When it comes to Half-Life, most fans were likely anticipating the release of a Half-Life 3 a fabled game that seems like it is left in the dust from Valve. However, what fans received was a surprise new VR installment set before the events of Half-Life 2. Half-Life: Alyx, comes in featuring Alyx who is working with her father to fight off the Combine, however, being in VR there were a few obstacles developers had to overcome.
Developing VR is a bit different than a standard FPS experience that players would have received with Half-Life: Alyx. Valve recently took to the internet and uploaded a brand new video showcasing some of the work that went into movement. Moving from point A to Point B was a challenge in itself with what the developers had in mind. As you may already know, the developers settled on three movement choices for the game.
In Half-Life: Alyx, players have the ability to freely move, much like a traditional FPS game, meanwhile, there are two teleport options. However, it was during prototyping that they had to deal with a big issue. Developers were using player height to adjust the viewpoint in-game. As a result, taller players got a view that would match their height within the in-game world and the same could be said for shorter people.
The problem that Valve was noticing is that the taller players were banging their heads in-game with obstacles that prevented them from progressing further. This meant that they would have to kneel down to progress through areas but again, players at the moment were not realizing that their height was the reason they couldn’t freely move. Ultimately, Valve had to develop the game to lose the collision when teleporting from location to location.
Furthermore, Valve made mention of the safeguard they placed in which players would not progress into a dangerous area that could result in death from falling at a greater distance. When players maneuver around the world, the game would prevent the player from accidentally falling down a hole or a ledge. Instead, the game would first put the player at the edge, which would allow the user to make a better decision on how to make their way down to the ground below.
