Half Life: Alyx

[Protocol7]

https://twitter.com/valvesoftware/status/1196566870360387584

I am really looking forward to this. Sure it isn't Half Life 3 but it's something huge for VR.

[loui100]

MowTin said:

My guess is that HL:Alyx lack melee because the kind of physics based melee found in Boneworks and S&S would kill performance and force them to reduce visual fidelity. 

I get the feeling they put a lot of work into optimizing everything to get this kind of amazing performance. 

The thing is, HL has a fairly sophisticated physics engine in place, probably more so than S&S. You can I think throw objects at enemies and they will interact with them, they just generally don't do any damage while doing so. I think Valve just thought physics-based melee couldn't be done without inducing nausea in VR novices. They probably looked at Boneworks, which is horrendous in terms of comfort and user-friendliness, and thought okay, we are not doing that. By the time S&S came out, and single-handedly revolutionized VR melee and interface IMO, HL: Alyx was already in post-production which is fair play, I guess. But they could at least have introduced rudimentary punching options or hell, allow you to zap enemies with multitool or sth if you are in a tight spot. But the engine seems greatly optimized and my hope is other developers can use it to create more advanced VR games in the future (Please note I'm only 4 hours into the game, so maybe something changes later on, but from what I've gathered there are no melee options whatsoever).

[Zenbane]

MowTin said:

Actually, it's usually the young who innovate because they're not limited by the traditions and rules of the past. They see the world with fresh eyes.

That's not what you are saying though. You are saying that even after you grow older, that you should remain with the eyes of a child. That is not at all what innovators in history have done:
https://startupguide.com/12-greatest-innovators-of-all-time

Each of the greatest innovators of all time learned from experience, and innovated based on trial and error. Zuckerberg and Bezos aren't young anymore, and they are innovating more now than ever by relying on experience, not the eyes of a child.

I've never seen anyone argue against seeing the world from a fresh perspective.

I've never seen anyone argue against applying knowledge, experience, and wisdom.

Also, Fresh perspective != eyes of a child

It is possible to gain a fresh perspective WITHOUT forcing oneself to have the eyes/mind of a child. Ongoing education, research, and development is a great example. All of which can only advance forward by building upon ongoing experience; which is in direct contradiction of your advice to remain stagnant and always have the eyes/mind of a child.

I know a lot of people who can never enjoy a movie because they insist,
"this was done in that previous movie" or "this is a rip off of another
movie" it's like the weight of their movie viewing experience makes it
impossible for them to enjoy anything. Moreover, often they fail to see
what's different about the new film. All they can see is how it's the
same.

Yep, and those people are able to spend more time doing other things in life that are far more rewarding than remaining stuck watching the same regurgitated films. I know a lot of people who are easily enthralled by monotony.

What's marginal or not and how you're willing to spend is purely subjective.

Nope. Margins can be measured.

if you have a 2080ti and i9 9900k then you want the best. That's the Index, right now.

Completely disagree. The Index has known flaws and is tethered. I still use my Rift CV1 but being untethered with Quest is far more "next gen" than what the Index currently offers. Especially since Quest, and soon Rift-S, can track your bare hands (zero controllers) in VR.

The Reverb like the PiMax requires too much power to drive it without reprojection.

Maybe too much power for you personally, but that is purely subjective on your part.

Anyway, now with the coronavirus economic catastrophe, $1000 may mean
more to most than it used to. This could really hurt VR development,
sadly. 

Hmm, most rumors on FB and Reddit seem to indicate that VR is now becoming MORE mainstream due to the pandemic and requirements to self-quarantine. But yeah, considering the marginal upgrades Index provides, $1000 may be better off spent with something like Quest or Rift-S with plenty left over to expand your VR Library.

[MowTin]

loui100 said:

The thing is, HL has a fairly sophisticated physics engine in place, probably more so than S&S. You can I think throw objects at enemies and they will interact with them, they just generally don't do any damage while doing so. I think Valve just thought physics-based melee couldn't be done without inducing nausea in VR novices. They probably looked at Boneworks, which is horrendous in terms of comfort and user-friendliness, and thought okay, we are not doing that. By the time S&S came out, and single-handedly revolutionized VR melee and interface IMO, HL: Alyx was already in post-production which is fair play, I guess. But they could at least have introduced rudimentary punching options or hell, allow you to zap enemies with multitool or sth if you are in a tight spot. But the engine seems greatly optimized and my hope is other developers can use it to create more advanced VR games in the future (Please note I'm only 4 hours into the game, so maybe something changes later on, but from what I've gathered there are no melee options whatsoever).

I've seen people playing HL 2 VR and I'm impressed by how good the physics were for the time. I remember HL 2 was a revolution in terms of physics. 

HL:Alyx is definitely not revolutionary in terms of physics but it is in terms of image quality and performance.

I'm don't know much about game engines so anyone is free to correct me here. But I feel like the Source engine is just much better for VR than the Unreal and Unity engines that most VR Games use. It seems like they focus more on lighting and textures than all the expensive effects used by other engines. 

But Valve really adds to things with their art. They put so much detail into small things. When you open the gate to the quarantine zone, the biomechanical technology is rendered in such detail. You really feel like you're handling alien technology. I doubt many companies have the resources to craft such detail. 

[MowTin]

Wildt said:

C'est fini!
What a ride..   despite the flaws and shortcomings already voiced in this thread, it's still the best video game experience I've ever had. 
Kudos Valve! First true AAA VR title in my book.

 
Wow, you zip through games. I don't want it to ever end. What difficulty did you play on? 

[Wildt]

MowTin said:

Wildt said:

C'est fini!
What a ride..   despite the flaws and shortcomings already voiced in this thread, it's still the best video game experience I've ever had. 
Kudos Valve! First true AAA VR title in my book.

 
Wow, you zip through games. I don't want it to ever end. What difficulty did you play on? 

Normal - took me 12 hours.

[RuneSR2]

Wildt said:

MowTin said:

Wildt said:

C'est fini!
What a ride..   despite the flaws and shortcomings already voiced in this thread, it's still the best video game experience I've ever had. 
Kudos Valve! First true AAA VR title in my book.

 
Wow, you zip through games. I don't want it to ever end. What difficulty did you play on? 

Normal - took me 12 hours.

Some say hard isn't really hard, but should have been the normal setting. I've died once, but that was because I jumped in a hole and hadn't seen the spikes, lol - so not yet died in combat, I too play on normal setting. 

I take it very slow too, because we might not see the next Half-Life game before 2035 😉

But we still have two more VR games from Valve, really interesting what those will be like...

Some speculate that other VR games will be much less interesting after you've tried Alyx. Might be correct, everything totally pales also in my mind due to Alyx, ok hopefully not Stormland... still need to finish that game.

[Zenbane]

Wildt said:

Normal - took me 12 hours.

Sounds about right. People were finishing it fast on FB as well. 12 hours isn't too bad for a VR Title. I look forward to picking this up soon!

[Zenbane]

More good stats about the game:

https://www.roadtovr.com/half-life-alyx-300k-concurrent-twitch-viewers-launch-day

‘Half-Life: Alyx’ Tops ‘Fortnite’ and ‘Warzone’ with 300K Concurrent Twitch Viewers on Launch Day

Half-Life: Alyx became one of gaming’s most watched titles on Twitch yesterday. With 300K peak concurrent viewers (according to SteamDB data) the game lead the day’s peak concurrent viewers over major games like the recently released Doom Eternal (26K peak), perennial titles like Fortnite (118K peak) and League of Legends (180K peak), and just about tied the latest battle royale craze, Call of Duty: Warzone (296K peak).

[MowTin]

Valve On Why Half-Life: Alyx Doesn’t Have Boneworks-Style Melee/Physics

A bit of an excuse. They claim it's because of a lack of haptic feedback in VR. A rather silly answer. 

[kojack]

bitzie said:

What is probably the most iconic aspect of the Half-Life franchise? The crowbar. Smashing crates, windows, boards, and most importantly, headcrabs. Why Valve didn't include what is basically a core mechanic of the franchise is beyond me.

Maybe Boneworks hoarded all the crowbars.

RuneSR2 said:

kojack said:

Has nobody at Valve (in the last 4 years) on the Oculus support in SteamVR team actually used a CV1? 

How about native Oculus support? Can you start the game from Oculus Home without starting SteamVR? (Yeah, I know, what are the odds...)

No native Oculus support, it's purely a SteamVR game. Sadly, because SteamVR's setup is crap. This morning it wouldn't let me start Alyx because my 2080TI didn't have enough GPU ram to play it. I rebooted, tried again, and the coordinate system was way off (had me standing over 2m to the right of the origin). It took multiple calibrations to try to get the damn thing lined up the way I wanted. (If this was a native oculus game, I'd just do Reset View in Dash and it would have been fixed in seconds)

You can start it from Oculus Dash, but it will start SteamVR.

I haven't tried OpenComposite yet.