Kamakiri's Theory of HL2 About To Go Gold!

[Kamakiri]

Everyone read spidcodfry review of his little visit? Was really cool hey. But one thing that spidcodfry said was this...

He chuckled and said "We'll see." He told me things were as hectic as ever there. I got the impression though that it'll be real close if they make the 30th. People weren't setting off fires in the hallways and ripping each other's hair out or anything, which is what I would have expected before a game is completed.

Please take special note of the bold.

Now everyone has read the gamespot article regarding few days before gold for hl1. I can't fine the link. Anyway in the gamespot article it was a few days before HL1 went gold. But no one had nothing to do. There were like only 3 people working if I remember correctly.

Concluding, I think the reason why spidcodfry didn't see people working is because all the artist etc etc, who have already done there work and is complete for hl2 are having a little break or playtesting at home. The only ones in the office are programmers...

Peoples this to me is a clear indication HL2 is close. VERY close to be going Gold. Sure i do have my doubts sometimes because I'm only human. But this theory is a good one I reckon.

:cheers:

 

[SixxHole]

ITS DELAYED!!!!

 

[Kamakiri]

spidcodfry, I would appreciate if you tell us if there were alot of staff at Valve.

 

[spitcodfry]

Well I did go there between 12:00 noon to about 12:45...maybe everyone else was on lunch break?

 

[Prince of China]

Isn't this what we all think?
J/k:|

 

[x84D80Yx]

stfu sixxhole, im surprized your not out of here already. sparking shit in every thread. im same with kamakiri, no way hl2 will be delayed.

ill only beleive it if it comes from valve themselves as a "official" statement.

where are the mods at when you need em?

 

[spitcodfry]

Originally posted by Kamakiri
spidcodfry, I would appreciate if you tell us if there were alot of staff at Valve.

Max probably twenty people I saw on the whole floor...things didn't look busy at all

 

[SixxHole]

Im not speaking shit. It was a joke man lighten up.

 

[poseyjmac]

your theory is flawed! j/k i dunno

spit, you should have equipped one of those small audio transmitters to gabe, so then later we could hear what he was saying

 

[Kamakiri]

spitcodfry, what was your feeling when Gabe talked about 30th Sep. Did he seem confident in his voice? Or nervous. You were there bud what was his tone. His manner...

 

[merc]

noooo its delayed?!

 

[x84D80Yx]

your jokes suck

 

[spitcodfry]

Originally posted by poseyjmac
your theory is flawed! j/k i dunno

spit, you should have equipped one of those small audio transmitters to gabe, so then later we could hear what he was saying

Yeah too bad the CIA couldn't hook me up with the surveillance...where'd my contact info for them go anyway?

 

[spitcodfry]

Originally posted by Kamakiri
spitcodfry, what was your feeling when Gabe talked about 30th Sep. Did he seem confident in his voice? Or nervous. You were there bud what was his tone. His manner...

To be honest he seemed nervous...not like 'I'm ready to shoot my brains out' nervous, but on edge nontheless.

EDIT: Scratch on edge, more along the lines of seeming to have some doubt about completing it on time. Then again, I may be looking into his inflection of voice a little too much.

 

[poseyjmac]

u know what u could have said is this:

so gabe, is there anything that didn't make it into the final version of hl2 that you were hoping would?

if he started saying something then u know it was already done. hehewhehwhehew!

 

[Kamakiri]

You know something. Him being nervous could be a good thing. If he has decided hl2 is delayed then he wouldn't be nervous. If he is still aiming for 30th september of course he is nervous...

What do u think?

 

[TheWall421]

I agree with Kamakiris theory, I'm thinking it will be a mid-October release.

 

[Kamakiri]

Ok if it is delayed it's not going to be bloody november and next year and all this crap. TheWall421 is right. Will only be 2 weeks max i reckon. Which is not bad at all.

But i'm still confident in 30th sep.

 

[Kamakiri]

We don't know what is going on at Valve. They could just have 3 major bugs that need to be sorted before release. Last few days they are having problems but tonight they get lucky and get rid of them all. Then it's Gold.

See how easy things can get fixed?

The game would be done. Everything is done. Just bugs and crap now...

 

[spitcodfry]

Originally posted by Kamakiri
You know something. Him being nervous could be a good thing. If he has decided hl2 is delayed then he wouldn't be nervous. If he is still aiming for 30th september of course he is nervous...

What do u think?

Good point. Didn't look at it that way...here's to hoping the crux of their troubles are finding minor bugs/glitches that the playtesters discover.

It was cool though to see one of the guys working at his comp in a dev mode---it was the dude that let me in to the offices. When Gabe introduced me, he then assumed interviewer role seeing as I was doing more gawking than communicating, and asked him what his role at Valve was.

The guy said he was a programmer, and Gabe then said, quite exuberantly: "That's a massive understatement." So that dude was probably pretty high up in Valve's ranks as far as tech wizardry goes.

If they have him on bug duty, then it's probably so they can root out the problem as quick as possible, cause this guy definetely looked like he knew what he was doing. Didn't seem stressed or anything. Completely relaxed.

 

[DigitalAssassin]

There's always this: They release the game ON TIME! YAY! But it's got a bunch of bugs because they pushed it too far in releasing on time, and we have to wait a few weeks for a patch to make the game more playable, and those (very very few) people without access to the net are screwed or have to get it from a friend or such. There's something to be said for delaying a game because it needs to be delayed.

 

[Kamakiri]

spitcodfry, I would of bet ya if you asked everyone of those what they were doing and who they were they would of been people who know major code and problem solving...

 

[spitcodfry]

Originally posted by DigitalAssassin
There's something to be said for delaying a game because it needs to be delayed.

I seriously doubt this is the case with Half-Life 2. They didn't seem to be having any serious issues with glitches in the game. I mean c'mon, a bug with the water? That's not going to affect gameplay very much, is it? I'm sure that guy already fixed it by now.

If you ask me, if there's something that delays the game, it won't be from the game, it will be from Steam probably. The demand for that game world-wide on the 30th (if they make it) will be so tremendous that it'll strain any content server.

When I was there some of the Steam guys told me that for the first time they successfully got on 10,000 people. There's gonna be a whole lot more that are gonna want it on the 30th than that.

They said that they always believe they have enough bandwidth power, and every time they're massively under-prepared for the demand.

 

[bslinger]

Originally posted by Kamakiri
We don't know what is going on at Valve. They could just have 3 major bugs that need to be sorted before release. Last few days they are having problems but tonight they get lucky and get rid of them all. Then it's Gold.

See how easy things can get fixed?

The game would be done. Everything is done. Just bugs and crap now...

The problem with that is that if there are major bugs, they'd probably require a fair bit of play testing to make sure they were actually fixed; you can't just say, 'phew, finally fixed those bugs' without checking that they haven't broken anything else or aren't occuring at a different place. I'd say if they want to release it on Sep 30, they'd want to have NO major bugs, and ideally no bugs on their bug list at all, except maybe really small bugs, or balancing issues.

Note: I'm not in the industry or anything, this is just my opinion based on what I know about software development. It's possible that they can do a complete bug fix and test cycle within 24 hours, in which case I guess they could be fixing stuff right to the gold date. Of course, they'll have to have gone gold a reasonable time before release to get them distributed, etc., as has been mentioned in other threads.

 

[Orange]

What if the bug in the water causes you to sink because your HEV suit is too heavy? Or if the bug is a giant alien that they can't get out of the game. IT KILLS ME EVERY TIME

 

[TheWall421]

Or if the bug is a giant alien that they can't get out of the game. IT KILLS ME EVERY TIME

LOL thats great. I hope valve doesn't have a problem with that, but hey, you make the AI smart enough and you never know what it will do. Nah, I think the only thing they are really working on now is Steam. They don't want to release HL2 until they are sure steam can handle the stress, and I don't think they're sure of that yet.

 

[Garp]

All I know is this: If it goes Gold tomorrow, I'll have a hell of a great weekend.

Ah screw it, I'll have a great weekend anyway.

 

[Raziaar]

I got homeworld 2... i'm gonna have a great weekend

 

[BloodyL]

My favourite wish is that they are going to unleash the glorious gold statement on the 23rd, exactly one week from the expected day of reckoning.

 

[Mjolnir]

I think that if its not released on Sept 30th, It will be very close.......
Good theory Kamakiri.........

 

[Kamakiri]

I just wish good old Valve will confirm it one more time. But I guess it's pretty simple aswell. They have always said 30th September...

 

[kawada]

Give us the gold announcement goddamnit
anyway just have patience hah

 

[Cujo]

I've always wondered on simple question: Why, oh why Valve ain't talkin' about release. Public, firm statement on delay/release date would be like oblivion. This is almost joke. They're making a some kind of big secret, mistery out of this? Gold announcment is secret? Ok, as we see - it is. But why??? Give me one good reason for all of this or cry with me.

 

[Feath]

Originally posted by spitcodfry
It was cool though to see one of the guys working at his comp in a dev mode---it was the dude that let me in to the offices. When Gabe introduced me, he then assumed interviewer role seeing as I was doing more gawking than communicating, and asked him what his role at Valve was.

The guy said he was a programmer, and Gabe then said, quite exuberantly: "That's a massive understatement." So that dude was probably pretty high up in Valve's ranks as far as tech wizardry goes.

If they have him on bug duty, then it's probably so they can root out the problem as quick as possible, cause this guy definetely looked like he knew what he was doing. Didn't seem stressed or anything. Completely relaxed.

http://www.gamespot.com/features/halflife_final/screens/04.jpg

http://www.gamespot.com/features/halflife_final/screens/08.jpg

These are 5 year old pictures but do either of these people look like the guy?

These were the 2 people working on Half-Life 1 just before it went gold.

I don't know, I imagine Crunch time as Lots of flames and people running around but it's probably more along the lines of late nights and working weekends.

 

[Kamakiri]

Hey Feath

I like you for some reason. In a non-gay kind of way. Your always nice to people on the forums.

Continue on. lol.

 

[Fuzzy]

Yeah, im not really worried about release date anymore. You can tell that they will be pushing it to make 30th, if they dont, it will be a week or two after. Gives me more time to save up my cash and prepare my old computer ready for the enslaught.

PS. I read in another thread that they are doing some serious optimization for the Geforce 2s!!!! Thats what i wanna hear baby!

 

[Feath]

But yeah, if the game was going to be delayed then you would expect more people to be working on it other than one sorting out a bug with the water and one playing with a Combine Soldier.

If the game was seriously delayed (Especially till Feburary) then you would there to be more people working on it. Level makers at least, tuning the maps.

This is, unless Valve have very relaxed "one bug a week" timetable.

 

[Feath]

Originally posted by Fuzzy
Yeah, im not really worried about release date anymore. You can tell that they will be pushing it to make 30th, if they dont, it will be a week or two after. Gives me more time to save up my cash and prepare my old computer ready for the enslaught.

PS. I read in another thread that they are doing some serious optimization for the Geforce 2s!!!! Thats what i wanna hear baby!

The Geforce 2 thing is probably the "Optimisations for lower spec systems" that Doug Lombardi was mentioned in the Computer and Video Games ECTS interview.

Apparently it's ugly stuff. Probably tedious, because you do so work and all you end up is a slightly higher frame rate. It's not like writing some code that does something really cool. But it's necessary for people with lower system specs to have an enjoyable game experience.

Also, thanks Kamakiri.

 

[Kamakiri]

Yeah doing that kind of work would suck. During it they would be like 'Just wish people would buy a ATI 9800 Pro'.

But if they want sales they need to do it.

 

[Fuzzy]

damn striaght they need to. Not everyone has that kind of money. Have a look at their target consumer base, its gonna be lots of ex-CS people, with quite old machines. Only people that hang around on these forums are the people that have top machines, not that higher% of the market im guessing.

Anyway, im glad they are still keeping us in mind. Makes me look forward to HL2 more and more.