S4 E142 HL: Overworld (Aug 2024)

And Now For Something Completely Machinima

This week's selection is a stunning cinematic imaginary by Unknown Dino, focussing on the next version of Half Life (soon to be released... er, well, possibly in the next 10 years or so?). There is a lot of craft in this film, called HL: Overworld and made in Blender, which has taken its inspiration both from the HL Reddit community and the HL2 Artbook 'Raising The Bar'. We also talk about the positioning of the new world portrayed as being the next obvious logical step in the story arc for Half Life - HL1 being a portal through which aliens jump to Earth, HL2 being a kind of survival against the odds, Alyx being the prequel, and HL3 being the fight back taken to those hateful Combine... yeah, we wish!

1:19 Phil introduces the film and describes his impression of the vision of the HL3 world being articulated
9:40 Tracy talks about the inspiration for the film and the role of community but why even bother mentioning generative AI here?
17:55 Damien reflects on why there will never be HL3, which leads us into all sorts of speculative nonsense!

Credits -
Speakers: Phil Rice, Damien Valentine, Tracy Harwood
Producer: Damien Valentine
Editor: Phil Rice
Music: Animo Domini Beats