Car battery
For other uses, see Battery (disambiguation). |
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| Car battery | |
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| Designer(s) |
Aaron Fowler (HL:A)[1] |
The car battery is a physics prop notably featured in Half-Life 2 where it is used in an electricity puzzle during the chapter Sandtraps.
Contents
Appearances[edit]
Half-Life 2[edit]
During the chapter Sandtraps, several car batteries can be found during Gordon's trip down the highway in inconspicuous locations near an abandoned shed. The building, a former Resistance base located between a Combine roadblock and Lighthouse Point, is just off of the road blocked by a closed gate made out of junk materials. This barrier is powered by a set of generator coils in the shack, but the current is incomplete as two batteries are missing from the generator. Hence, the aim of the puzzle is to collect enough batteries to send power to the gate, opening it and clearing the path forward. The batteries require the use of the Gravity Gun to pry them out of unreachable or awkward positions. There are five batteries total: one already connected to the generator, another on a bed frame in the same shack, one on a windmill tower, another in the engine of a wrecked blue car, and one on the lawn under an overturned bathtub.[2]
Half-Life: Alyx[edit]
Car batteries reappear in Alyx as generic physics props in areas throughout City 17 and in the Quarantine Zone, such as outside the Golden Lion Distillery, in the Tanker Yard, and in the underground Parking Garage, often appearing in Combine Infestation Control hazmat crates. A few are seen in Russell's Lab, two of which power his holographic map ceiling projector. Unlike Half-Life 2, these batteries are purely decorative environmental details and serve no gameplay purpose.
Behind the scenes[edit]
The Half-Life 2 car battery model and texture appear to be directly based on batteries sold at Costco warehouses. The Kirkland Signature logo, which belongs to the company's private brand, can be seen on the label in the texture. Its name is derived from the former location of Costco's corporate headquarters, the city of Kirkland, Washington, in which Valve was based until 2003.
Examination of leaked early map files for Half-Life 2: Episode Two and Portal reveals cut instances of the car battery puzzle.
- As seen in Episode Two's
hunter_intro, an early map set in post-rework Radio Tower settlement,[a] the cable plug puzzle originally involved four or five car batteries instead. One battery is already plugged in place; one can be found in the same room near the station; another one is on a shelf in the adjacent room, and one can be found in a pile of rubble and car parts in the main section of the building. An additional fifth battery is in a hidden visgroup; if unhidden, it spawns above the building and falls into its main section. - The early Portal map
lab_lvl3a,[b] which takes place during Chell's escape from the Enrichment Center, features a puzzle involving four car batteries. They must be gathered in order to fully charge the auxiliary power, allowing the player to leave the facility. One battery is already plugged in place while the rest can be accessed after turning on the auxiliary power using a switch near the battery station. One battery can be found in an office near the beginning of the level, another in a disorderly room near a kitchen, and the final in a glass cabinet in a spacious office.
In the gameplay experiment maps dog_resource_gathering and ken_resource_gathering found among the leaked files for the Episodes,[a] a car battery is one of the props that make up the Shield Wall Zapper upgrade for Dog.
According to Sébastien Mitton, an art director at Arkane Studios, in the cancelled Ravenholm spin-off, car batteries were to be an integral part of Grigori's autonomous electricity generation system, storing energy produced by windmills. Mitton remarked that, after seeing all the car wrecks in Half-Life 2, he thought it would be funny to imagine Grigori stealing batteries from these cars for use in his system.[7]
The car battery asset in Alyx was created outside of Valve by Aaron Fowler and was sold by Dekogon Studios as a part of their "Toolshed / Garage Props VOL.6 - Odds and Ends" pack or as a standalone product.[1] References to Dekogon (the word "Deko" and the QR code in the texture leading to the collective's website) were removed by Valve.
Gallery[edit]
Half-Life 2[edit]
Collage of Kirkland Signature car batteries.
Extracted texture showing a clear look at the Kirkland Signature label.
View of the incomplete puzzle in Sandtraps. The red lights indicate where a battery needs to be placed.
Without power, the gate remains closed.
View of the complete puzzle, with the previously red lights now green.
Upon completion, the gate slowly opens.
Locations of the four car batteries disconnected from the power station.
Half-Life 2: Episode Two[edit]
The car battery puzzle in the leaked
hunter_intromap.
Ditto, with
mat_fullbright 1.
Ditto, after being solved. The power in the building is restored and an alerted Hunter runs in the background.
Locations of the four car batteries disconnected from the power station, including the one in a hidden visgroup (bottom-right).
Dog with the Shield Wall Zapper upgrade in the leaked
dog_resource_gatheringmap.
Half-Life: Alyx[edit]
Commercially available car battery asset licensed for use in Half-Life: Alyx.
Car battery model in Alyx.
Car batteries in the lift control room by the Distillery.
Car battery in a Combine hazmat case.
Portal[edit]
The car battery puzzle in the leaked
lab_lvl3amap, auxiliary power turned off.
Ditto, auxiliary power turned on (top) and fully charged (bottom).
Locations of the three car batteries disconnected from the power station.
Ravenholm[edit]
Power system concept art.
Grigori's battery pack.
List of appearances[edit]
Main games[edit]
- Half-Life 2 (First appearance)
- Half-Life: Alyx
Other[edit]
- Source Particle Benchmark (Game files only) (Non-canonical appearance)
See also[edit]
Notes[edit]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 In March 2017, the original uncompiled map files for the Half-Life 2 Episodes were leaked by an unknown individual. Among them were source files showing different development stages of the games, as well as a number of experimental maps.[3][4]
- ↑ In June 2016, a combination of original and fan-modified files related to early Portal content was leaked on the Facepunch forums. Originating from Valve, these files were worked on by the Portal mod Project-Beta team before their unauthorized release to the public. The extent of the fan modifications that were made in the released playable .bsp map files is unknown.[5][6]
References[edit]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Aaron Fowler's portfolio
- ↑ Half-Life 2 Prima Official Game Guide, pages 165-169
- ↑ The leaked maps of the Half-Life 2 episodes - Part 1 on ValveTime (March 27, 2017)
- ↑ The leaked maps of the Half-Life 2 episodes - Part 2 on ValveTime (April 1, 2017)
- ↑ Portal Beta Content Being Uploaded.. Finally on Facepunch (June 21, 2016) (archived)
- ↑ Half-Life and Portal series, general discussion (v7) on Facepunch (June 22, 2016) (archived)
- ↑
The Untold History of Arkane: Dishonored / Prey / Ravenholm / LMNO / The Crossing on YouTube
