Half-Life 2 Beta

"There is a lot of value in refinement. There's an aggressive statement of this principle, which isn't entirely true but it's still interesting: It doesn't matter what we cut, so long as we cut it and it gives us the time to focus on other things, because any of the options will be bad unless they're finished, and any of them will be good if they are finished."

- Gabe Newell

Half-Life 2 Beta (or sometimes Half-Life 2 Alpha, for the very early content from the WC mappack, or simply "the leak" for its playable game), is a generic name that refers to Half-Life 2 during its development stages, from 1999 to its release in 2004.

Original plot


The book Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar and the numerous leaked files revealed many of the game's original settings and action that were cut down or removed entirely from the final game. Half-Life 2 was originally intended to be a far darker game with far grittier artwork where the Combine were more obviously draining the oceans for minerals and replacing the atmosphere with noxious, murky gases.

Half-Life 2 was also originally intended to be much more diverse in settings, and the original journey was extremely long (to the extent that the game felt almost overblown, with little time being spent on developing existing characters; one of the key reasons for it being cut). Several City 17 levels at the start of the game and complete chapters from the second half of the game were completely removed and sometimes re-introduced in the subsequent Half-Life 2 episodes.

Parts of the book Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar and the leaked files detail how Gordon would fight alongside characters such as Odell in the Borealis, as well as fighting together with Captain Vance and Vance's forces, the Conscripts, in the Air Exchange, the Weather Control and the rooftops of City 17. Originally, Eli and Alyx Vance had no relation, and Eli's lab was located in a cave in a scrapyard and was much rougher than the better equipped laboratory within a hydroelectric power station in the retail version (the scrapyard area where the Gravity Gun tutorial takes place, being an auxiliary area as opposed to the bulk of the lab, is a reminescence of the original concept). The Citadel also looked very different, it was more round than the bulky Citadel from the final version.

Style


While the playable game leaked in 2003 is quite similar to the retail product and already heavily trimmed, this earlier period of development of the game shows a quite different style. At this point, City 17 was more an American East Coast-like city in the vein of New York, Chicago or Boston, with many huge skyscrapers, and had a very basic fps design. It was more faithful to the concept art seen in Raising the Bar: darker, gothic, sinister, rainy, foggy, gritty, with a lot of brick, metal and glass, getting along well with the cut concept of the Combine replacing the air with poisonous gas and draining the oceans. It was therefore a much more dystopian, Orwellian universe (even though the final product is still quite Orwellian) even with touches of cyberpunk/steampunk style, in the vein of the book/film 1984 or other films such as Dark City or City of Lost Children. It was also more faithful to Viktor Antonov's early work on the game.

The Combine was rather using and recycling the existent human materials and buildings, instead of adding their own technology to them. This is why, for instance, the early Citadel had its walls covered with tiles.

During the timespan leading to the 2003 leak, the team added more periods, such as the 30's, the 40's and the 70's, to finally get to a more Eastern post-Communist style we see in the retail version of the game, with older and smaller buildings. The Ravenholm levels are a reminiscence to the original style, even though the American East Coast-style skyscrapers were all removed.

Note that not all the concepts were not present in the development process at the same time, since the game had still a very rough, work-in-progress state.

Source code leak


Half-Life 2 was merely a rumor until a strong impression at E3 in May 2003 launched it into high levels of hype, where it won several awards for best in show. It had a release date of September 2003, but was delayed. This pushing back of Half-Life 2's release date came in the wake of the cracking of Valve's internal network, through a null session connection to Tangis which was hosted in Valve's network and a subsequent upload of an ASP shell, resulting in the leak of the game's source code on the Internet in early September 2003. On October 2, 2003, Valve CEO Gabe Newell publicly explained in the HalfLife2.net forums the events that Valve experienced around the time of the leak, and requested users to track down the perpetrators if possible.

In June 2004, Valve announced in a press release that the FBI had arrested several people suspected of involvement in the source code leak. Valve claimed the game had been leaked by a German black-hat hacker named Axel Gembe, aka 'Ago' born c. 1982. Gembe later contacted Newell through e-mail (also providing an unreleased document planning the E3 events). Gembe was led into believing that Valve wanted to employ him as an in-house security auditor. He was to be offered a flight to the USA and was to be arrested on arrival by the FBI. When the German government became aware of the plan, Gembe was arrested in Germany instead, and put on trial for the leak as well as other computer crimes in November 2006, such as the creation of Agobot], a highly successful trojan which harvested users' data.

At the trial in November 2006 in Germany, Gembe was sentenced to two years' probation. In imposing the sentence, the judge took into account such factors as Gembe's difficult childhood and the fact that he was taking steps to improve his situation.

Leaked files
The files leaked in 2003 consist in a playable game (which is often simply referred to by players as "Half-Life 2 Beta" or "the leak") available in two versions, the "anon" beta and the "russian" beta, which are slightly different. One of the few notable differences between the two is the presence of early weapons such as the Immolator, Combine Guard gun, etc. These weapons only appear in the "russian" beta. The "anon" beta contains at its root a .txt file last edited in October 2003, with these words:

The work-in-progress nature of the game makes it obviously very incomplete and quite unstable, and some maps won't load. At this time, chapters like the Air Exchange, the Borealis or the Skyscraper were already cut, and City 17 already had its Central/Eastern European style, making this game very similar to the retail product and representing what Half-Life 2 looked like in 2003. Therefore, the cuts were not made because of the leak, but for other reasons, and much earlier in the development process.

Other files consisted in a group of several zip files called the "WC mappack" (WC stands for Worldcraft, the early name for Hammer, the level editor), containing around 1300 incomplete VMF maps (VMF stands for "Valve Map File") of the very early chapters already cut in the playable game (most of them are repeated and almost identical), demo/prototype maps and the maps from the playable version, spread in around 60 folders named by the developers who worked on them. These maps can be opened in Hammer and can be run in any Half-Life game after texture fixing and compiling into BSP maps (using the option "Create a Mod" in the SDK and putting the textures from the playable Beta in its folder will do most of the preliminary work, as most of the textures will be missing if the compiled map is played on a released game). The maps still have the date they were last modified, which can give other clues about the game development. Most of the maps are very old and were last edited/created in 2001 or 2002.

Most of the leaked files available on the Internet are only parts of the original folder, which originally was around 50 gigabytes in size and contained much more files, such as research pictures and photos that the development team had taken in the USA or Europe, other reference pictures and incomplete models or textures.

These files can be easily found on the Internet, but note that it is somehow illegal to redistribute them, even though users cannot be blamed for wanting to see some behind-the-scene material. However the illegal status is now quite blurry since the game is now released.

Features from the playable game



 * The interface appears to be based off of the Steam version of the first Half-Life. For example, it has "Software", "OpenGL", and "DirectX" listed as usable renderers in the "Video" tab, but the Source engine only uses DirectX.
 * There is extremely basic multiplayer support. It can support very few players. Interestingly, one of the tabs in the "Create a server" option is named "CPU Players".
 * The game treats each single-player session like multiplayer; there is a scoreboard that can be brought up with TAB, and the player can type messages. If the player wants to follow the storyline, it has to access the map through the console, otherwise the next map will not load. It is however quite difficult to follow the incomplete storyline, and several maps won't load and crash the game.
 * There is basic DirectX6 support, which consists of a few low-poly character models and a DirectX6 version of one of the Coast maps.
 * The engine is of course less optimized than the one used by the final game.
 * There is no built-in anti-aliasing. It can however be achieved with some graphic cards that override the games settings.
 * The game uses a unique ammo system not seen in the final version. Ammo is broken up into three types; small, medium, and heavy. The SMG2 uses small; the Pistol, SMG1, AR1 and OICW use medium; the HMG uses heavy.
 * Several sound files from chapters already cut in the 2003 playable version can still be found in the sound folders, such as early Breencast clips by the Consul, Conscripts dialog involving an Overwatch Sniper, Combine Soldiers chatter in the Skyscraper, a scripted sequence involving three homeless Citizens talking about a Vienna sausages can (one of the them has the same voice as Odell) in a City 17 underground prototype (maps called vienna_talk and vienna3 were last edited in 2003), a scene involving Alyx (voiced by another woman) and a Strider chase, and sound clips from the film Aliens, possibly to be used for inspiration.

Enemy differences

 * The Combine Soldiers use the SMG1, the Shotgun, and the OICW.
 * The Gunship will freely use the laser on its stomach, but it is very difficult for it to actually hit the player with it.
 * The Gunship and the Strider are invulnerable.
 * The Dropship uses a trash can as a placeholder for its cargo holder.
 * Citizens have a different outfit.
 * Stalkers are much more aggressive and make much more damage than the ones encountered in Episode One, can run away to dodge attacks and will actively pursue the player.

Weapons
The game originally proposed an impressive arsenal that was heavily reduced for the final game.



Vehicles

 * The Jet Ski. It was supposed to be used in the Canals, but its movements made some testers sick, so it was replaced with the Airboat.


 * The Digger. Originally, the player was supposed to use a vehicle to dig holes through the mines at Ravenholm. For some reason, it was scrapped (it is not even textured). If the player gets in the Digger, he cannot get out of it.

Friendly fire
Half-Life 2 originally featured friendly fire, as with Half-Life. Valve found this to be annoying to play testers, as they would often accidentally kill their teammates, so it was changed so the weapons do no damage to friendlies.



Cut enemies
Many enemies were cut. The most prominent ones include:


 * Combine Assassin. A female soldier, she is the successors to the Half-Life Black Ops. She is included in Half-Life 2: Survivor. Some of its AI was recycled for the Fast Zombie, its design for the Overwatch Elite.
 * Alien Assassin, a humanoid creature dressed in black that would behave like a stereotypical ninja. Some of its AI was recycled for the Fast Zombie.
 * Bullsquid. It behaves exactly like the one from the original Half-Life, but has reddish skin. One of the leaked maps set in the City 17 canals has a section designed around swimming Bullsquids, but they will never enter the water.
 * Houndeye. It was to behave similarly to the one in the original Half-Life, but there was to be more emphasis on the Houdeyes behaving like a pack of wolves. Its leaked model is corrupt, but its textures are still viewable.
 * Cremator. It would clean the streets of bodies after a skirmish with a massive acid gun called the Immolator, which would double as an offensive weapon when the Cremator would become an enemy. It has no AI in the leak.
 * Hydra. The Hydra is a long, blue tentacle with a long needle on the end. While impressive to view, the Hyra was much less interesting when actually fighting it.
 * Combine Guard. The Combine Guard is a giant transhuman soldier that wields a weapon called the Combine Guard Gun. The gun is essentially a portable version of the Strider's laser. The Combine Guard only appears in e3_terminal, but it can be spawned anywhere. It is invulnerable.

Fate
Many of the cut concepts will never be reused. There are some exceptions, however. The cut Antlions caves were brought back for Episode Two. The cut Antlion King, originally to be met in those caves, was recycled into the Antlion Guardian. The outdoor destroyed concrete levels of the Skyscraper were also re-used in the City 17 underground in the Episode One chapter "Lowlife", where Gordon and Alyx are fighting Antlions and Gordon must find cars to block the Antlion holes.

It is also likely that several chapters will be brought back for Episode Three. The Borealis, originally a Half-Life 2 chapter, will most likely be visited in Episode Three, as a Aperture Science vessel. Kraken Base, the Artic base where Judith Mossman probably sent here message from, might also be visited before or after, possibly under a different name.

A removed section of the original Half-Life was eventually released as the Half-Life: Uplink demo; a similar situation was in place with the HDR technology demo, Lost Coast, which was based on a scene cut from the Half-Life 2. It is however unknown if single levels such as these will be officially released in the future for reasons such as an HDR technology demo.

Mods
Since the release of the retail game in 2004, many attempts have been made to restore the original storyline by making mods based on the leaked files. Some mods never went further than rough development stages and some fixes, some are still in development. Also, some players fixed several maps without including them in a full game. These can be found across the web.

One of the most famous mods based on the Beta, and actually the only to have ever been released, tough in an incomplete stage, is Missing Information. It has however not been sanctioned by Valve, being described as "illegal content," and official permission has not been given for the redistribution of modified versions of the original leaked material. The mod's current version, which might be the last, since its production has been halted, include the and the Borealis chapter, though quite incomplete. Other unreleased mods include Half-Life 2 (GabeN) or Project-9.

E3 2003
Several demos of work-in-progress levels were shown at E3 2003.

List of demonstrations



 * G-Man emotions
 * Two Source engine demonstrations
 * Docks
 * Kleiner's Lab
 * Traptown
 * Barricade
 * Bugbait
 * Coastline
 * Strider
 * Tunnels

The original demos, .cfg files used to record the demos and .bat files (demoloop.bat) used to start the demos played at E3, are included in the 2003 leak, but there are so many differences between the engine used at E3 and the leak's that it is impossible to play them.

Of note is that the 2003 leaked Beta all the demonstrations are broken in one way or another. Most stem from missing models and incorrect usage of props (ex. the game uses a prop_phys for a model, when the engine only thinks that prop can be prop_static, so it deletes it). Almost all the presentations have been fixed and included in the mod Missing Information.


 * The G-Man emotions demo will not work period, as the Half-Life G-Man model produces an error, thus preventing the movie from even starting.


 * The Source engine demos are greatly affected by certain models being the wrong version; most of the revolving slabs at the start will turn into error signs. The camera is broken, as it was facing only one direction. G-Man immediately dies when spawned, and the camera will not change direction when the Headcrab knocks it over. The ground eruption at the start of the physics demo never works, but that demo is otherwise the same.


 * Kleiner's Lab is also extremely broken; Alyx and Kleiner do not walk around and their lips do not move. In addition, most of the dialog is not in the game, generating a great amount of errors. However, the player can still watch the Strider blow up the wall and get the SMG from Alyx, even though she lacks the "give the player the SMG" animation.


 * Traptown is extremely broken as well. The metal bars that are supposed to hit the soldiers around halfway through the demo are released as soon as the map begins because the game deletes the objects restraining it. The "Troop forcing open the door" scripted sequence only works about half of the time, the soldier on the third floor of the building never appears, the radiator constraint is broken, tossing a grenade under the trash can will crash the game, and the blade trap at the end does not work.


 * Coastline is the only demo that is still in good shape, but it lacks a sound effect (a soldier saying "Stop!" as the player get near the back of the harbor). Otherwise, it works.

E3 demonstrations cut from the final game


Many E3 2003 demonstrations never made the cut, either. The most popular among users, found in the 2003 leak as unfinished maps, are:


 * Terminal, whose remnants can still be found today on the Half-Life 2 box art. It was also used in the Half-Life 2 teaser trailer. The column mounted by a horse statue however made the final cut in the map preceding Gordon's first travel into the Citadel.
 * Industrial, which featured an extremely early concept, the Combine Factories, featuring children.
 * Depot, a map showing parts of the Wasteland area surrounding the Depot and a lighthouse. The Depot was kept for the Nova Prospekt level, while the lighthouse is featured in the rebel base Lighthouse Point.

Some other maps, which are very incomplete, are:


 * Strider, which was actually almost complete, with the exception of missing scripts which made it unplayable. Some parts of it were later recycled to use in the Hydra demo. One of the earliest official Half-Life 2 screenshots shows the working map. It is one of the only pictures which shows a group of citizens with gas masks, when the Air Exchange was still in the storyline, intoxicating the air. It was also used in the teaser trailer. Its design was based of the very first Half-Life 2 demo, Get Your Free TVs!.
 * Sniper, which started as a player running through a ruin-covered street to kill a sniper. This is also the earliest leaked map using the sniper.

The E3 preview of Gordon visiting Kleiner's Lab after first meeting Alyx contains different dialog between Alyx and Kleiner than in the version viewable online: it shows a slightly different design for Alyx and ends with the lab being attacked by Striders, an event that does not occur in the final game.

Mods based on the Beta

 * Missing Information
 * Half-Life 2 (GabeN)
 * Half-Life Beta Project (rather a website providing several maps and other material)
 * Project-9
 * Central 17, map incorporating several elements from the old City 17