Difference between revisions of "Talk:Cameo Era"

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(Created page with "- This is the successor to the 'Dhabih Eng' era, the Cameo Era hub page, with brief blurbs and links for each of its two development stages.")
 
(Initial move of info,)
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- This is the successor to the 'Dhabih Eng' era, the Cameo Era hub page, with brief blurbs and links for each of its two development stages.
 
- This is the successor to the 'Dhabih Eng' era, the Cameo Era hub page, with brief blurbs and links for each of its two development stages.
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The Cameo era is easily one of the most recognizable and famous in Half-Life 2's development cycle, characterized by both concept art and an overall darker tone. There are quite a number of maps from this era in the WC Mappack, giving us clues on the progression of ideas at the time.
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== Summary ==
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[[File:Dhabih eng concept art 01.jpg|thumb|225px|Concept art depicting Gordon, Alyx, Eli, Skitch and a rough D0g.]]
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This era began sometime in early-mid 2000 (June 2000 at the latest (the "proposal date" of the 'Timelapse Opening' script)) with the adoption of a circular story design philosophy, centering around a single area/region which the player exits then returns to over the course of the game — City 17. Many new concepts and areas were solidified during this era, including the Air Exchange, an opening Wasteland train ride, gasmasked citizens and the return of the Black Mesa Science Team. Prompted by Laidlaw's grim story vignettes, the team's concept artists  — Dhabih Eng and Viktor Antonov  — created numerous pieces of concept art for the era, featuring an overall darker tone, more stylistic color choices, and somewhat exaggerated character designs. Gordon's journey was marked by cameo-type segments with ally characters for each major section (akin to retail's Colonel Cubbage and Father Grigori), with a select few like Alyx and Captain Vance defining much of the plot.
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This era heralded in the foundations of the HL2 we recognize today, albeit with a much larger scope.
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=== Development Background ===
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<blockquote>
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''"There was you and a bunch of other agents were like you. Your HEV suit would have become this weird, black leather stealth suit with all these devices latched on it. There was some kind of parasitic implant thing in his brain that would kill him if he went against orders." Gabe Newell took one look at it [and said]: "It's not Half-Lfe." "He was right." Marc agrees. "We had some really elaborate stuff going on with agents and counteragents. That was really convoluted. Gradually the process was to simplify things to make them directly related. So it gradually changed from this globe-spanning thing to, 'Let's do a city, or a region, an area where you go out and come back in,' you end up kind of where you began. It was our little local level design philosophy on a larger scale. You can see your goal, and you had to thwart a bunch of obstacles that get in your way, and at the end of the level when you get there."''
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- Raising the Bar: Uncorrected Proof</blockquote>
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<!-- thinking that Era comparisons should be in the summary like this, major changes will still be under "known information" -->
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==== Changes from the Hyper Era ====
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* The 3 alien races are no longer separate at this point.  The 2 main races are featured together, with some designs being fused and others not.  Synths are styled to have glowing, exposed components.
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* The city with a Citadel originally meant for the G-Man and his race is merged into the main setting, becoming City 17.  The Hyperborea, at some point changed to the Borealis, no longer appears at the beginning of the game.  Rather, the player is meant to visit it much later.  Kraken Base can now be seen at the beginning of the game thanks to the introduction of the teleportation failure.
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{{PNSections
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|title=HL2 - Eras
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|before=[[Hyper_Era|Hyper Era]]
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|after=[[Talk:Cameo_Era/Expansion|Expansion stage]]
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}}
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[[Category:Eras]]
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[[Category:Half-Life 2]]

Revision as of 04:01, 28 December 2021

- This is the successor to the 'Dhabih Eng' era, the Cameo Era hub page, with brief blurbs and links for each of its two development stages.

The Cameo era is easily one of the most recognizable and famous in Half-Life 2's development cycle, characterized by both concept art and an overall darker tone. There are quite a number of maps from this era in the WC Mappack, giving us clues on the progression of ideas at the time.

Summary

Concept art depicting Gordon, Alyx, Eli, Skitch and a rough D0g.

This era began sometime in early-mid 2000 (June 2000 at the latest (the "proposal date" of the 'Timelapse Opening' script)) with the adoption of a circular story design philosophy, centering around a single area/region which the player exits then returns to over the course of the game — City 17. Many new concepts and areas were solidified during this era, including the Air Exchange, an opening Wasteland train ride, gasmasked citizens and the return of the Black Mesa Science Team. Prompted by Laidlaw's grim story vignettes, the team's concept artists — Dhabih Eng and Viktor Antonov — created numerous pieces of concept art for the era, featuring an overall darker tone, more stylistic color choices, and somewhat exaggerated character designs. Gordon's journey was marked by cameo-type segments with ally characters for each major section (akin to retail's Colonel Cubbage and Father Grigori), with a select few like Alyx and Captain Vance defining much of the plot.

This era heralded in the foundations of the HL2 we recognize today, albeit with a much larger scope.

Development Background

"There was you and a bunch of other agents were like you. Your HEV suit would have become this weird, black leather stealth suit with all these devices latched on it. There was some kind of parasitic implant thing in his brain that would kill him if he went against orders." Gabe Newell took one look at it [and said]: "It's not Half-Lfe." "He was right." Marc agrees. "We had some really elaborate stuff going on with agents and counteragents. That was really convoluted. Gradually the process was to simplify things to make them directly related. So it gradually changed from this globe-spanning thing to, 'Let's do a city, or a region, an area where you go out and come back in,' you end up kind of where you began. It was our little local level design philosophy on a larger scale. You can see your goal, and you had to thwart a bunch of obstacles that get in your way, and at the end of the level when you get there."

- Raising the Bar: Uncorrected Proof

Changes from the Hyper Era

  • The 3 alien races are no longer separate at this point. The 2 main races are featured together, with some designs being fused and others not. Synths are styled to have glowing, exposed components.
  • The city with a Citadel originally meant for the G-Man and his race is merged into the main setting, becoming City 17. The Hyperborea, at some point changed to the Borealis, no longer appears at the beginning of the game. Rather, the player is meant to visit it much later. Kraken Base can now be seen at the beginning of the game thanks to the introduction of the teleportation failure.
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Hyper Era
HL2 - Eras Next section:
Expansion stage