I’ve been designing video games for nearly 30 years. Half-Life was the first game I worked on when I joined Valve in November 1996. To celebrate its 25th birthday, I dug up old diary entries, screenshots, photos, documents and memories from the late 90s when Valve was just a collection of strangers, most of whom had never shipped a video game before. I’ll take you through the game sharing stories of what life was like at Valve back then, and what it was like working on and building Half Life, the game that put Valve on the map.
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what was the mark 1 protective system and what was the evolution?
When I first meet Half-Life (probably 2008-2009) I thought it was a train driving simulator, then my brother loads a save from unforeseen consequences's zombie corridor and i was shocked, because that was my first FPS experience and it was so fun to watch and play,Since then I've finished Half-Life countless times and memorized every level.
Huge thanks to the entire Valve team for giving me these such beautiful memories. ❤
0:28 dude imagine if half-life had ended up named crysis
Thank you Casali for being part of making one of my favourite and influential games of all time ^_^
This is incredible. When a developer can talk about a game they were working on 25 years ago. Time really flies! This will be really interesting to watch, to hear what you have to say and how you were approaching this from back in the day.
I know this will probably upset some modern gamers but I'm happy that this is one of the most influential video games of all times and there isn't a single woman in it you could talk to 😂 Thank God wokeness or SJWs didn't exist back then…
I was 12 when I first saw this intro back in '98.
For a long time I didn't even touch the mouse or press any keys for fear that I would sequence-break this amazing "cutscene" before I was "supposed" to start moving.
The moment I accidentally realized that I could move and look around right from the start of the intro, my mind was blown.
It's not a stretch to say that my first experience with Half-Life is something I'll probably remember my entire life.
Amazing work man I remember when this came out and I was blown away! I had the demo disk that was white… I remember being happy just walking around and exploring the lab before the incident and being satisfied with just that.
What was your thoughts on the Freeman's Mind series by Accursed Farms?
I was far too young when I first played Half-Life, so a lot of the game was hard to understand. Nevertheless, it quickly felt to me like the most living and breathing of video game universes, and its intro made sure to impress that on me from the very beginning. I can't count the numer of times I played it back, initially for the sake of amazement and then later, nostalgia.
7:48 I remember this door being ear-splittingly loud
how was this scene accomplished back then? 6:31 does the radioactive goo actually emmit light or are the "glowing" textures just unlit and bumped up in texture color?
0:41 Crysis?😆
You were speaking about how the door animation all created in level editor back then. In Hammer back then all levels were basically created in the editor, however now adays a lot of maps (walls,doors,ceiling floor) created in 3d model programmes and the level editor used for atmosphere, terrain, lighting etc…why do you think everyone uses the model programmes for floors, walls and doors and not the level editor? Is it better for poly count or something doing floors ans walls in 3d model programme then the actual level editors?
Can't wait to go through this series, thanks for everything you do Dario!!
Would be very cool to see your reaction and commentary to Black Mesa, at least the beginning parts)
“Skeletal animation dude” blew my mind to pieces as a 16 year old. Thank you so much for making this play through commentary, by the way. I always find developer insights fascinating!
I wonder what names Fallout or Crysis had chosen if Half-Life had been named them instead!
I played through HL1 soo many times and loved every minute of it. The game is perfect giving so much life to the Black Mesa complex and putting us right in the shoes of Gordon Freeman. 👍
I love this series and as I’m almost 45 and 20 years old when I played it, the nostalgia is big on this one. 25 years and so many games later, none have managed to surpass Half Life and how it has affected our gaming lives. Thank you!
The game would have been shit if it was called C.I.A.
What struck me about Black Mesa Inbound how fluid and seamless the whole experience was. The animations, the design, the lighting, the perspective, and the music of this sequence had a huge impact me. I didn't realize you could move in the tram ride until Barney came to the door and said: "Morning, Mr. Freeman. Looks like you're running late." Hearing the track "Vague Voices" in the background gave such a haunting vibe to the sequence: the feeling that something sinister and nasty was lurking within the bowels of Black Mesa, but we didn't know what. If Half-Life had kept with the original idea of security guards and scientists turning against you, that would've added more feelings of apprehension to the game.
The talking mouths and almost life-like animations did wonders for the NPCs in Half-Life, especially when you interacted with them. Thanks to my first interaction with this Barney, I will never forget him saying: "Hey, catch me later. I'll buy you a beer!"