Took a trip to Valve, heres the story

The next person who goes for an interview, get one of those cameras in a breifcase, and carry it around all the time like the gman

hey what if the gman opens his breifcase in HL2? heh

we need more pics next time though, good read!

more pics make Joe happy
 
I agree Jaguar, however.
There is a difference between what he IS doing, and what he WANTS to be doing.
His ideal situation is to ship often, but since they are doing a new game, off a new engine,
things are taking longer than he would like.

And Cunni, no I dont live in Vancouver
 
Wow man you are lucky. Thanks for the info.

Why did you not take a video camera? Where you not allowed,or do you not have one?

If anyone thinks about going there next take a video camera or a whole lot of pictures!
 
dude!

that must have been wicked, what an awesome opportunity for ya!

Damn, if only I lived in the states, and valve would let me go see them!
 
I think that whole "Ship often" thing is about the most interesting piece from the interview. It really gives us a look into the future of Valve, and their biz practices. The Half-Life 2 tech looks nice enough to last 3-5 years. And I'm sure it's built to be easily upgradable. So what we're going to see is "The Sims" equivilant in Half-Life 2. I mean, it's expensive to create an engine from scratch. In time, resources, and money. That's basically what Gabe said. However, expansion packs are much cheaper. No R&D. No engine work. Just content. And this would be the only situation that could exist on earth that would make me want to pay their subscription price. If they were releasing expansion packs quarterly, or even bi-annually, both 1st and 3rd party, they could make soooooo much money.

And this would open up a whole world to old school single player modding. Imagine if you and 5 of your buddies got together, and came up with 10 hours of unique and fun gameplay, in the Half-Life universe. Using their tools and art resources, mixed in with some cool stuff of your own. Instant break into the gaming business. Instant commercial product sold over steam.

What do you guys think?
 
yeah, agreed... that little bit about steam struck me as the most compelling info. i could totally see steam as not just a gamer's thing ... but a new way of doing business, sharing ideas, art, media etc...

edit: oh yeah, great job algor :) *pat on back*
 
Awesome man thanks for all the great info. I cant wait! Im so excited..
 
Cool. i hope it comes out in march with the other next gen games... FC and Stalker.
 
Valve should invite all of us for a private screening/interview. Or atleast anyone over 600 posts.
 
Ok personally i think you could have gotten away with more stuff on half life 2 so just incase anyone gets another tour and posts about it i'm going to give some instructions about what you should do that i think should keep you in the clear of getting in trouble for.

- If your not sure if you can take a picture of something always ask I really don't think Valve is going to be holding much back in that sort of situation because as we all know from that last tour that happened the guy asked about the delay and Gabe made a statemeant or gesture (i'm not sure which) that made it quite clear that valve wouldn't make the release.

- Ask lots of questions and prepare them to be clear what you want to know.

- If you are about to get the interview post about it on the forums and have lots of people help you understand what the biggest things you need to ask are.

- Drag things on for as long as possible the longer your their the more you'll know.

- Ask about playing the game a little yourself because remember you cannot get in trouble if you ask.

- Lastly the most likely reason anyone will care about a tour like this is because of it not being released so ask about the release date. Ask for official statements on why the hell things are taking so long and how long it will take to redo the code to a point where peoply wont be able to cheat anymore.

- If they say somethings confidential than ask them to be vague.

- Ask about the SDK

- Lastly ask about how much longer they think before they have steam at 100% or at a more playable state.
 
I doubt that it was Algor's intent to "get away" with as much information as he could. It was a very generous gesture for Valve to allow him to tour their office. I think Algor was just doing what any of you true HL fans would've done... enjoy yourself. Why do you think he only took 4 pictures? ;)

In the meantime, you who are pestering him for more info and bugging him about not asking questions that you'd like the answers to should be grateful that you had the opportunity to share in his experience, and that he was nice enough to post it all for you guys. Thanks for great stuff, Algor! Wish I could've gone :) And THANK YOU for asking that question about starting a game dev biz... it's my goal in life : )
 
Chris_D said:
I believe they're in Washington

Bellevue, Washington
Click to expand...

i thought the offices were in Seattle? hmm...

anyway, good stuff :)
always exciting reading about new stuff :)
 
Jesus, this thread is getting big, better add my two cents before it's closed or something ;).

GOOD JOB ALGOR!
HOORAY!
HOORAY!

I second the motion for a special title, maybe something like 'Valve Visiter-dude'.... or something.
 
Algor said:
qckbeam, as far as I could tell, they were Combine soldiers.
The room was somewhat dark, but they did not appear to be either:

http://www.halflife2.net/image_files/11.jpg - these soldiers

or

http://www.halflife2.net/image_files/07.jpg - these soldiers with the poofy armor

They appeared to have a more light colored uniform, but I could be wrong.
They definately werent those big padded ones though.
Click to expand...

jesus I forgot how crisp hl2 looked :thumbs: im drooling all over again
 
jet jaguar said:
Thx for sharing Algor.

Back to that 'ship often' philosphy. Yeah, it is ironic that a Valve guy would give that kind of advice.
Click to expand...

Think of Steam more then HL2.


On another note:
1) Spit visits Valve
2) Valve is hacked by traitorous swin
3) Algor visits Valve
....

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. Noooooooo!

:)


Nice writeup dude.
 
Originally Posted by Sandman
You're right. The office is in Seattle.
Click to expand...

Wrong.

Originally Posted by Chris_D
I believe they're in Washington

Bellevue, Washington
Click to expand...

Correct. :)
They used to be in Kirkland, WA... and apparently they just moved their office to Bellevue about a year ago.
 
thx for the hot info algor..

so they are doing FINAL TWEAKS... eh?

*rubs hands*
/me starts counting backwards
 
I think it's awesome that the HL2-AI manages to blindside and surprise even the developers themselves!!!
 
I just looked at the pictures, and although I'd seen Gabe before, I had an idea in my head that Valve employees would look somewhat 'cooler' than your average game developers. Not sure whether it's their arty kind of image or not. I just thought they'd all look somewhat different to how they did.
 
Wow. I go away for a day or so, and suddenly two visits to valve pop up at once.

Nice one Algor.
 
_-_-SELAS-_-_ said:
What?

Damn 10 char.. Ummm please elaborate :)
Click to expand...


What do you want me to say:

Oh wow nice pics (I did say that)
Oh wow nice info (I did say that)
Oh man you did realy good job ( I did say that)

What I did not say is (Selas Shut your big Mouth PLEASE)

Look man, Algor did a good job and we thanked him alot, So please selas read the pervouise (spelling ) pages before commenting. :|
 
Well, I for one want to know what you meant by "Hype is relaxing". Looks like it's rising, to me.
 
hmm, Mine was rising yesterday after Algor revealed everything, The hype power is getting down again. You got my point Brian.:)
 
Hype = state of anticipation usualy caused by advertising and/or information.

HL2 was hyped to the hilt before Sept 30th and try as I might I can't get excited about it until the game has gone gold. Good job though Algor. Aleviated some of my work day boredom.
 
I know what hype is.

What I don't understand is what the heck G0rgon was saying.

Okay, G0rg, take a pick:

"I, G0rgon, feel that the hype is going up!"

"I, G0rgon, feel that the hype is going down!"

And then please state why.
 
planethalflife said:
Algor's Visit To Valve 6

Another community member has had the chance to tour Valve (I guess Disney World isn’t everyone’s thing). Dan "Algor" Grafstrom returned from his adventure with four photos and an interview with Gabe Newell. Here’s a clip from that interview:

«What do you foresee in the future of fps games?
I think one of the interesting things, is that we are taking big steps in the interactivity of the worlds in the physics, where simulating how the world behaves is really useful in terms of creating play. More and more of the world can respond to what you are doing. And it’s done in a way that is really predictable to the player. If they can have a reasonable expectation that if I do this to this thing, then this is going to happen, then it is just one of those things that you want to create.»

There isn’t really any info that’s truly intriguing or not expected, but it’s still something—and the pictures aren’t bad. Also, you’ll need to pretend that you’ve read their forum rules and register in order to view the pictures.
Click to expand...

Their comments are just so lame....
They just need more people to come there instead...

Algor thanks for the info, you're a cool guy! You brought the hype back!
And byt the way has anyone mentioned you look like Gabe's son? (no offense)
 
Heh. Those pic's were nice. Thanks a lot. And Chris... seems like you have connections to the Al-Qaeda :E :E :D :D
 
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