GDC 08: A Portal Post-Mortem

[-smash-]

GDC 2008 has wrapped up on it's final day today, giving developers more time to polish up their new products for this years E3Expo. From Valve, nothing much was said or heard from them, other than Kim Swift's supposed "slip up" (we know how Valve thinks) on a future sequel to Portal. Packed wall to wall, one of GDC's ballrooms held the highest attended panel discussions hosted by Valve's very own Kim Swift and Erik Wolpaw. A discussion topic behind the design and writing aspects of the game were the focus of, what gamers call a "fresh title," their carefully crafted game, Portal.

Through the carefully measured use of GLaDOS's dialog, the team was able to guide players into becoming attached to the Weighted Companion Cube. Of course, this attachment only really existed so that it could be exploited when GLaDOS demands that the player "euthanize" the cube by throwing it into an incinerator, but it also helped players solve the puzzle while preserving and even bolstering the story.

Gamespy was just one of many attendees joining the panel. You can read their impressions and summary of the topic over at their website here.

More cake, please.

 

[ríomhaire]

Valve should stop letting people interview Kim.

 

[Sufferin-rebel]

Kim is the leak of Valve we needed!