Development of the next Half-Life game

This article aims at gathering what is currently known about the sequel to Half-Life 2: Episode Two, currently known as Half-Life 2: Episode Three.

Introduction
Episode Three was initially to be the third and final installment of the Half-Life 2 Episodes trilogy story arc, after Episode One and Episode Two.

After the release of Episode Two within The Orange Box in October 2007, Episode Three was initially to follow soon after, the philosophy for the Episodes being one released every six to eight months. However it has been delayed several times since, while Valve has been concentrating on releasing games outside the Half-Life and Portal universe, until Portal 2 was released in April 2011, after being delayed as well, Valve having become famous for their delays.

The current development status of Episode Three is currently unknown, to the displeasure of the Half-Life community, which frowns at the lack of communication between Valve and their original fanbase. Indeed, over the years, words from Valve about the game has only been decreasing, with them eventually being merely silent about it.

Timeline
What follows are the facts that have been revealed by Valve about Episode Three over the years.

2006

 * In May, Episode Three is announced for a Christmas 2007 release.


 * The same month, it is revealed that a new Episode will be released every six to eight months, and will take four to six hours to complete. An Episode Four, developed outside of Valve and with a stand-alone plot, is also mentioned.

2007



 * In June, Gordon Freeman is confirmed as the main protagonist of Episode Three.


 * In a May interview given by David Speyrer and Doug Lombardi about the development of Episode Three, it is stated that a lot of work has gone into creating a natural progress of topography and climate between Two and Three, and that the player will not head back to City 17, at least not in this game. Furthermore, Speyrer does not want to comment about speculation started by PC Gamer UK on the game's climax being a battle set at an Arctic research station.


 * In October, Episode Two is released. At the end of the game, Gordon Freeman and Alyx Vance are about to leave to Arctic locations, in search of Judith Mossman and the newly recovered Borealis, the Aperture Science icebreaker, suggesting this is what the sequel to Episode Two will be about.


 * In a November interview, David Speyrer explains that an Episode Three teaser at the end of Episode Two was deliberately omitted to avoid ruining the mood the player would have been in after the final scene by having it followed by an high action trailer. Another reason was to give them more creative freedom, and avoid being committed to anything seen in the potential trailer, stating they are trying to do "something pretty ambitious". He also states they did not want to make the same mistake as with the Episode Two trailer featured at the end of Episode One, as it is radically different from the finished game.


 * In same month, the first concept art for Episode Three is released by GamesRadar.


 * In December, Episode Three is said to be only the end of the current Half-Life 2 story arc, not the end of the overall Half-Life franchise, nor the episodic releases, with even more episodic games unconnected to the current story arc to be made. This hints at the Episode Four mentioned in 2006.

2008



 * In April, source code for three entities is released in the Source SDK in a folder named "Episode3", before being removed shortly after. They include "npc_combine_armored" (an heavily armored Combine soldier with separate shields for each part of its body), "npc_wpnscanner" (a scanner shooting bolts), and "weapon_proto1" (appearing in the Source Particle Benchmark and Episode Two as a test weapon). However, it is later stated by Valve's Tony Sergi that the code is a leftover of old material.


 * In July, the second Episode Three concept art is released through the winner list of the Into the Pixel contest of that year, involving Gordon Freeman and his crowbar face to face with a Combine Advisor, and made by Valve artists Ted Backman, Jeremy Bennett, and Tristan Reidford. The same month, the third and last concept art so far is revealed again by GamesRadar.


 * In an October interview, Valve marketing director Doug Lombardi states that news or an announcement of Episode Three might be revealed near the end of the year. In that interview, Lombardi also states that the distance between Episode Two and its sequel will be longer than the distance between the three current Half-Life 2 games.

2009

 * In an August video involving Gabe Newell and two interpreters discussing deafness and video games with a small audience of hearing-impaired people, the inclusion of an unidentified deaf character in a future game set in the Half-Life universe is said to be tested by Valve, as a new gameplay and Source engine feature aimed at providing better support for hearing-impaired players. Newell suggests that before Alyx met Gordon, she had a crush on a hearing impaired Resistance member, so she programmed Dog with knowledge of sign language so she could practice and easily communicate with him. Then this person went away from Alyx to fight the Combine someplace else, and Alyx and Dog started signing with each other when they wanted to communicate without making noise or without other people knowing.


 * The same month, Newell explains in an interview that Valve is experimenting many techniques on their games, including Episode Three. He adds he has currently nothing to say about the game, and that the community will be notified as soon as they have material they are ready to share.

2010



 * In a March interview, Newell hints that Valve intend to return the Half-Life franchise to its psychological horror roots by exploiting the fans' deepest fears, which he summed up as "the death of their children" and "the fading of their own abilities".


 * The same month, the Portal ARG is launched. At the beginning, the community starts to speculate it is related to Episode Three, until it is revealed the ARG is promoting the upcoming Portal 2.


 * In an April interview, Newell states that Gordon Freeman will go unchanged in the next Half-Life game - he wants him to "largely remain an arm and a crowbar." There also are no plans to make him a talking character, as Newell considers making the player's companions more interesting and compelling seems a more fruitful avenue to explore.


 * Shortly after Alien Swarm is released in July, unused hint nodes are found in its SDK, under the names "Ep3 Blob Shake Position", "Ep3 Fire Cover Position", "Ep3 Brain Cover Position", "Ep3 Brain Regenerate Position", "Ep3 Spit Position", "Ep3 Spawn Generator Position", and "Aperture: Nest". Given the prefix "Ep3" and the use of the name "Aperture", these may be leftovers of the sequel to Episode Two.


 * In an August interview, Doug Lombardi states they hate to make the community wait, but that they have no announcements regarding Gordon Freeman or his ongoing adventures at this time.

2011

 * When asked about the future of the Half-Life series in a March interview, Doug Lombardi states that they are not done with Gordon Freeman's adventures, and advises the community to "hang in there" with them, without further detail.


 * The same month, Electronic Arts concept artist and 3D modeler Randy Humphries posts in his Coroflot profile six pieces of concept art for what appears to be a canceled Half-Life project, with no further detail (one of a canal, one of railway tracks along a canal, one of a town named "Haven", one of a building interior, one of two presumably Combine units, very different from the current ones). Though it has not been confirmed, it may be the now apparently canceled Episode Four mentioned in 2006, since it was said to be developed outside of Valve. Electronic Arts distribute Valve's games, so they may have developed this canceled Episode Four.


 * In April, Portal 2 is released. The same day, The Final Hours of Portal 2 is released. In it, author Geoff Keighley states that Portal 2 is probably Valve's last game with an isolated single-player experience. This is misunderstood by many members of the community as the simple end of single-player games made by Valve, which is negated by Gabe Newell in a May interview, in which he states that Valve is not done with single-player games, but rather done with single-player games as we know them today, and that they will transform into "single-player plus" games, thus single-player games with social components added to them. He reckons that entertainment is inherently increased in value by having it be social, letting people play with their friends, and recognizing that they are connected with other people, and that they have to work on adding this to their single-player games.


 * In another May interview, Newell states that Valve is done with the episodic model as we know it, now rather updating the same game as much as they want through Steam, which was introduced with Team Fortress 2. This suggests that the next Half-Life game will not be in the vein of its two predecessors, leading the community to speculate that Valve has moved to a larger project.


 * The same month, the Portal 2 SDK is released. In the files, code for an NPC named "Combine Advisor - Roaming" is found by users, and is shortly removed in a subsequent update.


 * Following the network intrusion of Eidos' servers in May, and the subsequent data leak, community members report that among the leaked CVs is one of an individual who had previously worked at Arkane Studios (makers of the Source game The Crossing). The CV states that at Arkane, he has worked on "Half-Life 2: Episode 4" (Episode Four) from 2006 to 2007, before "Valve decided to put their episodic efforts on hold," as the resume outlines. It is then discovered that on the public CVs of other Arkane employees (found for instance on LinkedIn ) can be found mentions of an "Unannounced Project (Valve Software)", built on the Source engine, some time between June 2007 and October 2007.