Valve hires Thief designer Doug Church

Notable PC game designer Doug Church has joined Valve, the company confirmed yesterday. Gamasutra reports that according to marketing VP Doug...

Steve Watts

March 17, 2011 9:15 AM

Notable PC game designer Doug Church has joined Valve, the company confirmed yesterday. Gamasutra reports that according to marketing VP Doug Lombardi, Church started at the company a couple of weeks ago. Lombardi was unable to say which, if any, project Church has been assigned to.

Church has a long resume from the classic days of PC gaming, including work on the Thief, System Shock, and Ultima series. He moved on to Eidos as a technical director, then went to EA's Los Angeles office where he worked on the now-canceled Spielberg project.

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March 17, 2011 9:15 AM

Comment on Valve hires Thief designer Doug Church, by Steve Watts.
- Mad Brahmin Disease
  
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  March 17, 2011 9:16 AM
  
  Stealth in Episode 3 confirmed!
- vx2o
  
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  March 17, 2011 9:17 AM
  
  Great news!
- mastermike569
  
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  March 17, 2011 9:21 AM
  
  Photo Voyeur Pro: Episode 1 Enter the Locker Room
- SporkyReeve
  
   reply
  March 17, 2011 9:40 AM
  
  Summary: Notable PC game designer Doug Church has joined Valve, the company confirmed yesterday.
- RaptorII
  
   reply
  March 17, 2011 9:49 AM
  
  HEV MkV Sub-revision 2 - Sub-surface photo detectors integrated, average light exposure indicator added to HUD. EH? EH?
- supermonkeyballz
  
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  March 17, 2011 9:53 AM
  
  OMG VALVE UO CLONE!
  - vx2o
    
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    March 17, 2011 10:27 AM
    
    New Ultima Underworld type game would be a dream come true for me.
- tigeN
  
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  March 17, 2011 10:08 AM
  
  Ultima Underworld FTW
- jccalhoun
  
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  March 17, 2011 10:11 AM
  
  wow. valve keeps hiring some of the most interesting people in the field. I wonder how much impact he will be able to have on the projects Valve will be releasing after Portal 2? Or, hopefully, is something like Episode 3 too far along for him to have much of an impact on it?
  - trelain
    
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    March 18, 2011 4:57 AM
    
    They probably haven't even started.
- Conan
  
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  March 17, 2011 10:12 AM
  
  Interesting. Hope this goes somewhere fun.
- get_navi
  
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  March 17, 2011 10:37 AM
  
  Hello Mr. Taffer
  - RaptorII
    
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    March 17, 2011 11:38 AM
    
    The G-Man is Benny!?
- synic0
  
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  March 17, 2011 11:41 AM
  
  I would really like a good stealth first person RPG out of this that would be great. Someone's gotta compete with the new Deus Ex, right? :)
  - Dr_Cube
    
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    March 17, 2011 8:06 PM
    
    I wish I could send a team of consisting of Sam Fisher, Garrett, and Agent 47 to whack all the Splinter Cell Conviction lead designers for what they did to that flagship stealth series. It has been too long since we've gotten a good stealth game.
- silentdante
  
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  March 17, 2011 2:44 PM
  
  Ken Levine just talked about how working with Doug Church as a major influence over him on the PAX Feedback episode, and i am glad to see he is joining a developer who can really make use with ideas he might have, can't wait to see everything that comes from this.
- Xulu
  
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  March 17, 2011 7:37 PM
  
  How many years has it been since a game with you having a hand in it actually came out?
  
  What a waste of your time at EALA, Doug. I hope you'll lead your own team at Valve.
- Dr_Cube
  
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  March 17, 2011 8:03 PM
  
  Sounds like a good combination to me. Those are some quality games under his belt.
- Lukiopimp
  
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  March 18, 2011 4:19 AM
  
  Good move there. Valve hires talent AND passion.
- chazums
  
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  March 18, 2011 4:29 AM
  
  guess they're restarting episode 3 again
- baron calamity
  
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  March 18, 2011 4:30 AM
  
  So in 9 or 10 years we should see his next game.