Interview: Half-Life 2's Beta Is Inspiring A New Generation Of Developers
Almost 20 years ago, an entire build of Half-Life 2 leaked online before release - the amount revealed was on a scale that hasn’t been seen since. The version that eventually arrived barely resembles the leaked build. In the leak, City 17 had an LA-esque skyline, children worked in factories, manhack arcades were controlled by unknowing citizens, there was the all-knowing Consul, Eli Maxwell, Captain Vance heading the Conscripts, and the Arctic. In the Half-Life 2 that launched, Eli and Vance combined, the Consul became Breen, and the LA-esque skyline can only be seen from the Citadel as a leftover of development while everything else became Eastern European.
The whole experience had a grungier aesthetic, far more industrial than the retail version we’d seen emerge in 2004. There was a steampunk edge that made the Combine more rustic and unrefined, rather than the unwavering interdimensional conquerors we know today. And that sparked something: an itch to play a game that doesn’t exist. Or didn’t.
RELATED: Interview: Half-Life: Echoes Creator Says The Mod Was About Reminding Himself "Why Half-Life Meant So Much"
The leak, combined with interviews, E3 footage, books, and concept art, is being pieced together to re-build the ‘Beta’. We’ve seen this a few times over the years. There was Dark Interval, the first major project of its kind, Missing Information, and the fittingly titled HL2 Beta, but more projects have surfaced with their own unique takes like Raising the Bar: Redux and Project City 17. They’re a new generation of developers, the modern Black Mesa in a way, tackling this huge undertaking to create a game that never saw the light.
“I really like the original Half-Life, but I didn’t feel that Half-Life 2 hit the
Read more on thegamer.com
