Software:Unreleased Half-Life games

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Short description: Unreleased video games 
Half-Life is a series of first-person shooter games created and published by Valve. Since the release of the original Half-Life for Windows in 1998, several ports, expansion packs and sequels have been canceled, including projects developed by other studios.

In 1999, Valve canceled a Half-Life port for Mac developed by Logicware. Half-Life: Hostile Takeover, an expansion pack for Half-Life developed by 2015, Inc, was cancelled in 2000. In 2001, Sierra, the publisher of the original Half-Life, canceled a port for Dreamcast after Sega announced its discontinuation.

After releasing Half-Life 2: Episode Two in 2007, Valve struggled to settle on a direction for a new Half-Life game. Episode Three was canceled after Valve abandoned episodic development and began developing a new game engine, Source 2. Another Half-Life 2 episode, by Junction Point Studios, was canceled after Junction Point was acquired by Disney Interactive Studios. Valve moved the project to Arkane Studios, who developed it as Ravenholm, set in a town infested with zombies. Valve canceled the game as they felt it was creatively restrained.

Valve developed Half-Life 3 between 2013 and 2014, experimenting with procedurally generated levels, but canceled it as the Source 2 engine was still unfinished. A virtual reality (VR) game set on a time-travelling ship, Borealis, was canceled as the VR technology and tools were not complete.

Half-Life era (1998–2004)

Half-Life: Hostile Takeover

On November 23, 1999, GameSpot reported that 2015, Inc. was developing a Half-Life expansion pack to follow Half-Life. 2015, Inc declined to comment.[1] On March 18, 2000, the Adrenaline Vault reported that the new expansion was named Half-Life: Hostile Takeover, and that it had appeared on retail product lists with a release date of late August.[2] On August 7, the Adrenaline Vault reported that Sierra, the publisher of Half-Life, had informed them that Hostile Takeover had been canceled. The stock keeping unit for Hostile Takeover was repurposed by online retailers for Half-Life: Counter-Strike.[3] On June 21, 2001, Valve filed a video game trademark for "Hostile Takeover". After several extensions, the trademark expired on October 3, 2004.[4]

Dreamcast port

On February 14, 2000, Sierra announced that a port of Half-Life for the Dreamcast console was in development by Captivation Digital Laboratories with Valve and Gearbox Software. The Dreamcast port would feature improvements including higher-polygon characters and new lighting effects. Gearbox, who had developed Opposing Force, created a new single-player campaign for the Dreamcast port, Half-Life, focusing on the security guard Barney.[5]

The port was delayed to September 2000,[6] then November,[7] when game publications began to receive early copies for review. Reception was mixed, with criticism for the inconsistent frame rate, long loading times and lack of online play.[8][9] Sierra planned to release a version with online multiplayer using SegaNet. The Gearbox CEO, Randy Pitchford, said he suggested including additional multiplayer modes and mods from the Windows version, including Team Fortress Classic and the multiplayer modes from Opposing Force.[10][11] Sierra delayed the port again to ensure that it met the "high expectations of consumers", and said they hoped to finish development that year.[12]

On March 29, 2001, Sierra announced that Blue Shift would be released for Windows[13] along with the new models developed for the Dreamcast version, as part of the Half-Life High Definition Pack.[14] On June 16, 2001, four days after the release of Blue Shift, Sierra announced that it had canceled the Dreamcast port, citing "changing market conditions".[15] It was weeks away from its release date and virtually complete.[16] In 2013, a late version of the Dreamcast port leaked online, featuring complete versions of Half-Life and Blue Shift.[17][better source needed]

Mac port

A version of Half-Life for Mac OS was announced by Logicware on April 23, 1999.[18] However, Valve canceled it a few months later in October 1999.[19] The Valve CEO, Gabe Newell, said the port was substandard, citing a separate multiplayer network, no automatic update utility and the inability to include Valve's multiplayer mod Team Fortress Classic. He said he did not want to make Mac players "second-class customers" and preferred to write off the investment rather than "take money from Mac customers and short-change them".[19] Rebecca Heineman, the co-founder of Logicware, denied this, saying that Valve cancelled the port as Apple had angered them by misrepresenting sales projections. She said the port was complete and three weeks from release.[20] In 2013, Valve released a port for OS X.[21]

Half-Life 2 era (2004–2007)

Half-Life 2: Episode Three

In May 2006, Valve announced a trilogy of episodic games that would continue the story of Half-Life 2 (2004).[22] Episode One was released in 2006, followed by Episode Two in 2007.[23][24] Episode Three was initially announced for Christmas 2007.[25] Valve released little information about it in the following years, and in 2011 Wired described it as vaporware.[26]

Valve eventually abandoned episodic development, as they wanted to create more ambitious games.[27][28] The designer Robin Walker said Valve failed to find a unifying idea for Episode Three that provided a sense of "wonderment, or opening, or expansion".[29] Additionally, they had started developing a new game engine, Source 2. As developing Half-Life 2 and the original Source engine simultaneously had created problems, Valve delayed development of a new Half-Life until Source 2 was complete.[27]

Junction Point Studios episode

Warren Spector (pictured in 2010) led development of a canceled Half-Life 2 episode.

Another Half-Life 2 episode was developed by Junction Point Studios, led by Warren Spector. The episode showed how Ravenholm became the town seen in Half-Life 2, infested with headcrabs and zombies, and saw the return of the character of Father Grigori.[30] It included a "magnet gun", which fired projectiles that magnetized metal surfaces and attracted objects and enemies, and would have been used for combat and puzzles.[31]

Junction Point worked on the game for a year, producing enough content to demonstrate one section, and a vertical slice that demonstrated the magnet gun. Valve lost interest in the project and Junction Point, who had been acquired by Disney Interactive Studios partway through, canceled it to instead develop Epic Mickey.[32][33][34] Images of the game appeared in early 2017.[30]

Ravenholm

In 2007 or 2008, Valve gave the Junction Point project to Arkane Studios in Lyon, France. They developed it into a standalone game with the working title Ravenholm.[35] It was also referred by some sources to as Episode Four.[36][37]

Players controlled Adrian Shepard from Opposing Force, working alongside Father Grigori, who had taken refuge in an abandoned psychiatric hospital. Grigori was experimenting with the effects of headcrab venom on himself, and would mutate through the story. The player would use the magnet gun and traps created by Grigori against enemies. Arkane also implemented a nail gun that could create paths to conduct electricity and set traps.[35]

Valve gave Arkane freedom to develop Ravenholm, as they had with Gearbox and Opposing Force, providing feedback and technical support.[35] With approximately one year left of development, Valve canceled the project. The Arkane founder, Raphaël Colantonio, believed that Valve decided it would be too expensive,[35] and Laidlaw said that Valve felt the premise was creatively constrained.[38][39][37] Ravenholm was first shown publicly in a 2020 Noclip documentary.[35] Noclip released an hour of gameplay footage in 2022.[40]

Source 2 era (2007–2020)

Half-Life 3

Half-Life 3 was in development between 2013 and 2014. Valve planned to use procedurally generated levels alongside a "crafted experience", similar to the Left 4 Dead series; for example, the game would generate different routes through environments each time it was played. The team took new scans of the face of Frank Sheldon, whose likeness was used for the G-Man character in Half-Life 2. The Source 2 engine was still unfinished and the project was canceled early in development.[41]

Borealis

Before his departure from Valve in 2016, Laidlaw led a virtual reality project on the Source 2 engine, Borealis, set on the time-travelling ship mentioned in Episode Two and Portal 2. The game would skip between the Combine's conquering of Earth before Half-Life 2 and a time set shortly after Episode Two. A minigame in which players would fish off the bow of the ship was also proposed.[41] Laidlaw said the project ended because it was too early to be working in VR: "When people are struggling with the basic tools they need to rough out a concept, it's hard to convey any sort of vision, and it all evaporated pretty quickly."[42]

References

  1. ↑ Ajami, Amer (November 23, 1999). "New Half-Life Add-on Coming". http://headline.gamespot.com/news/99_11/23_pc_halfadd/index.html. 
  2. ↑ Laprad, David (March 18, 2000). "New Half-Life Expansion Coming". http://avault.com/news/displaynews.asp?story=3182000-91229. 
  3. ↑ Laprad, David (August 7, 2000). "Confusion Surrounds Half-Life Add-On Pre-Sales". http://avault.com/news/displaynews.asp?story=872000-133010. 
  4. ↑ "HOSTILE TAKEOVER". United States Patent and Trademark Office. https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=76275717&caseType=SERIAL_NO&searchType=statusSearch. 
  5. ↑ "HALF-LIFE(tm) COMING TO SEGA DREAMCAST(tm)". February 14, 2000. https://www.bluesnews.com/pressreleases/hld.shtml. 
  6. ↑ Half-Life Dreamcast commercial. Combine OverWiki. August 9, 2010. Archived from the original on August 14, 2016. Retrieved July 23, 2020 – via YouTube.
  7. ↑ "Half-Life: Blue Shift Announced". February 14, 2000. https://www.bluesnews.com/a/61. 
  8. ↑ Nair, Chandra (January 2001). "Half-Life". Dreamcast Magazine (Paragon Publishing) (15): 56–58. 
  9. ↑ "Half-Life Dreamcast Review". Computer and Video Games (228). 
  10. ↑ Bramwell, Tom (September 26, 2000). "Half-Life Dreamcast Multiplayer". http://eurogamer.net/articles/article_29304. 
  11. ↑ "Dreamcast Previews: Half-Life Feature Preview". http://zdnet.com/gamespot/stories/previews/0,10869,2653878,00.html. 
  12. ↑ Satterfield, Shane (November 8, 2000). "Sierra Explains Half-Life Delay". http://www.gamespot.com/articles/sierra-explains-half-life-delay/1100-2651756/. 
  13. ↑ "Ready to Jump Back into the Black Mesa Research Facility?". March 29, 2001. http://pc.ign.com/articles/092/092908p1.html. 
  14. ↑ "Half-Life: Blue Shift Q&A". May 3, 2001. http://www.gamespot.com/articles/half-life-blue-shift-qanda/1100-2716373/. 
  15. ↑ Satterfield, Shane (June 15, 2001). "Half-Life for the Dreamcast officially cancelled". http://www.gamespot.com/articles/half-life-for-the-dreamcast-officially-cancelled/1100-2776155/. 
  16. ↑ Chau, Anthony (June 18, 2001). "Not Given Half A Chance: The Cancellation of Half-Life". http://dreamcast.ign.com/articles/095/095905p1.html. 
  17. ↑ "Beta Half-Life for Sega Dreamcast". http://www.nextdimension.org/betahalflife/dc.htm. 
  18. ↑ "SIERRA STUDIOS TO DELIVER BEST-SELLING HALF-LIFE TO THE MAC". https://web.archive.org/web/20000511065753if_/http://planetfortress.com/syndicate/files/HLmac1.txt. 
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 "Mac Half-Life Cancelled - Blue's News Story". https://www.bluesnews.com/s/6736. 
  20. ↑ Rebecca Heineman - Developer & Co-Founder of Interplay | Retro Tea Break. 2 February 2023. Event occurs at 1:36:41 – via YouTube.
  21. ↑ Ingraham, Nathan (2013-01-25). "Original Half-Life finally available for OS X through Steam nearly 15 years after its release" (in en-US). https://www.theverge.com/2013/1/25/3915338/original-half-life-finally-available-for-os-x-through-steam. 
  22. ↑ "Half-Life 2: Episode One gold, Two dated, Three announced". GameSpot. May 24, 2006. http://www.gamespot.com/articles/half-life-2-episode-one-gold-two-dated-three-announced/1100-6151796/. 
  23. ↑ "Half-Life: Episode One on Metacritic". https://www.metacritic.com/game/half-life-2-episode-one/critic-reviews/?platform=pc. 
  24. ↑ "Half-Life 2: Episode Two". http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/pc/halflife2episode2. 
  25. ↑ "Half-Life 2: Episode One gold, Two dated, Three announced". GameSpot. May 24, 2006. http://www.gamespot.com/articles/half-life-2-episode-one-gold-two-dated-three-announced/1100-6151796/. 
  26. ↑ Calore, Michael (January 3, 2011). "Vaporware 2010: The Great White Duke". Wired.com. https://www.wired.com/business/2011/01/vaporware-2010-the-great-white-duke/#slideid-72634. 
  27. ↑ 27.0 27.1 Marks, Tom (March 23, 2020). "Valve Explains Why Half-Life 2: Episode 3 Was Never Made". https://www.ign.com/articles/valve-explains-why-half-life-2-episode-3-was-never-made. 
  28. ↑ "Why Valve Gave Up On 'Multiple' Half-Life 3s" (in en-us). March 23, 2020. https://kotaku.com/why-valve-gave-up-on-multiple-half-life-3s-1842450268. 
  29. ↑ "Why Valve Gave Up On 'Multiple' Half-Life 3s" (in en-us). March 23, 2020. https://kotaku.com/why-valve-gave-up-on-multiple-half-life-3s-1842450268. 
  30. ↑ 30.0 30.1 Scott-Jones, Richard (March 27, 2017). "Ravenholm features in another cancelled Half-Life 2 episode, now with snow and magnetism". https://www.pcgamesn.com/half-life-2/half-life-2-episode-snowy-ravenholm-junction-point. 
  31. ↑ Benson, Julian (September 20, 2017). "Warren Spector reveals how the magnet gun would have worked in cancelled Half-Life episode". https://www.pcgamesn.com/half-life-3/half-life-3-ravenholm-episode-warren-spector-junction-point. 
  32. ↑ Turi, Tim (April 24, 2015). "Abandoned Half-Life Episode Featured Magnet Gun, Warren Spector Says". Game Informer. https://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2015/04/24/half-life-abandoned-lost-episode-magnet-gun-valve-warren-spector.aspx. Retrieved May 19, 2015. 
  33. ↑ Lane, Rick (November 8, 2017). "Warren Spector discusses his cancelled Half-Life 2 Ravenholm Episode". http://www.pcgamer.com/warren-spector-discusses-a-return-to-ravenholm-in-his-cancelled-half-life-2-episode/. 
  34. ↑ "Disney buys game developer Junction Point". Los Angeles Times. July 13, 2007. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2007-jul-13-fi-disney13-story.html. 
  35. ↑ 35.0 35.1 35.2 35.3 35.4 The Untold History of Arkane: Dishonored / Prey / Ravenholm / LMNO / The Crossing. Noclip. May 26, 2020. Event occurs at 33:00. Archived from the original on May 27, 2020. Retrieved May 26, 2020 – via YouTube.
  36. ↑ Sheridan, Connor (2020-05-21). "Half-Life 2: Episode 4 footage emerges a decade after it was canceled" (in en). https://www.gamesradar.com/half-life-2-episode-4-footage-emerges-a-decade-after-it-was-canceled/. 
  37. ↑ 37.0 37.1 McLeand, Kirk (December 5, 2015). "Half-Life 2: Episode Four - Return to Ravenholm forgotten screens surface". https://www.pcgamesn.com/half-life-2/half-life-2-episode-four-return-to-ravenholm-screens-surface. 
  38. ↑ "Marc Laidlaw On The Cancelled Half-Life Spin-offs: Return To Ravenholm And "Episode Four"". LambdaGeneration. January 13, 2012. http://lambdageneration.com/posts/marc-laidlaw-on-the-cancelled-half-life-spin-offs-return-to-ravenholm-and-episode-four/. 
  39. ↑ Savage, Phil (January 15, 2013). "Half-Life 2: Episode 4 was being developed by Arkane; now cancelled". http://www.pcgamer.com/2013/01/15/half-life-2-episode-4-was-being-developed-by-arkane-now-cancelled/. 
  40. ↑ Wheeler, C. J. (2022-05-06). "A full hour of Arkane's scrapped Half-Life game Ravenholm has emerged" (in en). Rock, Paper, Shotgun. https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/a-full-hour-of-arkanes-scrapped-half-life-game-ravenholm-has-emerged. 
  41. ↑ 41.0 41.1 Skrebels, Joe (July 9, 2020). "Details of multiple cancelled Valve projects revealed, including Half-Life 3" (in en). https://www.ign.com/articles/half-life-3-left-4-dead-3-details-cancelled-valve. 
  42. ↑ Peel, Jeremy (March 1, 2023). "'The narrative had to be baked into the corridors': Marc Laidlaw on writing Half-Life" (in en). Rock, Paper, Shotgun. https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-narrative-had-to-be-baked-into-the-corridors-marc-laidlaw-on-writing-half-life. 



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