Half-Life silence avoids 'twists and turns' at Valve
Valve's Gabe Newell talks about why the studio stays quiet on projects while still sorting out the planning stages.
Fans have been waiting years for the next Half-Life installment, be it the rumored Half-Life 3 or even just Half-Life 2: Episode Three. Valve hasn't been very forthcoming with sequel plans, but studio boss Gabe Newell has at least opened up on a reason for all the silence.
Using "Ricochet 2" as a cheeky wink and a nudge in Half-Life's direction, Gabe Newell explained to Seven Day Cooldown (via PC Gamer) that the studio's lack of information is to keep from jerking us around. No, really.
"We'd like to be super transparent about the future of Ricochet 2," Newell said, "but the problem is that the twists and turns that we're going through would probably drive people more crazy than being silent about it until we can be very crisp about what's happening." He says the studio has run into problems in the past when it talked about things "too far in advance."
On the bright side, Newell does claim that "everyone who's working on Ricochet 2 continues to work on Ricochet 2." Wink wink.
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replySteve Watts posted a new article, Half-Life silence avoids 'twists and turns' at Valve.
Valve's Gabe Newell talks about why the studio stays quiet on projects while still sorting out the planning stages.-
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nuanced lol
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Valve has had a very colorfull history related to their releases. Keeping totally quiet is probably for the best.
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Or at least until the next consoles get released.
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oh god this gives me indigestion
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I seriously got excited when I saw HALF-LIFE in a shacknews article headline.
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I think that Valve isn't interest in Half Life anymore. Especially if they feel they are being forced to do it. Also since we now know there is no coherent narrative, they just keep making stuff up until the feel they have something cool, we aren't going to get a satisfying ending that will tie the story together. There is no reason to be hyped for the next Half Life, it will be good (probably) but it isn't an epic tale.
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Actually it was from reading the employee handbook, the development info released with Portal 2, and their past history that I came to this conclusion. No one is in charge of the over all story which explains why each Half Life release seems so disjointed to the others. There is no story at all, they just put together cool moments and hope their fan base makes sense of it because they aren't.
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At all? Come on, son.
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Is there a sequencing of events that you could put into some container and call a story? Yes. Is there a consistent story and universe that was conceived and has been followed since HL1 and a predefined conclusion? No. Heck, the story of Portal 2 kept changing wildly through development. They really aren't planning this out.
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He's right.
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Hey, I was right. SUCK IT BARON CALAMITY
http://www.valvesoftware.com/company/people.html
Marc Laidlaw joined Valve in 1997, bringing his experience as an author of weird fiction to bear on creating the Half-Life storyline. He was sole writer on Half-Life and Half-Life 2, and lead writer for the Half-Life episodes. Even as Valve’s writing team expanded, with the arrival of Erik Wolpaw, Chet Faliszek, Jay Pinkerton, and Ted Kosmatka, Marc remains the lead writer of emails. His novels include Dad's Nuke, Neon Lotus, The Orchid Eater, Kalifornia, and the award-winning The 37th Mandala. Visit Mark's web site.-
lead writer of emails
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11_xf7K0C1k -
Yet there is no management and no bosses.
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But they have stated they have "leads" many times. Even in that handbook.
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Marc Laidlaw is in charge.
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WELCOME TO SHACKNEWS
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You misspelled ass.
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just tell me about the fucking golf shoes
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I'd like to at least see an ending. EP2 ended on a super cliff hanger. Even it's never revealed who the G-man is or any of the over arching plots, I'd just like to see EP2 resolved. And then put Gordon back in stasis for a while.
But to be honest, it'll probably end up being a full length game. Seeing as there's the Borealis, Dr. Vance, Dr. Mossman, Overseers, all unaccounted for, I'd like to hear about their resolutions. Realistically, EP1 and EP2 was an extended length chase away from City 17.-
I would love for there to be a satisfying conclusion to the story from Half Life 1. There just isn't going to be one and that's ok. I now understand what they are doing and now know what to expect from Valve.
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haha
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Surely you can troll harder than this.
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No way man. This isn't the same thing at all.
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See, DNF is a bunch of inexperienced people working on the same game for 10+ year. At Valve, they are all really Talent and experienced but the difference is they are doing different projects all the time. Some we see like Portal 2, Left For Dead, DOTA 2 and others we don't like the space game that was in development.
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>inexperienced people working on the same game for 10+ year
Lol dude, anyone who touched DNF was in fact, very experienced. Just because it didn't meet your mile high expectations, doesn't mean its a pile of unplayable shit.
Right now, in your game collection, are awesome titles created by developers who at one point have or will work on total piles of shit. Throw 100 people together with no warning or job security, shoddy scheduling and budget/timeline and its a recipe for disaster. And you know what, thats becoming the norm.
Valve is different because they are cash rich, only a few studios can write their own ticket like that.
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* A R E A 5 1 ' D *
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They've become a publisher more so now. Their games are being made by developers they buy up now like with any big company that gets flush with money. It's good since now the developer is the publisher. The question that remains is if the publisher is now a developer?
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I'm sure when they are ready to talk about it, they will do some super awesome stuff like they did with Portal 2.. remember that game?
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* T H E S C O T T I S H P L A Y ' D *
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