#HALF LIFE 2 EPISODE TREE FULL#

The plan for smaller, faster releases didnвЂ™t line up with the studioвЂ™s ambition for the project, and the scope of Episode Two increased past its original concept.

#HALF LIFE 2 EPISODE TREE FULL#

Watch our full interview with Valve's Gabe Newell and Robin Walker above.Д®pisode Two actually took two years to make вЂ“ Valve started work on it at the same time as Episode One. вЂњWe found ourselves creeping ever forward towards, вЂWell, let's just keeping putting more and more, and more, and more stuff in this game because we want to make it as good as we can,вЂ™вЂќ he explains, вЂњand then we realized these episodes are turning more into sequels.вЂќ While Episode One was successfully developed in about a year, Casali says вЂњscope creepвЂќ became a problem. That plan didnвЂ™t work out entirely as Valve had hoped. Of course, I pointed out the irony of him saying Valve disliked going dark for six years when the gap between Episode Two and Alyx ended up being more than double that, to which Casali jokingly replied вЂњyeah, it's like we adjusted to an extremeвЂќ after they moved away from the quicker episodic format.Д«ut, regardless of how it ended, a plan was set to develop and release each episode in a year, designing them as shorter additions to the story to keep players satisfied more frequently. We think players are going to prefer that from waiting six years and going through however many delays we went through.вЂ™' Let's just bite off little chunks and then release more often.

We understand the characters, we understand the story, we have most of the mechanics. That's why we started doing the episodes where we thought, вЂwell, we have the stable technology now. вЂњAfter working on Half-Life 2 for six years we decided we didn't want to go dark for so long. 'After working on Half-Life 2 for six years, we decided we didn't want to go dark for so long.' вЂњI think our main take away from that is вЂget some stable technology and then build a game on top of it,вЂ™вЂќ Casali explains, but the eventual completion of Source meant they were finally able to do just that - even if it did take longer than they had originally hoped. вЂњWhen we put Half-Life 2 out, of course it was a really long time,вЂќ Casali says, вЂњthat's six years, and we were developing the Source Engine alongside the game design.вЂќД¬asali tells me they had to throw out a lot of the work they had already done on Half-Life 2 as they experimented with what Source could do, played around with the physics system, and tried to push the limits of their new tech. I initially asked Casali what lessons he felt Valve had learned from the development and release of Half-Life 2, and he says one of the main ones was that trying to build a game from the ground up while also developing the new game engine it was running on was a bad idea. You can watch our review of Half-Life: Alyx above.

Half life 2 episode tree