Top all-time · #8376
Marc Laidlaw
Personal blog · marclaidlaw.comgameswriting
Marc Laidlaw's personal blog at marclaidlaw.com covers games and writing. Since 2016, 9 different Hacker News readers have linked it 12 times, most often “Epistle 3”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2025-09-28, and you can follow it by feed.
Too few sampled comments (7) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
HN readers link Marc Laidlaw's blog, written by a former Half-Life writer, for the Episode 3 plot summary and his other Half-Life and science fiction writing. Commenters describe it as a great read.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 7 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
Writer and Game Designer
Most-linked posts?
- Epistle 33 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2017-08-25
- Mathoms from the Lambda Files (c. 1998)2 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2016-10-03
- /epistle-3/2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2019-11-19
What Hacker News says?
From the writer of half life, after he left valve: https://www.marclaidlaw.com/epistle-3/
Comment linking /epistle-3/
on “Half-Life: Alyx”Submitted Epistle 3 as a story · 470 points
HN discussionThe episode 3 plot summary by former Valve writer Marc Laidlaw that this article links to is a great read for those that want to see where the story was headed. http://www.marclaidlaw.com/epistle-3/
Comment linking /epistle-3/
on “Valve confirm Half-Life: Alyx, a VR game being revealed on Thursday”Submitted Writing for Half-Life as a story · 216 points
HN discussionI would encourage anyone who finds this interesting or just loves Half-Life in general to also read the preceding entry Mathoms from the Lamda Files [1]. Half-Life was just such an experience . Even almost 20 years later, it might be the best game I have ever played. [1] http://www.marclaidlaw.com/mathoms-lambda-files-c-1998/
Comment linking /mathoms-lambda-files-c-1998/
on “Writing for Half-Life”Submitted The Egos at id (Software) (1996) as a story · 2 points
HN discussionIt's been covered in science fiction a number of times - what comes to mind immediately is Marc Laidlaw's take. https://www.marclaidlaw.com/online-fiction/leng-along/ (He's a talented writer; if you know his name, it might be because he wrote for the Half-Life games.)
Comment linking /online-fiction/leng-along/
on “How parasites manipulate the behavior of their hosts”Submitted Mathoms from the Lambda Files (c. 1998) as a story · 1 points
HN discussionFor those out of the loop, most felt Half life 3 was officially dead after one of the lead writers Marc Laidlaw leaked the plot to half life 2 episode 3 to give fans closure: https://www.marclaidlaw.com/epistle-3/ https://www.reddit.com/r/HalfLife/comments/6vwelo/i_edited_m... So it's surprising to see more half life being worked on!
Comment linking /epistle-3/
on “Valve: We're Excited to Unveil Half-Life: Alyx”Original: http://www.marclaidlaw.com/writing-half-life/ There's also http://www.marclaidlaw.com/mathoms-lambda-files-c-1998/
Comment linking /mathoms-lambda-files-c-1998/
on “Half-Life's writer reflects on his masterpiece”A year ago the lead writer for the series released the story on his website: http://www.marclaidlaw.com/epistle-3/
Comment linking /epistle-3/
on “Ask HN: Where is Half-Life 2: Episode 3?”