Welcome to the Universal Union!
Until Valve reveals their next Half Life game, I tried to imagine what a trailer for a sequel to Half Life 2 Episode 2 would look like... Welcome to the Combine Overworld, and their next attempt to regain control of Earth.
Almost every visual asset in this short film (concepts, models, textures, rigs, animations) have been designed and handcrafted from scratch. Exceptions: (G-man, and Dr. Breen's Face)
No generative Ai assets have been used in this project, even for the concept stage... if that even matters to anyone.
I wanted to thank the Half Life subreddit for all their support and and even suggestions during the design process and a friend who helped with retopology of the bear and the "mother" creature.
Inspiration/references:
Half Life 2 Artbook "Raising The Bar" has been used as initial inspiration for the many original concepts I had to create but at the same time, other media has influenced the design process in many areas. "Alien", "Prometheus" "Scorn - game" and Denis Villeneuve sci-fi movies are some of the them.
Voice lines:
Dr. Wallace Breen by Robert Martin Culp 1930–2010
Half Life 2 and HL2 Episode One
Music:
Half-Life 2: Combine Harvester music remixed from @DarrynYT
• Combine Harvester (Slowed + Reverb)
Half-Life 2 EP2 "Dark Interval" Slowed down and reversed.
Half-Life: Alyx "Anti-Citizen"