Interview with Doug Lombardi

[Sui]

Everyone loves an interview. [br] [br] Chris_D, Halflife2.net's Lead Editor, recently had the chance to chat with Doug Lombardi about the future of Episodic Gaming on Steam – specifically the Half-Life Episodes.

Halflife2.net: We know that Episode One will focus primarily on Alyx, but can you tell us what Episode Two will concentrate on? Will it be like an episode of Lost where each episode will focus more heavily on a different character? [br] [br] Valve: I can’t yet reveal any details of Episode Two, but yes - with each episode we will be focusing on a different gameplay element while advancing the story and integrating the latest technology available via Source. With Episode One, the gameplay focus is on Alyx and her abilities, the story advance is related to the aftermath of HL2, and the key tech features leveraged are HDR and commentary. For Episode Two, we plan to have something new in each category.

With both Episode One and SiN Episodes: Emergence just around the corner, this interview couldn't have come at a better time. Read it here.[br]EDIT: The questions were mostly written by the excellently talented Halflife2.net content team. Chris_D actually did very little! Praise Halflife2.net Content Writers!

 

[Hazar]

cool

why isn't chris posting it?

 

[Sui]

We have an unspoken rule that no content writer is allowed to post news for their own article

 

[Harryz]

Kudos to Chris_D for a great interview with relevant questions.

 

[~}A{~TF2]

Hey just to let you guys know the link to the interview on the main page of hl2.net is wrong... but when you click on the 'here' link in the forums it is correct. Just a heads up

Chris

 

[CrazyJeepDriver]

Nice interview
And yeah, the address on the front page is wrong.

 

[deceiver]

The HL MOD Doug is referring to for his last anwer, is The Ship Online: http://www.theshiponline.com/index.php (Looks very interesting and I'm probably gonna get it hehe). It's shipping on Steam on May 22nd.

Great interview! You guys always ask the right questions =).

 

[Sui]

Link is fixed.

 

[Asuka]

Link on front page still doesnt work. But very cool interview. So june 1st 10 am? Whats that in NYC time

 

[Insano]

The HL MOD Doug is referring to for his last anwer, is The Ship Online: http://www.theshiponline.com/index.php (Looks very interesting and I'm probably gonna get it hehe). It's shipping on Steam on May 22nd.

Great interview! You guys always ask the right questions =).

Nice find!

I knew that The Ship was going retail, but I didn't have a clue what new game from a MOD team Doug was talking about.

 

[UltimaApocalypse]

And, in just a few days, we’ll be announcing that the first commercial release from another HL MOD team is coming soon on Source. It’s a great time to be a player and maker of HL2 MODs.

Any idea what they're talking about here?

 

[Asknoone]

The Ship.

 

[Maxey]

Meh, nothing really new, Valve's always so reserved about their future projects, it pisses me off. Not even a hint about TF2 by now.

 

[-smash-]

Meh, nothing really new[...]

When we came up with the draft, most of these were unanswered. But during the time we were waiting for the answers, as you know, many interviews took place between Valve and other sites... So... :/

But I feel as though Doug was very nice and gave us some more straght-forward answers.

 

[kaf11]

Nice interview Chris_D!

 

[DiSTuRbEd]

Meh, nothing really new, Valve's always so reserved about their future projects, it pisses me off.

You get pissed because VALVe won't tell you about what their working on? LOL.

 

[jondy]

Source is bringing next generation technolgy to the table now, and adding new features constantly. The introduction of HDR and Commentary in Lost Coast is one example. The introduction of Film Grain in DoD: Source is another. When we start discussing Episode Two, …

Can't. ****ing. Wait

You get pissed because VALVe won't tell you about what their working on? LOL.

Heh, Disturbed, you're so.... savage :E

 

[Loke]

That's cool, nice little interview. Kudos to Chris.

 

[Lazy_Moron]

I have a feeling since they are hiding what features they added to Episode 2, that it might be Smart Shader 3 support possibly.... Who knows, but like they said the Source engine is highly dynamic.

 

[Geogriffith]

Valve: I can’t yet reveal any details of Episode Two

Why do these people do so many interviews?

And why the hell do the fansites think these interviews are so great? (Not to diss on hl2.net, but on the gaming crowd as a whole.) Nothing meaningful is ever revealed.

I demand to have at least one (1) useful peice of information in each official interview. Perhaps not a plot point, as readers would likely not want those revealed, but certainly gameplay features, or any new methods the artists are using to produce the game. Something solid.

Not just the same recycled "a game like you've never played before" crap we hear on every two-bit <full game title>.com website.

Yes! We are AWARE that Episode One has Alyx in it. Yes! We are AWARE that it centers around her. We squeezed that little factoid-grist through our brain-mills some months ago.

*Continues ranting and twitching as the medics trank him*

 

[bigburpco]

Because you are very stupid.

 

[Sui]

Why do these people do so many interviews?

And why the hell do the fansites think these interviews are so great? (Not to diss on hl2.net, but on the gaming crowd as a whole.) Nothing meaningful is ever revealed.

I demand to have at least one (1) useful peice of information in each official interview. Perhaps not a plot point, as readers would likely not want those revealed, but certainly gameplay features, or any new methods the artists are using to produce the game. Something solid.

Not just the same recycled "a game like you've never played before" crap we hear on every two-bit <full game title>.com website.

Yes! We are AWARE that Episode One has Alyx in it. Yes! We are AWARE that it centers around her. We squeezed that little factoid-grist through our brain-mills some months ago.

*Continues ranting and twitching as the medics trank him*

I think you should be grateful Valve are even doing interveiws at all. How many other game developers will contribute to their community by freely answering questions? Most developers only give interviews to the big sites and magazines because they know it'll get them publicity.

 

[bigburpco]

I want to see EA doing that.

 

[dys-Fuzzy]

Woo! Dystopia pimp

<3 Doug

 

[Mr-Fusion]

If valve are going to do a fansite interview they have to get more hardcore than replaying the same stuff they've been saying all over the net. We're not casual gamers, we know all this stuff already.

Q: When the **** is team fortress 2 coming out
Q: Film effects and motion blur are a waste of time for multiplayer games, nobody wants their vision purposely blurred which means they'll miss a critical shot. Why did valve decide to do this? Why not focus on exciting and original new gameplay modes for dod:s and other source mp games instead of more eye candy rubbish for the graphics whores?
Q:Why doesn't valve innovate in the multiplayer arena? Ports and rehashses of the same old stuff are getting tiring. Do you think there is room for innovation in multiplayer fps gaming?


Answer the tough questions Doug!! This is a fansite, not a congregation of casual noob gamers who didn't know episode 1 will be 6 hours long.

 

[Chris D]

I shouldn't be taking the full credit for the interview. Most of the questions were written by -smash- and the other excellently talented content team.

I'm just the guy that fused it all together, edited it, sent it, and published it through the CMS.

Thanks though

 

[Tamer17]

I have to agree , the interview was a a disappointment. It was a wrong move to concentrate on episode gaming , not really alot to ask about and where is the traditional TF2 question(and answer) ?

BTW , I think Bone is the pioneer of episodic games. After all there are already 2 episodes of it released.

 

[Crispy]

The HL MOD Doug is referring to for his last anwer, is The Ship Online: http://www.theshiponline.com/index.php (Looks very interesting and I'm probably gonna get it hehe). It's shipping on Steam on May 22nd.

Great interview! You guys always ask the right questions =).

Deceiver, you rock! I was wondering what it would be and now I know it's TSO I'm really looking forward to it. Valve and TSO made an equally great decision with this one.

I think you should be grateful Valve are even doing interveiws at all. How many other game developers will contribute to their community by freely answering questions? Most developers only give interviews to the big sites and magazines because they know it'll get them publicity.

In HL2, and coming off the success that HL had with third-party games, Valve have created an engine and a content-delivery platform that have modding in mind. Other games don't rely so heavily on mods to keep their game interesting after released, they design decent multiplayer modes (which HL2DM is not, but which HLDM definitely was - apart from the hornet gun) or focus purely on huge or highly replayable singleplayer modes. It would be idiotic not to interact with the communities they have created for the purpose of getting more mileage out of their engine.

On the TF2 thing, though, honestly I think they should just admit it's been axed. Since they first told us we could expect vehicles and commanders a lot of games have already come through and delivered that, including HL2 mods that have been in development for about a third of the time. So as far as TF2 is concerned, they should just admit defeat instead of trying to wait until we just forget about it. Fortress Forever has already filled the HL2 fortress spot.

 

[-smash-]

If valve are going to do a fansite interview they have to get more hardcore than replaying the same stuff they've been saying all over the net. We're not casual gamers, we know all this stuff already.

Q: When the **** is team fortress 2 coming out
Q: Film effects and motion blur are a waste of time for multiplayer games, nobody wants their vision purposely blurred which means they'll miss a critical shot. Why did valve decide to do this? Why not focus on exciting and original new gameplay modes for dod:s and other source mp games instead of more eye candy rubbish for the graphics whores?
Q:Why doesn't valve innovate in the multiplayer arena? Ports and rehashses of the same old stuff are getting tiring. Do you think there is room for innovation in multiplayer fps gaming?


Answer the tough questions Doug!! This is a fansite, not a congregation of casual noob gamers who didn't know episode 1 will be 6 hours long.

It doesn't matter if this is a fansite. If we are the general public, then he would be answering these questions to the world. Besides, I think we wanted to center our questions around products that we know they are making.

Maybe we can try some more hard hitting stuff next time.

Besides, we all know the TF2 question would have been answered "Nothing yet" or something along those lines.

 

[Chris D]

It doesn't matter if this is a fansite. If we are the general public, then he would be answering these questions to the world. Besides, I think we wanted to center our questions around products that we know they are making.

Maybe we can try some more hard hitting stuff next time.

Besides, we all know the TF2 question would have been answered "Nothing yet" or something along those lines.

Or remain completely unanswered...

 

[Crispy]

Or remain completely unanswered...

What you mean like this:-

Halflife2.net: Will episodic content now factor for the entire future of Half-Life or can we eventually find ourselves playing a whole new sequel in a number of years time?
Valve: Time will tell.

Translation: :imu:

 

[StrickNine]

what a very uninformative interview. I love the part about the new tech in episode 1, HDR and dev commentary. LA-DEE-FRICKIN-DA. OO what are we gonna get in episode 2? Audio sub-titles? wow, thats some engine, being able add all that in on the fly. /sarcasm

 

[polyguns]

meh,you should know by now they won't say anything about ep 2 for another year or so, cause then it will be about 6 months before its time to release. plus no one knows what ep 1 will hold and ep 2 will be based off of that.


the ship :S looks like a bad mod. like stock textures off a cd, nothing too great there, but an interesting idea nontheless, like COC but without all the great monsters

 

[Crispy]

the ship :S looks like a bad mod. like stock textures off a cd, nothing too great there, but an interesting idea nontheless, like COC but without all the great monsters

If it weren't for the unique visual style I'd say TSO is pure gameplay. But it's not. It's pure gameplay AND a unique visual style.

 

[Chris D]

What you mean like this:-

Halflife2.net: Will episodic content now factor for the entire future of Half-Life or can we eventually find ourselves playing a whole new sequel in a number of years time?
Valve: Time will tell.

Translation: :imu:

Normally it takes the form of:

Halflife2.net: So what can you tell us about Team Fortress 2?

Valve:

 

[Pesmerga]

Valve: lol tf2? was tat

 

[Cargo Cult]

When I was nattering with Valve people, I had to ask them not to say anything about the Episode 2 plot or other features... ;-)

 

[Ennui]

When I was nattering with Valve people, I had to ask them not to say anything about the Episode 2 plot or other features... ;-)

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