Board 8 > Former Valve writer posted a basic summary of HL3 plot

(+) Yeah! (+)

Marc Laidlaw originally posted it on his own website, with names changed but obvious enough that you could tell what was what and who was who. His site is down due to traffic, but here is a repost with the names replaced with their originals

https://pastebin.com/q9DMFa7c

Last paragraph is obviously no longer talking about the game, but about him and Valve.
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This is fascinating. I wish it never came to this.
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When I finished Episode 2 I was blown away. Half-Life 2 was in my Top 5 favorite games at the time. It stayed in that position for a long time.

I remember beating Episode 2 in my basement in 2007, working full-time in between graduating high school and finally entering my first semester of college. I eagerly awaited Episode 3.

Now here I am 10 years later and I know this is likely the end. I'm not even sure if I trust the source fully--whether it's what the plot of Episode 3 would've been or not. I'm torn, in that I'd rather get some closure, anything, I'll take this, but then I also figure if this is really the plot, then it's probably even less likely to ever materialize as a game (as if there was still some hope left).

It's sad. I like Steam, but I truly dislike how this final chapter to Half-Life has had to end. And yet even now a part of me still holds on to some iota of hope that Episode 3 or Half-Life 3 will get released at some point. Yeah, it's sad.
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Jesus Christ

Would it even be that hard to just finish Episode 3? Valve is a huge company and it must know how much people want it.
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Oh well, at least it's some closure

Looking forward to the fan mod a couple of years from now, maybe it's all part of a masterstroke by Valve to get the fans to make the game because they have no interest in making it themselves.
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Episode 3*

But this makes me sad. It ends in a way to set up HL3 and that we will never even get a story summary for...
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Isn't it super unusual to post details about an unmade game? Couldn't that get him blacklisted or something?
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Usually but this is not a usual case
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Oh no, now he won't get to work on HL3. Just like everyone else at Valve.
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When I worked at a comic book store, I met an artist that came into the shop. This was 15-20 years ago, it's been awhile. She was really good, drew monsters and stuff like that mostly. I only met her a couple times, but she was super nice. The last time I saw her, she came into the shop with some exciting news. She just got hired as an artist at Valve. I can't remember if Half-Life 2 had come out yet or was about to come out, but it was around that time. Valve was riding high.

Sometimes I wonder if she is still there. Drawing Steam UI's and trading cards. It's a depressing thought.
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