Half-Life

[fix-the-spade]

But that's not all. Do you guys know what Half-Life also is? What it was first? What Valve probaly got both the idea for the name and the idea for the logo from?

But did you know that Half Life was originally to be called Quiver? The name being a referrence to the Quake Engine which Half life was built upon?

More importantly, the name Half Life actually derives from the game Prospero, a game Valve began devloping at the same time as Half Life, then still named Quiver. Prospero included several innovations, including online digital distribution, stat tracking and an entirely first person, continuous story.
Unfortunately, several of these, as well as Prospero's physics puzzle based gameplay, proved difficult to make work, all the while Quiver's development continued apace.

Because of this several of Prospero's features were integrated into Quiver eventually the entire dev team being moved onto Quiver as well. Meaning that while Prospero would never be finished, it would live on in several other projects.

A sort of Half Life as it were.

The refference to Nuclear Half Life is mostly incidental, I suggest you read about it in Half Life 2:Raising the Bar.

 

[Jarc42]

Because of this several of Prospero's features were integrated into Quive eventually the entire dev team being moved onto Quiver as well. Meaning that while Prospero would never be finished, it would live on in several other projects.

A sort of Half Life as it were.

Interesting story, but I'm skeptical.

 

[fix-the-spade]

Interesting story, but I'm skeptical.

Read the book, it's true.

 

[Jarc42]

Interesting story, but I'm skeptical.

Read the book, it's true.

Book? Like a developer's diary?

 

[Cheesebob]

Half-life= The how long it takes half the nuclei in radioactive matieral to decompose into somthing else

 

[fix-the-spade]

Book? Like a developer's diary?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Half-Life-Raising-Behind-Official-Insiders/dp/0761543643/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1235855590&sr=8-1

It was a limited run so I suggest seeing if any libraries have it/are able to obtain it from other libraries. Or see if valve have any left (you had to order over Steam originally).

It pretty much covers the entire creative process from Valve starting to Half Life 2 being released, the foreword is Gabe Newell writing on the eve of HL2's release.

There's even some stuff about Team Fortress 2, specifically about how Valve are taking a grittier, more realistic direction for TF2, never fails to make me giggle.

 

[Jarc42]

It pretty much covers the entire creative process from Valve starting to Half Life 2 being released, the foreword is Gabe Newell writing on the eve of HL2's release.

Wow, great find! I'll find a copy somehow.

 

[TMAN10112]

Yes, [color-red]a[/color] Half-life is the average amount of yearstime that it takes for half the radioactive isotopes in an object (or living thing)a given amount of material to decay into a more stable atoms. For example; it takes 5,700 years for 50% of the carbon-14 in a (no longer) living thing to decay into nitrogen-14. using this scientists can date objects (even rocks using plutonium-238) and dead things back to a specific date.

average- Okay, you got me there. The amount of time it takes for two different samples of the same isotope can be different, but in general is fairly constant.

yearstime- Once agian, you have bested me. I realise that the half-life of different isotopes range from billions of years, down to minutes(or even less in some cases). I said years because I thought that it was more commonly used to date objects that were moer then a few years old.

an object (or living thing) a given amount of material- I can't defend myself on that one.

into a more stable atoms- I was under the impression that most isotopes decay into a more stable substance. For example; Plutonium decaying into lead.

You, my friend, get an atomic-science cookie

 

[Lukeje]

Yes, [color-red]a[/color] Half-life is the average amount of yearstime that it takes for half the radioactive isotopes in an object (or living thing)a given amount of material to decay into a more stable atoms. For example; it takes 5,700 years for 50% of the carbon-14 in a (no longer) living thing to decay into nitrogen-14. using this scientists can date objects (even rocks using plutonium-238) and dead things back to a specific date.

average- Okay, you got me there. The amount of time it takes for two different samples of the same isotope can be different, but in general is fairly constant.

yearstime- Once agian, you have bested me. I realise that the half-life of different isotopes range from billions of years, down to minutes(or even less in some cases). I said years because I thought that it was more commonly used to date objects that were moer then a few years old.

an object (or living thing) a given amount of material- I can't defend myself on that one.

into a more stable atoms- I was under the impression that most isotopes decay into a more stable substance. For example; Plutonium decaying into lead.

You, my friend, get an atomic-science cookie

You'd have to define what you meant by 'stable' first. If you meant thermodynamically, then yes the atoms do decay into materials that are more thermodynamically stable than the starting material. However, if you meant kinetically stable, then no. The products may be even shorter lived than the starting material.

And thanks for the cookie.

 

[Daye.04]

Oh, I thought that was immediately obvious by reading my post =P
Perhaps I've spent too much time on this thread "http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/362.87930?p=1&page=7#1428378"

All that page says is:
To:
Sent: 31 Dec 1969 11:00 am

Yes. Do you not see the hidden message?
The link's fixed now, though.

Book? Like a developer's diary?

(...)
It was a limited run so I suggest seeing if any libraries have it/are able to obtain it from other libraries. Or see if valve have any left (you had to order over Steam originally).

It pretty much covers the entire creative process from Valve starting to Half Life 2 being released, the foreword is Gabe Newell writing on the eve of HL2's release.

(...)

Guess you're pretty proud of having that book, eh. Don't get me wrong, I would too =P

(...)

THANK YOU

I registered just to say that, I totally agree

Welcome aboard then. Make yourself at home, and enjoy your stay

 

[TheBXRabbit]

So distilling this entire thread into a single post, we've decided that:
Half-Life the game's name was derived either from an actual rate of atomic decay or from the memory of a lost game they were making at the same time as Half-Life.

Blue Shift was named after another scientific title, since they had already called it Half-Life and decided to run with the "science" theme, and because the security guard uniform was blue (and they had shifts presumably)

Opposing Force was named after one of Newton's Laws of physics (and the fact that you played one of the enemies).

Half-Life 2 broke custom since if it actually functioned off the Half-Life principle it should have been half the length of Half-Life 1. No complaints here.

Everyone at Valve got tired of coming up with cool science names for the expansions to their games and started naming them episodically, reallocating that creativity into the cake department.

School systems vary wildly based on where you live.






Aren't forums just fantastic sources of information?

 

[Daye.04]

So distilling this entire thread into a single post, we've decided that:
Half-Life the game's name was derived either from an actual rate of atomic decay or from the memory of a lost game they were making at the same time as Half-Life.

Wow! Hold on. That's wrong. We've established that everyone allready knows about the other meaning of "half life". And so on. Very important to remember.

Blue Shift was named after another scientific title, since they had already called it Half-Life and decided to run with the "science" theme, and because the security guard uniform was blue (and they had shifts presumably)

Opposing Force was named after one of Newton's Laws of physics (and the fact that you played one of the enemies).

Half-Life 2 broke custom since if it actually functioned off the Half-Life principle it should have been half the length of Half-Life 1. No complaints here.

Everyone at Valve got tired of coming up with cool science names for the expansions to their games and started naming them episodically, reallocating that creativity into the cake department.

School systems vary wildly based on where you live.


Aren't forums just fantastic sources of information?

Yes, yes, yes yes and yes. Yeah. Pretty much it. This information will revelutionize the entire .... Forum industry. Or maybe not. Meaybe this is really just a meaningless thread as you impose =P

 

[coldfrog]

The lambda symbol is also used in math to denote eigenvalues which are used in eigenvectors

Yeah! Put that in your matrix and diagonalize it!

 

[Knight Templar]

I do electronics in school so I use lambda a lot for the symbol of a LED, but before half life I had never heard the term or noticed the symbol.

So a game helped me understand some things I would need in school.

 

[Daye.04]

Okay. Now we're three. Not so meaningless now, ey? =P

Allright. Electronics school. That's were I'm going to be in one and a half year =D

 

[Lord Beautiful]

yea, i knew what Half-Life meant before the game, i also know a Lambda is (the little triangle symbol from Half-Life games). thank you high-school Physical Science!

You had it in High School? Woah, I had it in Middle School. That's 7th grade.

Same.

 

[TheBXRabbit]

Blue Shift was named after another scientific title, since they had already called it Half-Life and decided to run with the "science" theme, and because the security guard uniform was blue (and they had shifts presumably)

Opposing Force was named after one of Newton's Laws of physics (and the fact that you played one of the enemies).

Half-Life 2 broke custom since if it actually functioned off the Half-Life principle it should have been half the length of Half-Life 1. No complaints here.

Everyone at Valve got tired of coming up with cool science names for the expansions to their games and started naming them episodically, reallocating that creativity into the cake department.

School systems vary wildly based on where you live.


Aren't forums just fantastic sources of information?

Yes, yes, yes yes and yes. Yeah. Pretty much it. This information will revelutionize the entire .... Forum industry. Or maybe not. Meaybe this is really just a meaningless thread as you impose =P

Well you never know. Someone somewhere might find this stuff to be ridiculously important. Lives may hang in the balance based on whether they know the origins of the name... of a video game... yeah...

On second thought, this probably isn't important info, but that's not the point of forums is it? it's all the wacky shenanigans, memes, and hijinks that ensue while people try to talk about the topic. It may not be useful, but damn it sure is fun.

 

[scotth266]

Yes, I learned this in high school physics.

 

[hippo24]

I remember learning about nuclear half life (at least the existence of it) In primary school...

 

[data_not_found]

Half Life:
The first game created by Valve software, the creators of the best SINGLE player FPS's ever. Mulitplayer is okayish.