Why HL2 took so long

[bullteef]

I suppose this is one of many reasons, but if your read the interview with David Hodgson on the making of book you would have read the part on "how development stalled for months when the physics engine was finished and everyone started building crazy contraptions."

Oh, well. Suppose they were entitled to having fun and keeping the game to themselves for a year or so.
Sorry if this has been posted before.

 

[Ages120]

They don't have any good reasons for why it took so long. Cept maybe testing cs source on lab rats to make sure it had the same addicting properties.

 

[Julian]

Because Source was there baby, it was there own...and they had to nuture and grow their little boy into a strong and healthy man... :hmph:

 

[lonestar]

because they wanted to create an awesome game experience? hope, i'm right.. :naughty:

 

[Black Mesa corp]

how long has i taken them to create the game? is it 6 years? Anyway, it must be the best game ever at this rate, if it scored 9/10s id be dissapointed. Lets hope it wont be like 'the getaway'. lol

 

[VGJosh]

That is the worst reason ever. You honestly think they decided to stop working on it completely because they were having fun making contraptions in HL2 source?

 

[Mr. Bildo]

It took them forever to make the game because they are a bunch of artists and programmers with what amounts to an unlimited budget.

Most development shops are very dependent on their publisher for resources. Like authors, they get an advance on sales and really aren't able to self-fund the project. Valve doesn't have that constraint and therefor, they make most of the decisions.

With that in mind, realize that programmers have a tendency to just keep developing something until someone tells them it's time to stop. Again, with most development houses they have publishers and investors breathing down their neck telling them to hurry up. With Valve, they didn't, so they kept improving and improving and it goes on and on. Trust me, as a software developer of over 10 years, I work with people like that. It's because most programmers are either researchers or engineers, they either have a goal to get something done, or they just want to play with cool shit. Adding unlimited resources and an infinite deadline only exacerbates that.

If you've ever watched a show like Monster House, it really does a good job of showing this dichotomy. There are 5 people tasked to build some stuff that makes up a renovation project. 9 times out of 10 there is one guy who spends the entire time working on one little thing and pisses everybody else off. He's the artist and needs his vision to be realized in his work and ignores reality the entire time, like everyone around him begging to know when it's going to be done. Often that guy never makes the deadline. That's Valve.

I just hope that in the end it was all worth it.

--Mr. Bildo