Half-Life, the FPS that didn't have the chance to live on Dreamcast!
If there are still people who don't know Half-Life, here are a few lines about this fabulous Doom-like game. Throughout the game, you play as Gordon Freeman, a scientist from Black Mesa working for the American army in a top-secret research complex. During an experiment, a terrible incident occurs. A space-time rift is opened, allowing a number of aliens to enter the secret base.
The mission is simple: to escape the Aliens and the Marines that the American government sends to clean up the place, there must be no survivors left. No doubt that getting out of the base alive will prove to be perilous.
Half-Life Dreamcast Trailer video (White Label)
The opponents are numerous and show a rare intelligence. If, armed with a plasma gun, the player jumps into the fray like in games from the competition, this combat technique is not recommended this time. In Half-Life, enemies don't wait patiently to be shot down one by one in a deluge of machine gun fire. They are able to locate Gordon by the sound of his footsteps and carry out combined attacks. The artificial intelligence, which manages their behavior, was one of the most elaborate in a game of this type.
The bestiary is incredible. The aliens are of different sizes, their way of attacking is different. They are called Mawmen, Headcrab, Vortigaunts or Barnacles.
The Dreamcast port features a new exclusive mission pack called Half-Life: Blue Shift. An add-on was to provide the online multiplayer experience.
Half-Life, when the Dreamcast was released, was the 3D shooter of the decade. Everyone was waiting for the arrival of one of the most popular PC softs on Sega's latest console!
The development history of Half-Life Dreamcast
The Dreamcast port was initially to be developed by PyroTechnix, a division of Sierra at the time. The studio will close in 1999/2000 and the Dreamcast port will be transferred to another structure.
After receiving a Dreamcast development kit, a PyroTechnix employee could explore the machine. As part of this exploration, a small demo using the VMU was created. It featured a radar on the memory card screen like the alien detector from the Aliens movies.
Brian Kraack: « I started working on a small demo using the graphics memory module of the DC controller to display a radar screen. I managed to get it to work with simulated data, but not with Half-Life, because I hadn't received the source code yet. »
Only one person was involved in the project. She worked on the game from the source code for only a few days.
« I received the source code for Half-Life and was able to build it and start learning the code base by making minor modifications and exploratory changes on PC. »
Subsequently, the console port will be developed by Gearbox Software and Captivation Digital Laboratories with the help of Sierra Entertainment and Valve Software. The game was announced on February 14, 2000 at the Milia show in Cannes, France.
« Sierra decided to shut down PyroTechnix and sent someone to our offices to physically recover the Half-Life source code CDs. »
Throughout the development, its release was delayed several times, first scheduled for summer 2000, then postponed to September and finally to November. It was at this time that some magazines started to receive prototype versions. Journalists criticized the low frame rate, the long loading times between levels and the lack of online play. The game was delayed again for the following year. A few weeks before its planned release date in June 2001, Sierra announced that Half-Life: Dreamcast was cancelled due to "changing market conditions".
The testimony of a journalist who was able to test Half-Life
Dan Amrich (journalist at GamePro): « The magazine worked on a "beat" system, so each reporter was responsible for maintaining a relationship with an editor. Sierra was one of mine. When we started working on the HL DC coverage, it fell to me. I was also the main reviewer for the PC, so a game moving from PC to console was usually something I would follow.
We had put HL DC on the cover of one of our issues, based on an early version of the game. Part of the negotiation to give it attention in the first place was to get the first exclusive review. It was pretty common for a publisher and a press office to arrange an exclusive window around a big game. I remember the GamePro wanted to cover Rogue Squadron, only to find out that another magazine had already gotten the exclusive. You win some, you lose some. We had all had a mutual lockout round off the cover!
The version I was given for review was about 95% complete with some missing textures, minor bugs, very playable and representative of the final experience. I was in contact with Sierra about the problems I was finding. I had asked if they would be fixed, the editor said yes anyway. :)
But this time, my contact at Sierra had been very honest and let me know that there were things that were not going to be fixed. We accepted this list of caveats knowing that our contact was working with a release date that was not definitive, but seemed likely, as the publisher wanted to keep its promise.
We usually worked six to eight weeks before the magazine cover date / public release date of the game. We often worked from GOLD versions or release candidates close to a final version. I had played at least 75% of the game. I had already done it on PC, so I knew the title pretty well. As mentioned, I only found a few small problems. I remember that the most obvious textures were missing or flawed. With the caveats, we were ready to print the article, ignore and forgive a few bugs that we were told would be fixed before publication.
After sending the pages for printing and not being able to stop the process, we had heard that the game was not going to be delivered. Situations like this have happened a few times. We had published a strategy guide for Thrill Kill only to discover that we had wasted several valuable pages on a game that EA had decided not to release after we went to press.
A rival publication had accused us of reviewing a preview version of the game, they had not received anything since the preview. I was offended by the suggestion that we were cheating our readers out of a desire to be first. I contacted the person from the other publication and informed them of our exclusive agreement. I told them:
"The date of my near final GD-R version is 3/13/01, what is the date of your most recent version?"
They never responded, realizing that they were wrong.
It was common to return or destroy builds, depending on the publisher's instructions/preferences. »
More interviews/testimonials about Half-Life Dreamcast
Robert Morgan (programmer at Captivation Digital Laboratories) and Jeff Pobst (producer at Sierra Entertainment) explain the behind-the-scenes and development history of Half-Life Dreamcast, the reasons for its cancellation and the difficulties encountered in bringing such a game to consoles on the second page dedicated to this famous Valve title: [Behind the scenes of Half-Life Dreamcast creation: an early prototype and exclusive testimonials] COMING SOON
The cheat codes
The Dreamcast port uses a cheat system. In the main menu options, there is an "Enter Code" screen. There are three columns of words, consisting of a list of subjects, verbs and object complements. The goal is to select the right words, in the right order, to form sentences (often humorous) called access codes. If a valid access code is entered, it will appear in the "Select Codes" menu where it can then be activated or turned on.
General Cheat Code:
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Slow motion: Enter "Actions Ignore Silence"
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Invisibility: Enter "Soldiers Ignore Gordon"
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Infinite Ammo: Enter "Dreamcast Gives Firepower"
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Invulnerability: Enter "Otis Loves Dreamcast"
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Low gravity: Enter "Gordon Abhors Gravity"
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Lock and Load (all weapons): Enter "Gordon Ignore Explosives"
Half-Life normal, level choice:
Options Menu
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Anomalous Materials : Enter "Gordon Goes to Work"
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Unforeseen Consequences : Enter "Gordon Teaches Physics"
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Office Complex : Enter "Files and Fear"
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"We've Got Hostiles" : Enter "Soldiers Visit Black Mesa"
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Blast Pit : Enter "Safe And Sound"
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Power Up : Enter "Big Is Beautiful"
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On A Rail : Enter "Trains And Rockets"
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Apprehension : Enter "Fear Finds Gordon"
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Residue Processing : Enter "Recycle Or Die"
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Questionable Ethics : Enter "Regression Brings Progress"
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Surface Tension : Enter "Combat And Death"
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"Forget About Freeman!" : Enter "Soldiers Eat Tacos
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Lambda Core : Enter " Scientists At Work"
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Xen : Enter "Fear And Gravity"
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Gonarch's Lair : Tapez "Xenophobia And Firepower"
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Interloper : Enter "Panic In Xen"
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Nihilanth : Enter "Panic And Die"
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Endgame : Enter "Answers Beget Questions"
Half-Life Blue Shift, level choice:
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Insecurity : Enter "Gordon Goes to Work"
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Duty Calls : Enter "Gordon Teaches Physics"
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Captive Freight : Enter "Files and Fear"
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Focal Point : Enter "Soldiers Visit Black Mesa"
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Power Struggle : Enter "Safe And Sound"
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A Leap Of Faith : Enter "Big Is Beautiful"
Menu to enter the codes
Menu to activate or deactivate the codes
The command lines (Debug Menu) :
Another particularity of Half-Life PC/Dreamcast and of the games published by Valve is the presence of a kind of Debug Menu. It is represented by command lines to write after opening a specific menu. The possibilities are numerous, here are some of them:
Command line
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Open or close the command line: With a keyboard plugged into the console's B port, press the "ö" or "à" (on the Flycast emulator) key once a game is launched
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Access to the build number and version: Enter "Status"
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Invulnerability (godmode): Enter "god"
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The free camera mode: Enter "noclip"
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All weapons with maximum ammo: Enter "impulse 101"
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Load the multiplayer map Bounce (only available in this way): Enter "map bounce"
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Load the multiplayer map Datacore (only accessible in this way): Enter "map datacore"
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Load the multiplayer map Subtransit (only accessible in this way): Enter "map subtransit"
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Load the multiplayer map Undertow (only accessible in this way): Enter "map undertow"
The command "map [map code]" allows you to download all levels of the game ( Deathmatch, Half-Life Normal, Blue Shift et Hasard Course mode).
All order lines are listed on https://sr-team.clan.su/K_stat/hlcommandsfull.html or https://www.cheatcc.com/pc/halflife.html
Datacore multiplayer map
Half-Life Dreamcast prototypes available for download
Since its first leak in CDI format (ISO modified to fit on a PC optical disc) in 2003, Half-Life's Dreamcast prototypes have kept a discreet presence on the web, making it impossible to get their hands on a physical copy of the game. Today, a number of builds of the Valve/Sierra/Gearbox/Captivation title have been located, some of which can be downloaded from this page.
Half-Life Dreamcast's first physical prototype and GDI (Apr 20, 2001)
In 2018 an American found a prototype copy of Half-Life Dreamcast at a yard sale. He posted his discovery on Facebook. The community was abuzz, finally seeing a confidential red disc of this long-awaited FPS. Maybe this build number 1638, prior to the version 1672 that had already been leaked in 2003, would allow them to progress in the creation of Mods.
Its owner being concerned about the preservation of the videogame heritage sent it to me so that I could extract its content and share the ISO publicly. Against all expectations, he offered me the GD-R.
Even if the game has existed for many years, it was the first time that a prototype of Halfe-Life was seen. A dump in GDI format (proprietary file format of the Dreamcast) could finally be made while there was only an image of the game in CDI.
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You can download this build of Half-Life Dreamcast (direct transfer) below:
The prototype of May 15, 2001
Internal build number
According to the last modification of the files with the GD-ROM Explorer tool, the date of this prototype is May 15, 2001 at 14:31:25 (V 0.900). This Half-Life American beta would have been burned about 1 month after the build quoted above which was dated April 20, 2001 at 09:13:38 (V0.800).
This new HL precedes by a few days the last known version of the game in CDI format (May 23, 2001). It is thus the most recent GDI (proprietary file format of the Dreamcast) listed !
When opening the Debug Menu and typing the command line "status", the internal numbering of the prototype version, used by the development studio, indicates a Dreamcast build 1659.
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You can download this build of Half-Life Dreamcast (direct transfer) below:
The prototype of September 10, 2001
This early version of Half-Life Dreamcast dates from September 10, 2000, some 7-8 months before the game's known downloadable prototypes. It is astonishing for its exceptional content and many distinctive characteristics. Its internal version number is “1417”.
Version 1417
Debug Menu
This is a pre-production Debug Symbol build. The differences with other versions of Half-Life Dreamcast are numerous, whether in programming (optimization, code, files), Game Design (controller configuration, game mechanics), Level Design (level construction), Level Art (model) or UI Design (menu).
A Debug Menu, in addition to the traditional Half-Life command lines, can be found in the game's main menu. The developers had not yet locked down or removed features linked to PC multiplayer, such as the chat system. The internal jokes between developers materialized on the screen - placeholders - are funny!
A dedicated page is devoted to this prototype (80,000 characters). The introduction to the build analysis begins with a Making of of Half-Life Dreamcast development, as seen from the perspective of Sierra Entertainment and then Captivation Digital Laboratories, with testimonials from Jeff Probst (producer at Sierra) and Robert Morgan (programmer at Captivation). Bringing Valve's game to console was a major challenge. At last, you can find out the real reasons behind its cancellation!
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You can download this build of Half-Life Dreamcast (dedicated page) below:
COMING SOON
Important:
Ideally, if you want to play Half-Life Dreamcast in optimum conditions, choose the GDI prototype of May 15, 2001 or the CDI of May 23, 2001. They are almost identical, with a few exceptions in the code only.
The other localized prototypes
Three other prototypes of this famous Shooter could be located. We have to be satisfied with the photos, their owners do not wish to share them online.
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The first prototype: According to the date written on the disc, this build is about 6 months before the ones available on Internet. The GD-R comes with a cover sent by the editor.
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The second prototype: According to the date written on the disc, this build dates from 2 months before the one available for download.
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The third prototype: The build of May 23, 2001 (the CDI) is considered to be the game's transition to GOLD. However, the last version of Half-Life Dreamcast examined by the beta testers was dated May 31, 2001. This GD-R, marked as final, would confirm the exact date of HL DC's development completion. This prototype would potentially offer the first GDI of the May 23, 2001 iteration.
First prototype
Second prototype
Third prototype (on the right)
Merchandising and promotion of Half-Life (download)
The promotion of the title had begun, the game was at more than 90% of its development. The announcement of the end of the production of the Dreamcast saw the cancellation of the game’s release. The WL contains only a video (a trailer) of the game. You can download this White Label below:
To discover the list of existing White Labels, go to "The Dreamcast White Labels". You will find scans, research on them and an extremely complete listing.
An official guide, published on December 22, 2000 by Prima Publishing, U.S., has been written. It contains:
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Coverage of the all-new Half-Life: Blue Shift mission
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In-depth strategies that will ensure the survival of the game's hero
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Maps of all zones
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Statistics for all weapons and monsters
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Detailed instructions for each mission
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A complete list of cheat codes and tips for unlocking them
You can download the official Half-Life Dreamcast guide below:
Homemade cover, made by Martino Brunet, of Half-Life to download:
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Go to the website of the creator of the covers by clicking on the link above
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Click on the photo corresponding to the desired cover
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Print it from the new window that will open
I'd like to thank Jeff Pobst, Robert Morgane, Dan Amrich and Brian Kraak for their availability and kindness, and for taking the time to answer my questions. Their testimonials allow us to learn more about Half-Lifre Dreamcast, behind the scenes of its development, the reasons of its cancellation and the way it was covered by the specialized press.
Feel free to have a look at the "other Unreleased games" I found" For the more curious among you, I created a "List of all the unreleased games of the Dreamcast".
Similar prototypes (Unreleased): Agartha (DC) - Emulateur officiel Megadrive (DC) - Castlevania Resurrection (DC) - Half Life (DC) - Dalforce XOP (DC) - Flinstone (DC) - 4 x 4 Evolution PAL (DC) - Ring : L'Anneau des Nibelungen (DC) - Ecco 2 (DC) - Kyskrew (DC) - Propeller Arena (DC) - Geist Force (DC) - Scud Race Tech Demo Dreamcast - Shenmue 2 US (DC) - The Red Star (XBOX) - Heaven's Drive ( version japonaise de Burnout 1) pour PS2 - Jekyll and Hyde (DC) - The Grinch Jap (DC) - Worms Pinball (DC) - Quake 3 Arena version japonaise (DC) - Vectorman PS2
