Talk:Dhabih Eng Era

Dhabih Eng around 23-28/7/2000 evidenced by Siggraph content (https://valvearchive.com/archive/Other%20Files/Email%20Archive/David%20Speyrer/Bun_FreeTVs.PNG)

• - Long train ride introduction
• o Hl1 gargantua slice
• - Borealis moved to later in plot (not in arctic to begin with, no sack ticks)

Combine are now a combination of the 3 race ideas

• Troops from the 3 races are featured together, some are fused designs others are not
• Slightly cartoonish like early tf2 style but dark
• Synths styled to have glowing exposed components
• Character proportions are a bit strange

Scanner from this era is only in concept art and sounds

• Sounds indicate charging stations and possible ability to fire energy balls, also a dive bombing behaviour and poison gas later
• Piranha like movement

Man hack from this era only has textures and sounds

• Possible outline in graphics card wallpaper
• More clothing variety
• Kids in factories
• o Captain Vance
•  Conscripts
•  Younger alyx
•  distinguishable clothing
• - Something about hl1 styled xen enemies
• o Gargantua train sequence
• o Slightly updated bullsquid, higher res than hl1 but still cartoony
• - Manhack arcade
• - Lab teleport introduced
• o Originally fails to go to kraken base
• - Quarry town with monk, traps and mines
• o Went into scurry mine field then encountered some antlions
• o Next place is a safe camp run by Captain Vance or eli
• o First proper player drivable vehicle, digger, earlier was manhack and rocket
• o Vehicles where designed to be small segments, changed later for more engagement
• - Eli Maxwell Scrapyard tbot
• o Concept art for tbot has the right proportions and features but different details to the textures and known model components
• o Era started with tbot design
• o Scrapland vignette seems related to some inspiration from forbidden planet
•  Dusty glass grill
•  Extending legs
•  New posture Looks like a beetle sitting down
• o Early Physics manipulator design (beam physgun)
• - Antlion caves
• o Much larger open spaces after eli den, planned to be even larger than the Antlion caves introduced with grub extract
• o Antlion grubs were partially used but never fully as their purpose was still being figured out, left until episode 2 to be refined
• o No bug bait control, guard actually threw dangerous version like poison
• - Wasteland
• o Catch train, after a bit need to move on foot for some reason
• - Depot
• o Originally a prison
• o Gunship construction
• o Catch train to air ex
• o Antlions attack with you but against you too
• - Citadel incinerator
• - Trench coat metro cop older icon stunstick
• - Computer Chips plot element in spire/weather control
• o Weather related?
• o Allowing use of combine weaponry?
•  Specifically mentioned in audio
•  Player may already have one to use physics manipulator
• - Cremators
• - Early physics implementation (ipion virtual physics still used)
• o brickbat
• o Physics manipulator considered as an ingame weapon

Particle storm

• Only limited particle system remains
• Sounds for forming, dissipating, hovering and lightning strikes
• A node for “particle storm rock spawn”, possibilities include
•  Something for it to grab and throw
•  Something that is a consequence of it attacking, allowing you to attack it
•  Something for it to protect and for you to attack
•  Something for it to spawn from
• If not a proper enemy it is Possibly a method to keep the player within the playable area, like leeches or piranhas in the ocean, somewhat similar to the guardians in halo multiplayer maps
• - Sand Barnacle?

Real world antlions inspired 3 things

• The name of the hl2 antlions, a minor ability to be hidden under the ground
• Helped inspire the sacktick
• Behaviour might have inspired the sand barnacle

The sand barnacle: (speculation based on engine features and mechanical analysis of antlions that theres no way the devs didn't do) Trapping method

• Slippery sand funnel using an animated displacement activated with player or enemy moving close
• Real antlions also throw sand at their victims to make them fall quicker

Hiding method

• Mostly buried in sand

Attack method

• Melee attacks by wriggling body when close

Corpse removal method

• Re-burry self with body?

Normal barnacle:

trapping method

• dangling Sticky tongue

Hiding method

• Attach to ceiling

Attack method

• Melee attacks with mouth when close

Corpse removal method

• Move ragdoll into ceiling

Differences before

• Plane changed to helicopter? Or vice versa (voice files and outline in rtb: uncorrected proof)

Two Different consul designs

• More cartoony
• - Two different consul confrontations
• o Kidnapped alyx
• o Semi-immortal tormented machine
• - Maybe Kleiner/Eli
• - Tile semi-organic metal citadel vs laser weapon on top in vignette and concept art
• o Bus ride
• - Skitch added in later half
• - City 17 full of sky scrapers
• o Plane crashes into one of them in Vertigo map, alyx captured, escape to other roof tops that have stalkers on them
• - Citadel positioning in relation to manhack arcade
• - air exchange
• o polluter
• o atmosphere portal dam
• - New Tripod hopper?
• - Vertigo art deco museum then palace

Differences after

Two Different consul designs

• Consul Patrick Stuart star trek inspiration
• - Vignette tbot description vs concept art
• - Skitch added in later half
• - City 17 barely any sky scrapers
• - air exchange
• o polluter
• o atmosphere portal dam
• - Antlion caves merged with quarry cave part of raven holm as victory mine
• - Player drivable Vehicle added to Wasteland traversal
• - Wasteland cut down to coast
• - Slow drift from cartoon esque to realistic with same maps/plot
• - ??/11/2001 chargeable gravity gun added maybe

Key dates

• 11/10/2000 stalker sounds
• 17/10/2000 all headcrab bite sounds
• 23/10/2000 binocular signal sounds
• 28/10/2000 alyx voice lines and after hurt
• 29/10/2000 much more sounds for flying apc turret

1/11/2000

• enemy soldiers after crash (helicopter) into sky scraper
• ricochet release date
•  idea for city logo from platform designs
•  possible reuse of content from tf2 development
• • heads from realistic tf2
• • armour is similar to space romans
•  slight possibility of late development aleph character model
• 8/11/2000 new bullsquid sounds
• 14/11/2000 first mention of town, phys town zombie town trap town
• 15/11/2000 to 14/12/2000 manhack sounds
• 17/11/2000 to 22/11/2000 ice axe sound
• -
• - 8/01/2001 first manhack test room
• - 12/01/2001 to 16/01/2001 vortigaunt voice
• - 23/01/2001 vort test map
• - 9/03/2001 first wasteland scanner sound
• - 27/03/2001 alien assassin ball sounds for tripwire
• - 30/03/2001 gunship sounds
• - 30/05/2001 to 6/11/2001 roller and roller bull sounds
• - 6/09/2001 roller mine sounds
• - 21/09/2001 to 26/09/2001 Particle storm sounds
• - ??/11/2001 vampire: the masquerade -bloodlines starts development
• o barely updated the sdk once downloaded, forced into crunch so no time to deal with changes in how source worked
• o Old console variables for charged gravity gun
•  Sounds for this still exist