Half-Life 2: Lost Coast

Last updated

Half-Life 2: Lost Coast
Half-Life 2 Lost Coast header.jpg
Developer(s) Valve
Publisher(s) Valve
Series Half-Life
Engine Source
Platform(s)
Release
  • Windows
  • October 27, 2005
  • OS X, Linux
  • June 28, 2013
Genre(s) First-person shooter
Mode(s) Single-player

Half-Life 2: Lost Coast is an additional level for the 2004 first-person shooter game Half-Life 2 . Developed by Valve, it was released on October 27, 2005 as a free download for owners of Half-Life 2 on Steam. Players control Half-Life protagonist Gordon Freeman as he travels up a coastal cliff to destroy a Combine weapon in a monastery.

Contents

Lost Coast is a technology demonstration showcasing the high-dynamic-range rendering implemented in the Source engine. It was designed with environments to emphasize these effects. Lost Coast was the first Valve game with a commentary mode, in which the developers explain elements of design as the player progresses through the level.

The Lost Coast level was created for Half-Life 2, but was removed from the game. It was originally going to be a level in "Highway 17" where Gordon ends up in a strange place meeting a Fisherman. As a result, it has several minor story details that were not included in Half-Life 2. It received a generally positive reception, and there was consensus among reviewers that the new features included in Lost Coast should be integrated into future games released by Valve.

Gameplay

Lost Coast uses the same first-person shooter gameplay as Half-Life 2. The player is equipped with weapons from Half-Life 2, including the object-manipulating gravity gun. [1]

The chancel of the Byzantine Christian church in Lost Coast, which Valve artist Viktor Antonov called a "great showcase for HDR" Half-Life 2 Lost Coast.png
The chancel of the Byzantine Christian church in Lost Coast, which Valve artist Viktor Antonov called a "great showcase for HDR"

Like Half-Life 2, the player controls Gordon Freeman. Freeman must enter a monastery that enemy Combine are using to launch heavy artillery shells into a seaside town. [2] The player encounters Combine soldiers and a few headcrabs before disabling the artillery launcher, and destroying an attack helicopter with RPGs. As the level ends, a fisherman congratulates Gordon on his victory, then exclaims that Gordon is "getting all fuzzy 'round the edges" as he is teleported away. [1]

Development

Level design

Lost Coast was conceived as a part of the Highway 17 chapter in Half-Life 2 (Highway 17's development name was "Coast", hence the name "Lost Coast"), but was discarded during development. It features minor storyline details that were removed from Half-Life 2, such as the headcrab artillery launchers. [3]

Each area of the level was designed with a specific purpose. An Eastern Orthodox architectural style was deliberately chosen for the monastery, as buildings of this type "are very colorful and have a large variety of materials" and are "often lit naturally, with extremes of darkness and brightness," providing an ideal showcase for the HDR lighting effects. [a] Valve also thought a monastery would help provide a starker contrast between old human architecture and futuristic Combine technology inside it. [b]

The cliffside that leads to the monastery had a gameplay-oriented purpose, and was meant to emulate a similar cliffside combat scene in the original Half-Life (1998). The cliffside also forces the player to be observant of threats from above and below, breaking from normal horizontal combat. [c] The monastery's courtyard was designed as an area where the player recovers from the cliffside combat, while also presenting a contained combat arena later in the level in which the player must hold their ground while they are attacked from multiple directions. [d]

High-dynamic-range rendering

A comparison of standard fixed-aperture rendering (left) with HDR rendering (right) in the Source engine Lost Coast HDR comparison.png
A comparison of standard fixed-aperture rendering (left) with HDR rendering (right) in the Source engine

The goal of Lost Coast was to demonstrate the new high-dynamic-range rendering implemented into the Source game engine. [4] Valve first attempted to implement high-dynamic-range rendering in Source in late 2003. The first method stored textures in RGBA color space, allowing for multisample anti-aliasing and pixel shaders to be used, but this prevented alpha mapping and fog effects from working correctly, as well as making textures appear sharp and jagged. [5] The second method involved saving two versions of a texture: one with regular data, and the other with overbrightening data. However, this technique did not allow for multisample anti-aliasing and consumed twice as much video card memory, making it infeasible. [5] The third method, shown at the E3 convention in 2005, used floating-point data to define the RGB color space, allowing for reasonably efficient storage of the high-dynamic-range data. However, this method also did not allow for multisample anti-aliasing, and was only compatible with Nvidia video cards, leaving ATI cards unable to run high dynamic range. [5] The fourth and final method compromised between the second and third methods, using overbrightening textures sparingly and allowing ATI cards to render HDR in a different way from the Nvidia ones while nearly producing the same result. [5]

The final version of Valve's high-dynamic-range technology adds a significant number of lighting effects to the engine, aimed at making the game appear more realistic. Bloom shading was introduced, blurring bright edges in the game world and emulating a camera's overexposure to light. [6] This is combined with exposure control to tailor the effect to represent the human eye. For example, as the player exits a dark area into a light area, the new area is initially glaringly bright, but quickly darkens, representing the adjustment of the player character's eyes to the light. [7] New cube mapping techniques allow the reflection cast by an object to correspond with the brightness of the light source, and lightmaps enable light bouncing and global illumination to be taken into account in the rendering. [6] Refraction effects were added to make light account for the physical attributes of an object and to emulate the way light is reflected by water. [6] The Lost Coast level is specifically designed to showcase these effects. It uses the sea and beach as opportunities to demonstrate water-based effects, the monastery to demonstrate bloom from its whitewash walls, and the sanctuary to provide the means to show refraction through stained glass windows and cube maps on golden urns and candlesticks. [8]

As a technology showcase, Valve considered Lost Coast to have very demanding system requirements. [9] The game runs on computers with specifications lower than what is recommended, albeit without some key features such as high dynamic range. If a non-high-dynamic-range-capable card is used, the developer commentary is changed slightly to reflect this. For example, Valve president Gabe Newell would describe the effects that are seen differently. [10]

Commentary system

In addition to a showcase for visual improvements, Lost Coast acted as a testbed for Valve's commentary system. When the feature is enabled, speech bubbles appear in the game that can be interacted with to play audio commentary. Each audio piece ranges from ten seconds to a minute of commentary. Players hear the developers talk about what the player is seeing, what is happening, why they made certain decisions, and what kinds of challenges they faced. Commentary tracks are represented by floating speech bubbles called commentary nodes. [11] Valve intended for players to first play the level with commentary disabled, and after completing the level, play it again with commentary enabled, learning about each new stage as they progress. [12] Valve initially included the commentary system in later games. [13] The commentary system was implemented in Half-Life 2 in late 2024 as a part of the 20th Anniversary Update. [14]

Release

Lost Coast was released on October 27, 2005, as a free download for owners of Half-Life 2 on Steam. [15] Valve announced on May 30, 2007, that Lost Coast, along with Half-Life 2: Deathmatch , would be made available for free to owners of ATI Radeon cards. [16] It was later released without charge to Nvidia graphics card owners along with Half-Life 2: Deathmatch, Peggle Extreme , and the first eleven levels of Portal . [17] In 2024, the 20th anniversary of Half-Life 2, Valve updated Half-Life 2 to incorporate Lost Coast and other features. [18]

Reception

Lost Coast was generally well-received by video game critics. 1UP.com enjoyed the amount of detail, including the graphics, puzzles, and intelligent enemies, saying, "Valve just packed more atmosphere into a tiny snippet than most shooters muster, period." The review also praised the level's commentary system, calling it an informative addition, and enjoyed the interesting and insightful comments made by some of its creators. [19] The level satisfied UGO because "it would be harder not to enjoy this level in all its beautifully rendered glory—even after you've broken all the windows and spattered the walls with Combine blood," [20] and GameSpot commented that "the textures in Lost Coast are noticeably more detailed and numerous than in the retail game." The review concluded hoping that the features introduced in Lost Coast would be included in Valve's future releases. [10]

Negative reaction to the game focused on its length and gameplay. 1UP.com and UGO both considered it short; [19] [20] Shawn Elliott of 1UP.com described it as "a lickety-split run through postcard-pretty tide pools, up cliffs, and into a church turned Combine outpost". [19] UGO's Nigel Grammer stated that Lost Coast's gameplay seemed secondary to the graphics. [20] The gameplay also disappointed Brad Shoemaker of GameSpot, who found it too similar to Half-Life 2 and so "isn't going to set the world on fire". [10]

Notes

  1. ↑ Valve (2005). Half-Life 2: Lost Coast (PC). Viktor Antonov: Churches are great dramatic spaces. They're often lit naturally, with extremes of darkness and brightness, which makes them a great showcase for HDR. Gothic churches are the sober, monochromatic spaces that you've seen in almost every horror movie or game. Byzantine churches, on the other hand, are very colourful and have a large variety of materials. We wanted that color & material variety to show off our HDR reflections.
  2. ↑ Valve (2005). Half-Life 2: Lost Coast (PC). Viktor Antonov: We also like to focus on contrasting elements in our settings, like ancient human architecture and futuristic Combine technology. A monastery fit these requirements perfectly. Monasteries are generally isolated, unlit, and built ages ago. They provide a great backdrop for the contrasting Combine technology.
  3. ↑ Valve (2005). Half-Life 2: Lost Coast (PC). Robin Walker: We were particularly happy with the vertical cliffside in Half-Life 1, and regretted that we didn't iterate further on that concept in Half-Life 2. Vertical space allows us to force the player to deal with threats from above and below. We find that players focus their view on the direction they're travelling, so by using a cliffside, and having the player ascend it, we ensure the player will look up and be prepared for enemies. If the player's path was to move past the bottom of the cliffside, it would be unlikely he would notice the soldiers rappelling down from above.
  4. ↑ Valve (2005). Half-Life 2: Lost Coast (PC). Robin Walker: The courtyard in front of you is a space we call an Arena. Arenas are built to hold the player for a period of time, and usually contain combat or some other challenge. They often have multiple entry-points for enemies, along with a gate of some kind to prevent the player moving on, until the challenge has been completed. In this case, the arena is free of enemies until the player solves a puzzle, and triggers an alarm. [...] The break in action here is also a crucial part of the level's pacing. It allows the player to recover and explore the world a little, after being attacked on the way up the cliffside.

Related Research Articles

<i>Half-Life</i> (video game) 1998 video game

Half-Life is a 1998 first-person shooter game developed by Valve Corporation and published by Sierra Studios for Windows. It was Valve's debut product and the first game in the Half-Life series. The player assumes the role of Gordon Freeman, a scientist who must escape from the Black Mesa Research Facility after it is overrun by alien creatures following a disastrous scientific experiment. The gameplay consists of combat, exploration and puzzles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">GeForce</span> Brand of GPUs by Nvidia

GeForce is a brand of graphics processing units (GPUs) designed by Nvidia and marketed for the performance market. As of the GeForce 40 series, there have been eighteen iterations of the design. The first GeForce products were discrete GPUs designed for add-on graphics boards, intended for the high-margin PC gaming market, and later diversification of the product line covered all tiers of the PC graphics market, ranging from cost-sensitive GPUs integrated on motherboards, to mainstream add-in retail boards. Most recently, GeForce technology has been introduced into Nvidia's line of embedded application processors, designed for electronic handhelds and mobile handsets.

<i>Half-Life 2</i> 2004 video game

Half-Life 2 is a 2004 first-person shooter (FPS) game developed and published by Valve Corporation. It was published for Microsoft Windows on Valve's digital distribution service, Steam. Like the original Half-Life (1998), Half-Life 2 is played entirely from a first-person viewpoint, combining shooting, puzzles, and storytelling. It adds features such as vehicular and physics-based gameplay. The player controls Gordon Freeman, who joins a resistance to liberate Earth from the Combine, a multidimensional alien empire.

Source is a 3D game engine developed by Valve. It debuted as the successor to GoldSrc in 2004 with the releases of Half-Life: Source, Counter-Strike: Source, and Half-Life 2. Other notable third-party games using Source include Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines, Dear Esther, and The Stanley Parable. Valve released incremental updates to the engine during its lifetime. Source was succeeded in 2015 by the release of Source 2.

<i>Counter-Strike: Source</i> 2004 video game

Counter-Strike: Source is a tactical first-person shooter video game developed by Valve and Turtle Rock Studios. Released in October 2004 for Windows, it is a remake of Counter-Strike (2000) using the Source game engine. As in the original, Counter-Strike: Source pits a team of counter-terrorists against a team of terrorists in a series of rounds. Each round is won either by completing an objective or by eliminating all members of the enemy team. The game was initially bundled with all retail and digital copies of Half-Life 2, before being released standalone.

<i>Counter-Strike: Condition Zero</i> 2004 video game

Counter-Strike: Condition Zero is a first-person shooter video game developed by Ritual Entertainment, Turtle Rock Studios, and Valve, and published by Sierra Entertainment and Valve. The follow-up to Counter-Strike (2000), it was released in March 2004 for Windows. Condition Zero utilizes the GoldSrc engine and has a multiplayer mode, which features updated character models, textures, maps and other graphical tweaks. It also includes two single-player campaigns; Tour of Duty and Condition Zero: Deleted Scenes.

Combine (<i>Half-Life</i>) Alien empire from the Half-Life video game series

The Combine are a fictional multidimensional alien empire which serve as the primary antagonistic force in the 2004 video game Half-Life 2 and its subsequent episodes developed and published by Valve Corporation. The Combine consist of organic, synthetic, and heavily mechanized elements. They are encountered throughout Half-Life 2, Half-Life 2: Episode One, and Half-Life 2: Episode Two, as well as Half-Life: Alyx, as hostile non-player characters as the player progresses through the games in an effort to overthrow the Combine occupation of Earth.

<i>Day of Defeat: Source</i> 2005 video game

Day of Defeat: Source is a team-based online first-person shooter multiplayer video game developed by Valve. Set in World War II, the game is a remake of Day of Defeat. It was updated from the GoldSrc engine used by its predecessor to the Source engine, and a remake of the game models. The game was released for Microsoft Windows on September 26, 2005, distributed through Valve's online content delivery service Steam. Retail distribution of the game was handled by Electronic Arts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ravenholm</span> Fictional ghost town in Half-Life 2

Ravenholm is a fictional ghost town in the 2004 first-person shooter game Half-Life 2 created by Valve. It serves as the setting for the game's sixth chapter, "We Don't Go to Ravenholm", which follows protagonist Gordon Freeman as he journeys through the area after escaping a Combine attack in order to reach a nearby Resistance outpost. An Eastern European mining town, Ravenholm's residents have turned into hostile zombies due to Combine attacks. The town's sole survivor, Father Grigori, offers his assistance to Freeman throughout the level, culminating in a last stand at the town cemetery.

<i>Half-Life 2: Episode One</i> 2006 video game

Half-Life 2: Episode One is a 2006 first-person shooter game developed and published by Valve for Windows. It continues the story of Half-Life 2 (2004). As the scientist Gordon Freeman, players must escape City 17 with Gordon's companion Alyx Vance. Like previous Half-Life games, Episode One combines shooting, puzzles and storytelling.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">High-dynamic-range rendering</span> Rendering of computer graphics scenes by using lighting calculations done in high-dynamic-range

High-dynamic-range rendering, also known as high-dynamic-range lighting, is the rendering of computer graphics scenes by using lighting calculations done in high dynamic range (HDR). This allows preservation of details that may be lost due to limiting contrast ratios. Video games and computer-generated movies and special effects benefit from this as it creates more realistic scenes than with more simplistic lighting models.

<i>Half-Life 2: Deathmatch</i> 2004 video game

Half-Life 2: Deathmatch is a multiplayer first-person shooter video game developed by Valve. Released on Steam on November 30, 2004, it uses many of the assets from Half-Life 2 and its Source engine. It features new levels, optimized for multiplayer arena play, and a few new weapons. Also included are portions of the game's source code, which were the basis for many early Source-based multiplayer modifications. The game is the successor to the popular multiplayer component of the original Half-Life, but is offered as a separate product from Half-Life 2. Deathmatch, like Half-Life's multiplayer, does not develop any part of the plot or story of the Half-Life series.

<i>Minerva</i> (video game) 2005 video game

Minerva is an episodic series of single-player modifications ("mods") for Valve's Half-Life 2. The mod was created by Adam Foster. The plot and settings of Minerva are linked to Someplace Else, Foster's original map for Half-Life, and to Half-Life 2. The mod was released on Steam on April 30, 2013.

<i>Half-Life 2: Episode Two</i> 2007 video game

Half-Life 2: Episode Two is a 2007 first-person shooter game developed and published by Valve. Following Episode One (2006), it is the second of two shorter episodic games that continue the story of Half-Life 2 (2004). Players control Gordon Freeman, who travels through the mountains surrounding City 17 to a resistance base with his ally Alyx Vance. Like previous games in the series, Episode Two combines shooting, puzzle-solving and narrative elements, but adds expansive environments and less linear sequences.

<i>Portal</i> (video game) 2007 video game

Portal is a 2007 puzzle platformer video game developed and published by Valve. It was released in a bundle, The Orange Box, for Windows, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, and has been since ported to other systems, including Mac OS X, Linux, Android, and Nintendo Switch.

<i>Half-Life</i> (series) Video game series

Half-Life is a series of first-person shooter (FPS) games created by Valve. The games combine shooting combat, puzzles and storytelling.

<i>Left 4 Dead</i> 2008 video game

Left 4 Dead is a 2008 first-person shooter video game developed by Valve South and published by Valve. It was originally released for Microsoft Windows and Xbox 360 in November 2008 and for Mac OS X in October 2010, and is the first title in the Left 4 Dead series. Set during the aftermath of a zombie outbreak on the East Coast of the United States, the game pits its four protagonists, dubbed the "Survivors", against hordes of the infected.

<i>The Orange Box</i> Video game compilation by Valve

The Orange Box is a video game compilation containing five games developed and published by Valve. Two of the games included, Half-Life 2 and its first stand-alone expansion, Episode One; had previously been released in 2004 and 2005 as separate products. Three new games were also included in the compilation: the second stand-alone expansion, Half-Life 2: Episode Two; the puzzle game Portal; and Team Fortress 2, the multiplayer game sequel to Team Fortress Classic. Valve also released a soundtrack containing music from the games within the compilation. A separate product entitled The Black Box was planned, which would have included only the new games, but was later canceled.

Left 4 Dead is a series of cooperative first-person shooter survival horror video games published by Valve. Set in the days after a pandemic outbreak of a viral strain transforming people into zombie-like feral creatures, the games follow the adventures of four survivors attempting to reach safe houses and military rescue while fending off the attacking hordes.

References

  1. 1 2 "Half-Life 2: Lost Coast Walkthrough". Planet Half-Life . GameSpy. Archived from the original on November 13, 2012. Retrieved November 21, 2008.
  2. ↑ "Half-Life 2: Lost Coast Allies". Planet Half-Life . GameSpy. Archived from the original on April 26, 2013. Retrieved November 21, 2008.
  3. ↑ Accrado, Sal (October 28, 2005). "Half-Life 2: The Lost Coast (PC)". GameSpy. Archived from the original on October 11, 2012. Retrieved October 17, 2008.
  4. ↑ Lee, Garnett (August 29, 2005). "Half-Life 2: Aftermath and Lost Coast". 1UP.com. Archived from the original on May 22, 2011. Retrieved November 20, 2008.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Reimer, Jeremy (September 15, 2005). "A primer on HDR and a tour of Valve's Lost Coast: The road to HDR". Ars Technica. Archived from the original on January 29, 2009. Retrieved November 21, 2008.
  6. 1 2 3 Richards, Geoff (June 14, 2005). "Lost Coast / Source HDR Feature Set". bit-tech. Archived from the original on February 1, 2009. Retrieved November 20, 2008.
  7. ↑ Richards, Geoff (June 14, 2005). "Under & Over Exposure". bit-tech. Archived from the original on December 4, 2008. Retrieved November 20, 2008.
  8. ↑ Richards, Geoff (June 14, 2006). "Half Life 2: Lost Coast HDR Eye Candy". bit-tech. Archived from the original on February 16, 2008. Retrieved November 20, 2008.
  9. ↑ Bramwell, Tom (October 28, 2005). "HL2 Lost Coast released". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on September 19, 2012. Retrieved November 20, 2008.
  10. 1 2 3 Shoemaker, Brad (July 28, 2005). "Half-Life 2 Lost Coast Hands-On". GameSpot. Archived from the original on November 3, 2012. Retrieved October 17, 2008.
  11. ↑ "Half-Life 2: Lost Coast Overview". Planet Half-Life . GameSpy. Archived from the original on October 10, 2012. Retrieved November 21, 2008.
  12. ↑ Richards, Geoff (September 14, 2005). "Preview: Half-Life 2: Lost Coast: Thoughts". bit-tech. Archived from the original on February 14, 2008. Retrieved November 21, 2008.
  13. ↑ "Steam Marketing Message". Valve. August 5, 2005. Archived from the original on February 14, 2012. Retrieved October 17, 2008.
  14. ↑ Harper, Christopher (November 16, 2024). "Half-Life 2 gets a major 20th Anniversary Update and bundles Lost Coast with episodes —the game is now free on Steam until November 18". Tom's Hardware . Retrieved November 18, 2024.
  15. ↑ Pinckard, Jane (October 27, 2005). "Lost Coast Out Now". 1UP. Archived from the original on October 31, 2007. Retrieved November 20, 2008.
  16. ↑ Valich, Theo (May 30, 2007). "Valve gives free games to ATI Radeon owners". The Inquirer. Archived from the original on April 15, 2008. Retrieved May 31, 2007.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  17. ↑ Swinburne, Richard (January 10, 2008). "Free Portal to all Nvidia GeForce owners". bit-tech. Archived from the original on June 15, 2011. Retrieved November 29, 2008.
  18. ↑ Chalk, Andy (November 15, 2024). "Valve gets the original Half-Life 2 development team back together for a huge 20th anniversary update—and the game is now free on Steam". PC Gamer . Retrieved November 15, 2024.
  19. 1 2 3 Elliott, Shawn (October 28, 2005). "Half-Life 2: Lost Coast (PC)". 1UP. Archived from the original on May 24, 2011. Retrieved November 20, 2008.
  20. 1 2 3 Grammer, Nigel. "Half-Life 2: Lost Coast Review". UGO. Archived from the original on June 15, 2011. Retrieved November 20, 2008.

Listen to this article (14 minutes)
Sound-icon.svg
This audio file was created from a revision of this article dated 4 January 2019 (2019-01-04), and does not reflect subsequent edits.
(Audio help  · More spoken articles)
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.