Half-Life 2 modder Richard Seabrook is now taking pre-orders for Prospekt, a standalone Half-Life game built using official Half-Life 2 assets
While most companies typically shoot down fan-made games that are based on their franchises, Valve allowed Prospekt to take place in Half-Life universe and allowed its creator to use assets from Half-Life 2.
In Prospekt, players get to participate in some of the main events of Half-Life 2 while playing as U.S. Marine Adrian Shephard (the protagonist of Gearbox's Half-Life: Opposing Force).
Seabrook holds a degree in game design but he was not able to find any vacancies in that field. He bounced between several QA jobs before deciding to follow his passion. And his passion was to work at Valve. So he quit his full time job and took a gig serving cocktails which allowed him to spend his mornings building Prospekt.
Fast forward 18 moths, Seabrook had ten playable levels and a depleted bank account. He finalized the game, put it in a suitcase, added his 70-pages Source dissertation, spray-painted Opposing Force's logo on the suitcase and shipped it to Valve.
Seabrook tracked his parcel from UK to US customs then all the way to Seattle through Kentucky and finally into Valve's hands. He waited sleeplessly beside the phone for a few days but he was never contacted by Valve.
"I was waiting for this epic phone call to come through: 'Oh my God, this is amazing, you've got to get over here right now,'" he reminisced. "I did think they would at least say, 'This was really good, but not now'. I was prepared for that - not for the no contact."
Seabrook was left with nothing but his game so he decided to put it through Steam Greenlight. And it was greenlit by Valve in less than 72 hours. ٍ The game designer then contacted Valve and reached an undisclosed agreement regarding the use of Half-Life 2 assets in his game.
Prospekt is set for release in February 2016 and it will sell for $10. You can pre-order it now and enjoy a 10% discount by visiting Prospekt's on Steam.