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HL:A has always been, since announcement, a smooth-locomotion capable game.
https://www.half-life.com/en/alyx/vr
Don't comment about the video if you don't watch it all the way through.
FYI: There's not a hint of spoilers.
Saying that “Alyx is coming to the Quest” is wrong
Saying that “Alyx is not coming to the Quest” is also wrong
Half Life’s website said it perfectly: “Oculus Quest with PC and Link Cable”, no confusion there
No from the beginning they have clearly stated there are 3 methods of Locomotion: Teleport, Shift and analog
Ever since I played Half-Life: Alyx, I wished every game had the "shift" teleportation option.
I always felt the screen going black on teleport to be distracting, but on the other hand continuous motion with joystick is also completely unbearable.
Shift is a great middle ground for me.
Then there's Valve, who've historically released their games across platforms instead of having any platform exclusivity. Half-Life 2 on PS3, Dota Underlords on Android, etc.
In fact, Valve has gone so far as to publicly rule out any platform exclusivity even on their own platforms SteamOS and Index.
(Edited)
HL was released on PS2, and HL2 was on Xbox, and then PS3/360 (+TF2&Portal) via the Orange Box. A couple of Counter-Strikes, Portal 2, Left 4 Dead 1&2 have all been on consoles too. There doesn't seem to be any bad blood between Valve and console gaming, and considering the efforts they've taken on the official website to make sure everyone knows an Index isn't necessarily required to play, getting the game into as many hands & headsets as possible seems to be the mission. As such, I wouldn't be at all surprised to see Alyx on PS5's iteration of PSVR someday. Still, that could be a long way away since we don't even know when PSVR v2 is coming.
Their website does say:
>Half-Life: Alyx was built hand in hand with Valve Index, which is the highest fidelity option on the market, but the game works great with Vive, Rift and Windows Mixed Reality too.
I don't think that Valve even consider Adrian. He's part of a side story/spin-off, which doesn't really count as canon to HL all that much.
Moreover, you cannot see the HL1 expansions on the newly created HL website: https://www.half-life.com/en/home. A little hint that Valve don't acknowledge these addons and don't plan to bring them up in any major form.
Yeah, I heard plenty of people report on here getting it for Alyx free even when the Index was purchased second hand. In addition, I heard people report on here when they did not get it they just contacted Steam support and they helped them out.
Check out what is on the Half-Life Alex Website, they seem to indicate they just want anyone with an Index to get the game free.
> Own Valve Index? You get Half-Life: Alyx free. > > Appears in your Steam Library
> There's no need to enter a key or purchase the game. It just appears in your Steam Library. > > …No matter when you bought your gear
> Half-Life: Alyx is yours, whether you've had your Valve Index for a while, or are just about to take the plunge. > > …Or whether you have the whole VR kit
> Owners of Valve Index controllers also get Half-Life: Alyx for free.
You can use it like any other headset, all you need is a USB C socket on your PC and SteamVR application.
I bought the Remote Desktop app for Quest so it can be played in wireless mode (over wifi).
https://www.half-life.com/en/alyx/vr shows Quest as a supported device.
https://uploadvr.com/how-to-play-half-life-alyx-on-oculus-quest/
I found links in your comment that were not hyperlinked:
I did the honors for you.
^delete ^| ^information ^| ^<3
Valve doesn't care for their Index sales at all, they didn't even though it would sell that much as it was solely made for developers and enthusiasts, they've been out of stock for weeks.
They also stated many time that you don't need their Index to play and even had a whole Tested.com video on how good the game support on any other HMD brands and controller, they're even openly advertising which other brands you can use on the HLA website
HTC products are overpriced, the Index is just expensive but there is very little margin made when you go through the list of each individual components, it's a fair price.
(I know you probably won't care as you sound like a big pile of salt, but whatever...)
I do know that there are currently not additional movement options.
It literally lists the 3 in my petition on the website.
>However you play, we've got you covered.
>
>-teleport
>
>-shift
>
>-continuous
All of which have been shown in gameplay settings.
Sure, there might be a comfort option for the blacking-out-when-falling thing, but the other critiques I've made are still valid.
Not in the video, so I'm being a bit of a defensive asshole here. But the game since its initial announcement as been offered with smooth-locomotion as one of its three movement options.
https://www.half-life.com/en/alyx/vr
Supports roomscale, standing, seated, teleport, shift, continuous (smooth movement).
They also mentioned about a one handed mode for folks with disabilities in their AMA.
Latest IGN video shows both Teleport and Continuous (The player switches half way through).
Yes they will stick to you.
Quote from official website: 'tear a headcrab off your face and throw it out the window'
https://www.half-life.com/en/alyx/
Quote is under 'A full length game built from the ground up for VR' part.
You will still get HL:Alyx with Index, even after game release:
…No matter when you bought your gear
Half-Life: Alyx is yours, whether you've had your Valve Index for a while, or are just about to take the plunge.
you will only miss some bonuses:
Gun skins, SteamVR Home environments, and more
Customers who have purchased Valve Index hardware before the game is released will have access to unique bonuses starting in early 2020:
​
- Explore environments from Half-Life: Alyx in your SteamVR Home space
- Alternate gun skins to embellish Alyx's arsenal
- Special Half-Life: Alyx-themed content for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
It says right on their website that their preferred headset is the Index. I wasn’t implying that Valve only wanted to sell Indexes and nobody else’s VR at large. Just that Alyx’s raison d’etre as a feature-length AAA VR game is to promote Valve and the Index, and to push VR forwards into the mainstream.
Half-Life: Alyx will always be free with the purchase of an Index. Only the SteamVR Home skins (and some other things) are exclusive to people who bought it before the game releases.
Not sure what you read, but the HL:A website lists it as one of the locomotion options. Scroll down here or check out this screenshot.
The game will always be free with the Index (I think that's what they've always said) but the bonuses offer has been extended till game release.
For Half-Life: Alyx specifically, you can use as much space as you want or even play sitting down. Valve illustrates this in their own HL page:
https://www.half-life.com/en/alyx/vr
Ah gotcha. Thank you :)
Will Valve actually release the SDK for source 2 then? My impression was they'll only update the existing tools with more advanced features just to build levels.
It says the following on their webpage:
>A set of Source 2 tools for building new levels will be available for the game, enabling any player to build and contribute new environments for the community to enjoy. Hammer, Valve’s level authoring tool, has been updated with all of the game's virtual reality gameplay tools and components.
Notes:
This is a crosspost. /u/zck2020 stabilised the footage.
Footage is from a (sometimes blurry) monitor in the background of this video.
The game can be played using various locomotion methods including smooth movement — i.e. teleportation is optional.
The game is still in development. For example, vertical movement like climbing ladders is “still being figured out”.
The original video involved testing the game on 8 different headsets. Clips showing finger tracking tests at 4:15 and 6:25, for example, are using Rift and Vive controllers, not Valve Index controllers.
Footage showing various new features and mechanics was not allowed to be shown.
Headcrab zombies seem to explode when you attack their glowing green weak points for massive damage.
Some notes for anyone who doesn’t know already:
Footage is from a (sometimes blurry) monitor in the background of this video
The game can be played using various locomotion methods including smooth movement — i.e. teleportation is optional.
The game is still in development. For example, vertical movement like climbing ladders is “still being figured out”.
The original video involved testing the game on 8 different headsets. Clips showing finger tracking tests at 4:15 and 6:25, for example, are using Rift and Vive controllers, not Valve Index controllers.
Footage showing various new features and mechanics was not allowed to be shown.
Headcrab zombies seem to explode when you attack their glowing green weak points for massive damage.
Some notes for anyone who doesn’t know already:
Footage is from a (sometimes blurry) monitor in the background of this video
The game can be played using various locomotion methods including smooth movement — i.e. teleportation is optional.
The game is still in development. For example, vertical movement like climbing ladders is “still being figured out”.
The original video involved testing the game on 8 different headsets. Clips showing finger tracking tests at 4:15 and 6:25, for example, are using Rift and Vive controllers, not Valve Index controllers.
Footage showing various new features and mechanics was not allowed to be shown.
Headcrab zombies seem to explode when you attack their glowing green weak points for massive damage.
Will Half-Life: Alyx require the Valve Index?
> No! You Can Play Half-Life: Alyx with any SteamVR-compatible System Half-Life: Alyx supports a variety of play environments, locomotion methods, and input devices.
> If you have VR hardware that works with a computer, then it works with SteamVR.
> If you don’t yet own any VR hardware, now's the time. Headsets support different sets of features, so the experience will vary between them. Half-Life: Alyx was built hand in hand with Valve Index, which is the highest fidelity option on the market, but the game works great with Vive, Rift and Windows Mixed Reality too. Check out the different options to choose which one is right for you.
- Valve Index
- HTC Vive
- Oculus Rift
- Windows Mixed Reality
I had seen an article recently isolate smooth locomotion as only with body movement and artificial locomotion for joystick/trackpad motion, I thought you were doing the same. Sorry for the misunderstanding !
I don't use parallax for any projects for a few reasons, but I just wanted to mention that the Half Life: Alyx page has one of the first parallax implementations that I thought elevated the purpose of the page and fit the product: https://www.half-life.com/en/alyx/
https://www.half-life.com/en/alyx/
As far as the website says, you'll get HL:A whenever you purchase an Index.
However..Valve do say:
Gun skins, SteamVR Home environments, and more Customers who have purchased Valve Index hardware by the end of 2019 will have access to unique bonuses starting early next year:
Explore environments from Half-Life: Alyx in your SteamVR Home space Alternate gun skins to embellish Alyx's arsenal Special Half-Life: Alyx-themed content for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
So..you get some extras buy buying before the end of year (though it's nothing special imo).
This is what we really need. Like Valve has on the Half-Life: Alyx website, we need it to say finger tracking or trigger based instead of just tracked motion controllers.
Because Valve's advertisement says 'Owners' not 'Purchasers'. Also I received this from steam support - alluding to people who receive the index as a gift etc, will still be getting Alyx, but not the bonuses:
> Valve Index HMD and Valve Index Controller users will automatically receive Half-Life: Alyx. Even if you do not see it in your Library now, it will appear prior to the planned release in March.
>
>If you purchase a package that includes either the Index HMD or Controllers by the end of 2019, you will also gain access to additional in-game content. More information regarding extra content is available here (click).
They're semi-canon, at best.
There's a bunch of statements from Valve and Marc Laidlaw which suggest that they never really considered the Gearbox expansions as a part of the main ongoing Half-Life story - and obviously, there is never any reference to any Gearbox character or plot element in the HL2 games. I can dig those statements up for you if you really need them but it'll take a bit of online archaeology so I haven't done it yet.
I think the definitive statement is really, the new official Half-Life website: https://www.half-life.com/en/home
Tell me if you can find any mention of the Gearbox games on that website. I'll save you the effort: not a single one. The Gearbox creations obviously don't figure into Valve's official line of thinking about the Half-Life universe and its worldbuilding.
>If you have VR hardware that works with a computer, then it works with SteamVR.
Based on the wording on the game's website you don't need the Index controllers but of course you won't get that functionality in the game.
If you're just getting into VR, or thinking of upgrading, they're giving away the game to anyone who owns, or purchases, the Index controllers.
The important thing to remember about this:
>If you don’t yet own any VR hardware, now's the time. Headsets support different sets of features, so the experience will vary between them. Half-Life: Alyx was built hand in hand with Valve Index, which is the highest fidelity option on the market, but the game works great with Vive, Rift and Windows Mixed Reality too.
Emphasis added by me, sauce.
While this may sound like marketing-speak to sell more Index units, the thing is that Gabe spoke about the benefits of developing hardware and software together in the past: Gabe Newell opens up about Valve's VR plans, in particular section Building better VR hardware, informed by the needs of VR game makers.
So, IMHO, you should at least make sure to get a lighthouse based system (Vive, Vive Pro, Valve Index, Pimax) and treat yourself with the Index controllers because those controllers make a huge difference. Otherwise, it's a little like playing a game designed for 4K on a VGA monitor. You can do it, it's still fun ... but you miss a lot.
And when you have used various controllers (Vive wands, Oculus Touch, Windows MR controllers, and Index controllers), with content that makes use of the capabilities of the Index controllers, the difference it totally obvious even from just watching that trailer.
Eh, that's not what they really meant. The page states that "the loss of the Seven-Hour War is still fresh", as in, happened not too long ago (take for example 9/11 or ISIS' terror attacks in Europe). The Seven Hour War happened right after the Black Mesa Incident.
Only the minimum requirements have been announced so far:
OS: Windows 10
Processor: Core i5-7500 / Ryzen 5 1600
Memory: 12 GB RAM
Graphics: GTX 1060 / RX 580 - 6GB VRAM
If you have VR hardware that works with a computer, then it works with SteamVR.
If you don’t yet own any VR hardware, now's the time. Headsets support different sets of features, so the experience will vary between them. Half-Life: Alyx was built hand in hand with Valve Index, which is the highest fidelity option on the market, but the game works great with Vive, Rift and Windows Mixed Reality too. Check out the different options to choose which one is right for you.
>A set of Source 2 tools for building new levels will be available for the game, enabling any player to build and contribute new environments for the community to enjoy. Hammer, Valve’s level authoring tool, has been updated with all of the game's virtual reality gameplay tools and components.
Have a look at the homepage. 🤙
Movement
- Teleport
Fade out at point A, fade in at point B - Shift
Smoothly zoom from point A to point B - Continuous
Use analog stick to walk or run
On the official website,, it specifies that you can use teleport, smooth shifting, or standard analog stick control, so you've got a few options. You can also either sit or stand while playing.
If you read the info here https://www.half-life.com/en/alyx the game is set between HL1 and HL2.
> Set between the events of Half-Life and Half-Life 2, Alyx Vance and her father Eli mount an early resistance to the Combine's brutal occupation of Earth.
> The loss of the Seven-Hour War is still fresh. In the shadow of a rising Combine fortress known as the Citadel, residents of City 17 learn to live under the rule of their invaders. But among this scattered population are two of Earth's most resourceful scientists: Dr. Eli Vance and his daughter Alyx, the founders of a fledgling resistance.
So there won't be anything new in this concerning Ep2 and beyond.
Hand movement and walking around your physical playspace are 1:1 by their nature, but for longer movement you get 3 choices: stick movement, where you move with a thumbstick like in a normal game; teleport movement, where you warp from A to B, possibly with some kind of charge-up/cool down to keep from breaking the gameplay, or maybe not; and lastly some kind of "shifting" movement, where you smoothly zoom from A-to-B. Details on the website: https://www.half-life.com/en/alyx/vr
Ye my b: https://www.half-life.com/en/alyx/vr this is where it talks about movement. They talk about length of the game in the 20 min interview on YouTube called something like "half life alyx final hours"
> A set of Source 2 tools for building new levels will be available for the game, enabling any player to build and contribute new environments for the community to enjoy. Hammer, Valve’s level authoring tool, has been updated with all of the game's virtual reality gameplay tools and components.
It's all on one page, so I can't link directly to it, but here's the info:
>Customers who have purchased Valve Index hardware by the end of 2019 will have access to unique bonuses starting early next year:
>
>Explore environments from Half-Life: Alyx in your SteamVR Home space
>
>Alternate gun skins to embellish Alyx's arsenal
>
>Special Half-Life: Alyx-themed content for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
> Unless I can fully traverse the environment like a traditional game, then im not interested
That's fully supported: Continuous: Use analog stick to walk or run
Additional Information:
Description
Set between the events of Half-Life and Half-Life 2, Alyx Vance and her father Eli mount an early resistance to the Combine's brutal occupation of Earth.
Hardware Compatibility
- Windows OS
- Source 2 Engine
- Any SteamVR-compatible system
- HTC Vive
- Oculus Rift
- Windows Mixed Reality
- Oculus Quest with PC + Link Cable
Room Setup
- Roomscale
- Sitting
- Standing
Supported Movement
- Teleport
- Shift
- Continuous
Controller Style
- Finger tracking
- Trigger-based
Get Half-Life Alyx free if you own a Valve Index
- Shows up in Steam Library March 2020
- Doesn't matter when you bought the Index
- Purchasers of Index by end of 2019 will be eligible for additional content such as gun skins
Source 2 Support
- Community tools available for workshop content
https://www.half-life.com/en/alyx
>A set of Source 2 tools for building new levels will be available for the game, enabling any player to build and contribute new environments for the community to enjoy. Hammer, Valve’s level authoring tool, has been updated with all of the game's virtual reality gameplay tools and components.
This is huge. These are the tools (conceptually) that led to the creation of games like Counter-strike and TF2 off the back fo the original Half-life. Community creation has led to entire genres like MOBAs. These are the tools that will enable the community to the the future of VR in directions that we can't imagine yet. What new genres and game modes will we see in the next 5 years that have been enabled by the availability of tools like this? This the democratization of VR content creation.
https://www.half-life.com/en/alyx
>A set of Source 2 tools for building new levels will be available for the game, enabling any player to build and contribute new environments for the community to enjoy. Hammer, Valve’s level authoring tool, has been updated with all of the game's virtual reality gameplay tools and components.
This is huge. These are the tools (conceptually) that led to the creation of games like Counter-strike and TF2 off the back fo the original Half-life. Community creation has led to entire genres like MOBAs. These are the tools that will enable the community to the the future of VR in directions that we can't imagine yet. What new genres and game modes will we see in the next 5 years that have been enabled by the availability of tools like this? This the democratization of VR content creation.
https://www.half-life.com/en/alyx
> | PLATFORMS | WINDOWS (STEAMVR) | > |-|-|
The Steam page also only lists Windows as a supported platform (not just in system requirements).