Warren Spector and the abandoned Half Life 2 episode

Gameinformer

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"Valve actually stepped in and saved us, frankly," Spector says. "We were doing some concept development for them for a year, maybe even two. While at the same time I was doing concept for Disney on what became Epic Mickey. It was pretty exciting. Doing a startup is a little like jumping off a cliff, and I had to pay payroll out of my pocket for a while. It was pretty crazy, but the core of that team stayed with me and we ultimately ended up doing some pretty cool stuff with Disney."

When asked to expand on Junction Point's collaboration with Valve, Spector opened up about his involvement in the Gordon Freeman saga.

"We were working on an episode," Spector says. "[Valve] was really into episodic content at that point. We were working on an episode that would fill in one of the gaps in the Half-Life story. So we were trying to flesh out a specific part of the world of Half-Life and we created a new tool. A thing we elegantly called the Magnet Gun, which I still wish they would do something with. We came up with so many cool ways to use a magnet gun that were completely different from anything [Valve] had done and was really freeform in its use. I still think it'd be cool, but when the deal with Disney really started to bear fruit, I just couldn't say no to Disney. I'd always wanted to work there, so we never completed the work with Valve."

The possibility of Spector, the creator of cyberpunk RPG epic Deus Ex, working on a Half-Life 2 episode is an enticing one for fans. We asked if this means we can essentially blame Mickey Mouse for preventing another episode of Half-Life 2 from coming out. The truth seems to point toward Gordon Freeman's episodic adventure being doomed either way.

"Maybe," Spector says with a laugh. "I think Valve was rethinking their episodic plan, anyway. When you have the opportunity to work with the most recognizable icon on planet Earth, anybody who says no to that is nuts. It was fairly iterative. [Valve] left us alone more than we expected. We were working on... I don't know how much I can say about this even now. But what are they going to do, say 'You'll never work in the games business again?'"

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That damn mouse.

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I think Valve was rethinking their episodic plan, anyway.

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So that's hopefully a good sign that we will "eventually" get a third game, not Episode 3.






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