Alright, so this will essentially only apply to those who don't necessarily worship the ground Valve employees walk on (though that's not a bad thing) yet still utterly enjoy the Half-Life series, so I'll cut straight to the point.
Some friends and myself are teaming up to create a sort of "test area" demo in order to try out an idea for the next Half-Life "gun".
By "gun", I speak of the reference to the Gravity Gun and Portal Gun, specifically. They're a driving device for Half-Life 2 and Portal respectively, and are based on entirely simple premises.
So my friends and I propose this: a "gun" based on the two extreme spectrums of temperature. One function is for a super-heated discharge, and the other is for a super-cooling discharge.
Those two ideas alone can account for tons of well-designed gameplay implementations. Imagine superheating a puddle of leaked water underneath some somewhat aged machinery, only to watch the resulting evaporationg temporarily power said machinery to allow progression. Imagine freezing some iron pipes obsctructing your progress to the point of being so fragile they can be broken up by the crowbar.
Freeze treadable paths through poisonous water. Burn larger wooden objects that resist the force of the crowbar or explosives even. Freeze running water to stall machinery, or use the heat function to weld circuitry back into place.
It would add a tone of differential problem-solving to a game already established as beyond excellent when it comes to FPS puzzle-solving. Admittedly, most of the puzzle-esque segments of Half-Life 2, no matter how short, were rather obvious after only a small bit of thinking. This was a welcome feature; it kept the pace going while treating the gamer to something beyond "shoot whatever moves" gameplay.
The Temperature Gun, on the whole, will hopefully be another smoothly-designed element in the Half-Life world. If and when we achieve playability (design and programming has already begun), we'd be glad to share a downloadable demo with the masses here at Escapist.
Interested? Comments, initial criticisms, and any amount of skepticism are all heavily welcomed.
Thanks for your time.
Some friends and myself are teaming up to create a sort of "test area" demo in order to try out an idea for the next Half-Life "gun".
By "gun", I speak of the reference to the Gravity Gun and Portal Gun, specifically. They're a driving device for Half-Life 2 and Portal respectively, and are based on entirely simple premises.
So my friends and I propose this: a "gun" based on the two extreme spectrums of temperature. One function is for a super-heated discharge, and the other is for a super-cooling discharge.
Those two ideas alone can account for tons of well-designed gameplay implementations. Imagine superheating a puddle of leaked water underneath some somewhat aged machinery, only to watch the resulting evaporationg temporarily power said machinery to allow progression. Imagine freezing some iron pipes obsctructing your progress to the point of being so fragile they can be broken up by the crowbar.
Freeze treadable paths through poisonous water. Burn larger wooden objects that resist the force of the crowbar or explosives even. Freeze running water to stall machinery, or use the heat function to weld circuitry back into place.
It would add a tone of differential problem-solving to a game already established as beyond excellent when it comes to FPS puzzle-solving. Admittedly, most of the puzzle-esque segments of Half-Life 2, no matter how short, were rather obvious after only a small bit of thinking. This was a welcome feature; it kept the pace going while treating the gamer to something beyond "shoot whatever moves" gameplay.
The Temperature Gun, on the whole, will hopefully be another smoothly-designed element in the Half-Life world. If and when we achieve playability (design and programming has already begun), we'd be glad to share a downloadable demo with the masses here at Escapist.
Interested? Comments, initial criticisms, and any amount of skepticism are all heavily welcomed.
Thanks for your time.
