4 ms·
My theory is that there's a period when a studio has huge early success (plus in the case of Valve, they started with huge amounts of money from being former MS
by keyringlight 2y ago
My theory is that there's a period when a studio has huge early success (plus in the case of Valve, they started with huge amounts of money from being former MS employees) that lets them devote themselves to their mission of making games, before either mission creep or dilution with new hires occurs over time either from staff naturally changing over time or expanding. Another factor is that when aiming to 'go big' and realize what they can do with lots of resources, they need to partner/join with others that don't work the same way and will influence them.
- ramesh31 2y agoValve is still a top tier org, but they simply make too much money in the publishing business to bother with game development anymore. Any sales would be peanuts to what they are making through developer fees and the marketplace. This is why all of their releases in the last decade have been F2P.
- ethbr1 2y agoAlso, supposedly the whole radically flat org structure thing. Which I imagine doesn't lend itself to doing hard things like making Half Life 3... Why would any game dev choose to go through a death march to perfection, if they had other project choices?
- BlueTemplar 2y agoI would hardly call making a sequel "perfection". They might have had enough original ideas for HL2 (and then Alyx, driven by a new medium), but still not HL3...
- mhh__ 2y agoFrom what I've read the flat structure goes in the bin when they've decided to go to the finish line on an idea
- ranguna 2y ago> Which I imagine doesn't lend itself to doing hard things like making Half Life 3... Does it lend itself to do other hard things like half life alyx?
- keyringlight 2y agoAlyx wasn't just another HL game in isolation though, it was related to their adventures in VR along with developing hardware and APIs for it, and exploring how it works in a game
- pxoe 2y ago>it was related to their adventures in VR Which also shows yet another one of Valve's problems with making games, they treat their games like they're "tech demos", so unfortunately they're not as interested in actually moving the stories in their games forward or bringing them to a conclusion. They do a "tech demo", they move on from that tech, leaving the game and it's world and community behind. Plot? What plot? Perhaps they're also stalling on making continuations or even new releases in search of some "gimmick technology" to pair a game with, instead of just telling a story through their games. For those people that do like the narratives and the worlds in their games, it sure is tough luck. There's more to a game than just 'tech', but alas.
- keyringlight 2y agoFor a while I though you could explain Valve best by thinking of them as a gaming technology lab rather than a 'simple' game developer, and most of their hit games have been acquired. The thing that sours me on where they've ended up is outside of steam which has become PC gaming infrastructure their projects have had little influence. The big standout project besides VR has been the deck, which I think is less important as a portable device and more as a baseline for low-spec gaming
- willis936 2y agoSounds like a perfect environment to make games. No budget or schedule pressure, virtually limitless resources so the staff can strive to make art with love and without the corruption of chasing a bottom line. The entire media industry on almost every format is chasing nostalgia because they refuse to recreate the environment that made endearing stories and experiences in the first place.
- chii 2y ago> virtually limitless resources so the staff can strive to make art with love and without the corruption of chasing a bottom line. which means they have no obligation to ship. And so it is with the valve-time, they never shipped. Some pressure (monetary usually) is required. Not to mention that "strive to make art" is not a commercially viable objective - the owners of steam will basically be operating a charity for these artists.
- justinrubek 2y agoObligation to ship is overrated. Not everything has to be made in a crunch time marathon. There are lots of avenues to be explored without the constant pressure to perform. I think it's a good thing if they take their time crafting things.
- account42 2y agoSounds good in theory but doesn't usually work out in practice. In the real world, art benefits from restrictions.
- willis936 2y ago>the owners of steam will basically be operating a charity for these artists If that's what it takes to make something worth playing, then so be it. Was Bungie in its day a charity? Or did they just get it? 20 years later the magic is gone and Microsoft is desperately trying to figure out how to make the goose lay an egg. As long as they're optimizing quarterly reports they'll never get there.
- educasean 2y agoValve still knows how to make excellent games. Deadlock is a Valve game in alpha, and I think it's going to be very popular once released.
- sitzkrieg 2y agoyea just ignore artifact
- pests 2y agoIm sure I'd love Deadlock if I ever got a chance to play. Feel like it's losing its hype before it's even out.
- moonshinefe 2y agoThe hype died down a little since most people who wanted in got invites by now. Still has a healthy player base and is a very good game though imo. If you want an invite feel free to add me on Steam, my friend code is 216728
- pests 2y agoOh wow thanks, I will do that. I admit I haven't tried in awhile but thank you.
- moonshinefe 2y agoNp, I got your friend request. Sent the invite, it might take 1-2 days and it'll email you at the addy attached to your Steam acct.
- account42 2y agoWow great, yet another generic microtransaction platform. Yawn.