14 DAY TRIAL // Valve confirms that, while developing the Vive virtual reality headset in collaboration with HTC, it's built various experiments using its existing franchises like Half-Life, Left 4 Dead, or Dota 2, but it reveals that only the Portal VR experience really worked as intended and delighted testers.
Valve has been a big supporter of the virtual reality revolution, helping Oculus and other developers with tools, ideas, or technologies. However, ever since Facebook bought Oculus and amped up its future plans, Valve has sought to use its expertise in order to create its own headset that should fit its goals.
Thus, the HTC Vive was born, in collaboration with mobile device manufacturer HTC, which should arrive in November and should work flawlessly with the new Steam Machines, the Steam Controller, or the other technologies Valve plans to roll out until then.
GDC 2015 saw different tech demos present
At GDC 2015, Valve brought different technical demonstrations for the HTC Vive, in the form of the Lighthouse for public attendants and a Portal project for behind-closed-doors sessions.
While talking with Kotaku, Valve's Jeep Barnett mentions that Valve experimented and is still testing out all sorts of different virtual reality experiences using existing franchises, or at least resources.
Half-Life was, of course, a key candidate, as Barnett mentions that headcrabs, machine guns, or all sorts of other things were used to test different virtual reality ideas. However, fans shouldn't get excited about the inevitable Half-Life 3 being a full VR experience.
Quite the opposite, as Valve also experimented with other projects like Left 4 Dead or Dota 2 in virtual reality, two wildly different games that provided good insight for its team.
The future is unclear right now
Barnett does leave the door open for the possibility of seeing all of Valve's games in virtual reality, provided they work well and the studio has enough time to ensure their compatibility.
"We're not saying, 'no,' but we don't know what the right thing is [yet]. Our most precious resource is time, and we don't have enough time for people to do everything. Is Half-Life a good fit? Is Left 4 Dead a good fit? Is a new franchise a good fit? I don't know yet. We're really trying to cover the broad spectrum of what we could do, and then we'll start focusing on spearheading that."
However, Barnett does mention that the Portal VR demo offered behind closed doors behaved very well, and if everything goes according to plan, it might be used to show what the HTC Vive can do this fall.