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What do you think about all those developers who, as the article says, spent a decade working on a project and now have nothing to show for it? Sympath
by cturner 17y ago
What do you think about all those developers who, as
the article says, spent a decade working on a project
and now have nothing to show for it?
Sympathy. Apparently infinite resources was definitely a curse.
I had the dubious luck of working on many disaster projects early in my career. The warning signs became easier to spot. I tired of the good-little-soldier routine and became confident to kick up and keep kicking up if I saw my project off the rails.
I've wondered a few times how valve managed to keep the show on the road - their major releases are routinely far later than expected, yet consistently good and successful.
- CamperBob 17y agoI've wondered a few times how valve managed to keep the show on the road - their major releases are routinely far later than expected, yet consistently good and successful. Valve was started by a couple of ex-Softies with two-digit employee numbers. They could have bought the Vatican and turned Catholicism into a LARP if they'd wanted to. The original Half-Life reached the 90%-complete point before they took some time out and played their own game. They concluded that it sucked, and started over from scratch. They had the pressure of building a reputation, and the advantage of not having to live up to an existing one.
- weaksauce 17y agoThey are not perfectionists. They have many small groups or "cabals" where everyone's input is heard frequently and features are cut when the look like it will not increase the fun of the game. Couple that with the fact that they have some serious talent on board and they know when it is beneficial to outsource(physics engine for HL2:Source) and you have a pretty good foundation.