Gabe turned to look at his friend and colleague, Mike Harrington, beside him.
During this time, his good friend has confided in him many things that he couldn't tell outsiders.
For example...
He was starting to think about leaving.
Microsoft is now a behemoth.
That place is too big.
Harrington has learned all the skills necessary to survive independently in society.
More importantly, compared to Gabe, he is a true and complete gaming enthusiast.
He is also a big fan of Amenva.
However, his ideas are quite different from those of other indie game developers who dream of making it big.
He wanted to make a name for himself.
Recalling all the things Harrington had told him, Gabe couldn't help but feel a little itchy inside.
What if... what if we applied software engineering experience to game development?
To be honest, he knew absolutely nothing about video game development; he was really only good at making products.
but...
Good morning, Mr. Freeman. You seem to be running late.
The security guard's voice interrupted Gabe's thoughts.
He then noticed that the train carriage had reached its destination.
The whole process took longer than I expected.
It's a journey of about 5 minutes.
It was as if he were really on his way to work by subway.
Especially with the bizarre and varied scenes along the way, the sense of novelty never stopped.
After those five minutes, he even felt a little unsatisfied. Being able to move or not should actually make little difference in such a small space as the train carriage.
But Gabe could clearly feel that indescribable sense of freedom.
The subsequent process was not much different from the demonstration shown on the projector.
Security personnel unlocked the carriage Daimon, allowing him to proceed to the base.
The content that follows has not appeared in previous demonstrations.
But for Gabe, the sense of déjà vu was even stronger.
Because the set design is exactly the same as in the game.
Including that orange EV protective suit.
Of course, this time I didn't just look at it through a shop window; I actually wore it.
To be honest, the plot itself isn't exactly a high-brow or amazing story.
It's basically a classic science fiction formula: an experiment goes wrong, leading to a disaster. In short, a sample of an unknown substance was propelled into a machine, which malfunctioned, resulting in a violent explosion.
The explosion opened a connection between the planet "Xen" and Earth, leading to a large-scale invasion of Earth by the Xen aliens.
In particular, there was a flashback montage on Xen interspersed throughout the film.
The unique coloring style and material rendering of the Source Engine, combined with the high-precision model quality brought by the Gouraud coloring method, makes even a few brief flashback shots of the scene enough to make one break out in a cold sweat.
[ Unforeseen Consequences ]
The chapter title flashed across the screen.
The original experimental site has been blown to pieces.
Perhaps it was because I was wearing the EV protective suit that I was able to survive.
The security gate was opened crookedly, whether pried open or blown open by an explosion was unknown.
The alarm kept blaring in his ears.
The demo was, of course, provided with headphones.
The alarm sound is perfectly realistic in its physical reproduction. The changes in sound can be clearly heard as he moves and turns his head.
They were both alarm sounds.
But this immersive feeling far surpasses any sound effect from the past.
Gabe tried it out, and he could even hear the subtle attenuation of the sound depending on the degree of obstruction.
What's this?
Bad news: The best steel was used on the handle.
Good news: We have more steel than we can use.
Gabe maneuvered Gordon through the half-open, heavy metal gate.
The accompanying researchers had been blown to the ground, leaving a trail of crimson blood.
Scan the iris and open the isolation door.
Due to mechanical damage, the isolation door opened slightly at first, but then seemed to get stuck, bouncing back a few times before slowly and laboriously opening.
The situation in the corridor was no better than inside. The suspended ceiling had all collapsed and was hanging down, exposing the ventilation ducts and electrical wires inside.
Sparks crackled and popped endlessly.
There were many security guards lying scattered on the ground; it was unclear whether they were still alive.
The colorful lighting effects, a feature carried over from Quake 2, play a crucial role here.
The red warning lights cast an unsettling red glow throughout the corridor.
Gabe a deep breath and began walking towards the other end of the corridor.
On the bright side, at least no guns have been issued yet.
That means there probably won't be any monsters.
"Bang!"
Before Gabe could even Panasonic his breath, a vending machine in front of him suddenly exploded with a loud bang, and the entire machine shattered into pieces, crashing heavily to the ground. The fragments flew directly toward his face.
Despite being a game, the immersive atmosphere created so far has truly given Gabe quite a fright.
His hand trembled, and almost instinctively he steered Gordon back a few steps. Even after everything had settled down, he still felt a lingering sense of unease.
The situation in the corridor wasn't much better than I had imagined.
The walls were in ruins, and even the door had a hole punched in it by a fallen pipe.
" Gordon! Thank God you're still alive! And thank goodness you remembered to wear protective gear."
The researchers opened the door for him to leave.
Along the way, Gordon seemed to be possessed by a jinx, causing explosions wherever he went.
The entire Black Mesa Base seemed to have descended into utter chaos.
until...
A Daimon that couldn't be opened stood in their way.
There's no iris scanning system on the wall this time.
This also means that the door cannot be opened using the same methods as before.
But quite coincidentally, Gabe slowly lowered his head.
Right in front of the Daimon, a red crowbar lay quietly on the ground.
Its red paint stood out starkly against the backdrop of gray and white concrete.
I leaned closer and touched it, and he actually picked up the crowbar.
"Ait, could it be...?"
Gabe had an idea, and he swung his character at the Daimon with a crowbar.
With a sharp crack of shattering glass, a space appeared in the doorway large enough for a person to crouch down and pass through.
"At te fck? Physical environment interaction?"
Gabe's eyes widened almost instantly, as if he wanted to stand up from his chair.
The moment he swung his crowbar at the door, the glass shards flew out in all directions, scattering across the floor with a highly physical effect.
And the door actually did open because of that.
If the explosions on the road earlier were all pre-written by the designers, then the interactions here... are definitely a live performance. No.
Perhaps those so-called animation effects on the road are all live performances.
The game simply tells the objects what to do.
The actual performance is entirely achieved using a physics engine.
I recalled the exploding machine when I walked out of the passage.
The way its fragments flew and fell was simply perfect.
But looking at the crowbar in my hand...
Gabe suddenly had a bad feeling.
Isn't this just arming yourself?
Doesn't that mean...?
Before he could even climb out of the elevator shaft, several eerie howls, not like human voices, came from behind the wall.
Here it comes! After nearly half an hour of narrative, the game is finally getting down to business.
To be honest, Gabe had never felt so strange before.
He could tell that the game was probably an FPS.
First-person action shooting game.
But how can an FPS game contain such a large amount of visuals and story?
Unprecedented, unheard of!
Even more incredibly, these "meaningless plot points" that players used to skip are surprisingly not drawn out at all in this game.
If it weren't for the time display, he wouldn't have realized he had been playing for so long.
The game's narrative techniques are exceptionally skillful, thanks to its atmosphere and excellent presentation design.
Players are no longer just spectators sitting in front of a television set, but have become actors who are truly involved in the storyline.
While there were many high-quality films and television shows in the past, they were nowhere near as immersive as those in the past.
To witness everything unfold before one's own eyes.
Gabe on the platform in the elevator shaft for a moment before rushing out.
A monster dressed in a white lab coat collapsed with a "thud" at the elevator entrance, instantly defusing Gabe's hard-won courage.
If it weren't for a security guard with an armed gun standing not far away, he really would have turned around and gone back immediately.
" Gordon! Dude, it's good to see you! What's going on here?"
As he spoke, as if suddenly noticing something, he abruptly drew his gun and fired several shots in the direction of the passage.
In that direction, a monster also dressed in a white coat was slowly approaching.
Why are they wearing science uniforms?!
The security guard cried out in surprise.
Fortunately, the gun did work.
With a single burst of fire, the monster fell to the ground. Gabe took a deep breath and went to examine the monster's corpse closely.
Their heads looked like some kind of... uh, crab.
Claws extended from its head.
"Wait a minute?"
Gabe was suddenly stunned when he saw the shape of the head.
Because he recognizes this thing.
He had seen this thing in a containment tank not long ago.
It must be a species from some planet Xen.
But when I saw it, it was just a crab, it didn't have a body yet.
Judging from the uniforms on these monsters' bodies and the leather shoes on their feet...
A bad thought suddenly occurred to me.
Could it be... that this thing can parasitize humans? It opened its gaping maw in its abdominal cavity, swallowed a human head whole, and then deftly tightened its fangs...
"Click"
A person's head would be swallowed whole.
The Headcrab, on the other hand, can digest these nutrients while simultaneously utilizing the body.
These are not Gabe imagined.
Rather... I saw it with my own eyes.
Behind the glass curtain wall, inside an isolated laboratory.
The Headcrab had just demonstrated the procedure for him.
The visual impact is truly difficult to describe in words...