"Half-Life" fans, who have been waiting for "Half-Life 3," have reason to celebrate despite the lack of clarity on when "Half-Life 3" will be developed and released. While fans worldwide continue to look to publisher Valve Corporation head Gabe Newell for a concrete sign of the existence of "Half-Life 3," Valve approved a fan effort to develop a "Half-Life" based game.
Pocket-Lint reports that independent game developer Richard Seabrook decided to develop his own "Half-Life 2" sequel for two reasons. The first, like most "Half-Life" followers Seabrook had been waiting ages for Valve Corporation to roll out "Half-Life 3." The second reason is that Seabrook had actually been looking to go into working for Valve Corporation and hoped that his game will open the doors for him. Seabrook previously worked in quality assurance testing in Bournemouth in the UK.
Seabrook's game called "Prospekt" is a standalone game that does not require, or depend on, "Half-Life 2." BBC reports that "Prospekt" uses graphics and assets from "Half-Life 2" with permission from Valve Corporation.
According to VG24/7, Seabrook spent a total of 2,500 hours across two years to develop "Prospekt." Once the game was completed, Seabrook submitted a copy to Gabe Newell. All the hours paid off because Valve was happy with "Prospekt." The developer gave Seabrook's game the green light and allowed the game's release on Valve-developed Steam. "Prospekt" will be available on February 2016.
Certainly a number of disappointed fans would take "Prospekt's" release as signal that no "Half-Life 3" is crossing the horizon any time soon, but Prospekt itself may prove sufficient to satiate fan hunger.
Seabrook expressed his thanks to those who helped him during the development process and shared his excitement over how "Prospekt" will be received by the Steam community.
"I'm hugely grateful for the immense support from the 'Half-Life 2' and PC gaming community", Seabrook said. "I can't wait to hear what they think of the finished game and work the feedback into my next project, no doubt developed while we all wait for 'Half-Life 3!' "
