All Half life writers have left Valve

[ZeD [taken 0]]

People still begging for Half-Life 3 are so pathetic that Valve just ignores them now. Really though, Valve is shit, I bet if people had whined as much to Square Enix about another game in the Chrono franchise as they did to Valve about getting HL3, we would have a new game in the Chrono franchise.

Don't think anyone's begging them for it. Maybe a handfull.

I'm definitely a fan and I believe it'll get done, but I just do other things meanwhile. Like any sane person.

 

[Poetic Nova]

Eh, doesn't mean L4D2, or Portal 1 and 2 suddenly dissappear. Or Half Life 1 and expansions for that matter. I stil play those games fondly.

 

[Sniper Team 4]

Eh, doesn't mean L4D2, or Portal 1 and 2 suddenly dissappear. Or Half Life 1 and expansions for that matter. I stil play those games fondly.

The problem is that NONE of those series are finished. You could argue that Left 4 Dead was never really meant to have an end point, but the second game revealed some interesting story points about the four heroes, and it was pretty clear they were going to give us more in the next game.
And while Chell's adventure seems to be over, and thus possibly Portal as a whole, it's still really easy to make more in the series especially considering Chell is now outside and quite possibly going to run into beings from the Half-Life story now.

And as for Half-Life itself, well...you play those games still. You've seen that horrible ending in Episode 2.

Yeah, those games haven't disappeared and they're still all really amazing, but they also serve as not only a painful reminder of what Valve was once, but also as a reminder that we are never going to see them concluded.

 

[Poetic Nova]

Eh, doesn't mean L4D2, or Portal 1 and 2 suddenly dissappear. Or Half Life 1 and expansions for that matter. I stil play those games fondly.

The problem is that NONE of those series are finished. You could argue that Left 4 Dead was never really meant to have an end point, but the second game revealed some interesting story points about the four heroes, and it was pretty clear they were going to give us more in the next game.
And while Chell's adventure seems to be over, and thus possibly Portal as a whole, it's still really easy to make more in the series especially considering Chell is now outside and quite possibly going to run into beings from the Half-Life story now.

And as for Half-Life itself, well...you play those games still. You've seen that horrible ending in Episode 2.

Yeah, those games haven't disappeared and they're still all really amazing, but they also serve as not only a painful reminder of what Valve was once, but also as a reminder that we are never going to see them concluded.

On the cliffhanger ending of Episode 2:
I used to be very annoyed that it doesnt seem to be getting a conclusion, but in recent years I started to think less of HL2 + episodes. I don't hate them, but I dont think they hold up aswell as HL1 and its expansions.

Portal (2), well, I honestly feel its story came to and end. Chell is outside the facility, and GLADOS can keep on going with her experiments. And a fan mod already gives a diffirent perspective on things, I just don't recall the name.

 

[happyninja42]

Eh, don't really care. I played the Half Life games. They were ok. I don't see what the gaming community's obsession with them is to be frank. They were decently built FPS's, that helped shape the genre, but I didn't get any feeling that they were the second coming of video game jesus or anything.

 

[Sniper Team 4]

I wonder what you're talking about with the four heroes having interesting stories that needed to be expanded. If there's another L4D, I want it to have an original cast of main characters.

The final mission, when you need to cross the bridge, you are on the radio with the military. They start asking if the four characters are carriers or whatever. They respond by saying that they're not infected, and the military stresses that they don't want to know that, they want to know if these people have come in contact with infected and not turned. When the military finds this out, they suddenly become very driven to get those people out of there, but never explain why. To me, this implies that there was supposed to be another game, perhaps one dealing with a chance to find a cure. But all we get is a cutscene of a helicopter taking off and then credits.

 

[Silvanus]

My faith that Half Life 3 will some day come out is, I've just realised, my only quasi-religious belief.

 

[chrissx2]

That means the scrip is done! They can start making the game!! Woohoooo

 

[Elijin]

that full fledge SP game could be VR game like the lab, could be browser game.

I cant believe in 2017 people still believe valve are video game developers or valve will make Half life 3.

And those are.....not videogames?

Plus they make dota and tf and isn't there talk of a L4D3? Yes yes, I know lots of those originated at mods. But here's the thing. When you take an idea, buy the idea, hire the creator onto staff and flesh that mod out into a fully fledged game, you're a game developer.

On the plus side, with the all Half-Life writers gone, we can look forward to future products actually being finished

 

[kasperbbs]

I just realised that i don't really care all that much about HL3. I wasn't really a big fan of the first one and what i liked most about the second game was it's revolutionary engine which allowed you to play with physics in ways never seen before. If they released their next game now i would probably be left dissapointed no matter what they do, it would be very hard to replicate that WOW! factor that the 2nd game had at the time.

 

[CanadianBaconPlayz]

Wasn't Valve the creator of Steam? Iv'e just read an article talking about how they got 75,000 complaints in a day? Was that why the people left?

 

[Wakey87]

I feel the Half-life franchise is overated tbh. The first game was amazing for the time but half-life 2? I can't really think of any memorial moments, or anything that made it seem special in anyway.

I much rather have a L4D3 or Portal3.

 

[PainInTheAssInternet]

Snip

The problem with DNF (and A:CM) was not inherent to the concept of finishing a long and troubled development cycle (though expectations added fuel to the inferno). The problem was a managing director who saw it as an opportunity to procure funds for his company's branded projects.

As for HL3, it can still happen. It may not have the original crew aboard but that doesn't mean it'll be terrible or won't happen. The point is to be creative with the concept you have an understanding and appreciation of, not to just have worked on it for a long time or since the beginning.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

Half-Life 3 is the IRL, non-drug version of chasing the dragon. You'll never actually get it but it's gonna be teased until the day you die.

 

[BrawlMan]

Snip

The problem with DNF (and A:CM) was not inherent to the concept of finishing a long and troubled development cycle (though expectations added fuel to the inferno). The problem was a managing director who saw it as an opportunity to procure funds for his company's branded projects.

As for HL3, it can still happen. It may not have the original crew aboard but that doesn't mean it'll be terrible or won't happen. The point is to be creative with the concept you have an understanding and appreciation of, not to just have worked on it for a long time or since the beginning.

Don't worry, i am not implying that HL3 will be bad or worse than those two God awful title, but at this point, it is replacement of a game that should have been out years ago, but for some reason or another, the creators sit on their asses and do nothing. Or the publisher/developers keeps switching developers do the job for them; in the case of DNF & A:CM. So in essence, HL3 has taken on that mantle in a way.

Kingdom Hearts III might as well almost be in the same spot despite having a minor trailer back in E3 2013 with still no release date in site, since Square just loves announcing games more than completing them. Shoot, I remember when people were pre-ordering PS3s, assuming KH III would be on the system. At the end of day, if HL3 ever does come out, it will have to meet impossibly high expectations regardless of quality.

 

[Lilani]

...there are still enough people who remember the golden days of Valve seeming like the only dev who gave a shit about making good games that this doesn't feel like a full betrayal yet.

I agree there are still plenty of people who remember those "golden days", but being able to remember those days doesn't mean they're still the same company with the same priorities.

That company had to make good games to make a profit. This one can just gorge itself on Steam profits.

Well yeah, I wasn't trying to say that it was the same company, lol. But I don't think it would hurt Steam or their profits much if they just sat down for a gentle chat to explain that HL3 isn't happening and why.

 

[JUMBO PALACE]

Half Life 3 will come out at the exact moment when VR becomes good enough to allow a true AAA title. Half Life games are tech demos with nice gameplay, that's why no third part has come out, tech on first person games has been stagnant ever since physics engines were introduced.

Yeah, Valve won't even consider a new Half Life game until they have a way to really bring something new to the table. With Half Life 2 they introduced realistic physics systems. Half Life 3 won't have a prayer into until there's new technology of that caliber that can be introduced- maybe VR is it.

That being said, I don't think it'll ever come out and I don't understand why people even bother to keep track of it anymore.

 

[MonsterCrit]

http://www.pcmag.com/news/353428/all-half-life-writers-have-left-valve

Every writer that worked on a Half-Life title has now left Valve for fresh pastures. We really aren't going to get a Half-Life 3, are we?

And here goes any hopes of another valve game. not that we had. but this time I would like to say. RIP valve as video game developer. now they are officially digital distributor.Not only Half life 3 will never ever going to release. but also left 4 dead 3 will never going to release too.

Uhm... well for starters HL has been a series where the narrative is woven around the gameplay. If it were the other way around they could easily just churn out the same game ala CoD or MW and tell slight variations on the same story with the same mechanics.

Valve actually was smart enough to realize that. It's no big task to get new writers. How deeply were any of the characters to begin with. Lets be frank. This won't affect the HL3 chances. Valve has always stated they'd work on it when they come up with an idea for it worth working on.

Here's an example. VCalve never had any ideas regarding the Portal story until they saw that demo of some developers course project that showed off the portal mechanics. They liked that and decided to build a game. The narrative and story came later.

Fun, innovative core mechanic first; then narrative.
They tried it the other way around twice and generally found the results unsatisfying and the task unrewarding.

 

[Vigormortis]

How do you know the script isn't already finished? Gaben confirmed on Reddit a while ago that they're working on a full-fledged single player game. Of course they're still a video game developer. That article is alarmist and unprofessional.

Besides, they can hire new writers. People move on. It's normal.

They've announced that they're also making three, full VR games. Not tech demos or samples, they're full-on, full-fledged games that'll cost money at release.

And, more over, claiming "all Half-Life writers have left Valve" shows a woefully inept understanding of how Valve develops their games and stories generally and the Half-Life series specifically.

I mean, for fuck's sake, Valve released their actual fucking guide book on their development process, and have done numerous interviews, discussions, panels, and behind-the-scenes books on how they went about making the Half-Life and Portal games. This assumption that the series [footnote]And all future story-driven games from Valve[/footnote] is completely dead in the water because Erik Wolpaw, Chet Faliszek, and Mark Laidlaw have left is just...stupid. Only way to sum it up. Stupid. Willfully ignorant and stupid.

Is there some opinion that those three are the ONLY writers in the game industry? Is there some assumption that Valve can't hire new writers? Is there some assumption that those three were the ONLY people at Valve capable of writing and creating characters and stories?

I just don't get this alarmist bullshit. It's confusing. Maybe this is just how everyone reacts to ANY news story nowadays. You either lose your mind with rage or you shrug with absolute apathy.

Besides, it's not like they can't come back. Kelly Bailey left Valve years ago and he eventually came back for a time. What prevents Erik, Chet, or Mark from doing the same?

 

[hermes]

Not going to say "it will never happen", because we live in a world were a sequel to Shenmue was announced. However, I think we are as likely to see Valve get behind one as we are to see Nintendo leave the console business to go back to producing Hanafuda cards as their main source of revenue, or Napster and Kazaa becoming relevant again.

In other words: we are not in 2004, they are not in the business of AAA single player games any more, and the investment they would need to produce a game that could get even close to players expectations is far too big to be worthy.