Gearbox Supremo On Half Life For Dreamcast
Half-Life for Dreamcast question and answers with Gearbox Software Director Randy Pitchford.
How did Half-Life for Dreamcast come to be?
Half-Life is one of the most significant pieces of computer entertainment ever released earning more than 50 Game of the Year awards worldwide. So naturally there was a lot of desire by Sega to have the game on their system and there was a lot of desire by publisher Sierra Studios and developer Valve Software to share the game with as many players on as many different platforms as possible.
Gearbox Software became involved because of our previous relationship with Sierra and Valve during the creation of Half-Life: Opposing Force, the award winning expansion to Half-Life.
For us, the project made a lot of sense. As Gearbox approached completion of Opposing Force, we began shopping for technology for a new game we wanted to develop. When Gearbox realized that the technology we wanted to use for our new title wasn't going to be ready for us after we shipped OpFor, we decided to look at other things we could do with our time. The opportunity to upgrade Half-Life for the Dreamcast and create another new episode within the Half-Life universe was really appealing, so we went for it. So, the timing was perfect and the property was already something we had worked with and something we cared a lot about. It just made sense for everyone to do. Besides, Gearbox's role in the project has been to upgrade the content and build the new Barney episode. Sierra, Valve and Gearbox have been working with Captivation Digital Laboratories who have been handling the actual coding on the Dreamcast.
Have there been any significant problems or snags your team has encountered while porting Half-Life?
The most significant "snag" is that there's always one more feature or one more enhancement each of us would like to make. The problem is really knowing when to stop :) Luckily, we've actually been able to expand the scope of new content like the Barney game from what we originally planned to do without blowing the development schedule out of proportion.
Can you go into specifics about what kind of effects you'll be able to add to the Dreamcast version of Half-Life that were not seen in the PC version?
I can best talk about the content upgrades and the new content since that's what Gearbox is responsible for. There are a few very important upgrades to the Dreamcast version of Half-Life.
First, the characters, weapons and monsters in the game have been upgraded with higher resolution models and more detail than ever before. The result is that all of the creatures and people in the game look much more realistic and have more animation articulation than they ever did before.
The other really significant addition is the entirely new episode that's being added to the game. The new episode is currently being referred to as Half-Life: Guard Duty and puts players in the shoes of Barney the security guard during the incident at Black Mesa. The episode isn't as long as the original game, but it does offer lots of new encounters and moments that are really incredible for people who like Half-Life.
We don't want to give away too much of the story, but we can reveal that Guard Duty is a complete experience with a new narrative that takes place simultaneously to the original Half-Life story.
The story isn't being tampered with for this version is it? We know that the models are being upgraded, but are any of the textures or levels, for example, being changed to take advantage of the Dreamcast hardware?
All of the original Half-Life story, encounters and plot has been left intact.
The content has been upgraded to enhance the experience, but the game play has been carefully preserved. We just couldn't deal with the hate mail if we changed anything important :). I understand that textures have had to be adapted by Captivation to be better suited to the Dreamcast hardware.
Also, character skins offer more details. Players who have never played the PC version will be in for an upgraded first visit to the Black Mesa Research Facility.
What about multiplayer Half-Life? How is that being handled?
Since the beginning of this project, we've been very conservative about commitments with the multiplayer game and, as such, we've made no official announcements about how Half-Life multiplayer will be presented. It's been no secret that most of the focus for the Dreamcast version of Half-Life has been in enhancing the original game as well as providing an extra entirely new single player episode (called Half-Life: Guard Duty). But, as has been discussed before, everyone involved in this project is taking a lot of time and care to determine what the best presentation of the Half-Life multiplayer game will be on the console. We'll talk about how it works out when the time is right.
How about interface? What methods of control will players have?
Half-Life for Dreamcast will feature some default joystick configurations that should be perfect for most console gamers. However, the game will provide plenty of support for custom configurations and for alternate interfaces like the Dreamcast Mouse and Keyboard. Whether you're new to Half-Life or an old first-person action game expert, you should be able to find or set up up a configuration exactly to your liking.
Tell us a little more about the bonus game, Half-Life: Guard Duty.
The new episode, currently being called Half-Life: Guard Duty, puts players in the role of Barney the security guard during the "incident" at the Black Mesa Research Facility.
The new game features a complete new story with lots of new environments, encounters and action that has been custom built for the Sega Dreamcast.
With Guard Duty included, Half-Life for Dreamcast is actually like getting two games for the price of one.
When players take on the role of Barney, new areas of Black Mesa will be discovered and new characters will be met. The civilians of the research facility must work together to survive and Barney really must rise to the occasion. The neatest thing about Guard Duty is that it really meshes well with the Half-Life universe and takes place simultaneously to the original game. That means that when Barney goes to work in the morning, players know that disaster will strike at any moment. The narrative has been designed to really keep us all at the edge of our seats with a good balance between tension and challenge.
During the game, players find themselves really looking forward to surviving to the next big scene where even more impressive things are experienced. Moment after moment, Guard Duty tries to take the essence of what is great about Half-Life and deliver it with a completely new and unique yet familiar experience.
What's it like working with Captivation Digital Laboratories on the project?
Captivation was chosen because of their experience with the Sega Dreamcast. A lot of trust and faith has been put into their group to make Half-Life shine on the Dreamcast console. They've really taken on the very complex job of bringing the code across to the Dreamcast and provided enough room for Gearbox to add the new Barney episode and upgrade a lot of the content.
When will the game be on store shelves?
Half-Life for Dreamcast will hopefully be available very soon, and probably in plenty of time for the holiday season. But Half-Life for Dreamcast will not be available before it's ready.
Half-Life is one of the most significant pieces of computer entertainment ever released earning more than 50 Game of the Year awards worldwide. So naturally there was a lot of desire by Sega to have the game on their system and there was a lot of desire by publisher Sierra Studios and developer Valve Software to share the game with as many players on as many different platforms as possible.
Gearbox Software became involved because of our previous relationship with Sierra and Valve during the creation of Half-Life: Opposing Force, the award winning expansion to Half-Life.
For us, the project made a lot of sense. As Gearbox approached completion of Opposing Force, we began shopping for technology for a new game we wanted to develop. When Gearbox realized that the technology we wanted to use for our new title wasn't going to be ready for us after we shipped OpFor, we decided to look at other things we could do with our time. The opportunity to upgrade Half-Life for the Dreamcast and create another new episode within the Half-Life universe was really appealing, so we went for it. So, the timing was perfect and the property was already something we had worked with and something we cared a lot about. It just made sense for everyone to do. Besides, Gearbox's role in the project has been to upgrade the content and build the new Barney episode. Sierra, Valve and Gearbox have been working with Captivation Digital Laboratories who have been handling the actual coding on the Dreamcast.
Have there been any significant problems or snags your team has encountered while porting Half-Life?
The most significant "snag" is that there's always one more feature or one more enhancement each of us would like to make. The problem is really knowing when to stop :) Luckily, we've actually been able to expand the scope of new content like the Barney game from what we originally planned to do without blowing the development schedule out of proportion.
Can you go into specifics about what kind of effects you'll be able to add to the Dreamcast version of Half-Life that were not seen in the PC version?
I can best talk about the content upgrades and the new content since that's what Gearbox is responsible for. There are a few very important upgrades to the Dreamcast version of Half-Life.
First, the characters, weapons and monsters in the game have been upgraded with higher resolution models and more detail than ever before. The result is that all of the creatures and people in the game look much more realistic and have more animation articulation than they ever did before.
The other really significant addition is the entirely new episode that's being added to the game. The new episode is currently being referred to as Half-Life: Guard Duty and puts players in the shoes of Barney the security guard during the incident at Black Mesa. The episode isn't as long as the original game, but it does offer lots of new encounters and moments that are really incredible for people who like Half-Life.
We don't want to give away too much of the story, but we can reveal that Guard Duty is a complete experience with a new narrative that takes place simultaneously to the original Half-Life story.
The story isn't being tampered with for this version is it? We know that the models are being upgraded, but are any of the textures or levels, for example, being changed to take advantage of the Dreamcast hardware?
All of the original Half-Life story, encounters and plot has been left intact.
The content has been upgraded to enhance the experience, but the game play has been carefully preserved. We just couldn't deal with the hate mail if we changed anything important :). I understand that textures have had to be adapted by Captivation to be better suited to the Dreamcast hardware.
Also, character skins offer more details. Players who have never played the PC version will be in for an upgraded first visit to the Black Mesa Research Facility.
What about multiplayer Half-Life? How is that being handled?
Since the beginning of this project, we've been very conservative about commitments with the multiplayer game and, as such, we've made no official announcements about how Half-Life multiplayer will be presented. It's been no secret that most of the focus for the Dreamcast version of Half-Life has been in enhancing the original game as well as providing an extra entirely new single player episode (called Half-Life: Guard Duty). But, as has been discussed before, everyone involved in this project is taking a lot of time and care to determine what the best presentation of the Half-Life multiplayer game will be on the console. We'll talk about how it works out when the time is right.
How about interface? What methods of control will players have?
Half-Life for Dreamcast will feature some default joystick configurations that should be perfect for most console gamers. However, the game will provide plenty of support for custom configurations and for alternate interfaces like the Dreamcast Mouse and Keyboard. Whether you're new to Half-Life or an old first-person action game expert, you should be able to find or set up up a configuration exactly to your liking.
Tell us a little more about the bonus game, Half-Life: Guard Duty.
The new episode, currently being called Half-Life: Guard Duty, puts players in the role of Barney the security guard during the "incident" at the Black Mesa Research Facility.
The new game features a complete new story with lots of new environments, encounters and action that has been custom built for the Sega Dreamcast.
With Guard Duty included, Half-Life for Dreamcast is actually like getting two games for the price of one.
When players take on the role of Barney, new areas of Black Mesa will be discovered and new characters will be met. The civilians of the research facility must work together to survive and Barney really must rise to the occasion. The neatest thing about Guard Duty is that it really meshes well with the Half-Life universe and takes place simultaneously to the original game. That means that when Barney goes to work in the morning, players know that disaster will strike at any moment. The narrative has been designed to really keep us all at the edge of our seats with a good balance between tension and challenge.
During the game, players find themselves really looking forward to surviving to the next big scene where even more impressive things are experienced. Moment after moment, Guard Duty tries to take the essence of what is great about Half-Life and deliver it with a completely new and unique yet familiar experience.
What's it like working with Captivation Digital Laboratories on the project?
Captivation was chosen because of their experience with the Sega Dreamcast. A lot of trust and faith has been put into their group to make Half-Life shine on the Dreamcast console. They've really taken on the very complex job of bringing the code across to the Dreamcast and provided enough room for Gearbox to add the new Barney episode and upgrade a lot of the content.
When will the game be on store shelves?
Half-Life for Dreamcast will hopefully be available very soon, and probably in plenty of time for the holiday season. But Half-Life for Dreamcast will not be available before it's ready.
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