History Trivia / HalfLife

** In his developer commentary, Dario Casali revealed the long jump module( and the jumping puzzles in general) was directly inspired by ''VideoGame/SuperMario64''.

** ''Half-Life 2: Episode 3'' (or perhaps by now, ''Half-Life 3'') is one of the biggest contenders. It has been almost 14 years since ''Episode 2'' came out and ended on a cliffhanger, practically promising ''Episode 3'', however not only Valve did refuse to give a clear announcement regarding the status of the game after it missed the Christmas 2007 mark, but in 2017, the writer, Marc Laidlaw, leaked the plot draft as "Epistle Three" before he left Valve, and in 2019 it reached the 13-year DevelopmentHell of ''VideoGame/DukeNukemForever'' before ''VideoGame/HalfLifeAlyx'' was released.

* ThrowItIn: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbZ3HzvFEto The documentary]] released on the 25th anniversary of the original game reveals that the G-Man's role as the ManBehindTheMan was actually done on the spot one day after a conversation between Gabe Newell and Chuck Jones about the Cigarette Man from Series/TheXFiles inspired the idea of having an overarching sinister figure shadowing the player as a puppetmaster purely to unnerve them.

** Further frustrating the fanbase is Valve's complete refusal to speak about the game (compared to Duke Nukem Forever, where periodically gameplay trailers and concept arts are being released before they're scrapped in favor of building the game from the ground up multiple times), and they rarely acknowledge the franchise even exists beyond the occasional off-hand mention in interviews or an EasterEgg in their other games. Combined with the news of series writer Marc Laidlaw's departure from Valve at the start of 2016 and fellow Valve writers [[http://www.pcmag.com/news/353428/all-half-life-writers-have-left-valve Erik Wolpaw and Chet Faliszek]] leaving in 2017, fans are increasingly convinced that Valve has no further interest in the series and is letting it quietly die.
** In 2019, a new title was ''finally'' announced: ''Half-Life: Alyx'', which takes place before ''Half-Life 2.'' In an interview with some of the developers, it's revealed that while there were attempts to make ''Episode Three'' and/or ''Half-Life 3'', Valve felt that there was no possible way they could match the expectations for those games and it got to the point that they just couldn't get the motivation to work on the projects. [[spoiler:TheStinger of the game is set directly after the end of ''Half-Life: Episode Two'', heavily implying that Valve [[SavedFromDevelopmentHell is finally sitting back down]] and turning Episode Three into a reality.]]

* ThrowItIn: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbZ3HzvFEto The documentary]] released on the 25th anniversary of the original game reveals that the G-Man's role as the ManBehindTheMan was actually done on the spot one day after a conversation between Gabe Newell and Chuck Jones about the Cigarette Man from Series/TheXFiles inspired the idea of having an overarching sinister figure shadowing the player as a puppetmaster purely to unnerve them.

* ReferencedBy: [=YouTube=] firearms history channel WebVideo/ForgottenWeapons has [[https://youtu.be/sb_4s80LycA a video]] called "Freeman's Patent Revolver (No, Not Half Life)."

* ScheduleSlip: ''Half-Life 2: Episode 3'' (or perhaps by now, ''Half-Life 3'') is one of the biggest contenders. It has been almost 14 years since ''Episode 2'' came out and ended on a cliffhanger, practically promising ''Episode 3'', however not only Valve did refuse to give a clear announcement regarding the status of the game after it missed the Christmas 2007 mark, but in 2017, the writer, Marc Laidlaw, leaked the plot draft as "Epistle Three" before he left Valve, and in 2019 it reached the 13-year DevelopmentHell of ''VideoGame/DukeNukemForever'' before ''VideoGame/HalfLifeAlyx'' was released.

* {{Vaporware}}: Common with this series (and even more so for ''Team Fortress 2'', though it did finally get released). Fans have been waiting for ''Half-Life 2: Episode Three'' for so long that it's become [[MemeticMutation a source of]] videogame-culture {{running gag}}s, and every bit of Valve-related news will include comments like "But what about ''Episode Three?''" and "Wait: [a convoluted chain of "logic" like a parody of a conspiracy theory]... HALF LIFE 3 CONFIRMED!"

* FollowTheLeader: The first game caused first-person shooters to shift away from "''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'' clones" and towards story-driven narratives and immersive environments. The second game popularized physics as a key gameplay element and characters with believable facial animation. More directly, ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'' would have its own "headcrab zombies" in the form of The Flood,[[note]]The chief difference being headcrabs are an annoyance to both the protagonist and the AlienInvaders. The Flood ''is'' the BigBad for the first trilogy.[[/note]] and the expansion pack for ''VideoGame/Doom3'' features an {{Expy}} of the second game's Gravity Gun. The series also popularized the HeroicMime trope for first-person shooter characters.

* TheWikiRule: [[https://combineoverwiki.net/wiki/Main_Page Combine OverWiki]]

* TropeNamers:
** Formerly, for DisappointingLastLevel (Xen Syndrome)
** Also formerly, for ScenicTourLevel (Black Mesa Commute)
** LighthousePoint
** NoOSHACompliance
** RightManInTheWrongPlace

* AscendedFanon: One of the scientists from the original ''Half-Life'' is one who wears thick glasses and has white hair on the sides of his head. On 1999, a fansite called "Super Half-Life" adopted this character as a mascot for a weekly feature, called Walter's World, with the protagonist being Walter Bennett, written by the founder of the site Kevin "Fragmaster" Bowen. It turns out Gearbox and Valve liked this character and thus, on Opposing Force and Blue Shift, Walter was directly mentioned by name on each game, becoming canon within the ''Half-Life'' franchise.

* ArtifactName: In the early stages of development of ''Half-Life'', the Security Guard was modeled after Barney Fife from ''Series/TheAndyGriffithShow''. Several redesigns later, the Guards in the retail game bore no resemblence to the character, yet retained the file name "barney.mdl".

* {{Vaporware}}: Common with this series (and even more so for ''Team Fortress 2'', though it did finally get released). Fans have been waiting for ''Half-Life 2: Episode Three'' for so long that it's become [[MemeticMutation a source of]] videogame-culture {{running gag}}s, and every bit of Valve-related news will include comments like "But what about ''Episode Three?''" and "Wait: [a convoluted chain of "logic" like a parody of a UsefulNotes/ConspiracyTheory]... HALF LIFE 3 CONFIRMED!"