by dmazin on 2/23/25, 8:18 AM with 231 comments
by mikehar on 2/23/25, 5:41 PM
We were very into 3D cards back then. We had a lot of ties to that part of the world. I had been doing video drivers for OS/2 and NT. I got to know Abrash from his writing on the VGA, 8514, and, of course, asm. At Valve, we hired a couple of great guys from 3dfx. I still have a 3dfx hat somewhere that I bust out on special occasions. The killer setup back then was hooking up two 3dfx cards (SLI). But I usually played on a standard card because I wanted/needed to see it run like most people would experience it.
We had a deal with one of the companies, maybe 3dfx, but I forget who, to include the first three levels of HL with their card. Even though the game wasn't anywhere near finished, we sent off a disk to the company with our first three finished levels so we could get paid. Somehow, it leaked. We were pissed at first, but then it took off. People loved it. It really gave us the confidence that we were on the right track. It was our first game. The validation was just what we needed.
Fun times.
by TrackerFF on 2/23/25, 11:27 AM
One thing I (in general) miss from those days, was how easy it was to get into modding. Whether that be to make your own maps, or more involved game mods. The modding community really was something, and kept the game somewhat fresh for years. I also vividly remember downloading all the new iterations of counter-strike, which really took off - until settling on 1.6
On a side not, it's a bit tough to think that all this was 25 years ago now, but I still remember all this quite well - having only been a teenager back then, and in 25 years I'll be this old man. Wonder if all the memories from LAN-parties etc. will be as fresh in 25 years, as they are now.
by gyomu on 2/23/25, 12:21 PM
Great read, it made me realize how far we've come. Video games as an art are really in an interesting spot right now - big budget projects all end up being bland, buggy, cookie cutter rehashes of the same couple templates.
Companies that once represented the pinnacle of creativity and what could be achieved with high budgets - Blizzard, Bethesda, Ubisoft, etc - are now the laughing stock of gamers. Not that it matters when the bulk of gamers are still putting dozens of hours and plenty of microtransaction dollars into decade old games like Fortnite/Minecraft/GTA every week.
What's the last big budget release that actually left a strong artistic impression? What's the next big budget release that will actually move the needle of the medium meaningfully?
Thankfully, there are a bunch of indie developers that still release fresh experiences - but they too kind of end up falling into the same tropes (if you like 2D roguelike/platformer/puzzler there's plenty of choice, otherwise...).
Not too unlike the state of the film industry. It's hard to imagine what a solid shakeup of these behemoth, mature industries could look like.
by lokimedes on 2/23/25, 12:32 PM
This game defined my life.
by i_c_b on 2/23/25, 6:41 PM
It's funny, though - I would say in retrospect that Half-Life had the typical vexed impact of a truly revolutionary game made by a truly revolutionary team. In terms of design, the Half-Life team was asking and exploring a hundred different interesting questions about first person gaming and design, very close to the transition from 2d to 3d. And their influence, a few years later, often reduced down to a small handful of big ideas for later games influenced by them. After Half-Life, because of the impact of their scripted sequences, FPS games shifted to much more linear level designs to support that kind of roller coaster experience (despite many of Half-Life's levels actually harkening back to older, less linear FPS design). The role of Barneys and other AI character also really marked the shift to AI buddies being a focus in shooters. And the aesthetic experience of the aggressive AI from the marines as enemies also cast a long shadow, too, highlighting the idea of enemy AI being a priority in single player FPS games.
Certainly, those were the biggest features of Half-Life that impacted our design in Soldier of Fortune, which did go on to shift to much more linear levels, much more focus on scripted events, and would have resulted in much more emphasis on AI buddies too if I hadn't really put my foot down as a game programmer (and in my defense, if you go back to FPS games from that era, poorly implemented AI buddies are often, by a wide margin, the most frustrating aspect of that era of games, along with forced poorly done stealth missions or poorly implemented drivable vehicles - the fact that Barneys were non-essential is why they worked well in the original Half-Life). You can see this shadow pretty clearly if you compare Half-Life to, afterwards, the single player aspects of Call of Duty and Halo. Both are series that, in their single player form, are a lot more focused and a lot less varied than Half-Life was, but they clearly emphasize those aspects of Half-Life I just mentioned. And in practice, those were the single player FPS games that were in practice actually copied for quite a while.
by kleiba on 2/23/25, 3:58 PM
The gaming market today is completely different, very competetive, very saturated, ranging from huge stakes at the top end, to an enormous number of indie studios and individuals toward the other end that are trying to make ends meet.
Yet, I've been seriously thinking for a while to start-up a game studio. The hope being that it would be one of these crazy ideas that everybody recommends against ("it can't be done") until you actually do it and prove them wrong.
Ideally, I would like to start the studio as a loose group of like-minded people that have time for developing a game solely a hobby, and if that pans out, transition it into a business. Not AAA, of course, but with the definite goal of making the best game that such a setup could realisitically produce.
The thing is, with today's tech, you can get started with very little capital if you begin doing this as a hobby.
by simonw on 2/23/25, 3:42 PM
I built an early fan news site for that game (effectively a blog before I knew they were called blogs) which got me a job with an early online gaming company ~1999 where I got paid to learn how web development works.
by gxd on 2/23/25, 11:25 AM
The Orange Box console versions also suffered from a non-adjustable field of view that made me feel sick after a few minutes of playing.
by 6stringmerc on 2/23/25, 2:45 PM
What really gave Half-Life its legs was the multiplayer component. It came in just as broadband internet was appearing in households across the United States and Canada. The ability to host servers and coordinate through ICQ and message boards created a one-of-a-kind community.
I know because I lived it.
The [R]age Board for the Elites. The CLQ. Adrenaline Gamer and Counter Strike.
Half-Life was incredible and still has an online presence of note - mostly in developing countries. Their hardware matches the lift to run at decent FPS and join games. Now and then I still hop on a server through Steam.
The di clan video - digital immortality - can do more to highlight “why” HLDM and its physics and weapons were such a game changer, even compared to Q3 and UT at the time. There is nothing like using the long jump and tau cannon to literally fly around maps. Other games have tried, but I’ve never gotten the same high as with HL.
Mostly I miss the community, as juvenile and crass as it was. Like the NFL, it was a young man’s game. Most of us were under 25 with rare exceptions. I’ll never forget when Neo Maximus Babson went missing.
This article bring back a lot of memories and than you for sharing… -p$ychos!s- out (LMS, CML, syn, di)
by simonjgreen on 2/23/25, 12:10 PM
Lucasarts absolutely ruled on the story based games genre merges. See of course all the point and clicks such as Monkey Island and Day of the Tentacle, but also of course XWing and Tie Fighter.
by scrlk on 2/23/25, 11:04 AM
by sylens on 2/23/25, 11:55 AM
by Nition on 2/23/25, 11:31 PM
These days, people will still cite games up to 10 years old (e.g. The Witcher 3) as looking graphically top notch.
by adityaathalye on 2/24/25, 6:43 AM
by moomin on 2/23/25, 11:24 PM
by Aeroi on 2/24/25, 12:48 AM
by victorstanciu on 2/23/25, 11:00 AM
by reubenmorais on 2/23/25, 11:12 AM
I was taken aback by this comment. The original Half Life engine has super tight and responsive movement, to the point where the average "tryhard" in a server would be executing all kinds of movement tricks that require frame-perfect inputs or very close to it. Watch some speedruns or HL:DS games and you can easily find examples of gameplay involving super precise movement. In CS there was a huge scene of movement based maps like surf_, bh_, and deathrun_.
Makes me think of something in the reviewers setup while playing Half-Life was introducing extra input latency and creating this feel of sloppiness.
by rowanseymour on 2/23/25, 11:18 PM
by ReptileMan on 2/23/25, 12:48 PM
Instead we had almost 15 years of Spunkgargleweewee-s as defined by Zero Punctuation.
by markus_zhang on 2/24/25, 12:05 AM
1. Shew that FPS games can be more than pure shooters and still succeeded;
2. First time that an official, easy to use level editor (Worldcraft) was included in the CD of a major hit FPS. Doom and Quake definitely started the modding scene but arguably Half-Life made it more popular.
by vasco on 2/23/25, 12:38 PM
Later on they also found out that introducing gambling to kids is indeed a much better business than just selling games. Going on for many years without anyone cracking down, and doing workarounds when governments try to make it illegal.
by Tycho on 2/23/25, 5:23 PM
I remember playing Deus Ex on our iMac which was barely powerful enough to run it. Severe slow down during intense moments, and some major lighting problems. And yet, it remains probably my fondest gaming experience. Something about the way game worlds can capture your imagination when you’re young.
by Christian_A on 2/23/25, 11:39 AM
by baruchthescribe on 2/23/25, 2:49 PM
by physhster on 2/24/25, 12:58 AM
by mediumsmart on 2/23/25, 11:38 AM
by scotty79 on 2/24/25, 12:28 AM
I feel like these days many games, especially expensive ones, went with completely opposite take. That gameplay is something that's supposed to be there but not important. With terrible results.
by HelloUsername on 2/23/25, 11:12 AM
by divs1210 on 2/23/25, 2:47 PM
Played all the canon games and SO MANY mods.
Still obsessed with it.
by lupusreal on 2/23/25, 11:49 PM
by hadriendavid on 2/23/25, 11:49 AM
by usrusr on 2/23/25, 11:25 PM
That's an amazingly humble insight. It's so simple, so true, and so totally not common knowledge.
I wonder if he secretly enjoys sharing it as a "say what's wrong about The Matrix sequels without mentioning The Matrix at all"
by EdwardDiego on 2/23/25, 11:54 PM
Oh, and when they purchased the Counter-Strike IP, and started selling it shrinkwrapped, if you owned Half-Life, you just kept using the mod as you already were
In these modern times, I suspect that would be monetised somehow now. Upgrade to a premium user to get golden lootboxes, likely.
But yeah, I knew people who bought Half-Life just to play CS when it was early beta.
Likewise, less famous, but still being played today, Day of Defeat - I was hooked as the experience of "Yeah the rifles can kill you in one shot, and grenades will kill you, it's not CS dude. Oh and press B if that icon comes up, it means you're bleeding"
(Still unsure how I feel about them taking bleeding out.)
by ge96 on 2/23/25, 3:01 PM