Half-Life 2 Mini Box!

[samuelk]

I was bored last night, so I opened up Paint Shop Pro and threw together a design for a Half-Life 2 box:

[samuelk]

The box itself is about 2 inches tall...I created all of the box art in Paint Shop Pro, then printed the flat box pattern out on a color laser printer, folded and glued it.

Here's what the text on the inside of the box reads:

Inside Cover:
Gordon Freeman is Back!

The quiet, ass-kicking, crowbar-wielding scientist who single-handedly simultaneously beat back an alien invasion AND an army of Marines is back in an all-new adventure from the creators of the award-winning Half-Life PC Game

Inside Right:
Stunning Life-life Characters!

Valve Software's character creation tools bring to life the game's many friends and enemies using high resolution textures, advanced rendering effects and intricate facial expressions.

Detailed Environments!

Utilizing Valve Software's Source Engine, Half-Life 2 features the most detailed and expansive levels ever seen in a single-player game. Spectacular level design combined with DirectX 9 effects delivers an experience so real, you'll swear you can smell the gunpowder! Beautifully rendered Pixel Shader 2.0* effects bring the world of Half-Life 2 to life.

Get Ready to Live the Next Generation of PC Gaming!

*DX9-compatible hardware required

[samuelk]

Finally, here's a shot of the back of the box.

The box design lacks a lot of the information you'd see on a retail box (system requirements, copyright info, etc.), because I wanted it to look like a promotional box that you'd see at a convention (like E3) or on a store shelf during a pre-order phase. That's why the back of the box is fairly sparse. That's also why I picked the white color; it would tend to stand out among a shelf of predominantly dark boxes.

[The Dark Elf]

haha that is pretty cool actually, nice one :D

[ukfilmer]

awwwwwww cute :) nice job dude

[Majestic XII]

Heh, almost like the real thing :)

I like it

[tim8604]

Pretty sweet. At first glance before I read the text and saw the picture, I was thinking, wow that looks really realistic for paint shop pro. Then I read you printed it out, haha. Looks awesome anyhow though. You can't even tell it's that small.

[samuelk]

Here's a mini minibox....it's a bit less than half the size of the mini box posted above:

[tim8604]

We should have people try to create different types of half-life 2 merchandise. That'd be funny.

[The Dark Elf]

awwwwwwwwww that one is so sweet! lol :)

[The Dark Elf]

We should have people try to create different types of half-life 2 merchandise. That'd be funny.
I want a knitted wollen headcrab tea cosy :E

[Farrowlesparrow]

You should email all this to valve....Im sure they would love it :)

[Gabe Newell]

Better than a lot of the boxes in stores. Nice job.

[Farrowlesparrow]

...I think this is the point where i say. "Told you so" (Meant in jest of course :))

Feels weird posting under Gabe Newell....

[ComradeBadger]

Indeed. Nice one matey, it's cute :)

[Crushenator 500]

Better than a lot of the boxes in stores. Nice job.
teh gabey :O/:D/:P !!!!!!

EDIT: maybe this means that the game really is almost done if gabe has time to come on hear and mess about.....

[samuelk]

We should have people try to create different types of half-life 2 merchandise. That'd be funny.

I've been toying with the idea of sculpting a headcrab out of Super Sculpey polymer clay. :)

[samuelk]

teh gabey :O/:D/:P !!!!!!

EDIT: maybe this means that the game really is almost done if gabe has time to come on hear and mess about.....

I sent him a link to this thread...so he might not have been browsing the forums. :)

I'm sure they're still quite busy over at Valve's Super Secret Underground Honeycomb Hideout of Death and Game Design™.

[Crushenator 500]

I sent him a link to this thread...so he might not have been browsing the forums. :)

I'm sure they're still quite busy over at Valve's Super Secret Underground Honeycomb Hideout of Death and Game Design?.
aaaahhhh :(. still pretty cool to see him here though :). and the fact that he's still online........

EDIT: no he's not. was on for a while though.

[Maxi]

Wow, thats a really nice box, I can immagine it now, the silvery bakground with the cool text... If you wouldn't have said you made it I would have thought that it was the real thing.

A+!

[PvtRyan]

Nice job, funny stuff :E

Hey samuelk, weren't you the guy behind Half-Park? Haha I love that new one with the Mario suit :laugh:
If you've got enough spare time on your hands to do HL boxes, any chance of turning Half-Park into a flash cartoon? :)

[samuelk]

Ok, this is as small as I can make it...this box is about half an inch tall:

[samuelk]

Sideswipe got his copy early:

[The Dark Elf]

Sideswipe got his copy early:
lmao haha nice :)

[Farrowlesparrow]

Haha, i love it.

[Murray]

OMG! You suck donkey-ba... uhh I mean, yeah, that's really great...

[Sui]

i would expect that to be very similar to the actual release package, infact the only thing i think would be different would be the back. Its a very nice piece of art- i would definately love to see the small case for a GC version lol

[Majestic XII]

Haha, thats great :D

[Glo-Boy]

G-G-Gabe? I didn't know he posted here!

Hi Gabe :-D

[Foxtrot]

We should have people try to create different types of half-life 2 merchandise. That'd be funny.
But only things 1/10th the size.....

[Shuzer]

G-G-Gabe? I didn't know he posted here!

Hi Gabe :-D

That's his 7th post..
samuel is clearly priviledged enough to get kudos from Gabe on the forums :) lol

I like the small small versions, those are cool

[Kerberos]

That's very nice, although you've forgotten about the rating. :p

[Ames]

But only things 1/10th the size.....

heh...

Imagine hundreds of mini-headcrabs jumping around all over you desk and you have to fight them with a mini crowbar....

[samuelk]

That's very nice, although you've forgotten about the rating. :p


Well, as I said earlier, I designed it sort of as a promotional box... it wouldn't necessarily have rating information on it.

[Kerberos]

Well, as I said earlier, I designed it sort of as a promotional box... it wouldn't necessarily have rating information on it.

Ahh, I skimmed through the pictures and didn't notice that. Well, a job well done.

[Sulkdodds]

Wow...that is bloody good. Even the devs say it is...

[Farrowlesparrow]

Wouldn't it be cool if they actually chose your design as the final box? Imagine if they payed you royalties :D

[PvtRyan]

Wouldn't it be cool if they actually chose your design as the final box? Imagine if they payed you royalties :D

I don't think they'll pick his box as the final design, I think it's maybe a bit too small to sqeeze in a CD/DVD :cheese:

[shadow stalker]

Those boxes are just awsome, great job!! And to think even a comment from gabe himself... wow :p

[Farrowlesparrow]

I don't think they'll pick his box as the final design, I think it's maybe a bit too small to sqeeze in a CD/DVD :cheese:


Hey women can do it, i dont see why they cant fit a game into something a few sizes too small.

[<RJMC>]

thats is nice!
do all the box are inside they self? I mean the miniminimin is inside the minimini and that in the most big?(joke)

Gabe is menber?

[samuelk]

I decided to keep working on this, just for fun. Last night, I made 3 CDs, CD sleeves (complete with clear plastic window) and a carboard tray that fits inside the box. I also changed the back of the box design...it looks better, though it's still a big sparse.

[samuelk]

Here's a shot of the CDs out of their sleeves:

[samuelk]

And finally, here's a shot of the backs of the CDs:

[samuelk]

This should give a good sense of scale:

[Dead-Inside]

One major (MAJOR) flaw;

You don't post a screenshot with Freeman shooting on the back like that. If you'd remove him firing, and just have the hovering and antlion, it'd be so totally awesome.

[samuelk]

One major (MAJOR) flaw;

You don't post a screenshot with Freeman shooting on the back like that. If you'd remove him firing, and just have the hovering and antlion, it'd be so totally awesome.


I don't see how that's a flaw.

At any rate, I already changed the image, anyway (see latest pictures).