Valve's hilarious solution to a design issue

was it really harder to just change the size of the window lmao

Edit: Since this video blew up the description of this video has been bothering me. This video isn’t meant to be a dunk on Valve, I just thought it was funny/entertaining and wanted to share. Yes it obviously was harder to change the size of the window, Valve said as much in the commentary and they aren’t stupid. The original description (above this edit) was just meant as a joking rhetorical question. My conscience is now clear and I may rest. If your reading this have a nice day :)

[pantommy]

ASSIGNMENT: TERMINATED
SUBJECT: FREEMAN
REASON: DEMONSTRATION OF EXCEEDINGLY POOR JUDGEMENT

[emilydaemon]

Fun fact: If you throw out all of the boxes, jump down, and load the next level, you can stack the boxes to climb back up, go through the window, and softlock yourself by throwing out any remaining crates or boxes, as they won't respawn anymore in this level.

[wolfclck]

It's a good thing that they did this because I found out about this solution years ago by being the exact player that they were afraid of.

[lumi_bloop]

one must imagine Sisyphus throwing crates through the window

[jameswalton]

The absolute "Fuck you, use the damn crate" aura of just having it SPAWN IN FRONT OF YOU is both hilarious and practical

[eugenebarrett]

Rule #1 of game design: protect players from themselves

[JohnPaulBuce]

thats right, it goes to the square hole

[JoeEatPant]

Obviously this was the most logical solution

[Evrardd]

G-man granting me a fourth box out of pity after I throw all three of them out the window:

[salsamancer]

This is the kind of passive aggressive solution engineers implement after too many clapbacks from QA

[FFox]

dev: changes the size of a window.

Game: PREPARE FOR UNFORESEEN CONSEQUENCES

[codeceps]

Similar problem later in the car-battery puzzle, but funnier solution

[Tiryan_]

I think the reason they actually did this was because changing the window size on d1_trainstation_01 also means they have to change the window size on d1_trainstation_02 which would mean they have to recompile both maps. Since they were using old 2004 pcs (or potentially older ones) compiling these big valve quality maps probably took a few hours. Making the boxes just respawn on d1_trainstation_01 means they only have to recompile that map

[SrsBismuth]

I was hoping the wall would just collapse, providing a way out - but this is hilarious.

[ethanlivemere]

Jolly Wangcore about to have a field day with this infinite crate machine

[nothingmepls]

I actually knew this 20 years ago. HL2 was one of my first FPS games and I thought the game wanted me to stack boxes on the OTHER side of the window to break my fall, so I kept throwing them out to make sure there was a big pile. I forget what happened exactly, but the game ruined my plans somehow, maybe by despawning the boxes outside - so I just gave up and jumped instead.

[AvgSpy]

They actually talked about doing this during a reaction to an hl2 speedrun at one point. They also made some jokes about fixing certain bugs to "change the meta" of speedrunning lol. There's actually a lot of interesting things they talk about during that video.

[gillboy]

They don't spawn infinitely unfortunately, it simply teleports the last crate you throw out back into the room.

[saquial]

Well, they were trying to avoid unforeseen consequences.

[AlphaEnt]

For real, when I tested this yesterday, I thought the combine was going to break the door and arrest me or something like that.
And considering hl alyx's ending, i like to imagine every time the box respawn is someone that nudged the past to keep that box inside the room "What do you want? A box inside the room, I want a box inside that room all the time. Why? Idk, a gut feeling."