I doubt it. I'd rather hold my breath for a potential PSVR2 port but even that is unlikely, but somehow more possible than it being ported to non VR.
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Will Half-Life: Alyx ever be released for non-VR?
- Thread starter Video Kojima
- Start date
Sure - this is a totally different point though.
One is: I want a new Half-Life game in a similar vein to the previous ones (regular first person shooter style game). No one is arguing or suggesting people shouldn't want that.
The other is: I see this game, Alyx, and I want you to make it into an entirely different game.
It's fine to want a new Half-Life game like the first option, but it's an odd request to ask for one game to be completely transformed into another like #2.
Would you answer the same in a thread asking for Mario 64 in 2d?
I highly doubt it. I think they're really expecting this game to hang long legs and push people to get VR.
There are ways to play it without VR already done via mods but its such a broken experience it would do this game a massive disservice. Its so bad that you would have a better experience watching a lets play. If you are not willing to invest in VR then pretend Half-Life: Alyx neve came out and hope Valve will make a traditional HL game. I do have to say, I would almost not want them to do a traditional half life since the VR experience is so good and done so well by them.
When Valve has essentially done just that to the series - transformed it into something else - I don't think it all that odd for many fans to want it back as it was.
If I was a fan of 2D Mario games I would want them making more of them I guess. Mario 64 specifically? I don't know. I don't think it's a fair comparison because, unless I'm wrong, people weren't waiting on Mario 64 to continue with a story basically left in limbo.
Right, I get what you mean now, but I feel like that's an unreasonable request. They spent all this time making this flagship VR title, something to showcase this tech that Valve is clearly very passionate about and you want them to make the same game again, from scratch, without what makes it special? I'd rather they put that effort into making a good Half-Life game built from the ground up for PC instead of an adaptation.
The point is - if you're asking for one game to be transformed into something entirely different - it's not because you like the game you're looking at, so why do you want _THAT_ game? You don't want that game. People asking for Alyx in non-VR don't want Alyx.
They want another Half-Life game. That's fine, as I've said. The weird part is saying "I really like the look of that game, except almost everything about it and why it is exists".
Mario 64 -> 2d is a fair comparison because you're asking for a similar kind of undertaking. You're looking at one game designed to be one thing and asking for that specific game to be turned into something else entirely. You can say, I'd like the next game to be 2d - then that makes sense and is perfectly fine and reasonable to request.
It'd also be such a crap half-measure. Why would anyone want that? Why would people want Valve to spend all that time and effort developing a new game retreading something they've already done? Why not make a brand new traditional half life game from scratch to be a traditional half life game instead?
I feel like I've addressed some of these points already and don't see the point posting what I've already said. Valve making it because many fans want it seems a good enough reason to me. They're not obligated to but it would be nice if they did.
I don't think this is a fair comparison because the move to VR is entirely different from the move to 3D from 2D. I can play 2D and 3D games in much the same way with a controller or keyboard and mouse looking at a flat screen but when I put on a VR headset for a game like Alyx everything is different. I then have head and hand motion sensing and spacial awareness, I need to be interacting with games in an entirely different way. It's just utterly different.
VR mechanics are so ingrained into the experience one might as well ask if Tetris can be turned into a racing game - it would require a retooling of not only the cameras, the controls, but how puzzle solving works and how experiences are designed around the user interface.
Will Wii Sports ever be released for a system without any motion controls? That's basically what you're asking
I suppose something like Audiosurf could be used as a starting point in designing a Tetris racing game.
I'm pretty sure all of the sports in Wii Sports have been done without motion controls in games before.
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You have to play it in VR to understand why it wouldn't work.
As for the YouTube comments, a video doesn't do it justice either IMO. It's an absolutely brilliant game and I don't think a non BR version is happening. Valve operates on how they want users to experience their games. Not how users want to experience their game.
Yeah and that sucks. I understand how VR works just fine btw. That still sucks ass and they have plenty of time and money to rework it
Not the technology behind VR, HL:Alyx in VR. It was made for VR only is what many of us are saying. Some games are made with VR in mind. HL:A was made for VR period. It's a groundbreaking experience IMO. Like Astro Bot.
Respectfully, I think you're kind missing the point of the analogy. It literally stops being the game it was designed to be if you're completely rewriting the core mechanics to fit a totally different kind of human interface. All of the encounters, interactions, and environments were designed, tested, and iterated around the tactility and sense of presence granted by VR. Interactables, movement within the space, the linear nature of the level design, the detail afforded to sub object interaction...the list goes on and on. Elements that are strong in VR do not, in turn, translate well to mouse and keyboard, and would quickly become cumbersome shoehorned into that interface.
Another analog would be, playing a racing game with a dance mat. Yeah, with enough retooling anything is possible, however at that point you're missing out on what the experience was precisely designed to be and it will absolutely suffer for it. And it quickly stops being a good example of either type of game.
So you can't really just 'port' it and have it be a good experience; you'd have to be essentially developing an entirely new game from the ground up around the same narrative and characters.
Only vr made it good?
Story, characters, level and mission design was not good?
It is not that VR made it good, it is that the game is designed around VR and so it cannot properly exist without it.
The level and mission design would definitely be much much worse without VR, but works great with VR.
Yet no game comparable to Wii Sports has been close to being as popular because it provided a completely different experience. The input is essential to the gameplay and experience that it offers.
Half-Life: Alyx was designed from the ground up as a VR experience and there will never be a "pancake" version.
the entire narrative flow and environmental interaction is good for VR. In a non-VR space you're several degrees removed from those elements, and your interface is far less immersive, thus it loses a lot in the translation. Movement within an area in Alyx is designed around movement within your physical space, turning, reaching, stepping and such. Outside of VR, that becomes a series of key presses on a keyboard and some mouse clicks, and many elements would have to be made automatic because there are no simple digital surrogates for all of these motions with WASD; so it loses that visceral dimension and, thus, becomes a more cumbersome and far less immersive experience.
It's like, getting in an F1 car and doing laps around the track on a sunny day, versus watching a video of a cockpit cam on YouTube. Or watching a 3-D movie in IMAX, versus having someone describing it to you. The endpoint may be the same, but the quality of the experiences are so far removed from one another as to be totally different.
No, but everything about the game works because it's a VR game. In the same way that many pancake games don't work in VR, VR games don't work in pancake mode either. Alyx is one of those VR games that is made for VR.
I think people hoping Alyx will be ported to pancake mode will be sorely disappointed.
It's a reward for getting VR. I'm pretty sure it's not going anywhere. You'll get one eventually. When you do, you can play Half Life: Alyx and you're in for a treat! VR is a lot of fun. Adopt! Adopt! Adopt!
I don't think it'd be a very good game in a non-VR setting. Immersion is a huge part of the game and if you're just jump crouching in circles gunning down enemies you lose a huge part of what made it such a spectacular experience
Having finally played it for myself I think this is untrue. Did I feel like I needed a motion tracking display strapped to my head to make the experience what it is? Not at all. But, could I see playing the game with a traditional controller or M/KB? Also no.
What makes the Half-Life: Alyx experience stand out is the use of dual motion controllers. Whether I had to move my actual head around to look or use the right stick on a controller to do the same wouldn't have changed much of the game. Flicking around physics props and doing some motion control shooting would work fine on a standard display.
I don't think so. The game will be pretty bad if converted to non VR. The enemy placements, difficulty, and level design is made with VR in mind. I would imagine it would be dull and easy to play in first person IMO.
The story, characters, and mission/level design were good because of their relationship with VR. The game utilizes all the benefits of VR completely, from unique game mechanics that can only work with having full hand controls to being able to put players immersive situations that hold a lot of tension because your brain is tricked into thinking you are actually there. If you strip away the VR, you either need to dramatically rethink and rework how 90% of the game plays out or you just have a game that's considerably more lack-luster when translated 1:1 to a 2D space (i.e. a computer monitor).
For example, in a standard HL game, you enter a room with a headcrab, you move your mouse over it, click it a few times, pew pew, it's dead. Maybe you bungle a shot or two and it jumps and hits you for a few hit points, but whatever, no big deal, you just shoot it again. In VR, entering a room with a headcrab is an immediate "oh shit" moment. You have to physically aim your gun at a moving target and hope enough shots connect to kill it before it can hurt you. If you empty a clip, you then need to manually reload while this face sucker is coming towards you. If you don't kill it in time and it leaps, then you need to frantically dodge it with your body and move your head and body around to locate it wherever it lands. Or worse, it lands on you, and then you have a headcrab's mouth literally in your face as you scramble to detach it. In VR, experiencing this 5+ times is a damn whirlwind of an ordeal. On a screen, it probably would barely register as fun.
Have you actually tried this? This is fairly normal to test during development and it simply doesn't work. Especially since the dual motion controllers are what makes VR, VR - you expect to be able to move your head since it's a natural part of moving in real life. Simply moving the joystick can't replace that.
They would have to redesign a lot of the game to make that work, it is very much a game developed with vr in mind.
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Not with Alyx, but I've played other motion controlled things on 2D and don't really feel the disconnect. If anything, the VR concessions are what take me out of it -- having my view suddenly turn completely orange as my head goes too far and phases through a wall, or needing to angle snap and teleport, things like that. I don't think the fidelity of interaction is quite there yet for full immersion to work, at least for me, so I see the actual head mounted display portion of things a hassle more than a benefit.
It's funny, people who haven't played VR really don't get that you can't just make a VR game non-VR.
The disconnect, for me at least, is moving your head with a joystick when I use the same controller to emulate and move my own hands. Moving/teleporting your body works fine with the joystick since it's not something you need to do constantly, whereas I feel the need to move my head at all times in a game like Alyx.
But if it works for you, it works for you. I just don't think it's something most people would appreciate.
The option wouldn't hurt I imagine, especially given the low amount of actual VR hardware out there. I feel the need to physically look up and down occasionally, but a lot of things are straight ahead so a lot of my actual looking is done with the angle snapping.
Probably not, but I think it goes against their own interests due to their investments in the VR space. Valve is selling VR headsets after all, as well as selling and providing VR software, so if a 2D version requires substantial effort I don't think it's something they'll ever prioritize.
And if it's a matter of price, you still need the motion controllers for the solution you're suggesting, which are going for $200-$300, so by that point you might as well invest in a $299 Oculus Quest 2 instead.
I suppose, though I know I'd be more inclined to replay without the head mounted display. As is it's still be very cool but something I'm probably leaving as a one and done.
Probably not and even if they did, it wouldn't be the same game, so no if they do, no if they don't.
Think of a project as that as more akin to a remake like Resident Evil 2 as opposed to a simple port. This is not just console to console or even console to mobile. A game built so heavily around VR like Alyx would be a different beast behind the interactivity were you to fake away the VR elements.
Think of a project as that as more akin to a remake like Resident Evil 2 as opposed to a simple port. This is not just console to console or even console to mobile. A game built so heavily around VR like Alyx would be a different beast behind the interactivity were you to fake away the VR elements.
But that is not the same as actually wanting a released game to be something its not just because of fan expectations, valve is free to do with their IP as they see fit.
If it was any other publisher, it probably would get some non-VR release. But Valve definitely does not give into fan demands in new entries for its franchises. I'm sure fan mods will probably get it to a place where it is enjoyable as a regular-r experience though.
VR is what makes the game what it is.
If they ever do port it to 2D, the people that begged for it will play it and be like "that's what all the fuss was about?" Then they'll continue to spout about how overrated VR is and that they don't get the hype.
If they ever do port it to 2D, the people that begged for it will play it and be like "that's what all the fuss was about?" Then they'll continue to spout about how overrated VR is and that they don't get the hype.