Valve dev mentions rumored Half-Life game HLX, coworker immediately calls him out: “Nice work”
By (Image credit: Valve)
Half-Life 3 speculation conduit HLX has been referenced once more, this occasion by an experienced Valve creator during an official seminar focused on game sound.
A thread on the GamingLeaksAndRumours subreddit records a recent discussion featuring three Valve creators who participated in the latest GameSoundCon, a symposium centered around game audio and composition.
Presenter Mike Morasky, a Valve musician and sound designer whose career includes work on Team Fortress 2, the original Portal, and Half-Life: Alyx, was accompanied by sound engineers David Feise, a 17-year Valve expert, and Carlye Nyte, a newer addition to Valve hailing from Bungie and various other studios.
During the Q&A segment of a panel about “Valve’s Strategy for an Open and Adaptable Audio Engine,” Morasky addressed a query concerning voice count. He introduced a grouping mechanism within Valve’s configuration and how it integrates into its HDR system.
“Indeed, I believe Deadlock has their unique iteration of HDR,” Morasky states, before casually remarking, “HLX possesses its version. And so on.”
In reply, a barely discernible Feise appears to whisper “great work” before jumping in. “Groups deserve their own one-hour discussion, so feel free to chat with us about that later,” Feise remarks.
This certainly seems like a Valve veteran mentioning “HLX” followed by a light-hearted jab from his colleague. The container of hopes for a new Half-Life title is so packed that I hesitate to draw further conclusions, but it’s challenging not to analyze this a bit more.
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HLX has been speculated about for years, and Valve has previously acknowledged it in passing before, but this could be the most pronounced and definitive indication thus far. Indeed, Morasky himself has hinted at its reality multiple times: in a 2023 interview, he notably referred to “both the Half-Life titles” he’s collaborated on before amending that to “well, game.” He has been with Valve for several years,
