Forum Overview :: Half-Life II ???
 
Yes and no by Senor Barborito 08/22/2003, 5:06am PDT
Vomitbird wrote:

I just don't think the source engine will cause any big changes. It's nifty, it supports a lot of fine features right out of the box, but all in all it comes down to the fact that most mod-makers are largely lazy and talentless bandwagon-bitches. Rockers like the Natural Selection guys showed the extents mod-making can be taken to, but they certainly took their precious time doing it, and they're really not representing the majority. And yes, i am aware that they fucked it up in 2.0.

I just don't see why a technically brilliant engine will suddenly adrenalize the mod-scene and make the inherit problems of having people do unpaid and often low-quality work over the internet go away. Especially when that unpaid work, when passing the threshold to "goodness", could actually earn them money.

And free coders are always in demand.


First of all, I agree that the Source engine isn't going to completely revolutionize PC gaming. So many games are coming out with technical needs that simply are not met by the Source engine - looking at my shelf, Age of Mythology/Rise of Nations would be undoable (requires strict parallel simultation abilities for multiplayer), Grant Theft Auto: Vice City would be undoable, Star Wars Galaxies would be undoable, etc. etc.

Most of these games are, many people would say, worth doing. Hell, Morrowind would probably be undoable without investing twice as much effort as already went into it (it took what, a bazillion people four years and change to make?).

That said, it's pretty reasonable to assume that with varying degrees of success Operation Flashpoint, Tribes 2, Mechwarrior 4: Mercenaries, Unreal Tournament 2003, Castle Wolfenstein, Rainbow Six 3, Thief 1/2, Serious Sam 2 are all more or less doable with the Source engine.

No way to tell for Madden NFL 2003, Medieval: Total War, Hegemonia, Worms, Planescape, Master of Orion 3, Sacrifice or Giants at this point.

Thus the reason for real enthusiasm - if it's anything like Half-Life, it's bound to be a very solid foundation for gaming-crafting, much like DirectX in latter versions became for game programming. The fact that people can make games on it more or less for free gives it many of the benefits of an open source product - I can tweak it into something I want just for the sake of making it how I want it to be and eventually creating something I love.

Hundreds of thousands of programmers and billions of dollars worth of code/R&D later, the open source community has proved this is sufficient motivation, and it's reasonable to assume that to a significant degree the Source engine will do so as well. Of course, predicting the future with gaming is a highly dangerous task fraught with a 90% chance of being wrong even on the surest of outlooks.

So, we'll see. Game engine programming isn't going anywhere regardless of the Source engine, but Source may open up some serious new doors for a lot of people.

--SB
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WILL HALF-LIFE 2 MODIFICATION MAKE GAME DEVELOPMENT OBSOLETE? by Flurgendorf J. Creexul 08/21/2003, 5:49pm PDT NEW
    Re: WILL HALF-LIFE 2 MODIFICATION MAKE GAME DEVELOPMENT OBSOLETE? by laudablepuss 08/21/2003, 7:19pm PDT NEW
    No by Senor Barborito 08/21/2003, 7:25pm PDT NEW
        Re: No by Fussbett 08/21/2003, 9:36pm PDT NEW
            Re: No by Flurgendorf J. Creexul 08/21/2003, 11:20pm PDT NEW
                Re: No by laudablepuss 08/22/2003, 12:07am PDT NEW
                    Re: No by Flurgendorf J. Creexul 08/22/2003, 2:54am PDT NEW
                        It's like the TNC by Senor Barborito 08/22/2003, 2:58am PDT NEW
                            OR LIKE VPL by Flurgendorf J. Creexul 08/22/2003, 5:20am PDT NEW
        I have special needs too!!!!! NT by Corky 08/21/2003, 9:37pm PDT NEW
            School dropout makes best game ever with unemployed friends. Audience stunned. by Vomitbird 08/22/2003, 3:24am PDT NEW
                So what you're saying is: PARADIGM SHIFT? NT by Fussbett 08/22/2003, 3:42am PDT NEW
                    Kirby gives you the finger!!! t('-'t) by Vomitbird 08/22/2003, 4:26am PDT NEW
                        Yes and no by Senor Barborito 08/22/2003, 5:06am PDT NEW
                            Re: Yes and no by Vomitbird 08/22/2003, 5:29am PDT NEW
                                Why Source wins over other engines in all probability by Senor Barborito 08/22/2003, 6:20am PDT NEW
                Are you mocking me? NT by John Carmack, competent implementor 08/22/2003, 4:44am PDT NEW
                    Re: Are you mocking me? by Vomitbird 08/22/2003, 12:48pm PDT NEW
 
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