Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar

Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar
Author(s)	Valve Corporation David Hodgson
Language	English
Subject(s)	Video game design
Publisher	Prima Games
Publication date	November 23, 2004
Pages	288
ISBN	978-0761543640

 

Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar - A Behind the Scenes Look: Prima's Official Insider's Guide is a coffee table book written by David Hodgson and published by Prima Games in November 2004, in a hardback and paperback cover, comprising a collection of images chronicling the development of Half-Life, Team Fortress Classic, Day of Defeat, Counter-Strike, Counter-Strike: Source and Half-Life 2. The book features notes on game design, development, cut concepts and voice actors. Numerous interviews of the Valve staff members also fill the book.

Raising the Bar has been discontinued and has thus become a collectible item, although it can still be found on websites such as Amazon.com at fairly high prices. The book also appears as an Easter egg in The Lab minigame Robot Repair, in the waiting room.

On November 15th 2024, as part of the 20th anniversary of Half-Life 2, Valve announced a new edition of Raising the Bar, updated with information pertaining to the development of the Episodes (including the cancelled Episode Three), set to be released in 2025.

Contents

Foreword by Gabe Newell

In this foreword written August 11, 2004, Valve's managing director, Gabe Newell, makes some acknowledgments, talks about team work, the importance of the gaming community and wonders if Half-Life 2 will be successful.

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Investigation 1: Anomalous Materials

Chronicles how it all started, the evolution of Half-Life, from Prospero to Quiver, containing many characters, creatures, locations and weapons concept art, as well as screenshots of cut content.

Half-Life: A Nonstandard Specimen

Depicts the development of the Half-Life enemies, cut and kept, and how the final game stemmed from Prospero and Quiver.

This section includes concept art by Greg Coomer, Chuck Jones, Ted Backman and Dhabih Eng.

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Extra Life: The Mod Movement

Expands on information related to the mod community that developed in the game's wake and the subsequent retail release of iconic mods such as Counter-Strike,Team Fortress and Day of Defeat.

This section includes concept art by Kristen Perry and Moby Francke.

Investigation 2: Unexpected Interference

Covers the long development of Half-Life 2, also containing many characters, creatures, locations and weapons concept art, as well as screenshots of cut content. It also covers character creation and design.

Half-Life 2: Creature Discomforts

Covers the Half-Life 2 creatures, how they evolved and why some were cut.

This section includes concept art by Ted Backman, Dhabih Eng, Tri Nguyen and Viktor Antonov.

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Half-Life 2: Digital Drama

Covers character creation and design, acting, motion capture, and face posing, as well as some information about the characters' real life counterparts. It also includes story excerpts by Marc Laidlaw given to the team for design inspiration.

This section includes concept art by Ted Backman, Dhabih Eng, Anry and Moby Francke.

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Half-Life 2: Welcome to City 17

Covers Half-Life 2's setting evolution, and how it started from a globe-spanning vision to a tighter, circular path that gave birth to City 17 and its surroundings. It again includes story excerpts by Marc Laidlaw.

This section includes concept art by Viktor Antonov, Eric Kirchmer, Tri Nguyen, Horia Dociu, Randy Lundeen, Damarcus Holbrook and Jeff Ballinger.

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Half-Life 2: Final Sequence

A more technical section, it covers polishing and adding detail, mapping, prop creation, NPC behavior, general gameplay, etc.

Images included in this section are mostly screenshots from the retail Half-Life 2, not included here.

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Uncorrected proof

In April 2016, the uncorrected proof of Raising the Bar was discovered by the wider community. This preliminary version, never intended for sale, is about a hundred pages longer than the final product, and includes concept art and information that haven't been presented elsewhere. Shown below are images exclusive to the uncorrected proof.

Foreword by Gabe Newell

Identical to the retail version.

Investigation 1: An Intractable Rebirth

Depicts the development of Half-Life from its very beginning, chronicling the origins of Valve, the initial versions of the game, and its eventual reworking.

A New Handle on Software Development

Covers Gabe Newell's time at Microsoft, his reasons for leaving the company, and the process of gathering the team, finding a publisher, and selecting necessary development tools. Includes information about Prospero, one of the earliest game concepts created by Valve.

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Quivering with Anticipation

This section is empty or incomplete. Maybe you can help by expanding it.

Freedom for Freeman

Details the thought process behind the big revision of the game, solidifying of the design principles for the game, creation of the Cabal system, and describing in detail creation of the final Gordon Freeman model.

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Good Morning and Welcome to the Black Mesa Transit System

This section is empty or incomplete. Maybe you can help by expanding it.

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Investigation 2: Anomalous Mutations

This section is empty or incomplete. Maybe you can help by expanding it.

Black Mesa, White Noise

This section is empty or incomplete. Maybe you can help by expanding it.

Domination from Down Under: Team Fortress Classic

Covers Team Fortress Classic.

Man Down! The coming of Counter-Strike

Covers Counter-Strike.

The Mod of War: Day of Defeat

Covers Day of Defeat.

Xenome on the Range: Gunman Chronicles

Covers Gunman Chronicles.

Modification nation

Showcases 50 modifications created by the community.

Metamorphosis: Extra Life for Half-Life

Covers the physical releases of Half-Life, development of its expansions (Half-Life: Opposing Force, Half-Life: Blue Shift, Half-Life: Decay) and ports (Dreamcast, PlayStation 2).

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Investigation 3: An Enduring Evolution

This section is empty or incomplete. Maybe you can help by expanding it.

Industrial Strength: Behind the Scenes at Valve Software

This section is empty or incomplete. Maybe you can help by expanding it.

Destination City 17: Head East, Freeman

This section is empty or incomplete. Maybe you can help by expanding it.

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Gods and Monsters: Combine Harvesting

This section is empty or incomplete. Maybe you can help by expanding it.

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Let's Get Physical: World Manipulation and Weapons

This section is empty or incomplete. Maybe you can help by expanding it.

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The Final Push: Half-Life

This section is empty or incomplete. Maybe you can help by expanding it.

Epilogue - The Half Life of Half-Life, Full Circle

This section is empty or incomplete. Maybe you can help by expanding it.

See also

• Development of Half-Life 2
• The Final Hours of Half-Life 2
• The Final Hours of Half-Life: Alyx
• The Final Hours of Portal 2

External links

• Official Steam Store page (archive)
• Amazon.com profile