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I wonder whether that means that The Valley of Gods will eventually be finished... or to the contrary, not at all. This is a game which was being developed by

by woko 6y ago

I wonder whether that means that The Valley of Gods will eventually be finished... or to the contrary, not at all. This is a game which was being developed by a studio called Campo Santo. The devs were hired by Valve, but they could still work on their game at Valve. At some point, the devs were really happy (based on their social media accounts) to switch and devote all their time to Half-Life Alyx instead, and the development of their original game was put on an indefinite hold. Now that Half-Life Alyx was released, what does that quote imply for The Valley of Gods?

Mekantis 6y ago
I'm still mad about Campo Santo. I couldn't give two shits about Alyx or Half-Life or any other of Valve's games. But they had to consume one of the most promising story-focused indie studios and relegate them to making games I just have zero interest in, and don't have anything really interesting to say or let you experience about the human condition. Firewatch felt like a real story about real people. Alyx et al are just completely different genres. Now we're never going to get another Campo Santo game and it's a significant loss for gaming culture.
- leetrout 6y ago
  I really relate to this. I LOVED Fire Watch. It was absolutely stunning.
ehsankia 6y ago
I really don't see why it wouldn't. Unless all those devs quickly switch to the next Half-Life game in the works, why would they not go back to working on Valley of Gods, which seems pretty far along? Also, if you accept that Valve no longer runs on "work on what you want", as you imply, it means people will be forced to work on and finish that game. The fact that the store page still exist and is up (which is more than you can say for any unfinished Valve project) gives a clear sign that they still plan to finish it.
- WorldMaker 6y ago
  The implication is that Valley is not in Valve's genre wheelhouse, as it isn't an FPS (or even a modified puzzle FPS like Portal; Valley would not have been expected to have a gun at all), isn't expected to have the audience scale or demographics Valve typically targets, and only exists at Valve because it was IP of what was presumably only an acquihire (underscored by the fact that they immediately moved the team to Alyx). Even if Valve now thinks they'll force games to finish, it seems unlikely that Valley would be a priority from above in Valve "management".

by woko 6y ago

Mekantis 6y ago

I'm still mad about Campo Santo. I couldn't give two shits about Alyx or Half-Life or any other of Valve's games. But they had to consume one of the most promising story-focused indie studios and relegate them to making games I just have zero interest in, and don't have anything really interesting to say or let you experience about the human condition. Firewatch felt like a real story about real people. Alyx et al are just completely different genres. Now we're never going to get another Campo Santo game and it's a significant loss for gaming culture.

leetrout 6y ago
I really relate to this. I LOVED Fire Watch. It was absolutely stunning.

ehsankia 6y ago

I really don't see why it wouldn't. Unless all those devs quickly switch to the next Half-Life game in the works, why would they not go back to working on Valley of Gods, which seems pretty far along? Also, if you accept that Valve no longer runs on "work on what you want", as you imply, it means people will be forced to work on and finish that game. The fact that the store page still exist and is up (which is more than you can say for any unfinished Valve project) gives a clear sign that they still plan to finish it.

WorldMaker 6y ago
The implication is that Valley is not in Valve's genre wheelhouse, as it isn't an FPS (or even a modified puzzle FPS like Portal; Valley would not have been expected to have a gun at all), isn't expected to have the audience scale or demographics Valve typically targets, and only exists at Valve because it was IP of what was presumably only an acquihire (underscored by the fact that they immediately moved the team to Alyx). Even if Valve now thinks they'll force games to finish, it seems unlikely that Valley would be a priority from above in Valve "management".