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Half-Life: Alyx

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Re: Half-Life: Alyx

#271

Post by the_af »

Baeocystin wrote: post #186
the_af wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 had much the same experience, and it bummed me out, because I really enjoyed the series. Two things basically eliminated the problem for me- first, like the other commenter said, increasing the FOV. The default is way too narrow, especially on modern widescreen displays. Adding another 10 or 20 degrees makes a noticeable improvement. The other change was to eliminate the head-bob while running. There's a console co…

Wow. Thanks. I'll definitely try this when I (inevitably) decide to revisit HL2 :)

Re: Half-Life: Alyx

#272

Post by dmix »

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.

A tool that works perfectly fine internally but is risky to release publicly doesn't make it a bad tool...

Re: Half-Life: Alyx

#274

Post by s9w »

ihuman wrote: post #258
s9w wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That was not the goalpost here. The goalpost was that a "great" VR hardware costs $400, which is not true. Same for a $600 PC for high-end VR and as a bonus: the claim that a 3yo GPU is "kicking butt". All of these are false

The goalpost wasn't "great" VR. It was the minimum cost. I agree that $400 won't get you the best VR set, but it still can be enough for a great one. > what's the minimum cost these days to get the hardware that'll play this?

My post was entirely aimed at the comment it was a reply to

Re: Half-Life: Alyx

#275

Post by Impossible »

olyjohn wrote: post #264
whiskyant wrote: post #238

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

I agree with the parent. The VR aspect really narrows the market to someone who has a powerful PC and wants to spend at least another $400 for a VR headset. As far as I can tell, all the VR headsets are proprietary, and games must be written to support them... for some reason. Which is a huge turn off. I don't want to buy a VR headset, then find out the next badass VR game only works with some other headset...

Steam supports all major PC VR HMDs, including Oculus Quest shortly with a remote link cable. There are some games that are only available on the Oculus store (mostly those funded or developed by Oculus) but the majority of PC VR content is on Steam.

Re: Half-Life: Alyx

#277

Post by reificator »

sparky_z wrote: post #94
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…

Eh, I don't think it's as big of a deal as you're suggesting. Alyx is pretty much the only choice if they wanted to use a pre-existing character as an action protagonist set between HL1 & 2. And from the trailer, it looks like the only "gendered" thing about the player's avatar is the voiceover. That's not a "body swap illusion" like the paper is talking about. In principal, I don't see it having any more deep psycho…

> Alyx is pretty much the only choice if they wanted to use a pre-existing character as an action protagonist set between HL1 & 2.

Before I say this, note I'm looking forward to playing as Alyx, and don't expect gender to make much of a difference in a game/story like this.

But as far as not having options, I disagree. Barney was already a playable character in Blue Shift, he's shown to be relevant to the plot in HL2. Not only that but he's undercover at least some of the time, opening up gameplay avenues that Alyx wouldn't have available. Not that I'm suggesting that HL in VR needs a Papers Please style minigame or anything...

Re: Half-Life: Alyx

#278

Post by outworlder »

capableweb wrote: post #119
pc86 wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can't develop PTSD from VR because VR isn't real. Even if you get scared it's not the same kind of fear as being in a situation where you can actually get hurt, or die, or you actually kill another human being.

Unless you're a pilot, try using good a VR airplane simulator for a while (DCS World for example), getting a feel for the airplane and then push it until you crash into the ground. The moment you loose control and start falling towards the ground, you start panicking, even though you know it's a game. While not PTSD, I can totally imagine you can find ways of using VR to cause PTSD or similar. Like forcing someone to…

X-Plane also works with VR (and arguably better, as with VR enabled aircraft you can actually use the controllers to pilot).

VR definitely triggers more areas in the brain than just a monitor as I can empathize very well with the feeling you describe. Supposedly fans modified Alien: Isolation to work with VR. THERE'S NO WAY I'M TOUCHING THAT. Subnautica VR is "bad" enough :)

Re: Half-Life: Alyx

#279

Post by dmix »

Baeocystin wrote: post #205
bluthru wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Gordon was famously mute and his hands and forearms were hidden. This allowed anyone to easily immerse themselves. (Same for Portal.) Unlike a third person game where you're controlling a character, I could see how having a different voice and hands in VR would be odd. I bet Valve realized that a mute protagonist no longer works in a story-driven environment.

I remember reading various making of stories regarding the half-life world back when it was still relatively new, and even then the designers spent a lot of time talking about how difficult it was having a mute, non-interactive protagonist. What they pulled off is excellent considering the state of gaming at the time, but I think you're right in that it just wouldn't fly today.

South Park did a really good job with a mute character in both of their recent games. It became almost a running joke in how the conversations would flow and the silence was taken as support for whatever the speaking person wanted it to mean, highlighting narcissism or teasing societal expectations.

Re: Half-Life: Alyx

#280

Post by eclipxe »

OnlineGladiator wrote: post #202
skyyler wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

24 year old here. I played video games in my teens, including the HL series. I stopped playing video games roughly five years ago. I will be building a computer to play this game. Peers my age are also very excited for this. Not just because it's a new Half Life game, but because it's the VR game we have been waiting for since the VR craze started.

But how many people are going to spend $2000+ to play this? You're building a new gaming PC and possibly buying a new VR headset just for this game?

Yes.
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