Editing Half-Life (video game) (section)

== Development ==
{{quote box| quote = ''Half-Life'' in many ways was a reactionary response to the trivialization of the experience of the first-person genre. Many of us had fallen in love with video games because of the [[Phenomenology (psychology)|phenomenological]] possibilities of the field and felt like the industry was reducing the experiences to least common denominators rather than exploring those possibilities. Our hope was that building worlds and characters would be more compelling than building shooting galleries.
| source = —Valve president [[Gabe Newell]]<ref>{{Cite web |last=Tufnell |first=Nicholas |date=November 25, 2011 |title=Interview: Gabe Newell |url=http://www.tcs.cam.ac.uk/story_type/site_trail_story/interview-gabe-newell/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111126125407/http://www.tcs.cam.ac.uk/story_type/site_trail_story/interview-gabe-newell/ |archive-date=November 26, 2011 |access-date=November 26, 2011 |website=The Cambridge Student Online}}</ref>| align = right| width = 20%| salign = right}}

[[Valve Corporation|Valve]], based in [[Kirkland, Washington]], was founded in 1996 by the former [[Microsoft]] employees [[Gabe Newell]] and [[Mike Harrington]].<ref name="fhhalflife2">{{Cite web |title=Final Hours of Half-Life: The Microsoft Millionaires |url=http://uk.gamespot.com/features/halflife_final/part2.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120520110111/http://uk.gamespot.com/features/halflife_final/part2.html |archive-date=May 20, 2012 |access-date=September 12, 2006 |website=[[GameSpot]]}}</ref> For their first product, Valve settled on a concept for a horror first-person shooter (FPS) game.<ref name="flhalflife22">{{Cite web |title=The Final Hours of Half-Life: The id visit |url=http://uk.gamespot.com/features/halflife_final/part22.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110223141855/http://uk.gamespot.com/features/halflife_final/part22.html |archive-date=February 23, 2011 |access-date=September 12, 2006 |website=[[GameSpot]]}}</ref> They did not want to build their own [[game engine]], as this would have created too much work for a small team and Newell planned to innovate in different areas.<ref name="flhalflife22" /> Instead, Valve licensed the [[Quake engine|''Quake'' engine]] and the [[Quake II engine|''Quake II'' engine]] from [[id Software]] and combined them with their own code.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |date=July 23, 2001 |title=Half Life: Interview With Gabe Newell |url=http://extra.gamespot.co.uk/pc.gamespot/features/halflife_uk/02.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010723160349/http://extra.gamespot.co.uk/pc.gamespot/features/halflife_uk/02.html |archive-date=July 23, 2001 |access-date=November 3, 2021 |website=[[GameSpot]]}}</ref><ref name="flhalflife22" /> Newell estimated that around 75% of the final engine code was by Valve.<ref name=":2" /> As the project expanded, Valve cancelled development of a fantasy role-playing game, ''Prospero'', and the ''Prospero'' team joined the ''Half-Life'' project.<ref>{{Cite web |date=August 8, 2003 |title=Marc Laidlaw On Story And Narrative |url=https://www.gamedeveloper.com/design/marc-laidlaw-on-story-and-narrative |access-date=March 12, 2021 |website=[[Gamasutra]] |language=en |archive-date=November 7, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107113004/https://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/131227/marc_laidlaw_on_story_and_narrative.php |url-status=live }}</ref>

''Half-Life'' was inspired by the FPS games ''[[Doom (1993 video game)|Doom]]'' (1993) and ''[[Quake (video game)|Quake]]'' (1996),<ref name="raisebar">{{Cite book |last=Hodgson |first=David |title=Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar |publisher=Prima Games |year=2004 |isbn=0-7615-4364-3}}</ref>{{Rp|pages=9, 11}} [[Stephen King]]'s 1980 novella ''[[The Mist (novella)|The Mist]]'', and a 1963 episode of ''[[The Outer Limits (1963 TV series)|The Outer Limits]]'' titled "[[The Borderland]]".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hodgson |first=David |title=Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar |publisher=Prima Games |year=2004 |isbn=0-7615-4364-3 |pages=11, 37}}</ref> According to the designer Harry Teasley, ''Doom'' was a major influence and the team wanted ''Half-Life'' to "scare you like ''Doom'' did". The project had the working title ''Quiver'', after the Arrowhead military base from ''The Mist''.<ref name="fhhalflife3">{{Cite web |title=The Final Hours of Half-Life: The Valve Difference |url=http://uk.gamespot.com/features/halflife_final/part3.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110224220138/http://uk.gamespot.com/features/halflife_final/part3.html |archive-date=February 24, 2011 |access-date=September 14, 2006 |website=GameSpot}}</ref> The name ''Half-Life'' was chosen because it was evocative of the theme, not clichéd, and had a corresponding visual symbol: the [[Greek alphabet|Greek letter]] λ (lower-case [[lambda]]), which represents the ''decay constant'' in the [[half-life]] equation.<ref name="raisebar" />{{Rp|page=31}} According to the designer Brett Johnson, the level design was inspired by environments in the [[manga]] series ''[[Akira (manga)|Akira]]''.<ref>{{Cite news |date=August 29, 2018 |title=Half-Life tiene varias referencias a Akira |language=es |work=[[:es:MeriStation|MeriStation]] |publisher=[[Diario AS]] |url=https://as.com/meristation/2018/08/29/noticias/1535543681_545901.html |url-status=live |access-date=October 13, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181014010144/https://as.com/meristation/2018/08/29/noticias/1535543681_545901.html |archive-date=October 14, 2018}}</ref>

Valve struggled to find a publisher, as many believed the game was too ambitious for a first-time developer. [[Sierra On-Line]] signed Valve for a one-game deal as it was interested in making a 3D action game, especially one based on the ''Quake'' engine.<ref name="flhalflife24">{{Cite web |title=The Final Hours of Half-Life: The Right E-mail, the Right Time |url=http://uk.gamespot.com/features/halflife_final/part24.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110224220100/http://uk.gamespot.com/features/halflife_final/part24.html |archive-date=February 24, 2011 |access-date=September 14, 2006 |website=GameSpot}}</ref> Sierra gave Valve an advance of around  $1 million in exchange for 30% of the revenue and 100% of the [[intellectual property]]; the rest of development was funded by Newell and Harrington.<ref name="Pastis-2024a2">{{Cite web |last=Pastis |first=Stephe |date=2024-12-06 |title=How Valve founder Gabe Newell turned ''Half-Life'' into a nearly $10 billion fortune |url=https://www.forbes.com.au/covers/magazine/how-valve-founder-gabe-newell-turned-half-life-into-a-nearly-10-billion-fortune/ |access-date=2024-12-11 |website=[[Forbes Australia]] |language=en-US}}</ref> Valve first showed ''Half-Life'' in early 1997; it was a success at [[E3]] that year, where Valve demonstrated the animation and [[Artificial intelligence in video games|artificial intelligence]].<ref name="flhalflife34">{{Cite web |title=The Final Hours of Half-Life: The Public Debut |url=http://uk.gamespot.com/features/halflife_final/part34.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100308234131/http://uk.gamespot.com/features/halflife_final/part34.html |archive-date=March 8, 2010 |access-date=September 14, 2006 |website=GameSpot}}</ref> Novel features of the artificial intelligence included fear and pack behavior.<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=August 1997 |title=NG Alphas: Half Life |url=https://archive.org/details/NEXT_Generation_32/page/n107 |magazine=[[Next Generation (magazine)|Next Generation]] |publisher=[[Imagine Media]] |issue=32 |pages=106–7}}</ref>

Valve aimed for a November 1997 release to compete with ''[[Quake II]]''.<ref name="birdwell gamasutra">{{Cite web |last=Birdwell |first=Ken |date=December 10, 1999 |title=The Cabal: Valve's Design Process For Creating Half-Life |url=http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/131815/the_cabal_valves_design_process_.php |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161116140435/http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/131815/the_cabal_valves_design_process_.php |archive-date=November 16, 2016 |access-date=February 14, 2017 |website=[[Gamasutra]]}}</ref><ref name="fhhalflife4">{{Cite web |title=The Final Hours of Half-Life: Reassembling the Pieces |url=http://uk.gamespot.com/features/halflife_final/part4.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110928033502/http://uk.gamespot.com/features/halflife_final/part4.html |archive-date=September 28, 2011 |access-date=September 14, 2006 |website=[[GameSpot]]}}</ref> By September 1997, the team found that while they had built some innovative aspects in weapons, enemies, and level design, the game was not fun and there was little design cohesion.<ref name="birdwell gamasutra" /> Playtesting produced "lukewarm" responses.<ref name=":5">{{Cite news |last=Carpenter |first=Lincoln |date=2024-09-13 |title='There's an alternate universe where Half-Life disappeared after release': Valve's first marketing strategist Monica Harrington says she helped navigate its way out of early disaster |url=https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/theres-an-alternate-universe-where-half-life-disappeared-after-release-valves-first-marketing-strategist-monica-harrington-says-she-helped-navigate-its-way-out-of-early-disaster/ |access-date=2024-12-12 |work=[[PC Gamer]] |language=en}}</ref> Sierra would not agree to extra funding, so Newell took out a loan to fund additional development to rework the game.<ref name=":5" />

Valve took a novel approach of assigning a small team to build a prototype level containing every element in the game and then spent a month iterating on the level.<ref name="birdwell gamasutra" /> When the rest of the team played the level, which the designer Ken Birdwell described as "''[[Die Hard]]'' meets ''[[Evil Dead]]''", they agreed to use it as a baseline.<ref name="birdwell gamasutra" /> The team developed three theories about what made the level fun. First, it had several interesting things happen in it, all triggered by the player rather than a timer so that the player would set the pace of the level. Second, the level responded to any player action, even for something as simple as adding graphic decals to wall textures to show a bullet impact. Finally, the level warned the player of imminent danger to allow them to avoid it, rather than killing the player with no warning.<ref name="birdwell gamasutra" />

To move forward with this unified design, Valve sought a game designer but found no one suitable. Instead, Valve created the "cabal", initially a group of six individuals from across all departments that worked primarily for six months straight in six-hour meetings four days a week. The cabal was responsible for all elements of design, including level layouts, key events, enemy designs, narrative, and the introduction of gameplay elements relative to the story.<ref name="birdwell gamasutra" /> The collaboration proved successful, and once the cabal had come to decisions on types of gameplay elements that would be needed, mini-cabals from other departments most affected by the choice were formed to implement these elements. Membership in the main cabal rotated since the required commitment created [[Occupational burnout|burnout]].<ref name="birdwell gamasutra" />

The cabal produced a 200-page [[game design document|design document]] detailing nearly every aspect of the game. They also produced a 30-page document for the narrative, and hired the science fiction novelist [[Marc Laidlaw]] to help manage the script.<ref name="fhhalflife3" /><ref name="birdwell gamasutra" /> Laidlaw said his contribution was to add "old storytelling tricks" to the team's ambitious designs: "I was in awe of [the team]. It felt to me like I was just borrowing from old standards while they were the ones doing something truly new."<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |date=July 17, 2017 |title=Marc Laidlaw (Valve) - Interview |url=https://www.arcadeattack.co.uk/marc-laidlaw/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191012165926/https://www.arcadeattack.co.uk/marc-laidlaw/ |archive-date=October 12, 2019 |access-date=November 23, 2019 |website=Arcade Attack |language=en-GB}}</ref> Rather than dictate narrative elements "from some kind of ivory tower of authorial inspiration", he worked with the team to improvise ideas, and was inspired by their experiments.<ref name=":1" /> For example, he conceived the opening train ride after an engineer implemented train code for another concept.<ref name=":1" />

Valve initially planned to use traditional [[cutscene]]s, but switched to a continuous first-person perspective for lack of time. Laidlaw said they discovered unexpected advantages in this approach, as it created a sense of immersion and enforced a sense of loneliness in a frightening environment.<ref name=":02">{{Cite news |last=Peel |first=Jeremy |date=March 1, 2023 |title='The narrative had to be baked into the corridors': Marc Laidlaw on writing ''Half-Life'' |language=en |work=[[Rock, Paper, Shotgun]] |url=https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-narrative-had-to-be-baked-into-the-corridors-marc-laidlaw-on-writing-half-life |access-date=March 3, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230302232014/https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-narrative-had-to-be-baked-into-the-corridors-marc-laidlaw-on-writing-half-life |archive-date=March 2, 2023}}</ref> Laidlaw felt that non-player characters were unnecessary to guide players if the design had sufficiently strong "visual grammar", and that this allowed the characters to "feel like characters instead of signposts".<ref name=":02" /> An early version of ''Half-Life'' began immediately after the disaster, with the environments already wrecked. Laidlaw worked with Johnson to create versions of the lab environment before the disaster to help set the story. He said: "These were all economical ways of doing storytelling with the architecture — which was my whole obsession. The narrative had to be baked into the corridors."<ref name=":02" />

Within a month of the cabal's formation, the other team members started detailed game development, and within another month began [[playtesting]] through Sierra. The cabal was intimately involved with playtesting, monitoring the player but otherwise not interacting. They noted any confusion or inability to solve a game's puzzles and made them into [[action item]]s to be fixed on the next iteration. Later, with most of the main adjustments made, the team included means to benchmark players' actions. They then collected and interpreted statistically to fine-tune levels further.<ref name="birdwell gamasutra" /> Between the cabal and playtesting, Valve identified and removed parts that proved unenjoyable. Birdwell said that while there were struggles at first, the cabal approach was critical for ''Half-Life''{{'}}s success, and was reused for ''[[Team Fortress 2]]'' from the start.<ref name="birdwell gamasutra" />

Much of the detail of ''Half-Life''{{'s}} development has been lost. According to Valve employee Erik Johnson, two or three months before release, their [[Visual SourceSafe]] source control system "exploded". Logs of technical changes from before the final month of development were lost, and code had to be recovered from individual computers.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Wawro |first=Alex |date=February 13, 2017 |title=Valve explains why we'll never see the full history of Half-Life's development |url=http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/291408/Valve_explains_why_well_never_see_the_full_history_of_HalfLifes_development.php |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170214102632/http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/291408/Valve_explains_why_well_never_see_the_full_history_of_HalfLifes_development.php |archive-date=February 14, 2017 |access-date=February 13, 2017 |website=[[Gamasutra]]}}</ref> The revised version of ''Half-Life'' shown at E3 1998 was received the [[Game Critics Awards]] for "Best PC Game" and "Best Action Game".<ref name="fhhalflife4" />