Proposal: HL2 Game Design Breakdown

Would you like to see a HL2 game design breakdown?

  • Yes

    Votes: 51 73.9%

  • No

    Votes: 18 26.1%
  • Total voters
    69
  • Poll closed .
Torgo

Torgo

2[H]4U
Joined
Oct 16, 2002
Messages
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Something I want to run by the denizens of the gaming forum. Sure, there have been plenty of I hate HL2/I love HL2 threads of late. What I would like to propose is a breakdown level by level of the design of the game. This isn't a "this part sucked" or "this part rocked" review. Sheesh, you can get that on any forum.

What I'm proposing is different. I'll point out areas on each section on why that gameplay choice was made by the level/game designer and what makes it work or fail. The benefit will be for you to understand a little more about how a game is developed, how levels work and pull back the curtains a little bit. This is only about game mechanics, design and gameplay.

This won't be easy to pull off. I'd like to do it in small installments and get feedback and insight from you as well. I'd only do it if there were enough people interested. Last thing I'd want is to clutter up the forum with YAHL2T (yet another Half-Life 2 thread). So vote/comment over the next two or three days and make a decision.
 
sorry i voted no, but i didnt read the thread... stupid me :rolleyes:

that actually sounds cool. i would at least appreciate your effort if you did that. :)
 
who would honestly vote no? sounds interesting, but very time demanding.
 
I would like it. After all, it's a lot of work for you, but just some easy reading for me.
 
Someone should do that for Halo 2 as well as Halo 1, so we can see how repetitive it is.
 
Bump. Voting ends soon. So far the "Yes" vote is winning, but there's a chance that HL2 is beating you down and you wouldn't mind seeing it go away.
 
This is an idea that I've had for a while now but I don't have the time to do it. That would be great to see it tho.
 
People have asked what the structure will be. Here's a quick outline:

  • Part 1: Introduction, Challenges and Key Elements
  • Part 3: “Point-Intersection” and “Route Kanal”
  • Part 4: “Water Hazard”
  • Part 5: “Black Mesa East” and "We don’t go to Ravenholm…”
  • Part 6: “Highway 17”
  • Part 7: “Sandtrap”
  • Part 8: “Nova Prospekt”
  • Part 9: “Entanglement”
  • Part 10: “Anticitizen One” and “Follow Freeman”
  • Part 11: “Dark Energy”
  • Part 12: Conclusion, Parting Thoughts

Each part will be a separate thread posted every few days. Yeah, it's a lot but it allows me to write in depth on design elements, point out key decision made by the level designers and gives each of you a chance to focus your comments on specific points of the game.

As far as I know, this hasn't been done before in this forum... or any other. I'm curious to see how it turns out.

Just so I don't clutter up the actual thread when it starts (if the yes vote wins), just so you know I'm not some forum freak trying to do this, here's my background:

Chris Campbell has worked on the Age of Empires series as Lead Quality Assurance Tester. He is active in the Independent Game Developers Association, runs a video game trivia mailing list for game developers for over seven years and contributed articles to "Game Design Perspectives" and "Secrets of the Game Business". He has also worked in the telecom, supply-chain business sectors as well. His latest projects include a college-level textbook on game design and working on concepts for military training using video games.
Click to expand...
 
I'll see about getting the first part written and up tonight. Thanks for voting.
 
Thank you in advance for this. I have already beaten the game once, and am playing it again on 'hard'. I have noticed a significant increase in the AI of the Combine soldiers. They love triangulation, and can usually take me down in health pretty quickly when they do this. :(
But it will be good to see a breakdown of the game per level. That's a crapload of work. Thanks again. :)
 
Even if the poll is closed, i'd love to add another big *YES* for it. I was always curious to find the exact reason for each level design and understand why it is done that way instead of reading too much Suck/Love topics, which is so superficial.
 
Torgo said:
What I'm proposing is different. I'll point out areas on each section on why that gameplay choice was made by the level/game designer and what makes it work or fail. The benefit will be for you to understand a little more about how a game is developed, how levels work and pull back the curtains a little bit. This is only about game mechanics, design and gameplay.

QUOTE]

So you are going to have access to the thoughts of the designers? Or you are going to make educated speculation?

Sounds fascinating. Since getting the Raising the Bar book, I am starting to see kinda how it all comes together "by committee".

I'd be all for it.
Click to expand...
 
Educated speculation.

Now I know that they have "Raising the Bar" with behind the scenes and stuff, but I'm going to stay away from that and read it after I've done by critique. I want to give a fair and objective analysis of the game and not be influenced by other sources.

I've been on both sides of the fence. I've had some people say things about my games and I've said back "Well, if you only knew the whole story about that..." I've come around and realized it doesn't friggin' matter what the background behind the decision was, it only matters what the end user thinks. The game developer isn't always right.

I think that you'll find that once you've read "Raising the Bar" you'll find yourself saying, "Well, why didn't they put that into the game? " or "Huh, that all makes sense now". That just indicates a problem with the game. The game should stand on it's own and be complete in and of itself. If you need a coffee table book to explain what's going on, there's serious problems. A book like that should just serve as art or to explain the process of making the game. It shouldn't spend time justifying decisions or explaining the game plotline.
 
It doesn't really explain a whole lot. There's more art than anything.

However there are "story" fragments in there and it will say something like "story idea given to level designers for inspiration". Sometimes it will say why something was cut out but not often. It talks about designer "cabals", little groups of level designers, programmers, artists who worked on their specific sections.

Occassionally it will mention a decision that was made based on feedback from play testers.

I like your idea, but the whole FPS story thing....IMO, a FPS is still just an advanced form of the earliest arcade games. Run, jump, get powerup, etc. Getting the "story" right is still kind of ancillary to a fun, functioning game. It's like a bonus. We just need that bonus to get better I suppose.
 
To me, this is another sign that games are being discussed and regarded in the same manner as films, literature, and other art. Really old people talk about how certain books were so great, the generation after that reminisces about certain movies, and the youngest generations talk about video games.

So far, there has been visual art, music, dance, literature, and acting. Theatre came along with acting and combined music, acting, dance, and visual art, then film refined that combination. Now video games add some more elements to the stew, particularly audience interaction.

Another sign that video games are the avant garde is the resistance displayed by the popular and elite cultures. Resistance is always the first sign that something is an avant garde. It is only a matter of time before the art community starts to discuss video games as art.

How do you all feel about this?
 
I missed the vote, but sounds like a good idea to me Torgo.


Mr. Tinker said:
To me, this is another sign that games are being discussed and regarded in the same manner as films, literature, and other art. Really old people talk about how certain books were so great, the generation after that reminisces about certain movies, and the youngest generations talk about video games.

So far, there has been visual art, music, dance, literature, and acting. Theatre came along with acting and combined music, acting, dance, and visual art, then film refined that combination. Now video games add some more elements to the stew, particularly audience interaction.

Another sign that video games are the avant garde is the resistance displayed by the popular and elite cultures. Resistance is always the first sign that something is an avant garde. It is only a matter of time before the art community starts to discuss video games as art.

How do you all feel about this?
Click to expand...


I think that would make an interesting thread of it's own Mr. Tinker.
 
Now that the forum is back, I'll be posting Part 1 of the series later tonight. Kyle and I talked about HL2 at length at a party we attended Friday night (Dallas IGDA Christmas Party). We took two totally different approaches to analyzing the game, but pretty much arrived at the same conclusion: It's a lot of fun, but could have been so much more.

Anyway, again Part I to be posted tonight with other threads to be posted a day or two apart.
 
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