Who makes the call?

[Mr-Fusion]

As we've been told HL2 is currently being put through it's paces. Testing and hammering away to mould it into perfection. Now we all have different viewpoints of what a finished game is, i personally think they should go through 3 weeks of testing then release. Yes there'll still be bugs but my current desire for the game far outweighs any consideration of bugs right now . Though we can be certain Valve have far higher internal standards than I, and will test for a lot longer than what i suggested. My questions is.....

Who at Valve finally says "Ok, that's it we're going gold"

Do you think Gabe does it? Or is it another cabal like process where they all get together, gather around a table and try to make some kind of decision?

 

[Darkknighttt]

i think they all gather around the table and agree that hl2 is as good as it can be and there going to release it.

 

[Lobster]

Well when they go into beta the developers themselves believe the game is finished, then the playtesters find bugs and when there happy a release candidate is sent to the publisher, then they may send it back for further testing (usually for user friendlyness) then when there happy the ratings people check it then its ready to ship.

 

[Mr-Fusion]

I just have this lingering feeling it's going to spend an enormous amount of time in the testing phase, in the vicinity of 4-5 months! =/

No doubt all the employees will be hesistant about some aspect they could have put more work into etc, "Just give me another week i want to put X in or change Y". Someone has to put the foot down and say "screw it! go gold!".

 

[Lobster]

I just have this lingering feeling it's going to spend an enormous amount of time in the testing phase, in the vicinity of 4-5 months! =/

No doubt all the employees will be hesistant about some aspect they could have put more work into etc, "Just give me another week i want to put X in or change Y". Someone has to put the foot down and say "screw it! go gold!".

I know what you mean, obviously valve wont just release the game to make a date or beat another game to the shelf, they want it to be finished, but the thing is valve seems to release big chunks of infomation and then go completely quiet and rehash the same info for weeks untill another press release or whatever comes out, and then the employees start talking again.

So hopefully within a week or two they will release some info about the source ports or somthing and can give us a status update.

 

[DeltaBlast]

You forgot Gabe's dad. I mean, HE playtests it all...

 

[Moejoe]

I know what you mean, obviously valve wont just release the game to make a date or beat another game to the shelf,

So true...they have proved this how many times? 3? but still, i would rather have a finished and polished game out late than a lameass untested, buggy pos game.

My opinion is pretty much like everyone elses, they all have a group meeting and say yay or nay on going gold. But Gabe probably has the most influence at one of these meetings.

 

[PvtRyan]

You forgot Gabe's dad. I mean, HE playtests it all...

He finished it

Took him 60 hours

 

[Chris D]

I make the decision, nobody else. We're not seeing it until 2006. Sorry!

However, I have set up a pay pal account so if you want it this summer then please pay me £20 each and I'll make sure it's out THIS summer - 2004.

 

[ferd]

I say Gordon decides

 

[Dougy]

The team.

Gabe may be in charge but he is not vital to the company and as such is expendable.

(by vital i mean can not be replaced or does something no1 else knows how to do with the game)

 

[dream431ca]

Thw whole team will make a decision. They will not release HL2 until everybody in every department is happy.

 

[WhiteBoy]

Thw whole team will make a decision. They will not release HL2 until everybody in every department is happy.

Send in the strippers to make them happy


I say it's a team dicision.

 

[Vegeta897]

Well, the only thing the team is doing is watching playtesters and making a change based upon what they see.
Gabe will also be watching, and then when he thinks it is ready, he will ask the team if they are ready as well.

So I guess that's a team decision.

 

[Tinneth]

I call the shots. Now get out of my house.

 

[Agent.M]

I just have this lingering feeling it's going to spend an enormous amount of time in the testing phase, in the vicinity of 4-5 months! =/

Unfortunalty Im gonna have to agree with you Im willing to put money on it that we wont see HL2 till around september.....things just point to that time frame...also man retailers and game sites have an expected release date of 9-1-04(I know retailers are not always right!)

 

[blahblahblah]

Gabe owns Valve. That means he owns the property of HL2. In theory, Gabe is the only person that decides if and when HL2 goes gold. But, I am sure he will consult with the rest of Valve before announcing that HL2 has gone gold.

 

[Orange]

They use the cabal system, rather than just a single manager deciding and ruling over the different groups progress. That's for game development anyway, so i'd assume this would fall under that.

 

[DarkStar]

No doubt all the employees will be hesistant about some aspect they could have put more work into etc, "Just give me another week i want to put X in or change Y". Someone has to put the foot down and say "screw it! go gold!".

Yeah, this is always the problem with large projects such as this. They are essentially never "done." There is always something you can work on and improve a little. Always something you can tweak or change or make better. At somepoint someone does indeed have to say "f*ck it, done."

 

[Chris D]

I'd imagine Gabe has the final call no matter what. I'm sure he'd get the feedback of the team and the testers then use his discretion, probably along with Doug Lombardi and the other directors on whether or not they release.

 

[Shuzer]

*Shuzer hacks the poll, adds a "Shuzer" option, votes for it and flees

 

[lans]

heh, "Gabe ownz valve"...

Just wondering, is a valve a LTD or PLC?

 

[Citizen 1150421]

i am pretty sure its Gabe's decision over all towards the product going gold. however, i m pretty sure that he talks to majority of the offitial team (50 or so people) but at the same time it would be nice if the game comes out around mid june cause that owuld give people time to play over the holidays. but with doom 3 coming out i m pretty sure they will be strategic about it. also for those downloading over steam it would be cool if its already uploaded but hidden from view. one can only dream..

oh well.. viva la Half life Duo

 

[Orange]

Hey, June is near! oooo.

Wait a minute, Halflife2 can't come out soon, then i don't have anything to wait for. Boo. i don't believe it

 

[CrazyHarij]

Gabe's trusty Strider would "feel" when the game is ready, and he'd then ride around the entire world on the Strider and personally hand over copies of the game.

Jippie-ka-yeay!

 

[brokenjago]

They don't add any features in this portion of the development, so no need to worry about that.

 

[crabcakes66]

I think gabe has the final say.

At some point he has to make a decision to release. Regardless of what could'a should'a be done.

It is his company afterall.....

 

[Wesisapie]

dont forget magical steam can always fix it up with ease later

 

[Ownzed]

but still, i would rather have a finished and polished game out late than a lameass untested, buggy pos game.

Me too definetly. :thumbs:

 

[iamaelephant]

I personally hope they iron out the vast majority of bugs. Nothing pisses me off more than game devs releasing bug ridden games then patching them up. How about finishing the game, then releasing it?!

 

[Iced_Eagle]

Gabe will decide when he thinks the game should go gold. And then they will have a meeting, each department says what their To-Do list is and a time frame on what they can get done in the next week. Usually it will be very small things like changing the texture of a model a little to improve it and such. No adding features really or doing any major map changes as that would put them through more testing of like 2 weeks.

The ratings get done before the game is gold I'm pretty sure... Then it goes to publisher, if they approve winnar, if not they say what they want fixed and they try to do it swiftly and carefully

Hopefully they don't do what they did with Breed... The publisher did their own PR and they put in an earlier build of the game, re did voice acting etc etc etc and it is now the buggiest thing ever and the guys who created it are now sueing them I think for changing their product.... It sucks :\

 

[CrazyHarij]

Damn, Ice_eagle.. I didn't knew that about Breed, such bastards. :|

 

[Punzz]

I call the shots. Now get out of my house.

LOL :cheese:

I reckon gabe gets all the advice from the team when it comes to making the big decisions, but the final.. FINAL decision must be made by him. Sort of a joint process thingy me bob jig jog GOOOAL.. yes

 

[Dr. Freeman]

I make the decision, nobody else. We're not seeing it until 2006. Sorry!

However, I have set up a pay pal account so if you want it this summer then please pay me £20 each and I'll make sure it's out THIS summer - 2004.

evil.. pure evil.