1. On the format
In the days before making this (first week of April, 2026), I'd been meaning to make fanart for the show again, something I'd done back when the show first aired (april 2020), and had started doing again during and after the act 1 stream for HL2VRAI (mid-march 2026). I'd done doodles, here and there, but wasn't really satisfied with what I'd put down on paper, and wanted to make something that evoked the show more than depict it. I went looking on noclip.website, something I sometimes find myself doing, exploring the maps in and out of bounds. I took a good few screenshots of places I remembered from watching HLVRAI over and over again.
When I started my web shrine, I didn't really know what I wanted to do, fully, but I knew I wanted to try my hand at replicating the text styles for each character, finding the fonts, colorpicking, etc. When working on it, I remembered the screenshots I had taken, and placed text over them. I knew what format I wanted to work with then.
Additionally, 17776 had been circulating on Tumblr, since...
I started working on this project the day before, and published the day of.
17776 has always been a huge inspiration, for its multimedia format, its story, and its appearance. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't inspired by it. (Though, as it turns out, if there is text over images in 17776, they are static images. I gave myself a challenge that is NOT compatible with mobile devices. Oh well!)
2. On the original text
Partly a very short character exploration, partly a reflection on HLVRAI's behind the scenes, mostly a reflection of my own feelings on creative projects, including my own.
I don't want to speak too much on the character exploration. I'm using them as vessels for my own thoughts, mostly, and the characters are, by themselves, much more reflections of the people playing them. The same can be said about the behind the scenes, the making of HLVRAI itself. I included both of these because they manage to encapsulate what I was trying to express re: creative projects.
Creative projects, especially collaborative ones, are never easy. Yes, I have a lot of fun making them, working on them, talking about them. But there's also the creative blocks, my own frustration at being unable to complete a project, ending on a bad note (or hitting a rough patch) in a collaborative project... Despite all that, I wouldn't trade it for the world. I revisit projects I haven't worked on in years, finding pearls I'd forgotten about that I can reuse for something else, something better (not that they were bad, but I've grown, and improved). It doesn't negate the history of that project, but adds to it.
Granted, I've never had a creative project go as viral as HLVRAI has, and I've never been given that amount of attention (both positive and negative). Maybe my feelings on the matter would change.
(But I doubt it.)
3. buh door
Above all else, HLVRAI is hilarious. I've had screenshots saved for years, jokes memorized. I've rewatched it countless times and parts of it still make me laugh.
When I finally get to it, I'll add here a compilation of my favorite bits. (Hold me to it, I might forget.)
4. benrybenrybenrybenrybenrybenrybenrybenrybenrybenrybenrybenry
So, who is this guy, anyways?
I don't know but I don't like him.
5. VIENS PAS PRÈS DU CHEIN SINON JE VAIS LE TUER!
Moment parfait, pas de notes. Sais-tu à quel point c'est pissant d'écouter la série, de pas trop connaître le monde derrière, pis d'entendre un accent québécois vers la fin? J'pense j'en suis restée bouche bée pendant au moins 5 minutes.
Français québécois represent.
6. The rest
I don't really have more to say on the subject, but I do want to showcase what the other character's fonts look like, since I made them but didn't have an opportunity to include them in the main page.
Really, Dr. Freeman? Even a man of your.... extraordinary intellect, calling Chuck E. Cheese a restaurant?
You downloaded the Pyro Update. Delete that, really- Delete that right fuckin' now!
Half Life VR but the AI is Self Aware on Youtube
Half Life 2 VR but the AI is Self Aware on Youtube
Commentary videos on Youtube
The Chronicles of Benry