Nobody asked, but this is the worst Half-Life experience possible

[CaptainQuirk26]

So obviously, I would not recommend replicating what I have done here. But I put in an excessive amount of effort to create the worst Half-Life experience I possibly could. Here's a screenshot:

Now obviously there's a lot to unpack here. To start with, this is the game running in the most low-power and unstable environment I could create. I am using this web-based Xash3D port to run the game on an extremely low-power system, which under normal circumstances will get around 50 FPS with lows of about 7 FPS.

Now, the first thing I did was lower all settings in the options menus. The screen resolution went down to 640x480p. Screen size went down even lower so that it ended up rendering the actual game at DOOM resolution. This also had the side effect of causing the crosshair to be in the wrong place, making aiming basically impossible. The renderer got switched to the more poorly optimized option, and Simple Sky was enabled. Then in the audio tab, all DSP or post-processing effects were disabled.

But the result of all that was still too playable for my tastes. Not to mention that my decapitation of the video quality was causing framerates above 60. So I typed in a console command...

"fps_max 1"

So that's why it's reporting 13 FPS. The framerate is literally as low as the engine will let it be. That caused the mouse to become horribly unresponsive, which was an unintended side effect that aided my goals. But of course, it still looked okay... So I used "r_fullbright -1.0001" to completely eliminate level lighting. Lighting will still apply to models, but it will do so glitchingly, which is amazing. To add a final touch, I went into third-person mode, which actually defauts to looking at the player from a side angle. That was a little too much though, so I used "cam_idealyaw 0" to center it on the player's back. So what does this gameplay look like? Well, my recording software was being annoying, so the only footage I have is this video of me playing the Hazard Course.

In the footage, I am seen to be struggling with basic platforming, and in fact, I actually manage to die at the end. In the tutorial. I am normally pretty skilled at the game, but the sheer extent to which I destroyed this version just made it impossible for me to play well. As painful as this is to watch, it is more painful to play.

Edited October 1, 2023 by CaptainQuirk26
Fix image display issue

[Dedayog]

58 minutes ago, CaptainQuirk26 said:

So obviously, I would not recommend replicating what I have done here. But I put in an excessive amount of effort to create the worst Half-Life experience I possibly could. Here's a screenshot:

Now obviously there's a lot to unpack here. To start with, this is the game running in the most low-power and unstable environment I could create. I am using this web-based Xash3D port to run the game on an extremely low-power system, which under normal circumstances will get around 50 FPS with lows of about 7 FPS.

Now, the first thing I did was lower all settings in the options menus. The screen resolution went down to 640x480p. Screen size went down even lower so that it ended up rendering the actual game at DOOM resolution. This also had the side effect of causing the crosshair to be in the wrong place, making aiming basically impossible. The renderer got switched to the more poorly optimized option, and Simple Sky was enabled. Then in the audio tab, all DSP or post-processing effects were disabled.

But the result of all that was still too playable for my tastes. Not to mention that my decapitation of the video quality was causing framerates above 60. So I typed in a console command...

"fps_max 1"

So that's why it's reporting 13 FPS. The framerate is literally as low as the engine will let it be. That caused the mouse to become horribly unresponsive, which was an unintended side effect that aided my goals. But of course, it still looked okay... So I used "r_fullbright -1.0001" to completely eliminate level lighting. Lighting will still apply to models, but it will do so glitchingly, which is amazing. To add a final touch, I went into third-person mode, which actually defauts to looking at the player from a side angle. That was a little too much though, so I used "cam_idealyaw 0" to center it on the player's back. So what does this gameplay look like? Well, my recording software was being annoying, so the only footage I have is this video of me playing the Hazard Course.

In the footage, I am seen to be struggling with basic platforming, and in fact, I actually manage to die at the end. In the tutorial. I am normally pretty skilled at the game, but the sheer extent to which I destroyed this version just made it impossible for me to play well. As painful as this is to watch, it is more painful to play.

Is this a new trend or something?

[CaptainQuirk26]

24 minutes ago, Dedayog said:

Is this a new trend or something?

I don't think so, I just don't have the hardware to create good experiences X3

[Mark Kaine]

no, the worst possible experience is just playing the game. by making it less visible you lessened the suffering.  Try, try again.

 

 

 

 

[Dedayog]

2 hours ago, CaptainQuirk26 said:

I don't think so, I just don't have the hardware to create good experiences X3

But you went out of your way to make it worse.  Seen a few others do similar, must be the new cool thing to do.

 

Good job, I guess.

[CaptainQuirk26]

3 hours ago, Mark Kaine said:

no, the worst possible experience is just playing the game. by making it less visible you lessened the suffering.  Try, try again.

 

 

 

 

Moderators, you have your target. Shoot to kill.

[Mark Kaine]

54 minutes ago, Dedayog said:

But you went out of your way to make it worse.  Seen a few others do similar, must be the new cool thing to do.

 

Good job, I guess.

exactly,  even though op doesn't want to admit it, its definitely a new "trend"... 

[CaptainQuirk26]

Just now, Mark Kaine said:

exactly,  even though op doesn't want to admit it, its definitely a new "trend"... 

I didn't know about that I just got the idea. This keeps happening to me. I get a really good idea and then later find out that someone already did it.

[Mark Kaine]

1 hour ago, CaptainQuirk26 said:

I didn't know about that I just got the idea. This keeps happening to me. I get a really good idea and then later find out that someone already did it.

tbh that's *also* something that happens a lot... like several people invent the same things around the same time, its literally a product of the then current time.

 

and at the moment it seems a lot of people are feed up with the lack of innovation (in many sectors) and that's how people get ideas like that! 

[Dedayog]

6 hours ago, CaptainQuirk26 said:

I didn't know about that I just got the idea. This keeps happening to me. I get a really good idea and then later find out that someone already did it.

 

5 hours ago, Mark Kaine said:

tbh that's *also* something that happens a lot... like several people invent the same things around the same time, its literally a product of the then current time.

 

and at the moment it seems a lot of people are feed up with the lack of innovation (in many sectors) and that's how people get ideas like that! 

Or you sorta saw it already.  

 

Like when you watch a YouTube video and in the right column is a video about Brocolli, and you randomly have Brocolli for dinner.  You didn't see the video but your peripheral may have.

 

Or when a song comes on the radio and you "guess" it, but you don't see the radio screen with the name specifically.

 

There is a lot we notice subconsciously that effects our lives and choices.  Marketing plays on this heavily, like with ads, billboards, commercials, naming of stadiums, etc.  Throw something out there enough, the subconscious will pick it up.

[CaptainQuirk26]

4 hours ago, Dedayog said:

 

Or you sorta saw it already.  

 

Like when you watch a YouTube video and in the right column is a video about Brocolli, and you randomly have Brocolli for dinner.  You didn't see the video but your peripheral may have.

 

Or when a song comes on the radio and you "guess" it, but you don't see the radio screen with the name specifically.

 

There is a lot we notice subconsciously that effects our lives and choices.  Marketing plays on this heavily, like with ads, billboards, commercials, naming of stadiums, etc.  Throw something out there enough, the subconscious will pick it up.

Well, a good example where There's almost no way that could have happened was my idea to create a 2D Mario 64 with the name Super Mario 63, only to find out it's been done under that exact name and was on Newgrounds for the longest time.