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Half-Life: 25th Anniversary Documentary [video]

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Re: Half-Life: 25th Anniversary Documentary [video]

#41
post #20
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unless GP would care to point out what you're supposed to be looking for, I think you're being trolled into poring over the image looking for something that isn't there.

It is definitely there as indicated above. https://imgur.com/a/lpiPtS2

Finally, confirmation of HL 3!

Re: Half-Life: 25th Anniversary Documentary [video]

#42

One 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.

I think for most hiring, regardless of industry, the secret is searching for passion, focus, (I would add) ability/willingness to learn new skills, and a positive attitude toward other humans.

Specific job skills can be taught or learned. If you have the right attitude, positive outlook, and are inherently someone who learns things, you can be very successful in most jobs.

Too often, hiring filters for specific job skills/credentials. Because these are supposed to be a proxy for the softer skills. It's not as effective, but much easier to deploy at scale, I think.

Re: Half-Life: 25th Anniversary Documentary [video]

#43

One 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…

Sierra is an interesting company. In the video game industry has very few well known female game designers, and that was even more true back then. Yet the adventure game genre had several - Roberta Williams, Lori Cole, Jane Jensen, and Christy Marx (not as well known, but her games are well regarded), all of whom worked for Sierra. One has to wonder if Roberta Williams being co-owner of the company (and the designer of the first graphical adventure game) is one of the reasons for this.

Another interesting story is when Ken Williams (Roberta Williams husband, the other co-owner of the company) hired middle-aged retired police officer Jim Walls to design the Police Quest adventure games (he designed the first three). Ken apparently was talking to his hairdresser about his idea for a police adventure game, when she mentioned that Walls, her husband, might be an interesting person to talk to.

Re: Half-Life: 25th Anniversary Documentary [video]

#44
post #35
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is definitely there as indicated above. https://imgur.com/a/lpiPtS2

“It” wasn’t pointed out at all in the original post. Just “look on the far left” with no indication of what. I’m not convinced this 3/E means anything. If they’re making HL3 or HL2:Ep3 then we’ll find out soon enough. Many people have tried to read the tea leaves by scouring textures and images in GTA V over the years, and every time they’ve been made to look stupid. If there’s an announcement to be made around HL, V…

It's obviously someone at Valve having fun, unlike y'all down this comment chain.

Re: Half-Life: 25th Anniversary Documentary [video]

#45
post #35
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is definitely there as indicated above. https://imgur.com/a/lpiPtS2

“It” wasn’t pointed out at all in the original post. Just “look on the far left” with no indication of what. I’m not convinced this 3/E means anything. If they’re making HL3 or HL2:Ep3 then we’ll find out soon enough. Many people have tried to read the tea leaves by scouring textures and images in GTA V over the years, and every time they’ve been made to look stupid. If there’s an announcement to be made around HL, V…

You missed the joke. It's been so long now since HL2 that the joke is to find any implication of "3" (or even work back to three via vague associations between random things) and say "HL3 Confirmed!".

Re: Half-Life: 25th Anniversary Documentary [video]

#46

One 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…

The problem is with these "AAA" games. I've spent a dozen years having great fun with perfectly enjoyable and memorable 7/10 games. Nowadays a 7/10 is a death sentence for a gaming studio. The industry is poisoned.

Re: Half-Life: 25th Anniversary Documentary [video]

#47
post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I think for most hiring, regardless of industry, the secret is searching for passion, focus, (I would add) ability/willingness to learn new skills, and a positive attitude toward other humans. Specific job skills can be taught or learned. If you have the right attitude, positive outlook, and are inherently someone who learns things, you can be very successful in most jobs. Too often, hiring filters for specific job s…

I have built some truly awesome teams and besides a base level of knowledge, the only thing I care about is attitude. Another huge factor is passions, I always ask what they do outside of work. If you are passionate about something you know how to focus and care about the details. This strategy has been very successful for me.

Re: Half-Life: 25th Anniversary Documentary [video]

#48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Sierra is an interesting company. In the video game industry has very few well known female game designers, and that was even more true back then. Yet the adventure game genre had several - Roberta Williams, Lori Cole, Jane Jensen, and Christy Marx (not as well known, but her games are well regarded), all of whom worked for Sierra. One has to wonder if Roberta Williams being co-owner of the company (and the designer…

If you're the only one willing to tap into a talent pool, you get to pump that resource as much as you want.

So if Sierra is the only company really willing to hire female game designers, they really get to take all the best.

Re: Half-Life: 25th Anniversary Documentary [video]

#49

Earlier 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.

He said he didn't think much about his past work and he is hardwired to keep his eyes on the future.

Re: Half-Life: 25th Anniversary Documentary [video]

#50
post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

The problem is with these "AAA" games. I've spent a dozen years having great fun with perfectly enjoyable and memorable 7/10 games. Nowadays a 7/10 is a death sentence for a gaming studio. The industry is poisoned.

The criteria has changed I feel, a 7/10 in the 90s/00s probably meant it had some good ideas, a highly creative setting, an innovative tech or gameplay mechanic so the end product, while 7/10 because one of the parts just didn't hit the mark or it was just very buggy, the actual game was still enjoyable.

The modern AAA mentality has stripped too much of it down to formulas they consider working or "best practices" (e.g the "UbiSoft Towers" phenomenon) or they're literally shaping the whole game to try and force a specific business model that is more important than shipping good content (Bungie Destiny 2).

Difference is when a game built with that ideology doesn't hit the mark it ends up just being insanely dull and has no spark to keep you going or win you over. Instead of Flawed But Fun you get Competent But Boring.

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