Half-Life

[Anonymous No.10316082]

Anyone can answer what the nonsense mini monitors next to the main monitor are supposed to be?

And what are they supposed to do?

PS: I know it is made up nonsense art thing to make the game look iconic and alien however can anyone craft a theory?
And why that thing can not simply be a simple rectangular monitor (more space+ easy to manufacture)?

[Anonymous No.10316092]

The super advanced aliens are ahead of the curve, who knew.

[Anonymous No.10316101]

super cool alien monitors full of super cool alien data. they're asymmetrical because aliens aren't squares like gordon is. what a nerd that guy is lol.

[Anonymous No.10316104]

because its based and looks cool
fuck off with your nuDev mentality faggot

[Anonymous No.10316107]

>>10316092
>2 monitors.
OK.

Notice 2 things your human multi monitor setup has rectangular monitors. They literally allow you to see more information in contrast the HL2 alien monitors have cuts on them making them not rectangles, this makes them show less information.
This is literally less efficient and more difficult to manufacture then a rectangular monitor.

Also the HL2 monitors are like 2 small ones and 1 medium sized one on every side.
Explain that one.
Since once again it is more efficient and more easy to manufacture the same monitor and have 2 of them instead of this mess.

PS: WTF are these mini monitors displaying?

[Anonymous No.10316114]

>>10316104
>looks cool
I know the devs made it for aesthetic.
>Wow alien looking different.

However realistically it be roe interesting if they served some purpose.

[Anonymous No.10316128]

>>10316104
>>10316114
Contrast what is in game with reality.

[Anonymous No.10316137]

>>10316107
Actually, by having those corners cut, they can save panels with manufacturing faults. LED/LCD panels can be cut off in all shapes, and it'd still work. It's like binning, but for monitors. Depending on Earth's manufacturing capability and the aliens' product standard, it might have been a necessity to avoid throwing away excessive amount of panels.

[Anonymous No.10316172]

>>10316137
>they can save panels with manufacturing faults.
If this was true they do that in reality.
No sorry this is not a valid argument.

>LED/LCD panels can be cut off in all shapes,
Yea however doing it this way you wast space better used for a monitor.
You can not cheat reality a rectangle best fits a space and lets you have more real estate.

>avoid throwing away excessive amount of panels.
Wild man guesting.

[Anonymous No.10316191]

the aliens were hipsters and they made shit just because it looks cool

[Anonymous No.10316195]

>>10316172
They cut faulty panels all the time in real life. A 1080p 24" screen is most likely a byproduct of making a 48" 4K TV and a corner got fucked.
A corner-cut screen is still better than no screen. Again, depending on how good Earth is at making alien screens, they could have ended up with a huge amount of faults and cutting off corners is better than not having screens and having to import everything from Homeworld. Especially when the Combine travels really slowly.

[Anonymous No.10316218]

>>10316195
>They cut faulty panels all the time in real life.
Lets pretend this is real.
They still cut them RECTANGULARY.

[Anonymous No.10316221]

>>10316191
>the aliens were hipsters and they made shit just because it looks cool
Best answer.

[Anonymous No.10316314]

>>10316082
The monitors are officially called Combine Mainframe Access Command Modules. They display anti-citizen reports from Overwatch which Metro police and Overwatch soldiers can view. Besides communication info, they display whatever is needed for the devices or machines they are attached to - such as forcefields, teleporters, and generators. The oddly shaped, asymmetrical design is probably needed to facilitate their modularity (which fits nicely with the "combine/combination" visual language). The monitors can move in different directions remotely (as seen when Breen is talking to the Advisor during the intro of the game) and they can fold up for quick transport/deployment in the field.

[Anonymous No.10316324]

>>10316314
>nd they can fold up for quick transport/deployment in the field.
Blocks your path.

>he monitors can move in different directions remotely
The same is true for rectangular monitors.
BECAUSE GEOMETRY.

[Anonymous No.10316334]

>>10316324
Form over Function.
In Raising The Bar, Valve explains that they went with asymmetrical designs for Combine stuff to make the alien stuff more unsettling and to create a distincy visual language.
lrn2 art direction.

[Anonymous No.10316336]

>>10316314
>such as forcefields, teleporters, and generators
You know what whould be nice?
If they actually did that.

[Anonymous No.10316338]

>>10316334
>Combine stuff to make the alien stuff more unsettling and to create a distincy visual language.
>lrn2 art direction.
Yea I can bet on that.
See >>10316082
>PS: I know it is made up nonsense art thing to make the game look iconic and alien

[Anonymous No.10316341]

>>10316336
Yeah it would be nice if literally everything in a video made sense and worked as you expect it to but let's be reasonable.

[Anonymous No.10316350]

>>10316341
>Yeah it would be nice if literally everything in a video made sense and worked as you expect it to but let's be reasonable.
Like if the extra monitors displayed something meaningful instead of alien flue flickers. Like this:

Either way I know it is supposed to be alien nonsense however if one of these monitors did have some cycling active over cameras or something it be nice.

[Anonymous No.10316357]

>>10316338
Well I did give you a theory. To expand on it, Combine tech isn't made to look nice or to sell in a store like those realworld rectangular multi-monitor setups. Their shit is literally a hodge podge of different tech they've appropriated over thousands of years and it's all designed by giant grubs with no eyes or limbs.

[Anonymous No.10316382]

>>10316357
>Combine tech isn't made to look nice or to sell in a store
I never argued this.
I was thinking (and this can get over the head of valve when they where making the game) to try to invent a way to make the tech look alien and dystopian and wrong and also be useful.

Like efficient on steroids enters dystopia at night.

MY ideas are
1) VS stuff.
Basically something that straps to your face for you to see all the information. Makes sense.

2) Some clockwork orange inspired monstrosity that has no monitors it is a flashing light that mounts itself to your eye
>Why wast time and resources on making screams?
>When you can simply make a small laser/ electron beam that flashes into your eyes displaying all the relevant information?

Efficient and dystopian.
Bonus points none of these solutions require you to invent shit to show or make up.

3) Literally remove one eye of your employees, they get their data from a cable that they insert into the implant they got there.

Implants are recycled from dead human workers.

[Anonymous No.10316384]

>>10316350
Yeah that'd be neat. But they are only set dressing in an FPS, afterall, and it wouldn't be relevant to the gameplay as in your example pic. There are those security camera monitors you can interact with that are pretty cool though.

[Anonymous No.10316385]

>>10316382
>1) VS stuff.
* VR stuff

Like this.

[Anonymous No.10316387]

>>10316384
>But they are only set dressing in an FPS, afterall, and it wouldn't be relevant to the gameplay as in your example pic.
True.
Once can hope however.

>set dressing in an FPS
I still argue that them giving some camera feeds can be more useful.

[Anonymous No.10316393]

>>10316382
You just reminded me of the scrapped "Manhack Arcade" concept.

[Anonymous No.10316398]

>>10316393
>Manhack Arcade
Interesting.
Anyone has a link to the HL2 that was never released and was more dark then normal HL2? What was its name?

[Anonymous No.10316434]

>>10316398
You should check out the Raising The Bar book. Explains a lot of the cut content, prototypes, and conecptual ideas:
https://valvearchive.com/archive/Half-Life/Half-Life%202/Guides/Prima/Half-Life%202%20Raising%20The%20Bar/

[Anonymous No.10317294]

>>10316398
You dumb retard, those were just concepts, not even a third of the 'half-life 2 beta' content was ever going to be put in the final game.

[Anonymous No.10317820]

>>10316398
https://hl2-beta.ru/index.php?action=downloads;cat=24

[Anonymous No.10317864]

>>10316092
>left screen muffling the sound coming from the left speaker

the tech might be advanced, too bad the user is still dumb

[Anonymous No.10317895]

>>10317294
solid snake

[Anonymous No.10317904]

>>10316082
The parts all fold up and fit together to be transported. Not just the screens but the whole thing.

[Anonymous No.10317941]

>>10316104
the hl2 devs deliberately made everything functional instead of just making shit that looked cool for the hell of it. thats why the combine shoulders dont have shoulder pads.

[Anonymous No.10318601]

>>10317895
Underrated.

[Anonymous No.10318629]

>>10317895
woah...

[Anonymous No.10318701]

>>10317895
Eye-opening. Thank you.

[Anonymous No.10318751]

>>10317864
>add right monitor to muffle the right

[Anonymous No.10319494]

Enough talk about monitors, post some mods.

[Anonymous No.10319497]

[Anonymous No.10319501]

[Anonymous No.10319503]

>>10316082
>what the nonsense mini monitors next to the main monitor are supposed to be?
you answered your own question
>And what are they supposed to do?
they display chat, emails, announcements, notes, urgent tasks, routine tasks

[Anonymous No.10319879]

>>10319494
mod yourself a stable life and lose the furshit

[Anonymous No.10320330]

>>10319501
Adults asks these questions not because they believe these properties to be real but because they're bored and they're trying to squeeze every last bit of discussional value out of the topic.

[Anonymous No.10320331]

>>10320330
I thought they didn't because they wanted to prove how smart they are
>LOOK! I UNDERSTAND THAT SUPERMAN DOES NOT MAKE SENSE! MY INTELLECT IS SUPERIOR TO THE KIDS COMICS I'M SO SMART!

[Anonymous No.10320337]

>>10320331
I didn't say they had to be intelligent about it, my statement about people arguing out of boredom still stands. Just look at this board for example