Half-Life - Houndeye Sonic Attack Behavior

Part of my Half-Life Fact Files series: • Half-Life Fact Files
This is an educational Half-Life film strip demonstrating the mechanics of how the Houndeye's Sonic Attack functions, a largely undocumented and overlooked aspect of this enemy's behavior.
Credit to Barnz for interpreting the code.
Music: Half-Life (Kelly Bailey) - Drums & Riffs

[@leoschue8071]

There is never enough exhaustive research on Half-Life.

[@NoriMori1992]

Agreed.

[@TiredOfYoutube]

That's what makes it a great game. There's more than what meets the regular eye.

[@darthbane2669]

Yet the game is still super overrated.

[@BIGESTblade]

BM is a research facility after all.

[@julwin1985]

*on Black Mesa

[@DaFuqBoom]

So literally 2 houndeyes from 4 members squad can kill you in one attach.

[@dmas7749]

unless you have armour but yes

[@shadowgrimfoxy592]

@@dmas7749 2 can't kill you instantly

[@dmas7749]

@@shadowgrimfoxy592 didn't i say that tho

[@user-en4eo1cc4t]

You can see that in the end of the sewer section when a five squad attacks you.

[@eebu4053]

i atach of you

[@cousinvinnie6222]

Imagine this video was the creation of a Black Mesa scientist presenting it to a group of xenologists on his study of Houndeyes.

[@ikagura]

Cousin Vinnie Xenobiologist?

[@SoakieCat]

@Rainer They'd more likely use test subjects, *COUGH COUGH* Mr. Freeman

[@user-xf2eh2cp5g]

@@SoakieCat Ahhh, poor gordon.

[@Josuh]

h o r d o n

[@rudstar64]

@@ikagura I think that’s the study of aliens or something

[@tylertheultimatebadass87]

Just think, a lot of game developers don't put a lot of effort into stuff like this Most gamers could be completely unaware of a Houndeye's behaviour their entire lives, but it's still there Beautiful.

[@guardiadecivil6777]

People complaining about the A.I's not being developed enough in games when they only fucking care about shooting stuffs

[@mike7DILFLUVR]

Tyler The Ultimate Badass Houndeyes are pretty cute

[@hisoj]

makes kojima look like a time wasting chump.

[@haniffaris8917]

either that, or no one made a video for it

[@Spherehead123]

Keep in mind, you guys wouldn't have cared if it wasn't for this video, let alone the channel's existence.

[@MarphitimusBlackimus]

Visually, squad leaders are identical to the rest of the pack. Behavior-wise, they try to stay in the center of the group. Squad leaders also have the ability to alert all squad members of an enemy even if the members cannot see or hear the threat. Leaders also relay the target's current or last seen position to the squad, whereas without him, the members have to search around independent of one another. Basically, just try to determine the one that acts like he's in charge.

[@calocitey1347]

@@eebu4053 what

[@dogedameme5321]

you forgot to pin your own comment all these years

[@vids130]

@@dogedameme5321 back then there was no pin

[@dogedameme5321]

@@vids130 now I know that...

[@LemoNanora]

You should pin this 9 years old comment of yours, hope the notification alerts you to it

[@MarphitimusBlackimus]

The damage values listed are the actual base values used by the code. The actual damage is dependent on the distance from the attack along with a slight randomization factor. You could only suffer the full "15" damage if you were at the core of the Houndeye's attack, which is of course impossible under normal circumstances unless you use noclip.

[@MarphitimusBlackimus]

The maximum number of members in a Houndeye squad is four. This is defined in the code.

[@user-tzzglsstle585e38]

@@WeAintJokinHere you can't

[@danm.9132]

It is like PACMAN I never knew that each ghost has their own AI

[@PantMal]

***** Which one?

[@noisyash4234]

@@PantMal each ghost will do a different strategy to beat pacman blinky will always move towards the current position of pacman, pinky tries to move the the position pacman is about to be in inky does the same as pinky but also takes in pinkys location to help decide, clyde moves to withing 8 dots of pacman then turns and moves to the bottom left corner and just repests that

[@jf_paes1589]

I remember when I was a kid, me and a friend of mine didn't know the name of the creatures, or anything, as a matter of fact. So we usually invented names for them, and the Houndeyes were Bulldogs, I still call them Bulldogs actually.

[@crazyboybastian09]

"Fuck! A father look what is it shit is killing those soldiers standing on the railway spinny thing! DAMN YOU FATHER LOOK WHAT IS IT SHIT!"

[@samuellopezolivencia9879]

Вячеслав Рожков The first time I saw a headcrab i called it crab, it was funny when I realized that even in the game the npc's called them crabs too.

[@ixelf8187]

I also used to call Barnacle for Lucky Tongue

[@samuellopezolivencia9879]

lol

[@darkySp]

JF_paes15 When i was like 5-6 year old i was calling the headcrab "Turkey" The Houndeye "eye-filled dog" or something like this The Tentacle i called "Knocking heads" The Bullsquid "Spitty Joe" (dont ask me why it just got in my head) And the Nihilanth "Ugly Baby"

[@agustinariel4920]

2:20 lol one of them is just jumping non-stop like a happy dog, so cute

[@Dubatis]

Well, they seem to be dogs, but from xen)

[@Shak0]

Maybe they're friendly and the shockwaves are to express their love

[@SladeForelly]

Come on carl stop playing he is enemy not fren

[@MSh-pe6oy]

​@@Shak0They were supposed to be friendly, but they were made hostile because... Playtesters. Keep shooting at them.

[@epsilonadept7301]

Just look at how much Valve put effort in the game, yet I never noticed.

[@ericsbuds]

gotta explore more!

[@colinwalsh1818]

I wouldn't say they put too much effort, all they really did was change colors. I would consider it more clever

[@darthbane2669]

You fanboys are way overrating the game and the ai. It was not noticeable because it wasn't that big of a deal.

[@X3nnoha]

@@darthbane2669 why so mad ?

[@Jamesharveycomics]

@@colinwalsh1818 Change colours and the amount of damage, and scale that to the squad size, and make it so you can weaken the squad by taking out the alpha male.

[@LeatherIceCream]

Okay, I'm not the only one that thinks the sounds they make when they release a sonic attack sounds like bowling pins being knocked down

[@SupaSonicFanboy]

Saw you a while back on NotSmirks and now your here too, small site.

[@solarflare8669]

Sounds the same

[@soggybreadman4035]

LeatherIceCream nah, it doesn't sound like that at all to me.

[@WolfrCats]

Thanks now I hear it like that.

[@The_D_ray]

Hey leather! Hi leather!

[@negavamas]

I have to admit that to be an old game it has quite complex AI settings and cases that ``if this and this happens like this then this will happen´´, normally one wouldn't notice that on a 10+ year old game.

[@Akaykimuy]

Yeah, it's quite surprising how advanced games were back then, people usually just pay attention to the graphics.

[@joaquinjuarezparrado181]

negavamas 20+ years now

[@Chiaros]

Ever tried Black and White? That AI pushed the boundaries of science. It's still the most advanced in-game AI I've ever seen and almost two decades have passed.

[@cleanerben9636]

@@Chiaros might have to play it again.

[@Chiaros]

@@cleanerben9636 Great, it's worth it. B&W 2 was a bit less in-depth, but more polished. So you may enjoy it too. Just keep in mind you can't really buy them from an official source anymore (not 100% sure about 2). So you'll probably use a torrent.

[@nekibezelikonona30]

This game was ahead of it's time

[@froggo3505]

20 years ahead or 30, since theres is still no better coded game than it.

[@darthbane2669]

@Tyler Petty Yup and then they ditched it for steam so...fuck half life and the devs they can easily afford to make half life 3 amazing today but rather not spend money on people. Just a bunch of greedy assholes. Honestly I feel gaming would be better today if steam were never a thing and talented groups kept making games without overdoing mtx like steam does all over it.

[@jadengreen162]

It is time? Already?

[@Thy_Boss]

@Tyler Petty Don't be an overly emotional child. Most games that came out the same year as Half-Life were shit. Most games that come out now are shit. Use logic and reason and realize that you're selectively remembering the games that were good, because that's the exact way that was always going to work. Develop your brainpower and think it through. That's called being a grown-up.

[@ilovequake833]

@@darthbane2669 Ok,rich guy.

[@lulubeloo]

wow, man...this is so well researched, i had no clue about this. I love how much attention went into the details of this game. We need this kind of game development today!

[@Heartache]

projekt red

[@suicidalbanananana]

@@Heartache No

[@darthbane2669]

Yeah we need more devs who abandon franchises on a cliffhanger...fuck half life.

[@Thy_Boss]

There are good games today, and there were crappy games in the '90s. Logic and reason shows it's the same as it ever was.

[@rubemcorreia7988]

@@darthbane2669 why do hate Half-Life?

[@jean-francoisemarco1658]

i was already thinking that half life 1 was a huge and very complete game for its time. and now that i see all the videos about these features, cut features ect. the attention to details is just incredible.

[@remlet3753]

jean-francoise marco it's only about 200MBs and it already has this much stuff

[@someguy4258]

The houndeyes get excited so much when they see you that they accidentally activate self defense... it just wants to play but it ends up hurting you by accident, I feel bad about killing them now.

[@1004bjorn]

The amount of detail in this game put Half-Life 2 to shame...

[@SpunkMayo]

+1004bjorn You'd be surprised. Half Life 2's AI has some amazing behaviour as well.

[@GewelReal]

Like bird poop

[@ELSTINKO.]

yeah hl2 has some stuff like this but I feel like the stuff isn't as cool as hl1's ai effects like well... idk just I feel it works better in hl1, plus like half life 1 was made quite awhile before hl2 (obviously) so I mean it still shows that hl1 was still way more idk revolutionary, and hl2 just kinda stuck with the same stuff and didn't really bring much new to the table

[@Viviana088]

1004bjorn If half life 2 didn't get leaked and redone this comment would be the other way around.

[@AmBush2048]

They wanted to suprise the audience. Leak ruined it.

[@-__-_-_--__--_-__-_____--_-___]

I didn't even know they had coloured shockwaves

[@gEck0_]

2:40 Awwwww...

[@Bananappleboy]

frick i forgot my sandwhich *_goes down_*

[@abbacchio7281]

@@Bananappleboy haha, so funny, *laught* **spam emojis**

[@JoLiKMC]

Huh... I did not know about this. This explains why sometimes, Houndeyes kicked my ass and sometimes, they didn't.

[@kuchikibyakuya9016]

Hahahaha thats why im here... thats exactly why im here!!!

[@hamhasmech5893]

You know... this ai is a lot better than in most of our modern day games.

[@One3673241]

It is.

[@lolok6236]

Some NPCs of today's games freak out over the noises they themselves make.

[@Thy_Boss]

And, of course, a lot better than in most games that came out the same year as _Half-Life._ It's funny when people think video games have gotten worse, when all that's happened is selective memory of the best games from the past.

[@peepoopoopee1986]

Yeah, better than those "aDvANcEd fIsH aI"

[@RAMlFlCATlONS]

People often kill so before they can see it do certain actions as well I think, but yeah feel what you are saying

[@NoriMori1992]

(Note: I worded this badly the first time; please read the edit that comes after for clarification.) I don't think this feature is in _Black Mesa,_ and that made me kind of sad. I remember being surprised when I read about it on the Combine OverWiki, since it's unusual for _Half-Life_ to outdo _Black Mesa_ at something. I admire Valve for putting such a detail in. Edit: I know it's been a while, but I want to clarify what I meant, since I worded it so poorly. What I should have said was that it's rare for _Black Mesa_ to be _less detailed_ than _Half-Life._ Generally it _adds_ detail: More detailed assets, more dialogue, more complex NPCs, bigger and more detailed environments, etc. So to discover areas where it actually _removed_ detail and complexity is a bit jarring. I also retract comments I made in the replies that imply that _Black Mesa_ is a superior game to _Half-Life_ in every way. There are things it does better, but there are also things that _Half-Life_ does better.

[@TheWinjin]

Since it's so overlooked, and the Black Mesa authors were not properly contacted by the devs from Valve, it is possible that they actually didn't know that, just like mostly everyone else. Kudos to the author, because I never ever noticed it. Not to mention that most of the time most hounds were dead before they reached me, so you can't really notice a pattern during "norma" shooter gameplay.

[@KimTheCreator]

The original Half-Life has outdone Black Mesa on many fronts.

[@anewshurt8789]

>since it's unusual for Half Life to outdo Black Mesa at something wat

[@NoriMori1992]

+Kim Like what?

[@NoriMori1992]

+AnewsHurt _Black Mesa_ obviously has better graphics, but it also has more detail, mostly better and bigger maps, more realistic and believable characters, better voice-acting, and more immersive dialogue. If _Half-Life_ is significantly better in some meaningful way, I'm unaware of it.

[@Helpertin]

For twenty years and counting I've managed to stay outside of their range and or kill them so quickly that I've never seen them do anything other then their weakest attack.

[@TinyDeskEngineer]

Imagine if the damage kept increasing by 15 for each additional squad member. Imagine a squad of like 1000 Houndeyes just completely *_obliterating_* a Gargantua.

[@majorcunflaps]

TECHNOLOGY!

[@nopushbutton]

so that's why the houndeyes always kill me at least once at the beginning of QE

[@darthbane2669]

@@panzermann1181 Why ask him a year after he posted? Why id I ask a year after you posted? We are all insane and stupid.

[@nopushbutton]

@@panzermann1181 I don't know man I can barely remember what I did yesterday let alone two years ago

[@dmas7749]

i personally found the houndeyes among the easiest in the game, if you pay attention, they never killed me and i died to a headcrab on a couple of occasions then again i knew they were stronger in a group and difficulty is subjective

[@scr4932]

I was wondering why the effect becomes dimmer when it becomes more powerful instead of the opposite. Now that I think about it, though, it's probably just shifting from visible light to more of a mixture of blue/violet and ultraviolet, which contains more energy... or maybe they just thought that violet looked more badass than cyan/white.

[@TheDeathCrafter]

This is insane! I never knew Half-Life had THIS much depth! I doubt all of these features will bea featured in the Black Mesa project...

[@coffeetext]

TheDeathCrafter Black Mesa has gotten Houndeye 'Curiosity' and 'Naptime' to work, which is pretty nice.

[@TheDeathCrafter]

JavaScript Oh that's great

[@samsonitefanatic4372]

TheDeathCrafter Well, they're probably busy making Zen first, then they can add the little details.

[@dfrozen4022]

TheDeathCrafter yeah the whole game is still in development because i have experienced a couple glitches

[@ilovequake833]

@@coffeetext I like your name.

[@chillsgaming1900]

How can you tell which one is the leader?

[@chillsgaming1900]

Thanks

[@nickybuttons6443]

In game if your low on health or ammo and want to weaken a houndeye pack a lot try to sit back and observe them. Eventually all of them will rest except the pack leader, who stays on watch. Kill him and the entire pack is badly weakened as far as damage output is concerned.

[@AnssiRai]

How to sit back and observe? I never saw them resting, I always bump into them suddenly and then they are attacking me already.

[@DatMysticalPyro]

AnssiRai go into the console and type in "notarget" but you need to activate sv_cheats first

[@CosmosEsquilo]

Snack Attack! Nice question

[@NOTDeezy.]

Valve put so much detail into the game, its amlost sad that so many people don't know it

[@hisoj]

happily bouncing houndeye. 2:22

[@diamond_tango]

They’re one of the more unsettling enemies in appearance, second only two the underside of the head crabs.

[@_Leo_-]

I just discovered the playlist you made with all of your Half Life videos. Wow!! Awsome! So much attention to details and a quite smart AI for '98. I'm a huge fan of HL but I never realised the AI is that complex. And you've been doing this kind of research since 2012? Awsome! You deserve more subscribers

[@DHGameStudios]

I love how you're explaining all of these facts about this old game, please keep at it, I think its awesome. Definitively some Easter eggs I didn't know of.

[@headcrab7725]

Your videos blow my mind!

[@therealseanw.stewart2071]

That is cool af dude. Thanks for showcasing all these things I never even knew Half-Life contained in its programming, or was even capable of.

[@TopSecretName]

Excellent work yet again

[@jakefoxx7978]

I have underestimated the details of these creatures. Their charging sound is now my favorite sound in the world and I don't know why.

[@ZidaneTribal93]

This needs to be taught in schools.

[@TriplayMedia]

I love these informational videos.

[@eigenmishiin3d47]

This is some good shit. I like your methodical approach.

[@nopushbutton]

Shit, Marphy, like all of your Half-Life videos, this absolutely blew my mind.

[@cjhatesu]

Wow really cool work you've done here. I've played this game countless times and never really even noticed the shockwave color or realized they got any stronger. It really impressive to me how much of these small details they put into the AI.

[@_iucid]

houndeye look so cute

[@Kessel561]

Jclisa like a deformed pug

[@ArghyadeepPal]

@@Kessel561 Basically like a pug with its head and a hind leg cut out, with the front end filled with numerous gross looking eyes and a mouth cut in the belly...

[@Dellstroyer]

Wow Marph this was a very well made and finely edited video. A+

[@puns8994]

These videos are soooooOOOOOO good

[@NoVIcE_Source]

damn. just how much attention to detail there is

[@drmase13]

Interesting info but what I really like is the great Half-Life styled presentation in this video: music, background, sound effects, etc.

[@papilloneffect4015]

If it wasn't for this channel, I wouldn't know all these little details. I had no idea how much details goes into every characters.

[@eliteap_]

Holy Sh** dude, I came across your videos just now and they're awesome! I subbed!

[@supertna9154]

This behaviour does exist in Half-Life 2 beta which were cut in the retail version but not in Black Mesa as none of the sonics are coloured and roughly deal the same damage.

[@jess648]

they probably reused some of the code for hl1 houndeyes it would’ve been cool if Valve gave them even more unique ai if they were kept

[@aGrafimir]

1:45 That is more like purple.

[@pubcollize]

He probably grabbed the colours from the code, visually they'll be a bit different because the slight transparency means the colour of the shockwave is muddled with the background, in addition to the other effects. Maybe it would've been better if he picked the colours from a screenshot, but then it would differ even more between different environments.

[@xx445]

Love your work, subscribe !

[@darkySp]

Darling! You're so beautiful

[@SirCaco]

The 4 member squad leader is Akuma Houndeye.

[@FMZ101]

One of the cutest video game enemies out there.

[@Mrcryptidsarereal]

Hey can you check if Black Mesa's houndeyes have some interesting quirks about their AI too? All I know about them is that there is the tinnitus option.

[@mrtumulus2345]

Deimos The don't as far as I know, but now that Black Mesa has a Workshop, I'm sure someone will find a way...

[@Kacpa2]

No Black Mesa has nothing of this AI depth, HECU is carbon copy of combine overwatch, other ai is rather simplistic....also Houndeyes kill each other with the shockwave in BMS which is stupid af

[@laughingcat6540]

the houndeye that got killed at the end looked pretty sad, press f to pay respect

[@alyctro8158]

How are there still so many details, this game was ahead of it's time

[@chairshoe81]

played this game through so many times and still didnt realize there were multiple damage amounts, the thought that went into hl1 was immense

[@Hybridtheory2007]

Wow this was fantastic. Thanks for the upload!

[@GraveUypo]

this game had so much stuff i had no idea even existed...

[@mynamefrank6567]

your videos are fucking awesome, oh what do I hear, Drum & Riffs? OHHH YESSSS

[@shadesoftime]

I don't even know what will I watch on youtube when I watch this whole series.

[@walale12]

That is veeeeery clever, I never noticed that, well played Gabe, well played...

[@Bos_Meong]

reallly? wow so much cool things i didnt know about hl1. they put lot of effort on it

[@YourNeighborhoodJackass1917]

Houndeyes are the cutest creatures ever in any video game the cuddlefish from subnautica is a close second.

[@Antumarin]

I love houndeyes, but I would never suspect any of this. Great job! And good thinking from Valve, too.

[@Carlos_Brito92]

Wow!! really impressive it's a shame that doesn't have so many behavior videos like this one...

[@RyanTrunten]

That's a very interesting theory and discovery. Thanks for sharing.

[@mtflieutenant7693]

Houndeyes are so lovely ngl

[@Jag0n03]

Please do more of these.

[@Samza92]

Love your intro, brings me memories of HL:Uplink :3

[@OttoGrainer27]

That is crazy. To think I was a dedicated fan who knew everything... this is crazy analysis.

[@Sodiumitis]

This is such an interesting idea! Really goes to show just how much effort valve put in to make this world alive.

[@m.serdardemiral8691]

I've played and finished this game more than 10 times and i had no idea this was a thing...

[@gymkhanadog]

I remember playing this game brand new when it hit the shelves. I had no idea about some of these critter behaviors you research!

[@einstwareinlicht]

Thank you, I love this!

[@martindoyle1575]

2:20 wtf is doing that houndeye?

[@julian.castro18]

wtf is that houndeye doing?* ecribí vien wacho

[@FormulePoeme807]

Hey guys Desinc here

[@MisterJohnDoe]

There’s always that one person in the group...

[@danilodistefanis5990]

Julián Castro *bien. WACHEEEEMMMMM.

[@zuzka9061]

Hes playing

[@BenjamminClark]

Wow so much goddamn detail in everything. For some reason I had no idea bout this.

[@wantedwario2621]

Definitely one of the most advanced and detailed games ever!

[@debacleus]

Houndeye squad leaders stand up on their back leg to get a better view, sometimes. It's a bit more subtle than the human grunts, where the squad leader has a red beret. It's a shame, though, because the houndeye combat role / low health means they die pretty quickly and you rarely notice any of this. They're still one my favorite NPCs, much cuter than headcrabs.

[@AArmstrongDotOrg]

Very cool videos, I'm a big fan of AI and the AI in Half-Life stands out - I never noticed this, its' really ingenious! Much more so then Half-Life 2's enemies, although I guess you might move onto some of them in due time :) Hope you do the rest of the creatures!

[@unbridledenthusiasm]

another great video

[@OddStare]

Man this is awesome x.x

[@kekula69]

that's very interesting. great work!

[@OmegaEnvych]

Okay, I'm a GM for a tabletop game, and my game has a reference to half-life, so this info is pretty useful!

[@presidente4861]

i always learn something new in half life

[@TheEL337dude]

mind blown. never noticed that. to think valve would go in such detail. very cool.

[@Onox792]

Wow... I have never noticed about this, well done o_O

[@dquang1998]

Wow!!! There are many things i didnt know bout hl1. Gotta replay it a couple more times ;D

[@CharginTard]

He already explained this. The max damage value is defined in the code but is subject to randomization and the fact that houndeyes do explosive-like damage. The further away the less damage you do, so in order to get full damage you need to be right at the centre of the shockwave, which is impossible without noclip

[@FoxZFiend]

Honestly the color of the last one was pretty nice i liked it

[@emanuel49]

Melhor canal do KZbin

[@thefluffinator229]

Yea gotta love all the little details in AI and mechanics in HL2 and HL1

[@SuperShadow]

The amount of unnoticed detail in this game is AMAZING

[@Drakusdarkwind]

This is why I like you, I would have never noticed this.

[@baranboluk111]

My favourite sound effect

[@susancreature]

they took strength in numbers too literally

[@mrhoundeye1064]

I saw this video in 2017... I didn't know about that, thx :D