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Valve on 13 things they've failed at

16 points by reitzensteinm 16y ago

joshuacc 16y ago
It's great to see an article like this. There are a lot of people in the tech/startup community who talk about not being afraid to fail, but very few that actually talk about their own failures.
- reitzensteinm 16y ago
  And someone as successful as Valve, no less. It kind of put my own failed game development projects in perspective. Normally I don't really care where my submissions go but I hope this one doesn't get buried.
  - wlievens 16y ago
    You guys have failed projects, too? Nice to know that :-) Is there anything new coming out of you guys in the near future?
    - reitzensteinm 16y ago
      Yep, a new project, Black Market: http://www.bigblockgames.com http://www.bigblockgames.com Beta coming in a few days. And yes, nearly as many failed projects as released projects!
aspir 16y ago
Does anyone else feel that they learn significantly more from failures and missteps than successes? From my former sports years we would spend hours watching film for errors while only touching on good things. Its definitely stuck with me.
achompas 16y ago
I was there for the start of Steam, the first two days of Half-Life 2, Ricochet. Hate to say it, but those were definitely failures. Takeaway quote from the article: Because it got all the way through to customers. It’s like a bug. If you fix a bug before it ever ships, it’s pretty cheap. If you ship it and then fix it, it’s really expensive. Those ones are really bad.
0abdd0e66h 16y ago
This is what is different about valve as a game developer. They will learn from their failures and talk about them with the public. It's a constant feedback loop. If you participate in the valve community your voice will be heard. I've never seen this type of interaction from another company.
benbeltran 16y ago
I think every company learns somewhat from its failures, but I love how valve is really nonchalant about it. Their failures are not this grand secret they're trying to protect. They know they're not perfect, they deal with it and they work it out. Ask many other companies about their failures and they'll get all tight, because they think talking about their failures is bad for business. On the other hand, I think that valve understands that talking about their failures is good for business.
qw 16y ago
They have failed at delivering Episode 3... It's becoming Valve's Duke Nukem
- wlievens 16y ago
  Granted, the Half Life episodes haven't exactly been truly episodic, but it's only been three years since episode 2. Fake edit: damn has it been THREE years?

16 points by reitzensteinm 16y ago

It's great to see an article like this. There are a lot of people in the tech/startup community who talk about not being afraid to fail, but very few that actually talk about their own failures.

reitzensteinm 16y ago
And someone as successful as Valve, no less. It kind of put my own failed game development projects in perspective. Normally I don't really care where my submissions go but I hope this one doesn't get buried.
- wlievens 16y ago
  You guys have failed projects, too? Nice to know that :-) Is there anything new coming out of you guys in the near future?
  - reitzensteinm 16y ago
    Yep, a new project, Black Market: http://www.bigblockgames.com http://www.bigblockgames.com Beta coming in a few days. And yes, nearly as many failed projects as released projects!

aspir 16y ago

Does anyone else feel that they learn significantly more from failures and missteps than successes? From my former sports years we would spend hours watching film for errors while only touching on good things. Its definitely stuck with me.

achompas 16y ago

I was there for the start of Steam, the first two days of Half-Life 2, Ricochet. Hate to say it, but those were definitely failures. Takeaway quote from the article: Because it got all the way through to customers. It’s like a bug. If you fix a bug before it ever ships, it’s pretty cheap. If you ship it and then fix it, it’s really expensive. Those ones are really bad.

0abdd0e66h 16y ago

This is what is different about valve as a game developer. They will learn from their failures and talk about them with the public. It's a constant feedback loop. If you participate in the valve community your voice will be heard. I've never seen this type of interaction from another company.

benbeltran 16y ago

I think every company learns somewhat from its failures, but I love how valve is really nonchalant about it. Their failures are not this grand secret they're trying to protect. They know they're not perfect, they deal with it and they work it out. Ask many other companies about their failures and they'll get all tight, because they think talking about their failures is bad for business. On the other hand, I think that valve understands that talking about their failures is good for business.

qw 16y ago

They have failed at delivering Episode 3... It's becoming Valve's Duke Nukem

wlievens 16y ago
Granted, the Half Life episodes haven't exactly been truly episodic, but it's only been three years since episode 2. Fake edit: damn has it been THREE years?