4 ms·

He was saying that Valve is like Blizzard, in that they don't try to push the GPU

potatolicious 14y ago
A game engine is more than its ability to push the GPU, and to be blunt this belief is why the video game industry is so stagnant but for a few innovators. The Source engine in its time was the gold standard for lip synching and emoting. When the unchallenged status quo at the time was flapping mouths Valve implemented full real-time phoneme lip synching as well as dynamic facial expressions - as well as the framework to do so under contextual cues from the game world. HL2 was heralded in its time for being able to tell stories at a deeper level because of this technology, and there was a great deal of hubbub around it, even in the mainstream press. Hell, even if we move away from artsy-fartsy things like emoting in gaming, Valve for a long time was the gold standard for their network engine. Following the basic network model as the original Quake engines Valve was able to achieve incredible reliability in client-side prediction and latency management - something most games in HL2's time were unable to do (remember every Battlefield before Battlefield 3?). There's a reason why major competitive multiplayer games grew out of that engine. So sure, Valve's engine can't render 1000 animated point light sources all at once, nor do they claim to do pixel-perfect real-time shadowing for an entire forest's worth of trees, but to say that Valve's engines aren't a huge step forward in gaming each time they are released is shortsighted.
- frou_dh 14y ago
  If I recall, HL2 was also something of a milestone for gameplay-integrated physics. I spent many hours marvelling at all the stuff you could play with in the "pool room" in the leaked alpha.
- JL2010 14y ago
  Agreed, Valve has been known to go for the things that add the most value to the experience, whatever that may happen to be. Before it was lip syncing and facial expressions, now it may be game economics or building the best PC gaming distribution service. So long as they have stellar artists, having a slightly inferior engine means very little to me as the end consumer.

A game engine is more than its ability to push the GPU, and to be blunt this belief is why the video game industry is so stagnant but for a few innovators. The Source engine in its time was the gold standard for lip synching and emoting. When the unchallenged status quo at the time was flapping mouths Valve implemented full real-time phoneme lip synching as well as dynamic facial expressions - as well as the framework to do so under contextual cues from the game world. HL2 was heralded in its time for being able to tell stories at a deeper level because of this technology, and there was a great deal of hubbub around it, even in the mainstream press. Hell, even if we move away from artsy-fartsy things like emoting in gaming, Valve for a long time was the gold standard for their network engine. Following the basic network model as the original Quake engines Valve was able to achieve incredible reliability in client-side prediction and latency management - something most games in HL2's time were unable to do (remember every Battlefield before Battlefield 3?). There's a reason why major competitive multiplayer games grew out of that engine. So sure, Valve's engine can't render 1000 animated point light sources all at once, nor do they claim to do pixel-perfect real-time shadowing for an entire forest's worth of trees, but to say that Valve's engines aren't a huge step forward in gaming each time they are released is shortsighted.

frou_dh 14y ago
If I recall, HL2 was also something of a milestone for gameplay-integrated physics. I spent many hours marvelling at all the stuff you could play with in the "pool room" in the leaked alpha.
JL2010 14y ago
Agreed, Valve has been known to go for the things that add the most value to the experience, whatever that may happen to be. Before it was lip syncing and facial expressions, now it may be game economics or building the best PC gaming distribution service. So long as they have stellar artists, having a slightly inferior engine means very little to me as the end consumer.