Get Your Free TVs!
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The subject matter of this article does not take place in the "real" Half-Life and Portal universe and is considered non-canon. |
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Get Your Free TVs! was the very first Half-Life 2 test level to be created in 2000 when the Valve development team only had a rough script of the game, some concept art, and was experimenting the new technology. It consisted of a test sequence designed to highlight all the new technology created for the game and test the NPCs and physics, not to be included in the final product.[1] Working on a very early version of the Source engine (reusing Half-Life's HUD), this sequence was the real beginning of the game's development. The footage was captured through video out to a Sony camcorder onto MiniDV tape[2] and presented at SIGGRAPH 2000 as part of a closed-room demo.
The recording, recovered from an old PC and digitally cleaned up, was finally published on November 15, 2024 by Valve alongside the rest of the complete SIGGRAPH 2000 presentation reel in celebration of Half-Life 2's 20th anniversary.[2] Marc Laidlaw also published a portion of the footage without any additional post processing on the same day to his personal YouTube channel.[3]
Description[edit]
The concept was to simulate a street war between rioting gas mask Citizens and the Metrocops sent to contain them. Such a sequence would test the engine's ability to create a vast, believable world and lifelike characters. There would be APCs and tanks rolling down the streets. Citizens would throw Molotov cocktails at the vehicles, which would then explode. Other characters would start looting stores and yell, "Get your free TVs!". There was even a hand-to-hand fighting system so the Metrocops and Citizens could get into fistfights, a feature never implemented or seen in the final game.[1] The voice lines for the citizens were performed by Marc Laidlaw, said to have been recorded very quickly when pulled into an office while he was heading down the hall to another office.[3]
The small map used for the demonstration can be found in the WC map pack under the name city_test, albeit with some differences. It can be found as revisions 03 through 09, modified from December 2000 to July 2001. It was also reused as testroom_signage (September 2001) showcasing Combine posters, billboards, and technology.
Gallery[edit]
The first courtyard in
city_test03.
Ditto, from the other side.
The hallway seen in the Get Your Free TVs! official screenshot, as seen from the same spot. Of note is that a brush APC is used instead of a white sedan, and some junk lies in the foreground.
The hallway seen in the Get Your Free TVs! official screenshot, seen from opposite.
The second courtyard past the doorway, with an early brush APC.
Alyx as a placeholder near chargers in the second courtyard.
Fan-made model restoration using the original textures.
References[edit]
External links[edit]
- "The Final Hours of Half-Life 2", Page 7: Zombie Basketball on GameSpot
Half-Life 2 Anniversary Archive: SIGGRAPH 2000 Demo on YouTube- TV! Free TV! on YouTube
