[acomjean]

They knew Michael Abrash from working at Microsoft who went to id, told them to "you should use our engine". They went to id and walked out with the quake engine, and some advice from Romero.

Sometimes it really helps who you know, and there is always some element of luck in making it. Having a great team certainly made that game what it was. It was interesting how they balance realism and fun.

Its always interesting how things get made.

[willis936]

That coupled with the fact that the talent pool and tooling for game development were limited. Having id at your back was a superpower (which is arguably still true today when you compare their tech to other engines).

DYKG recently did a video about Ken Sugimori (the Pokemon guy). He is an overly harsh critic of his own skills, but I think there is a kernel of truth in this insight:

"It's kind of embarrassing to admit actually - but [video games were] a brand new industry back then, and standards were lower than in other fields..."

https://youtu.be/SVFnYLTsxdc&t=18m30s

[hypercube33]

There is a video somewhere where gaben is really self destructive about how half life 2 turned out and I think it's why we don't see half life 3 or any other new games - I think he's overly critical about his work. Watching this 25th documentary really felt like the team had a nostalgia trip making it and fond memories of the game. I wonder if the spark is gone with that teams weird dynamic.

[chucky_z]

As someone who just got the OLED Steam Deck the spark is not gone!! Valve is still the same company, they’re just succeeding in very different ways.

I think this is the benefit of not being a public company. They’ve pivoted over and over and over. They’re still in the same space (video games) and the breadth of the areas they’re in are immense!

[Blackthorn]

Yeah, this. They don't have a ton of releases, but their batting average is insane. I can think of only one really notable failure (Artifact). So many of their other releases have been industry changing in many different ways.

[riffruff24]

And who could forget their 2010 masterpiece, Alien Swarm. To this day I believe they only created it as an exercise. It's also free.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/630/Alien_Swarm/

[thereddaikon]

It helps a lot that they self publish. Many cant afford to do that but Valve is flush with cash from Steam in a similar way to how Apple is propped up by the App Store. That allows them to pick and choose what they do and only release products they are confident will do well.

[nickpeterson]

I think part of it is that games (like films, novels, albums, etc) are intense, grueling creative efforts. I think many young dev teams go in pretty naive and strike gold, and assume it was hard because it was new. Then they make another and realize, nope it’s just hard every time. I think it would be very difficult to sign on to each new project after years of 70 hour weeks. What’s the point of success if you can’t enjoy your time after?

[7thaccount]

Turned out? Like as in bad? I remember playing it when it came out and couldn't believe graphics had gotten that advanced. The gravity gun? That blew my mind. Both the games were amazing experiences for me even though I didn't get to play them in full until years later. I'd like another game to help me understand the lore better.

[fishtacos]

Half Life 2 was not only mind-blowing, but also my introduction to a relatively newfangled thing called Steam that I was NOT a fan of at first (DRM-wise). Through the years I acquired 2800+ games on the platform, as a sort of digital hoarder with the hope of at least trying every game I purchased (often in bundles/sales) as an exclusive PC player - before I got too old or too dead. I just don't see that happening anymore... Just not enough time left but to sample.

Back to HL2 - it's the 2nd game I've ever finished twice (FF VII being the other), still love the story, the very cool physics gun, the incredible dystopian narrative and setting, and it holds up today wonderfully 19 years later.

It's a shame we'll likely never see an HL3. There are so many talented development firms they could outsource it to, with current engines like UE5, it would be fantastic with the proper writers. Maybe even the original ones. Alright, done gushing here.

[dkdbejwi383]

That’s quite sad in a way; Half Life 2 is still an incredibly influential and beloved game 20 years later.

Or is that maybe why? The weight of expectation is too great to live up to

[ErneX]

They did release a new HL game after those: HL:Alyx (VR only though) it was critically acclaimed.

[Nekhrimah]

The follow up Episodes One and Two are fantastic.

And the leaked storyline for Episode Three looking really strong as well.

I hold out hope that the Crowbar Collective (the group that remade Half-Life with the Source engine and called it Black Mesa) have been secretly working on implementing the Episode Three storyline in Source. Though, now that Source2 is out who knows? This is all my speculation anyway.

[Hikikomori]

He said he didn't think much about his past work and he is hardwired to keep his eyes on the future.