Valve’s video game milestone Half-Life almost beat a few equally famous games to the name
Can you imagine waiting a good 16 years for a “Dirt 3” or “Screwed 3” from Valve? Probably not, but according to former Valve developer Dario Casali, it could well have happened. For Half-Life the names Fallout and Crysis were also in the running.
Half-Life could have been called something completely different
On the occasion of Half-Life’s 25th birthday, the developer dives into the past on his YouTube channel and talks a little about the past. You can watch the video here:
Among other things, he reveals how the later shooter legend was named. Half-Life, in 1997 this name was not even on the shortlist. The top contenders were:
- Bent
- Dirt
- Lead
- Pressure (or Pressure Chamber or Pressure Pit)
- Screwed
Half-Life itself was already in the running at the time, but was not one of the favorites. Also on this list was Fallout, which would later become Bethesda’s famous post-apocalyptic role-playing game series
Another potential name was Crysis, which we know today as a first-person shooter and hardware meme (But can it run Crysis?). But as we all know, it ended up being Half-Life.
More than a train ride
In the above video Casali takes us through the first few minutes of the game, i.e. the maglev train ride. “We wanted to show a lot of the innovations “, explains the developer. These included scripted sequences and new lighting options.
If you are interested in deeper insights into the development of Half-Life: Dario Casali has already uploaded several hours of commented gameplay on (his YouTube channel)
The Half-Life series is arguably one of the greatest milestones in video game history. What memories do you have of Gordon Freeman, the G-Man and the Black Mesa facility? What about the third part? Will it ever be released? Share your memories in the comments and tell us about your first time playing Half-Life.
