E
Eldeorn
Guest
Hi there people. As a retired games programmer and a fan of Half-Life, I felt I need to talk about a few things regarding all this about the hacker, the current state of Half-Life 2 and what I believe is true about all this.
I was a professional programmer in sweden for about 6 years, and was lead programmer for 3 PC titles (Clans release by Strategy First, Dragonfire and The Shockman Show) and then senior programmer for another 1.5 titles (yeah the one half didn't get finished
), so I believe I have a bit of knowledge in the process of developing games and a bit of understanding regarding software companies and procedures.
Anyway, here are the common questions that I want to adress:
a) The hacker has told the truth.
b) Valve has NOT told the truth.
c) The leaked version is all they got?
d) Valve are nothing without the community, so they owe us?
a) The hacker has told the truth.
Ok, lets dig into question A first. The only thing that I personally know that is true so far is that the hacker known as Anon has released a source for Half-Life 2, claiming it to be real, which then was proven to be so. I really want to know what else he has said that was true so far? Mind you, truth is only proven by facts, and only fact I know is that he didn't lie about the source authentity, nothing more than that.
What boggles me is also the opinion that the hacker "must be talking the truth since he have no reason to lie, while Valve do"! Seriously, people lie and cheat all the time out of spite and to ruin for others they don't like. Also, the hacker don't have to face the result of being caught, since he can hide behind his .nfo files. For him there is no harm to either lie or telling the truth.
Now, can someone point out any facts from the hacker that has been proven by your own two eyes?
b) Valve has NOT told the truth.
Now, this is what I really don't understand, perhaps beacuse I simply lack the knowledge, or because it just don't make any sense.
They (Valve) showed a movie to the public, and stated that this is how the game is going to be, with not only scripted sequences, but with a good AI as well. Now, we have this situation where people seems to be focused on the fact that the E3 demo and the leaked version has a scripted sequence where a door gets kicked up even if the unit that should be kicking it is actually dead. This is indeed a pure script without any AI whatsoever (at least when it comes to the door kicking part).
The fact is though, this is the E3 ALPHA DEMO, not the finished product, or even the current state of the game. Now I don't know this for sure, but I can bet you that this is made like this to show how it is SUPPOSED to be, and they only forced the sequence with a script to make sure that it won't bug when they run it.
Anyway, the only thing that I know that weren't true was the September 28th realease date. They did however change that to holiday release in good time before the hacker attack, and any distributor can and usually do change the release date since they find new things to fix or balance.
A while after the hacker attack it's said that the game once again is delayed to April 2004, but this is at this point NOT officially confirmed by either Valve nor Vivendi. Due to this RUMOR, people are beginning to ask if it's a scam by Valve, and that the release was never intended to be this year at all. It's kind of funny that one of the biggest and most skillfull game developers in the world suddenly totally fails to make the game they say they are making, and start making up storys and scams to protect themselves... Come on, REALLY. Not even the smallest and crappiest software companies do things like this, and I bet you that *none* of the bigger ones would even consider doing a thing like this when it would hurt them and their community so badly.
For Valve, it would be devestating to be caught lying or making up things like some think they do. Mostly because the fact that even if people may think so, they don't earn *that* much money compared to any other big company in the world. It's a common assumption that game developers makes money like movie stars... I got news for you, they get crap pay. Gaming industry is one of the toughest industries to get a foot hold in, and it takes *alot* of hard work to keep that position.
So my question is... what exactly are the lies that Valve has told? Can anyone give me officiall quotes or give me details that would prove the lies they have told us?
c) The leaked version is all Valve got?
The hacker stated that the latest source leak is the latest source there is for the game, but how on earth can he prove this unless Valve go public and let everyone actually visit their office and compare the source within their SourceSafe database? All the hacker knows is that what HE got was the only thing HE could find, and nothing more than that. Even if he did get access to Gabe's computer, it's not certain at all that he actaully managed to connect to Valve's encrypted SourceSafe database to download the latest build that they had been working on.
Gabe is not a programmer. He is the boss of Valve, and it makes little sense that he sits on the latest builds every day from the the source of the game when he has absolutely no daily use of it whatsoever.
Why Gabe had the source at all is something I can only speculate in. Perhaps so he could compile and run the demo to show it for visitors... who knows. My own boss never had the source, but he did have the latest demo build of my games on his laptop so that he didnt have to come running after the programmers to show off the game.
d) Valve are nothing without the community, so they owe us?
Yeah, it's true that without the huge community, Valve wouldn't make the big money to make Half-Life 2 and such. However, the community get a neverending fun for a one time cost of $30! Also remember that the HL community would not even exist if it wasn't for Valve in the first place, busting their balls to make the best games there is. And let's not forget the creators of CS and how Valve recognized their work, hired them and let them earn something for their excellent work they did for free before, and making it the biggest online competition game in the world.
They owe the community? Naa. The only thing we do is pay $30 once, while they spend 5 years 8 hours a day with a payment that is nothing over the ordinary (for the programmers that is), working their asses off and then get a thank you like this, with the theft of their work, all the mistrust, false rumors and accusations. It's their job to do their best, and unless we are the ones paying their monthly paycheck, we don't owe them jack shit. I paid $30 and I got years of entertainment for that little money.
Cheers.
I was a professional programmer in sweden for about 6 years, and was lead programmer for 3 PC titles (Clans release by Strategy First, Dragonfire and The Shockman Show) and then senior programmer for another 1.5 titles (yeah the one half didn't get finished
), so I believe I have a bit of knowledge in the process of developing games and a bit of understanding regarding software companies and procedures.Anyway, here are the common questions that I want to adress:
a) The hacker has told the truth.
b) Valve has NOT told the truth.
c) The leaked version is all they got?
d) Valve are nothing without the community, so they owe us?
a) The hacker has told the truth.
Ok, lets dig into question A first. The only thing that I personally know that is true so far is that the hacker known as Anon has released a source for Half-Life 2, claiming it to be real, which then was proven to be so. I really want to know what else he has said that was true so far? Mind you, truth is only proven by facts, and only fact I know is that he didn't lie about the source authentity, nothing more than that.
What boggles me is also the opinion that the hacker "must be talking the truth since he have no reason to lie, while Valve do"! Seriously, people lie and cheat all the time out of spite and to ruin for others they don't like. Also, the hacker don't have to face the result of being caught, since he can hide behind his .nfo files. For him there is no harm to either lie or telling the truth.
Now, can someone point out any facts from the hacker that has been proven by your own two eyes?
b) Valve has NOT told the truth.
Now, this is what I really don't understand, perhaps beacuse I simply lack the knowledge, or because it just don't make any sense.
They (Valve) showed a movie to the public, and stated that this is how the game is going to be, with not only scripted sequences, but with a good AI as well. Now, we have this situation where people seems to be focused on the fact that the E3 demo and the leaked version has a scripted sequence where a door gets kicked up even if the unit that should be kicking it is actually dead. This is indeed a pure script without any AI whatsoever (at least when it comes to the door kicking part).
The fact is though, this is the E3 ALPHA DEMO, not the finished product, or even the current state of the game. Now I don't know this for sure, but I can bet you that this is made like this to show how it is SUPPOSED to be, and they only forced the sequence with a script to make sure that it won't bug when they run it.
Anyway, the only thing that I know that weren't true was the September 28th realease date. They did however change that to holiday release in good time before the hacker attack, and any distributor can and usually do change the release date since they find new things to fix or balance.
A while after the hacker attack it's said that the game once again is delayed to April 2004, but this is at this point NOT officially confirmed by either Valve nor Vivendi. Due to this RUMOR, people are beginning to ask if it's a scam by Valve, and that the release was never intended to be this year at all. It's kind of funny that one of the biggest and most skillfull game developers in the world suddenly totally fails to make the game they say they are making, and start making up storys and scams to protect themselves... Come on, REALLY. Not even the smallest and crappiest software companies do things like this, and I bet you that *none* of the bigger ones would even consider doing a thing like this when it would hurt them and their community so badly.
For Valve, it would be devestating to be caught lying or making up things like some think they do. Mostly because the fact that even if people may think so, they don't earn *that* much money compared to any other big company in the world. It's a common assumption that game developers makes money like movie stars... I got news for you, they get crap pay. Gaming industry is one of the toughest industries to get a foot hold in, and it takes *alot* of hard work to keep that position.
So my question is... what exactly are the lies that Valve has told? Can anyone give me officiall quotes or give me details that would prove the lies they have told us?
c) The leaked version is all Valve got?
The hacker stated that the latest source leak is the latest source there is for the game, but how on earth can he prove this unless Valve go public and let everyone actually visit their office and compare the source within their SourceSafe database? All the hacker knows is that what HE got was the only thing HE could find, and nothing more than that. Even if he did get access to Gabe's computer, it's not certain at all that he actaully managed to connect to Valve's encrypted SourceSafe database to download the latest build that they had been working on.
Gabe is not a programmer. He is the boss of Valve, and it makes little sense that he sits on the latest builds every day from the the source of the game when he has absolutely no daily use of it whatsoever.
Why Gabe had the source at all is something I can only speculate in. Perhaps so he could compile and run the demo to show it for visitors... who knows. My own boss never had the source, but he did have the latest demo build of my games on his laptop so that he didnt have to come running after the programmers to show off the game.
d) Valve are nothing without the community, so they owe us?
Yeah, it's true that without the huge community, Valve wouldn't make the big money to make Half-Life 2 and such. However, the community get a neverending fun for a one time cost of $30! Also remember that the HL community would not even exist if it wasn't for Valve in the first place, busting their balls to make the best games there is. And let's not forget the creators of CS and how Valve recognized their work, hired them and let them earn something for their excellent work they did for free before, and making it the biggest online competition game in the world.
They owe the community? Naa. The only thing we do is pay $30 once, while they spend 5 years 8 hours a day with a payment that is nothing over the ordinary (for the programmers that is), working their asses off and then get a thank you like this, with the theft of their work, all the mistrust, false rumors and accusations. It's their job to do their best, and unless we are the ones paying their monthly paycheck, we don't owe them jack shit. I paid $30 and I got years of entertainment for that little money.
Cheers.
