl;dr: Devs need to be more ambitious to create content which is new, otherwise the game will turn out like another 30 others and fail. A series can't have the exact same stuff over and over again, it needs something fresh and have new things to explore. Which is what I'm afraid will happen to Ep3.

/endrant

[Gary]

I see where your coming from, like, for example; if you threw Doom on a new engine, it wouldn't be nearly as popular as it was then, as back then it was something new and fresh. Though, I don't have any worries about that, I'm sure Valve is fully aware. Gameplay is something Valve does best(as it's obviously not graphics), they likely know what worked then won't work now and will expand onto gameplay to compensate.

[MaestraFénix]

http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/arch ... 99998.aspx

Doug Lombardi says that is fake.

Damm.

[destiny]

http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/arch ... 99998.aspx

Doug Lombardi says that is fake.

Damm.

saw that coming.

[MaestraFénix]

**Gonna post here this while i change the title of the thread**

DOTA 2 client leaked, shows part of EP3 code:

http://lambdageneration.com/posts/dota- ... hree-code/

http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmes ... _id=266898


Source workers are preparating something great:

http://www.develop-online.net/features/ ... io-culture


And a copy-paste from SPUF:

► Show Spoiler

Quote:

"– basically in a four year time frame, has meant we have to look back at the Source engine again to improve its workflow. We probably have under-invested in those tools in the past, to trade-off against shipping products."

I read this as
1: Being too busy making games to make tools
2: They have 4 years of experience of shipping games back to back, to assess their workflow and how their tools work and/or need to be updated to be add back into the workflow

Note the question about "updating the source engine"

Quote:

"How many people are working on updating the source engine and tools right now?
RW: There’s probably more people than ever. We have as many people working on our tools as we have working on a single project. So, about twenty to thirty core people."

and the killer having a lot of straightforward things

Quote:

"So in practical terms, what is this mass of people building towards?

RW: So I guess one part of it is improving productivity, the other is that, as Erik said, we had been working on games solidly for a long time. It left us with a lot of straightforward stuff to do.

We usually look at things in terms of products, when it comes to tools and Source, so if there’s a key technology to improve, we usually look at it in terms of what that progression can do for a certain game and customers.


When you have a product to build a technology for, you can ask yourself, well, how valuable is the addition of this technology for our customers?


But in this instance our technology had such straightforward things that needed improving that we didn’t need a product to drive directions on it."


So the engine and tools are so far behind that they don't need a customer or a project like Half life or Counter-Strike to say "we need these features"
The engine and tools needs those features, because it's hurting valve's own workflow and they are behind with their rendering machinations.

You can just read this as they are updating hammer and the sdk, I tried to see it that way.
But with that cheeky "and it's going to get better" quote, you just can't help but think, they are pulling their fingers out and going engine improvement crazy.

PEOPLE, back up our files. Something is incoming fast!!!

[destiny]

and ice gun and flametrowher now that sounds interesting.

[Keychain]

Don't get your hopes up. If Ep3 is anything like HL1 and HL2, all of the really exotic stuff will be removed, as if was just for testing.

[z33ky]

Even if it does get cut, chances are good that they'll be in the SDK code, just waiting to be revived.