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Half-Life: Alyx

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Re: Half-Life: Alyx

#231

Post by ninkendo »

capableweb wrote: post #157
ninkendo wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder how good an FPS game can really be with teleportation-based movement. (Edit for clarity: “Because, for each of the non-teleportation motion schemes...”:) Any VR game I've played where the camera moves while I'm standing still, I want to vomit almost immediately. I'm usually sick for the rest of the day. (I think it was a roller coaster simulation I tried, I didn't even make it up the first hill, I had to thr…

"where the camera moves while I'm standing still" and "was a roller coaster simulation I tried" doesn't even match. Of course you're gonna be sitting still while the camera moves in 3d space in the game if you're playing roller coaster. Seems the motion sickness was from something else in the VR than the teleportation-based movement, as a roller coaster would probably not have that.

I may have been unclear: teleportation-based combat is fine for me (motion sickness-wise), I’m just wondering how good a high-action FPS can really be if it’s teleportation-based.

Because, if the workaround for teleportation being lackluster is to use joystick controls, thats a nonstarter for me, for the reasons stated above.

Re: Half-Life: Alyx

#232

Post by puranjay »

rocky1138 wrote: post #105
ben7799 wrote: post #38

This has got to be the most narrowly targeted game ever. I played through all of HL/HL2/Ep1/Ep2 IIRC, but I can barely even remember the story clearly it was so long ago. And it's such a blur maybe I never finished Ep2. I was 21 when HL1 came out but I didn't get to play it till I was like 24 maybe when I had gotten out of school and got a nice computer & some money. HL2 came out when I was 27.. still playing games b…

I understand what you're saying and I can see why you'd think that, but it's helpful for me to think of Half Life like the videogame equivalent of Star Wars. Not being alive during the release of the first films doesn't preclude one from entering at any point and enjoying the continuation of the story. Even if they haven't played it, kids today know of Half Life as a first person shooter that changed how we play firs…

Star Wars was never a thing outside of America. Even today, fans in China, who otherwise love their CGI heavy sci-fi, don't care much for Star Wars.

You really have to have been either a firsthand or secondhand part of that culture to appreciate Star Wars and similar IPs. Even if you didn't watch it when it was released, you probably heard everyone from your dad to SNL discuss it.

If that wasn't your experience growing up, I doubt you'll care much for it as an adult now

Re: Half-Life: Alyx

#233

Post by koheripbal »

ben7799 wrote: post #38

This has got to be the most narrowly targeted game ever. I played through all of HL/HL2/Ep1/Ep2 IIRC, but I can barely even remember the story clearly it was so long ago. And it's such a blur maybe I never finished Ep2. I was 21 when HL1 came out but I didn't get to play it till I was like 24 maybe when I had gotten out of school and got a nice computer & some money. HL2 came out when I was 27.. still playing games b…

What if the game could be played by two people together in co-op mode? If so, we could play with our kids, and it becomes more than just a way to have fun ourselves, but an avenue for family bonding (at least that's how I'd sell it to my wife).

Re: Half-Life: Alyx

#234

Post by drivers99 »

the_af wrote: post #136
squarefoot wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed. That helped also to make gems such as Black Mesa, a 100% fan made recreation of the first HL using HL2 engine and graphics. I wonder what would become of this game if they added a proper story, characters interactions, NPCs, subplots etc. (think Mass Effect style). Here's a full walkthrough for those living under a rock when it came out:*) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brFEN4x9Xao

Thanks for posting! Impressive. By the way, back then I really liked the first stages of HL2 -- the dystopian intro absolutely rocks -- but eventually had to stop playing, partly because it was getting too long, and partly because of motion sickness. This really took me by suprise because I was a gamer, had enjoyed the original HL without problems... and suddenly there was a new breed of 3D games where I got motion s…

I remember specifically where I was in the game when I got motion sick. I guess the brain is good at remembering things like that for survival reasons. What I've learned as a strategy:

Stop playing as soon as you start feeling ill. Just save and come back to it tomorrow.

Do not try to get back into it (or anything similar, like watching videos of FPS games) after a short break. Wait until the next day or later.

You should be able to get through games like that piece by piece. At least for me, I don't usually get sick from it. Maybe you get used to it as long as you stop once you start getting a little nauseous.

As for FOV, which seems to be the cause, I found a reference[1] that says the fov is 75 until you meet Alyx. (Wait, what?) Not sure what it is after that. There is an option in the settings to increase it between 75 and 90 (higher is better).

[1] https://steamcommunity.com/app/290930/discussions/2/61170199...

Re: Half-Life: Alyx

#235

Post by outworlder »

ihuman wrote: post #164
outworlder wrote: post #150

I just want to know one thing: what happened to Half-Life 2 Episode III ? As it is, I'll wait for people to play this and tell me if it ends in a cliffhanger too.

From the writer of half life, after he left valve: https://www.marclaidlaw.com/epistle-3/

Thank you. Maybe I can finally get closure now.

Re: Half-Life: Alyx

#236

Post by puranjay »

mlindner wrote: post #200
aresant wrote: post #54

I think a fascinating part of Alyx is Valve choosing a female protagonist. 85%+ of VR users are male, compared to say 70/30 male/female balance of say Fornite. (1/2) Any way you carve it the audience for Alyx is going to weight heavily male. And research suggests that gender-swapping in VR is a profound psychological experience: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8260949 (1) https://www.rakutenintelligence.com/blog…

Female protagonists in game is the new fad. It has nothing to do with the gender ratio of the players playing the game.

I doubt Valve decided on the protagonist recently. This has to have been years in the making

Re: Half-Life: Alyx

#237

Post by coldpie »

shadowgovt wrote: post #218
purpleidea wrote: post #12

Pretty lame that there's no Linux support. Valve was supposed to be on our side. Oh well :(

How is Linux support for VR in general? I wonder if Valve looked at the ecosystem and decided Linux support at this time would be volunteering to boil the ocean.

Not bad, actually. We test with the Vive and the Index. If your distro has up to date drivers, it works well on both Nvidia (proprietary) and AMD. Nvidia is a little easier to set up, as there's only one real choice of driver, but AMD isn't bad either. Game support is obviously lesser than Windows, but a good number of games run well in Steam Play/Proton. That includes Beat Saber, which is probably the most popular VR game on the market.

Re: Half-Life: Alyx

#238

Post by whiskyant »

ben7799 wrote: post #38

This has got to be the most narrowly targeted game ever. I played through all of HL/HL2/Ep1/Ep2 IIRC, but I can barely even remember the story clearly it was so long ago. And it's such a blur maybe I never finished Ep2. I was 21 when HL1 came out but I didn't get to play it till I was like 24 maybe when I had gotten out of school and got a nice computer & some money. HL2 came out when I was 27.. still playing games b…

You think a new Half-Life game, something which has been demanding for years by hoards of people on the internet, is narrowly targeted?

Re: Half-Life: Alyx

#239

Post by Jamwinner »

cmcd wrote: post #153
pmichaud wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I only do hobby gamedev, so I don't know what I'm talking about, but when I think of a tool that's "too complex" to release, I imagine not just a conceptually difficult thing, but a dangerous thing. For example, the editor lets you shoot yourself in the foot with a bunch of a esoteric considerations that don't really make sense, but the internal people know how to work around them more or less, like making sure that…

I would be very surprised to hear Blizzard has an internal tool with issues of that magnitude.

Then you would be very suprised at a lot of what happens in game dev. Many in-house tools are mere skeletons, fleshed out just enough to get the job done. The bug squashing is focused on the primary product. Developing end-user ready tools is basically a paralell dev process. Difficult, rare, expensive but often immensely valuable and rewarding.

Re: Half-Life: Alyx

#240

Post by ihuman »

mikl wrote: post #159

Hope they’ll make a non-VR version at some point. Much as I enjoyed previous Half-Life games, I don’t want to buy a VR-rig. They’re obviously hoping that a Half-Life game will be enough to get gamers to adopt VR, but I don’t see a lot of people willing to remodel their living room to make space for a VR setup, at least over here in Europe, where people have fairly small homes in comparison to the U.S.

This game is also designed to work just sitting or standing in place, not just in larger open spaces.

https://half-life.com/en/alyx/vr#setup

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