Lombardi: 'We had a glimpse of the larger threat when we were working on Half-Life 1. However, the writing is no more (or less) important than any other element of the game, which is one obvious way in which it differs from a book, where the writing is everything.' The writing of dialogue ends once all the English language voice-acting has been recorded and the script sent off to localisers but even then, there are many little decisions regarding how the game unfolds which each affect the way a player perceives the story. 'Writing for a Half-Life-style game is an ongoing collaborative effort that starts in the earliest phases of project development and doesn't really end until the game is finished. For a long time, the character and animation systems were very rough, and those of us closest to the story had to live with a strong level of trust that the technology would eventually get to the point where we could actually implement the scenes we were sketching out. Laidlaw: 'One of the key story elements that hung on technology was the extent to which we believed we'd be able to develop strong, well-rounded characters and put them in dynamic, dramatic scenes. The only benchmark set for the team was quality: make the greatest game experience you can imagine in the Half-Life universe.' Writing It was agreed that Valve would self-fund the project and time would not be a constraint.

Once everyone was back from all that, the decision was made to pursue Half-Life 2. Immediately after the game was sent to replication, folks j here took a break to recoup from crunch time and spend some time with their families. Lombardi: 'The first Half-Life was made available in November 1998. This issue, Valve's marketing director Doug Lombardi (with shades) and writer/game designer Marc Laidlaw (no shades) talk about the making of the best shooter ever - Half-Life 2. Just How are your favourite games put together? Each month, we sit down with a top developer and pick over the bones of their opus.

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