I watched the full documentary now. It’s clear they were burned out of Half Life when they started with Episode 3. The idea to deliver a new episode every 12 months wasn’t creatively sustainable. So they put it on hold while they worked on L4D and other projects.
When they started with episode 3 they’ve already worked on Half Life 2 for more than 8 years. Most good ideas had already been explored, and they struggled to come up with new ones.
At that point it’s easier to start with something fresh where they’re not confined with the expectations of what a Half Life 2 should be.
I watched the full documentary now. It’s clear they were burned out of Half Life when they started with Episode 3. The idea to deliver a new episode every 12 months wasn’t creatively sustainable. So they put it on hold while they worked on L4D and other projects.
It’s a weird argument for them to make: We are too exhausted to make a short game so instead made an entirely new full game.
When they started with episode 3 they’ve already worked on Half Life 2 for more than 8 years. Most good ideas had already been explored, and they struggled to come up with new ones.
At that point it’s easier to start with something fresh where they’re not confined with the expectations of what a Half Life 2 should be.
I assume that’s how creativity works? Making new different things gets you more ideas than doing similar thing over and over.