Game Informer does an interview with an anonymous Valve employee on HL3 - Polidicks

Valve should just release a book or even better, a comic like TF2 if they really can't ever satisfy themselves with releasing a game. The story is awesome and still left open

[QUOTE=King of Limbs;51659475]What has valve even been working on besides little updates and the steam store. That's what I'm confused about. Like are these guys just sitting around constantly coming up with ideas that never come to fruition because no one is there to get them over the hump? I think the flat layout encourages ideas but not follow through. Sometimes you need someone there to say no, your not giving up, keep pushing and we know something will come from it.[/QUOTE] This is the thing, I could accept no HL3 is they'd come out with really good games since then and were pushing innovation in terms of games. But they haven't, they just made a load of overpriced in game skins for retards with more money than sense

[QUOTE=Swiket;51659489]defense of the ancients 2[/QUOTE] I don't think there are even that many on dota 2, csgo has like 3 people and tf2 has probably 1 dude on it

Honestly, I grew up a rabid valve fan boy, but at this point they're a shell of their former self. If you're hoping for a new innovative experience, you are better off looking elsewhere. Plenty of other developers have stepped up to the plate.

This entire thread is really depressing to read.

If they were honest and just tell it like it is, they would get hundreds of ideas and scripts from the internet. Imagine half life being saved by the power of meme magic.

The absence of Episode 3 is far from the biggest reason to dislike Valve right now

It sounds like a place where ideas go to die, what a clusterfuck of organization.

[QUOTE=Saxon;51659596]It sounds like a place where ideas go to die, what a clusterfuck of organization.[/QUOTE] Really? The interview really gives off a vibe that Valve is the place where ideas go, thrive, and die when it simply isn't fun to make them a reality, or that the idea wasn't really that good in the first place. But it is given a chance, if there's enough attention. With the flat hierarchy, I still kinda believe that managment's sole purpose isn't just to be a butt of plenty of workplace related jokes. Would Valve develop quality products if there was some person with a proper leash, and an ability to make people focus on something and enjoy doing that something without counting on all the employees being self-motivated? Fuck knows. The only thing that we can know for sure is that Valve, out of all the pc-gaming, or gaming-related companies in the known universe, is pretty much the most successful one. And also, the most unique one.

It probably was great when the orange box released, but as time goes on after they released Dota 2 and CS:GO what do they do now? They seem to have these groups that spend all their time on projects like making Steam better or pushing updates to CS:GO or Dota 2. Or they develop an engine no third party seems interested in and they have no new games in active development for. It sounds terribly dysfunctional and their complacency to continue because of Steam revenue just fuels it.

Well this gives some insight into why tf2 isn't getting the attention it deserves.

[QUOTE=Oizen;51659071]I really can't see a reason valve needs to make half life 3 from a financial standpoint. They make so much from Steam, Dota 2 and CS:GO, I can't see a single player one and done game competing.[/QUOTE] That puts them in an ideal position to do it, though, because they can shrug off the hit in profits if it bombs. They have plenty of steady cash torrents flooding their coffers, they can soak a single player fps no prob.

[QUOTE=Saxon;51659640]It probably was great when the orange box released, but as time goes on after they released Dota 2 and CS:GO what do they do now? They seem to have these groups that spend all their time on projects like making Steam better or pushing updates to CS:GO or Dota 2. Or they develop an engine no third party seems interested in and they have no new games in active development for. It sounds terribly dysfunctional and their complacency to continue because of Steam revenue just fuels it.[/QUOTE] Has everyone forgotten about the vive? It may not be a game but its a massive undertaking none the less.

[QUOTE=themooselord;51659666]Has everyone forgotten about the vive? It may not be a game but its a massive undertaking none the less.[/QUOTE] Maybe we'll all remember it when it drops below 800 dollars and theirs some games worth playing for it.

What I think Valve is doing is taking all the time in the world, in almost a literal sense. They have the money, the staff and every resource needed to make a phenomenal game, and that's what they're aiming at. I think they really want to break ground in almost every aspect here, they don't care how long it will take because by the end of it, everyone will be playing it.

They've got so much cash, they could at least make the game to save face

[QUOTE=SirJon;51659745]They've got so much cash, they could at least make the game to save face[/QUOTE] The real problem is effort, sure you can bang out a game, let it fail and not suffer financially, but the time and effort that might of been better directed on a more profitable product would be wasted.

[QUOTE=Saxon;51659675]Maybe we'll all remember it when it drops below 800 dollars and theirs some games worth playing for it.[/QUOTE] Well considering they said they have stuff planned for 2017 for the Vive sooo...

[QUOTE=themooselord;51659666]Has everyone forgotten about the vive? It may not be a game but its a massive undertaking none the less.[/QUOTE] It's a huge undertaking yes, but there's no way it took every Valve Employee who wasn't working on Dota 2 and CS:GO to create it. I imagine it was a relatively small team of very dedicated employees who were probably given direction and input by higher-ups like Gabe Newell - collaborating with employees of HTC. Whilst it was being made, what on earth was the rest of Valve doing? Maybe a dozen or so working on CS:GO (from what I've heard it's a small number) doing balancing and gradually bringing out new content. Maybe another dozen creating content and balancing Dota 2. Another smallish team working on the Steam Controller (even fewer now that it's shipped because they just need software guys now to work on it), another small team for the Steam OS, and doubtless a number of employees working on liasing with other companies to produce Steam machines. So how many is that in total? As an estimate (to an extent I'm pulling these numbers out my ass but we know from TF2 and CS:GO that often it's very small teams working on a game post-launch) let's say 150 people. Valve has - according to Google - around 360 employees. Granted not all of these will be devs but let's imagine at least another 50 or so are actively working on new concepts and ideas. What the hell have they been doing for the past 10 years? has a single original IP come out of Valve since Portal/L4D shipped? It has ALL been sequels and derivative titles. Even if you say "oh but at this time they were all working on this thing" or "i know that in 2009 they were all doing x", the interview states that multiple teams have worked on HL3 over the years, and gone on to other things. What happened to those other things? The flat hierarchy structure seems incredibly flawed if over 10 years the employees can't produce a single concept that is worth working through to a final game. The problem with any long term project (and I know this from personal experience) is that no matter how much you adore the idea at the start, over time the problems that arise and the length it takes to produce a finished product means that you eventually lose a lot of passion and THAT is when you NEED someone senior, some management, to say "we're going to finish this because we've put the work in and throwing it away now would be a waste of all this time". Instead, because there is none of that seniority, nobody making hard decisions, concepts get abandoned. How many great games have Valve abandoned over the past 10 years?

There's also Source 2 and products they've worked on that don't see the light of day, see "Stars of Blood" that we only found out about because an employee put some stuff from it in their demo reel

[QUOTE=SirJon;51659745]They've got so much cash, they could at least make the game to save face[/QUOTE] That's just it though, in a totally discipline-less tech company like valve where employees are free to choose what they want to work on, most choose to sit on their hands, work on Dota/Csgo and the steam market or hardware gimmicks. They have no interest so no game and that's entirely up to them and Gabe. Personally I have no more interest in the company or it's current range products save for the Steam platform itself, they drifted away from what I wanted as a consumer so I don't feel any real need to give them money or time anymore. It sucks, but that's life.

First rule of working at Valve? Do no talk about Valve.

Some of the most interesting game design decisions have been borne from compromise, but I feel from this interview and others, that valves flat structure prevents this. If people aren't 100% happy, they dissolve the group and move on. Instead of the usual hirercical pressure to inovate past bottlenecks.

All I want is for Gabe, or someone reputable at Valve, to just come out and admit to everyone that they're not interested in making HL3. That's all I need. I don't need a decade of silence regarding the matter, and I don't need a decade of leading people on a wild goose chase as to whether the game still exists or not. Just come out and say "we're done with Half Life", let everyone have their pissy fits for awhile, and then they'll get over it and probably start blindly praising you again.

[QUOTE=Nexosz;51659616]The interview really gives off a vibe that Valve is the place where ideas go, thrive, and die when it simply isn't fun to make them a reality, or that the idea wasn't really that good in the first place. [/QUOTE] Yet other companies have released games based on interesting, innovative ideas while Valve has released microtransactions, sequels, and things that aren't games. So either Valve is staffed with uncreative developers (unlikely), has impossible standards regarding what's 'good enough' to release (also unlikely), or the flat structure produces an environment where half-formed ideas die because they aren't popular to work on. Take your pick.

[QUOTE=sirdownloadsalot;51659055]The whole lead-up to the interview sounds like some real Deepthroat shit[/QUOTE] have you read the story about the panama papers? Now that's some real deepthroat shit Out of nowhere, you get a mail saying "I want to bust 1tb of data regarding evasion, laundering and asset hiding" "why you do that?" "someone has to do it"

Valve's attitude is like being teased/flirted with by some beautiful girl who once gave you great head and promised more, and then flakes at every opportunity and follows up with "Don't worry I'll communicate more next time!"

[QUOTE=Phycosymo;51659765]The real problem is effort, sure you can bang out a game, let it fail and not suffer financially, but the time and effort that might of been better directed on a more profitable product would be wasted.[/QUOTE] Yeah, but alternative cost aside, it's more of a sentimental thing. Oh well, Business is Business I suppose.

Honestly, I see so many people asking for closure via books or comics but that would be shit. On paper the story is average at best, where the magic shines is the game's storytelling, something you simply can't recreate outside of it. Also I understand why Valve won't do it. People point to successful SP games but how long does Fallout 4 or Witcher 3 stay making insane money at the top charts? Not nearly as long as DOTA 2 or CS:GO. Creating SP games like HL takes lots of time, lots of money, lots of resources and lots of staff and even then they don't make nearly as much as maintaining DOTA 2 which takes a fraction of the effort and time. It's simply not feasible, sadly.

[QUOTE=Rahu X;51659836]All I want is for Gabe, or someone reputable at Valve, to just come out and admit to everyone that they're not interested in making HL3. That's all I need. I don't need a decade of silence regarding the matter, and I don't need a decade of leading people on a wild goose chase as to whether the game still exists or not. Just come out and say "we're done with Half Life", let everyone have their pissy fits for awhile, and then they'll get over it and probably start blindly praising you again.[/QUOTE] That's the problem: they [I]are[/I] interested in making it. They just can't quite figure out how to make it live up to and exceed the expectations they and the community have of it. The reason they've remained silent is because the development of it has been changing direction so much. They figure that telling the community "It's gonna be this" and a year later "It's gonna be that" then "We're not sure what it's gonna be" would be worse that staying silent.