I recently organized 3 tours of Valve for the people I work with, and I learned a lot of cool stuff. I decided to put together everything I learned here.
[b]Questions and answers from the Q&A session:[/b]
[b][i]====!EDIT: NEW DISCLAIMER!====[/i]
So I went with the 3rd tour group as well, just so I could sit through another Q&A. In it, Robin talked about how he disliked being the face of TF2, because while he can gain the admiration of plenty of random people on the internet, he has the chance of pissing off his coworkers, the people he interacts with on a daily basis, especially when he's misquoted or misinterpreted, or even when he says something that's flat out wrong. So for his sake, and the sake of his coworkers, take this info with a grain of salt, and don't call him out on anything "he" said. Remember, I'm just paraphrasing from memory, and not a very good one at that, so I could have forgotten a word or two that changes the entire meaning of an answer. I'm not recording this Q&A so you can all get the scoop on new games, I'm doing it for the people that want to know more about how Valve works, and what it's like to work there.[/b]
===END DISCLAIMER===
Seeing as there were 20 people there, I didn't get to ask many questions.
I'll list as many as I can, and paraphrase the answers.
RW is Robin Walker
Q: How has being so close to the community and the running joke about "Valve Time" affected your stance on announcing release dates?
RW: First off, there's the famous quote "A delayed game is eventually good; a bad game is bad forever.", which sums it up quite nicely. But more specifically, in Valve's case, due to the ease of releasing patches via steam and the amount of community feedback, we're working on it up to the day it's supposed to be released[1], so even we don't really have a good idea of when it'll be done. There's always more work to do.
Q: If release dates are more pain then they're worth, what other approaches does valve take to raise awareness for a game and let the fans know of the game's progress?
RW: The blogs have been an amazing way to let people know about what Valve is working on. But on the downside, writing a good blog post can take an hour or more. Most days, I'd much rather spend that time squashing bugs.[2]
Q: On that note, how did the Portal 2 ARG come about? Was it created as a solution to the release date problem? Can we expect to see more along this vein?
RW: Actually, the ARG was part of an effort to reward the people that follow Valve and their games intently.[3] We wanted to let the people who love portal to see some of the info that was appearing in the Game Informer exclusive before it came out. In that respect it was a huge success, but that doesn't mean it'll be appropriate for another valve game. In general, all of the press about a game is tailored to it specifically. Blog posts work much better for TF2 than, say, an ARG.
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Q: In L4D2, you mentioned you tried out a new system while creating the game. Why was this system created, and did it fulfill its purpose?
RW: The L4D2 team was trying a more structured method of developing and content creation, in order to try and speed up production without restricting creativity and freedom. It worked, to a point; it did what it was supposed to without too many sacrifices. However, each group on a game decides how they want to work, we aren't going to enforce a standard. It might be used again.
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Q: What is the ultimate goal of Valve?
RW: Honestly, I haven't thought about it much. [4]
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[i]Part 2 of the Q&A is here: [url]http://www.facepunch.com/showpost.php?p=22865413&postcount=39[/url] [/i]
[1] He actually gave a quite entertaining anecdote about one example of this. The day before the Spy vs. Sniper update was released, someone on a message board made a comment along the lines of "Wow, I hope pyros can light the arrows on fire." Everyone went "Why didn't we think of this before?", and the update was unlocked, and a small team furiously worked to add in flaming arrows before the release, barely making it in time.
[2] See also comment below about asking when something will be released. Long story short, it just encourages them to work harder to finish the game, not convince them to release news about it.
[3] As an example, he mentioned the idea off the top of his head of something along the lines of maybe an achievement for visiting valve, or a special hat for TF2, or something that ties into what they do. NO, YOU DO NOT GET A HAT OR ACHIEVEMENT FOR VISITING VALVE. I think we all understand why this would be a horrible idea.
[4] Personally, I think he's just covering so we don't find out it's actually world domination.
===============
[b]Next, a random smattering of things I learned while there:[/b]
One thing that floored me was the entire Steam development team is currently 15 people. That's it. And Steam for Mac just got released, too.
Also, Gabe Newell's knife collection is scary.
Sorry mappers, the hammer the guys were using for Portal 2 didn't look any different, I doubt it's getting a graphical overhaul soon.
You want to work at Valve? Don't worry about X years industry experience, or having a Y degree, or having been on Z many teams. If you want to attract Valve's attention, ship something. By yourself or in a small team, make a product and see it all the way through. If you have the drive and focus to do that, you'll probably do well at Valve.
(This next one's also a pet peeve of mine, forgive the tone)
THEY'RE NOT GOING TO GIVE YOU A RELEASE DATE. STOP ASKING. Every time you ask when something's coming out, Robin doesn't think "Oh gosh, people must know! I better tease an image or two to satiate the masses!" No. He sees it as incentive to work on the damn thing and get it out faster. Before asking "When's the engie update?", ask yourself: "If this question delayed the release by a day, and I still might not get a response, would I still ask?" Then don't, because if you figure it's worth it, your priorities are messed up. They'll post info when they make something SO AWESOME they can't keep quiet about it.
Valve is a company of developers. There's no managers and even the IT guys help ship the product in some way.
Valve has A LOT of awards.
Japan's and China's magazine covers are never going to draw Gordon Freeman correctly. It's a fact of life.
Passed a developer playing DotA. Who knows, it might have been IcyFrog.
Cafeteria is awesome. Free Red Bull was my savior.
Last, but not least, I'm not resting until I work there. The place is developer heaven. Seriously.
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Look, blurry proof! In the form TF2 concept art photos! Yeah, I think they've been shown before, there are many like them, but these are mine.
[i]My pics, batch 2:[/i] [url]http://www.facepunch.com/showpost.php?p=22880050&postcount=61[/url]
[b]My pictures, let me show you them: [/b]
[img]http://filesmelt.com/dl/Engieconcept.jpg[/img]
[img]http://filesmelt.com/dl/HeavyConcept.jpg[/img]
[img]http://filesmelt.com/dl/Medicconcept.jpg[/img]
[img]http://filesmelt.com/dl/Pyroconcept.jpg[/img]
[img]http://filesmelt.com/dl/Soldierconcept.jpg[/img]
[img]http://filesmelt.com/dl/spyconcept.jpg[/img]
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[b]Info about Portal 2/Engie update:[/b]
I heard ONE thing from Robin Walker about the Engie update. No dates, nothing like that. But apparently, when they released the engie video, a lot of people noticed a prop in the background. It was added just as clutter, some random item that might be found in the engie's room, but people made so much speculation about it, they went and implemented it. I have no idea what it is or what it does, but something in that video will become an item, but only because people predicted it will be an item. O.o
Also, I saw scrawled on a whiteboard somewhere "Paint can be applied to physics objects -- complete". I assume they're talking about Portal 2.
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snip
bad reading
Wait a minute
If Valve adds things because of our speculation...
Does that mean [i]we[/i]'re the sneaky ones?
[QUOTE=TheSpy;22858578]Did you ask about the Engi Update/Episode 3?[/QUOTE]
[img]http://www.facepunch.com/fp/rating/book_error.png[/img]
Anyway cool
[QUOTE=TheSpy;22858578]Did you ask about the Engi Update/Episode 3?[/QUOTE]
If you read the thread *cough cough*, you'd see that I found out one small thing about the Engie update, and no, I'm not going to ask about Episode 3, they get enough pestering about that. Valve puts a lot of hard work into their games, and I want to learn more about how they make them, not ask a question they've heard thousands of times before just on the off chance that they tell me something. Episode 3 will be out when it's out, and they'll let us know about it once they have something so awesome they can't keep it a secret.
If I lived in the US I'd visit them often :saddowns:
[QUOTE=Pako;22858716]Wait a minute
If Valve adds things because of our speculation...
Does that mean [i]we[/i]'re the sneaky ones?[/QUOTE]
:psyboom:
I wish I could go to Valve
Paint on objects? Wow, that could lead to some very interesting puzzles.
I'm jealous.
[QUOTE=SappinMyNick;22859131]Paint on objects? Wow, that could lead to some very interesting puzzles.[/QUOTE]
I see you played Tag.
[U]How do you get to visit valve?[/U]
Photos were disappointing but proof
Sorry, about the underscore
Hm, time to watch the Mac video again. The shotgun maybe?
I saw the tour of Valve on youtube, it's kind of cool to see all the concept art though. By chance how did you get in, were you invited or did you just pop in and say hi?
The engineer basically looks the same...
For all the people who want to know how I got to Valve, see [url]http://www.facepunch.com/showthread.php?t=947516[/url] for more info. Long story short, I emailed, and it didn't work. So after a few days of legwork during my lunch hour, and an EXTREMELY lucky break, I found their lobby, and just asked the receptionist.
One does not simply... Walk into VALVe!
Or maybe they do...
[QUOTE=nicatronTg;22859334]Hm, time to watch the Mac video again. The shotgun maybe?[/QUOTE]
I think it was in the engi video, at least it says so in the OP.
As for the shotgun in the mac trailer, it might be something you can see in the background in the engi video as well.
Maybe they decided that they would use it in game and wanted to tease it in the Mac trailer?
[QUOTE=Mechtroid;22859882]For all the people who want to know how I got to Valve, see [url]http://www.facepunch.com/showthread.php?t=947516[/url] for more info. Long story short, I emailed, and it didn't work. So after a few days of legwork during my lunch hour, and an EXTREMELY lucky break, I found their lobby, and just asked the receptionist.[/QUOTE]
And what's the address? I might fly to america to come in and say hi.
[editline]10:52PM[/editline]
Also, more pics please.
They allow visitors to walk into valve and you can tour it? Cool.
I bet the engi object is this [img]http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2951174/thislol.png[/img]
I wanna visit Valve :frown:
[QUOTE=Reg;22861016]I bet the engi object is this [IMG]http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2951174/thislol.png[/IMG][/QUOTE]
Expanding on this, I bet they're gonna add it as a hat or something, just to say "Hey, we haven't forgotten you!"
Why is the image taking so long to load?
Wow, that's actually pretty cool. Thanks for all the info, rated heart!
What else of worth mentioning did you see?
What was the overall attitude in the workplace?
And I'm sure the question on everyone's mind is: Did you see Gabe? And if so, what was he doing?
[QUOTE=Musicfreak59;22861789]Wow, that's actually pretty cool. Thanks for all the info, rated heart!
What else of worth mentioning did you see?
What was the overall attitude in the workplace?
And I'm sure the question on everyone's mind is: Did you see Gabe? And if so, what was he doing?[/QUOTE]
Either raiding the fridge, pretending to work, or playing WoW on his HDTV/monitor.
Noo, WoW is for babies, He was playing Second Life
He was probably playing Day of Defeat: Source while sitting on his exercise ball.
What if the Engineer item from the video is the very obvious: The welding arch?
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