• MisterMoo@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    Episodes 1 and 2 were fun but they in no way “recentered the first person shooter genre.”

    • magic_lobster_party@fedia.io
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      1 month ago

      They hoped the episodic delivery of games would be the future. Especially alongside a digital distribution platform like Steam. I suspect they realized episodes wasn’t the way after the release of Orange Box, so they moved on from that.

      • Blue_Morpho@lemmy.world
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        1 month ago

        They didn’t try. They did one then it was years before episode 2.

        You have to actually make episodes before declaring it a failure.

        • magic_lobster_party@fedia.io
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          1 month ago

          I watched the full documentary now. It’s clear they were burned out of Half Life when they started with Episode 3. The idea to deliver a new episode every 12 months wasn’t creatively sustainable. So they put it on hold while they worked on L4D and other projects.

          • Blue_Morpho@lemmy.world
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            1 month ago

            It’s a weird argument for them to make: We are too exhausted to make a short game so instead made an entirely new full game.

            • magic_lobster_party@fedia.io
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              1 month ago

              When they started with episode 3 they’ve already worked on Half Life 2 for more than 8 years. Most good ideas had already been explored, and they struggled to come up with new ones.

              At that point it’s easier to start with something fresh where they’re not confined with the expectations of what a Half Life 2 should be.

            • Emi
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              1 month ago

              I assume that’s how creativity works? Making new different things gets you more ideas than doing similar thing over and over.