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Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar
·Unprecedented access behind Half-Life and Half-Life 2
·A forward by Valve founder Gabe Newell
·Hundreds of art, design, preproduction, and other art pieces crammed into the book
·Over a dozen key members of Valve's staff interviewed
·Officially approved by Valve
·Behind City 17 and other locations
·The development of the Source engine
·A rogue's gallery of beasts, characters, and monstrosities
·Key weapons development revelations
·A tour of many of the game's locations, from inception to completion
·Filled with art, screens, and anecdotes from the Valve team
·A forward by Valve founder Gabe Newell
·Hundreds of art, design, preproduction, and other art pieces crammed into the book
·Over a dozen key members of Valve's staff interviewed
·Officially approved by Valve
·Behind City 17 and other locations
·The development of the Source engine
·A rogue's gallery of beasts, characters, and monstrosities
·Key weapons development revelations
·A tour of many of the game's locations, from inception to completion
·Filled with art, screens, and anecdotes from the Valve team
288 pages, Hardcover
First published November 23, 2004
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
April 20, 2020
Don't even bother reading the published version of this book. Grab the uncorrected proof from archive.org instead. Maybe 10% of the material that was in the uncorrected proof made it into the final product, and the proof is nearly complete aside from a few placeholder pages missing art and a title page quote that hadn't been decided yet. The released version is a series of amusing anecdotes related to the development of Valve games. The uncorrected proof is a history built up from interviews, of Valve from its early days as a startup hiring Quake modders, through the release of Half-Life and its expansions, the growth of its modding scene and releases like Counter Strike, Team Fortress Classic, Day of Defeat and...Gunman Chronicles? The latter half of the book covers the development of Half-Life 2, from early concepts to mostly finished game, the hacking and theft of the source code, and the final release. Along the way they discuss everything from overall design philosophy, story development process, technical problems and advancements, and the emotional effects on the staff of the hacking incident. There's all kinds of interesting stuff in here, like the story of the failed Dreamcast and Mac ports of Half-Life, how they originally committed to the no cutscenes model because they didn't want to spend time modelling Gordon without the HEV suit, and how Half-Life was beaten in sales on release by Barbie's Digital Camera.
The only thing I wished would have been discussed more was Steam. It's been probably the single biggest thing to happen to the PC gaming industry in the past two decades, and it's completely changed everything from how AAA titles are distributed to the viability of being an indie developer. While there are now alternatives like Itch.io and GOG, and there were digital distributors before Steam, it's clear now that Steam was the game changer. Yet at the same time, a lot of people hated Steam when it was first released. It's plausible that a big portion of its eventual success was the requirement to use it to play Half-Life 2. The planning and development of Steam is barely touched upon in this book, yet since the release of Episode 2, most people now think of Valve as more "the Steam company" than a games developer. I can kind of understand why. This is ostensibly a book about video games, not online commerce, and it wasn't clear at the time whether Steam would be an HL2 or a Ricochet. Still, it's a sadly missed opportunity in retrospect.
The whole book in retrospect is kind of odd. This was pretty much the crest of Valve artistically (if not profitably). After this we got Portal, Team Fortress 2 (another subject underdiscussed in this book, but given the development hell it went through, I really can't blame them), and the Half-Life episodes. Then Portal 2 came out and everything ground to a screeching halt. The years went by, the increasingly desperate fan search for any information on Episode 3/Half-Life 3, the "Valve can't count to 3 jokes", the release of some games that didn't really feel like Valve games, stories of terrible office politics, the departure of a lot of the old guard interviewed for this book, and finally the release of Marc Laidlaw's Epistle 3. All hope seemed lost. And then, out of nowhere, as is Valve custom, the VR-only Half-Life: Alyx. Personally, I no longer really care. This book makes clear that there was no plan going from HL 1 to 2, and there was clearly no plan going from Episode 2 to Alyx. Releasing what is effectively the sequel to an 11 year cliffhanger on a completely different platform is the exact opposite of what I consider a rapprochement with fans. That they replaced Merle Dandridge for seemingly no reason just adds salt to the wound. I haven't played Alyx, I don't plan to, and I think I'm done with Valve until I see some evidence that the new Valve can imitate the old. The fan remake Black Mesa, for all its warts, feels more like a Valve product than anything that Valve has released in the past decade. The fact that Valve allowed the developers of Black Mesa to sell it on Steam is at least a small sign that some part of the old Valve survives in Gaben's body. His billions of steam dollars have at least not made him forget that modders are what made Valve what it was, and hopefully what it could be again.
February 23, 2020
With Half-Life Alyx on the way and rumored to take inspiration from cut concepts from Half-Life 2, it felt like it was finally time to read this beloved behind the scenes of the game that famously explains some of the cut material. What surprised me however, is that despite having "Half Life 2" in the title, this is really more of an exhaustive history of Valve up to that point and goes into great detail about really every Valve product up to and through HL2. My favorite part actually ended up being the exploration of the first game's development, since you see the different players at Valve come into the picture and the vibrant modding scene that sprung up around the game. The exploration of Half-Life 2's development was still fascinating, but more about the technical side, as the company had already been built up by that point. Accompanying these stories is an absolute treasure trove of concept art and screenshots showing earlier conceptions of these games, and if you cross-reference it with what's present in the various prototypes of the two HL games floating around, there's a pretty interesting picture. There's a great section at the very end that's just about 10 pages of short stories Marc Laidlaw wrote to give the designers an idea of the plot, an I wish I could read a novel-length version of this early plot written by him. The elements are there, but filtered through an entirely different lens.
I should mention I read the "Uncorrected proof" which is ironically a leaked beta version of the book that's about 100 pages longer with more art and I think more of the short stories. There were definitely some little goofs on things like engine names and whatnot but if you know Valve and HL2 really well, you'll know what's wrong, though people less accustomed to Valve lore should probably stick with the published version. Either way, this is an absolute goldmine and a must for Half-Life fans, especially with what's on the horizon.
I should mention I read the "Uncorrected proof" which is ironically a leaked beta version of the book that's about 100 pages longer with more art and I think more of the short stories. There were definitely some little goofs on things like engine names and whatnot but if you know Valve and HL2 really well, you'll know what's wrong, though people less accustomed to Valve lore should probably stick with the published version. Either way, this is an absolute goldmine and a must for Half-Life fans, especially with what's on the horizon.
October 16, 2012
The book itself is made up of sketches and artwork, with some text here and there, with a few number of passages about gameplay early -and mostly cancelled- ideas.
As a big fan of half-life series, this book made me appreciate the backstage team much more.
And as a patient gamer waiting for the next installment of the series (rumored HL3), it makes me even more patient.
keep the awesome work Valve.
As a big fan of half-life series, this book made me appreciate the backstage team much more.
And as a patient gamer waiting for the next installment of the series (rumored HL3), it makes me even more patient.
keep the awesome work Valve.
August 5, 2018
its very good, all information when the game was made from half life 1 to half life 2, but majorly from half lfie 2
December 25, 2023
This is the bible for Half-Life. Every design/monster that's been cut from the main games and you find in mods like, Half-Life: Echoes, Entropy:Zero and Entropy: Zero 2, can be traced back here. It was a very insightful read in the process of making Half-Life 2 and I recommend it to every fan of the game.
February 15, 2018
If you're ever interested in how much work gets put into making a great game, not just technically but in terms of creativity, world-building, detail and polish. It's not a whole lot of text, just simple notes describing most interesting concepts and processes. I found this book extremely inspiring, because it clearly shows that massive effort and output won't be enough, that it's important to look critically at your work and try to make it structured, without getting too carried away. It's not as deep of an insight I wanted it to be, but still a great inspirational material that should be a delight for any video game enthusiast.
March 28, 2024
Definitely worth checking out if you're a Half-Life fan or an aspiring game artist or designer. Really needs a reprint or an official PDF since the book still goes for $200-$300 online. The art, screenshots, and photographs included do a great job telling the story of Valve's development and growth through Half-Life 1 and 2. The many captions include great thoughts and quotes from a wide array of Valve developers. Would love to see a book of this scale about Half-Life Alyx, the Portal series, or DotA 2 as well. It was nice to get a look at Valve through their scrappy, more humble beginnings rather than the massive, cold storefront they've become over the last two decades.
July 24, 2019
Half-Life 3 confirmed!
Read
September 28, 2019A fascinating look at the development of one of the greatest games of all time.
December 17, 2019
Several separate notes that surfacely disclose the process of the development of Half-Life 2. But the main task of the book is achieved - the desire to re-install the game is 100%
May 5, 2020
Wow Just Wow
March 13, 2022
Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar Tells about the development phase of one hell of a game in the history of gaming.
Read
October 19, 2022Ааа
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 26, 2024
PEAK LITERATURE
December 30, 2013
Published by Prima, the same guys who put out all those strategy guides, this book focuses not on walking you through a game but rather gives a behind-the-scenes look at / rough production history of the two Half-Life games, the 2nd one in particular. Released shortly after Half-Life 2, this book no doubt served as both an advertisement for Valve and a capitalization on their success for Prima.
It's mostly an art book, with tons of concept art, sketches, development screenshots, etc. There's some snippets of writing here and there from various members of HL2's production team, providing insight into certain processes, ideas, influences, and what have you, from scrapped concepts to anecdotal stories. It's certainly worth reading (it's a short read) for fans of the games(s). I only long for the day when someone writes a book-length analytical study of the Half-Life series, or a collection of critical essays by various future ludology scholars, or perhaps a biography in the vein of David Kushner's Masters of Doom detailing the history of Valve Software. One can only hope that Half-Life 3 will have been released by then. You may say I'm a dreamer...
It's mostly an art book, with tons of concept art, sketches, development screenshots, etc. There's some snippets of writing here and there from various members of HL2's production team, providing insight into certain processes, ideas, influences, and what have you, from scrapped concepts to anecdotal stories. It's certainly worth reading (it's a short read) for fans of the games(s). I only long for the day when someone writes a book-length analytical study of the Half-Life series, or a collection of critical essays by various future ludology scholars, or perhaps a biography in the vein of David Kushner's Masters of Doom detailing the history of Valve Software. One can only hope that Half-Life 3 will have been released by then. You may say I'm a dreamer...
August 23, 2014
This book was a totally random find at my local charity shop and it is pretty impressive - its printed by the same company that prints a lot of the strategy guides to the games however this is a behind the scenes look at the game, its creation and some of the background to it all.
The book is an impressive hard backed book with large highly detailed images both from the game and from the designs and sketches that went in to its creation. I am fascinated by artwork and sketch books from games and films and this was a surprising find and I must admit a very welcome one. It has promoted me to see what else Prima publish.
The book itself is loosely based on the development on half life and half life 2 but with mentions and entires from other projects they were involved in along the way including some that that never made it.
So along with the artwork there is also a little bit of the history of its creators which to me makes the art all the more amazing when you realise that it was born out of an idea and delveoped and changed as it progressed - to me making it more organic and real. I real treasure.
The book is an impressive hard backed book with large highly detailed images both from the game and from the designs and sketches that went in to its creation. I am fascinated by artwork and sketch books from games and films and this was a surprising find and I must admit a very welcome one. It has promoted me to see what else Prima publish.
The book itself is loosely based on the development on half life and half life 2 but with mentions and entires from other projects they were involved in along the way including some that that never made it.
So along with the artwork there is also a little bit of the history of its creators which to me makes the art all the more amazing when you realise that it was born out of an idea and delveoped and changed as it progressed - to me making it more organic and real. I real treasure.
December 5, 2020
I found this a little disappointing. I was hoping for something more in-depth. I wanted more details on Valve's early formation and the making of the first Half-Life game. As a coffee table/art book, this is pretty cool but I would have liked something more akin to Masters of Doom.
October 22, 2008
Not a whole of text, but lots of pretty pictures.
February 7, 2010
This book provides a lot of interesting background info on how Half Life is made and provides lots of nice beautiful color photos. Definitely recommend this book to any Half Life fan!
July 29, 2011
An intriguing look at the making of the game at the time of release. I'd like to see a ten-year retrospective (in 2014) and/or something more academic for this masterpiece.
September 28, 2011
Had a nice time at the Clif Family Harvest Festival in St. Helena. In response to the nice event, which was attended by "Mr. Clif" (Gary Erickson), I am now reading his book entitled Raising The Bar.
July 16, 2014
В этой книге разработчики рассказывают о том, как шла работа над второй частью знаменитой игры. Для фанатов серии читать и смотреть обязательно!
March 24, 2016
Absolute wow. A real story of creativity, invention and creating one of most important universes in game development and one of the most important gaming companies of our time.
December 27, 2021
Tremendous book! Filled to the brim with concept art. It's super interesting to see the early designs to the environments and characters in the games. Big recommend!
October 27, 2023
Amazing insight into one of the greatest pieces of entertainment of all time.
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews