“Lateness is a for a little while, suck is forever” is a good quote
I believe there's a Myanmoto quote of exactly the same effect.
Half-Life: 25th Anniversary Documentary [video]
21–30 of 163 posts
Re: Half-Life: 25th Anniversary Documentary [video]
#22“Lateness is a for a little while, suck is forever” is a good quote
Reminded me of Ralph Cifaretto's exchange with Paulie at a sit-down over a some money it was owed to Paulie:
- (Paulie) "You're late!"
- (Ralphie) "Well, tomorrow I can be on-time, but you'll be stupid forever"
Re: Half-Life: 25th Anniversary Documentary [video]
#23Sad reminder of the crunch, even when the result turns out to be a success. Hours like that pushed me out of modding and into boring old business software.
Re: Half-Life: 25th Anniversary Documentary [video]
#24One thing I have found extremely interesting was how Valve hit the jackpot with many early hires. It was literally people that often didn't even have a CS or let alone gaming background and yet so many of them proved to be relentlessly resourceful, creative and hard working. The guy who wrote most of the HL code wasn't even a developer and at the time was studying to become a lawyer or accountant iirc. I can't but th…
Because technically, they didn't. As they say in the documentary, the version of the game that they made after the first year or so was bad, and they acknowledged it, and they changed their processes and introduced the "cabal" - so they basically paid that first year to gather experience. And what's important, their publisher Sierra was okay with it.
I don't see that happening today, to be honest, in "AAA" titles at least. Budgets have gone through the roof, and the publisher won't give you a plan B, they will force the developer to duct-tape what they have and ship it no matter what. And the game can always be patched later, right?
Re: Half-Life: 25th Anniversary Documentary [video]
#25One thing I have found extremely interesting was how Valve hit the jackpot with many early hires. It was literally people that often didn't even have a CS or let alone gaming background and yet so many of them proved to be relentlessly resourceful, creative and hard working. The guy who wrote most of the HL code wasn't even a developer and at the time was studying to become a lawyer or accountant iirc. I can't but th…
I’m sure all these people were talented, but it reinforces my own belief that the most important things are passion and focus. I feel like the tech world fixates on 10x programmers like Carmack, but motivated people can pull off amazing things.
Re: Half-Life: 25th Anniversary Documentary [video]
#26One thing I have found extremely interesting was how Valve hit the jackpot with many early hires. It was literally people that often didn't even have a CS or let alone gaming background and yet so many of them proved to be relentlessly resourceful, creative and hard working. The guy who wrote most of the HL code wasn't even a developer and at the time was studying to become a lawyer or accountant iirc. I can't but th…
Similar with goldeneye team, I think only one team member had done game Dev before (or something like that).
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Re: Half-Life: 25th Anniversary Documentary [video]
#27[dead]
Re: Half-Life: 25th Anniversary Documentary [video]
#28Earlier quoted context omitted.
There is a video somewhere where gaben is really self destructive about how half life 2 turned out and I think it's why we don't see half life 3 or any other new games - I think he's overly critical about his work. Watching this 25th documentary really felt like the team had a nostalgia trip making it and fond memories of the game. I wonder if the spark is gone with that teams weird dynamic.
That’s quite sad in a way; Half Life 2 is still an incredibly influential and beloved game 20 years later. Or is that maybe why? The weight of expectation is too great to live up to
They did release a new HL game after those: HL:Alyx (VR only though) it was critically acclaimed.
Re: Half-Life: 25th Anniversary Documentary [video]
#29Earlier quoted context omitted.
That coupled with the fact that the talent pool and tooling for game development were limited. Having id at your back was a superpower (which is arguably still true today when you compare their tech to other engines). DYKG recently did a video about Ken Sugimori (the Pokemon guy). He is an overly harsh critic of his own skills, but I think there is a kernel of truth in this insight: "It's kind of embarrassing to admi…
There is a video somewhere where gaben is really self destructive about how half life 2 turned out and I think it's why we don't see half life 3 or any other new games - I think he's overly critical about his work. Watching this 25th documentary really felt like the team had a nostalgia trip making it and fond memories of the game. I wonder if the spark is gone with that teams weird dynamic.
I think part of it is that games (like films, novels, albums, etc) are intense, grueling creative efforts. I think many young dev teams go in pretty naive and strike gold, and assume it was hard because it was new. Then they make another and realize, nope it’s just hard every time. I think it would be very difficult to sign on to each new project after years of 70 hour weeks. What’s the point of success if you can’t enjoy your time after?
Re: Half-Life: 25th Anniversary Documentary [video]
#30One thing I have found extremely interesting was how Valve hit the jackpot with many early hires. It was literally people that often didn't even have a CS or let alone gaming background and yet so many of them proved to be relentlessly resourceful, creative and hard working. The guy who wrote most of the HL code wasn't even a developer and at the time was studying to become a lawyer or accountant iirc. I can't but th…
Similar with goldeneye team, I think only one team member had done game Dev before (or something like that).
Goldeneye was developed by Rare, who had been in existence for 10 years by the time Goldeneye was released. I'd be really surprised if they had landed the rights to a big IP and then turned a bunch of newbies loose on it.