Valve is Epic (appreciation thread)

[Beerdude26]

When Valve doesn't lie to us about game features they're great.

And so far I've heard no fibs, last time they lied to us what about all of the promising features of HL2 back in like 2003/2004.

Well, that happens a lot in the industry tbh. Remember when STALKER said they were going to have vehicles?

 

[Lucid]

Well, that happens a lot in the industry tbh. Remember when STALKER said they were going to have vehicles?

They said that they took vehicles out.

I don't remember Valve admitting that they had to take out the unscripted sequences and dynamic AI and terrain deformation.

 

[Beerdude26]

They said that they took vehicles out.

I don't remember Valve admitting that they had to take out the unscripted sequences and dynamic AI and terrain deformation.

Ah, like that. Yeah, too bad about the terrain deformation It's still available in Hammer, but broken.

 

[Acepilotf14]

Yaaaaaaaaaaay Vaaaaaaaaalve
yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay

 

[Apocalypse89]

Epic Valve is Epic.

 

[DEATH eVADER]

(please make an OS too)

Ironically, Gabe did work on the earlier Windows Operating Systems

 

[Asknoone]

I don't remember Valve admitting that they had to take out the unscripted sequences and dynamic AI and terrain deformation.

Yeah, they did. They tuned down the AI in order to compensate for performance. Also, they'll always use scripted sequences, I think. That said, I completely forgot about terrain deformation. I don't even remember what capacity it was supposed to be used.

 

[Ennui]

apparently the terrain deformation code is still somewhat functional and included in the game code. It's just for displacements iirc (thus terrain and not everything).

 

[Kadayi]

I have a dream: Valve working on something completely different, like a role playing game or an adventure game. The guys are able to develop deep plots and I will really like a Half-Life experience stripped of the action component. Is this blasphemy? After all, Portal is a puzzle game

Seconded. Its always been by view that the Source engine is underused by the HL2 franchise to a degree because it does people so well, but because GF doesn't speak we miss out on the interaction. Not that I'm wanting them to change that policy, but I'd love to see a game like Deus Ex or Mass Effect done using source tech. I'm one of the few people who really liked VTM:B though.

 

[Ennui]

I would like to see Valve make an RTS or something else radically different than Half-Life and everything they've done before. I love everything they've made - avid player of HL, HL2, CS, DOD, TF2, going to love Portal, etc, but I want to see what else they can do besides awesome SP and MP FPSes.

 

[Paulaner]

To enforce my appreciation for Valve, let me quote Gabe Newell on a matter of gameplay philosophy that I find really illuminating:

"Fundamentally, games are about what you do, not what you see. So in terms of things which make games fundamentally profound experiences - and differentiate them from non-interactive entertainment such as TV and film - it's more about what you do on the CPU than on the GPU."

The roots of computer gaming.

 

[Bad^Hat]

I'd like to see Valve's take on a game in a fantasy setting. Not neccesarily an RPG, but something a little more toned back than Half-Life, a little more reliant on intellect than straight brawn. Something just tells me that with their art direction they'd be able to do some really twisted and original things with that.

Maybe they could run with the silent but powerful hero thing, aswell. Or maybe an anti-hero. A reaper in training jumping from world to world, collecting souls to fill commisions for his shadowy benefactors. A mute elf with an eerie knack for communicating with nature who's forced to protect his forest from the encroaching machinery of man by manipulating plants and animals to do his bidding. An infamous hunter who tracks fairies to pluck their wings, hoping to form a magical concoction that will give him the ability to fly, so that he may visit his long-lost love in the cloud kingdom.

Okay, admittedly this is starting to sound pretty un-Valve like, but you get the jist. Or maybe I'm just on a nostalgia trip from all this talk of old consoles and how gaming used to be. *sighs wistfully*

 

[Warbie]

I would play all of those games you mention

 

[Asknoone]

I want a Half-life RTS.

 

[ríomhaire]

I want a Half-life RTS.

Seconded.

 

[BigBoss7556]

Seconded.

Thirded

 

[Warbie]

A new ip would be nice - an rts sounds so lazy.

 

[Absinthe]

On the subject of character-driven RPGs on the Source engine...

Get Obsidian a license.

 

[CptStern]

half-life 2 mmo ftw ..ok maybe a gta sandbox style game ..set in say city 17 with hijackable striders and radio stations that play "it's the end of the world" over and over again

 

[alehm]

City 17 - Aftermath


the first MMO set in the Half Life universe.


Seriously would have some Mad Max undetones that would translate well into a collective gaming experience.

 

[Stigmata]

So my friend hates Steam because it "takes longer to join a server on Steam than it did back when WON was around". I said that didn't make any sense, so he elaborated by saying that back in CS1.6, you'd be in within five seconds, but now you have to wait for games to load and that it "takes forever" to ping and connect to a server.

Am I the only one confused by this?

 

[Absinthe]

Well, of course it's going to take longer to join a server if the game isn't already loaded up.

Hit him for me.

 

[Ennui]

So my friend hates Steam because it "takes longer to join a server on Steam than it did back when WON was around". I said that didn't make any sense, so he elaborated by saying that back in CS1.6, you'd be in within five seconds, but now you have to wait for games to load and that it "takes forever" to ping and connect to a server.

Am I the only one confused by this?

People who think that WON was better than Steam is in its current state are not only wrong but also morons.

 

[PvtRyan]

One thing that's annoyed me about Steam and still does, is something WON did better: poor server filters. You can't even filter servers by map properly (typing 'dustbowl' in it gives no results, you gotta type 'cp_du.....' to get the maps), can't search servers by name and joining a server of which you know the IP has to be done through favorites. WTF?

 

[ríomhaire]

Epic Valve has been emailed...epicly...

 

[Javert]

How many companies would let you give a game for free to others legally and fully support doing so?

It wasn't free.

That release constant updates to tweak their games to create a better experience?

Everyone, and they're supposed to.

That sell you 5 games for the price of one?

An MP game, a mini-game, and an episode =/= a Game, let alone what Half-Life and Half-Life 2 were as "Games".

That have created a program that allow developers to distribute their games easier and keep more of the money that are created from their own sales?

Valve! Yay! (What about us?)

In short, I love Valve in every way you mentioned except their business practices, which is just like every other company, and expected.

 

[Lucid]

It wasn't free.
Everyone, and they're supposed to.
An MP game, a mini-game, and an episode =/= a Game, let alone what Half-Life and Half-Life 2 were as "Games".
Valve! Yay! (What about us?)

In short, I love Valve in every way you mentioned except their business practices, which is just like every other company, and expected.

But they do all of those mandatory business practices a little bit better.

Other companies completely abandon their other games after they release sequels.(such as... DICE/EA! :angry: )

But Valve still occasionally updates games like CS 1.6, TFC, HL, HL2, etc.

 

[Uriel]

It wasn't free.

It's free to the person who receives it

Everyone, and they're supposed to.

Bull, hardly anyone releases frequent updates. Look at Bioshock, not a single update. Updates thru Valve are frequent, instant and specific (they fix a lot of the small problems)

An MP game, a mini-game, and an episode =/= a Game, let alone what Half-Life and Half-Life 2 were as "Games".

TF2 can easily be considered a full game
Yes, Portal is a mini game, but still has mod potential which we will probably see
Half-Life 2 is a full game
Episode 1&2 combined are easily a full game

Valve! Yay! (What about us?)

They keep developers afloat. If I remember, it was either Troika or White Wolf that stated if they had only sold a percentage that was less than half of their sales in brick and mortar stores on Steam, they'd still be in business. Shame, because I loved Bloodlines and would love to see a sequel.

In short, I love Valve in every way you mentioned except their business practices, which is just like every other company, and expected.

Okay, lets take another look at Orange Box. How many games does it come with? Okay, you wanna get nit picky about how many are actually considered "full games". Atleast 3. That's the price of 3 games for the price of 1. That's hardly doing business a practical way. So many people called Gabe for doing that, you can go watch the video where he talks about that.