Post by kr0wb4r @ 03:46am 10/05/11 | 20 Comments
Valve has concluded its experiment with episodic game content, the studio’s president has said.Basically they've ditched the Episodic concept and their new model is to continually update games the way they do with Team Fortress 2.
Gabe Newell told Develop that the episodic development philosophy has been replaced wholesale by the ‘games as a service’ model.
This may sound like bad news for those who have been hanging out for a Half-life: Episode 3, but obviously doesn't rule out new complete games in the franchise. The in-depth article discussing Valve's new manifesto can be found here. promoted/edited forum item
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Posted 03:58am 10/5/11
What. No you didn't.
Posted 04:15am 10/5/11
What is L4D2 Versus modes like now? Should maybe reinstall and check it out if they have added features/bug fixes since release.
Posted 04:54am 10/5/11
Posted 05:45am 10/5/11
TBH I didn't much enjoy the atmosphere or gameplay of half life 2, which has sort of been their flagship product for a while now, and as such am probably going to be shunned and beaten as a pariah.
(Thought it was technically impressive, just absolutely nothing like the first one. Didn't enjoy the inclusion of character story as it got really awkward with the whole mute character thing, and I missed the sequential grand-puzzle-nature of escaping from a secret semi-abandoned science facility, with both soldiers and aliens trying to kill you, and the occasional team ups with a random scientists or security guard... sigh that game was awesome).
Love Portal1+2, CS:S, HL1, & L4D2 though. :D
Posted 05:50am 10/5/11
Posted 06:39am 10/5/11
Posted 07:21am 10/5/11
Exactly the same for me, the game was well fleshed out and polished and told a decent story, but I never loved it. It wasn't a bad game as such, I just never understood the unending love and praise it always received.
Posted 08:23am 10/5/11
its not really bad news. just means ep3 will most likely be hl3.
Posted 09:00am 10/5/11
Posted 09:08am 10/5/11
I also don't see how they can just "continually update games the way they do TF2". Sure, that works for TF2 and would work for L4D (if they didn't already release that sequel) and will also work for Dota2, but they're all multiplayer games.
That kind of post-release evolution doesn't really apply to story-driven singleplayer games does it? Can anyone see Portal 2 evolving the way TF2 did over the next few years? Sure there'll be community contributions and more expanded content, but I don't see any fundamental changes and improvements to the core game coming.
Posted 09:14am 10/5/11
I also hope that HL3 has heaps more emphasis on deathmatch. They had a brilliant engine to play with, & they released what, four maps? WTF! No MP has come close to the fun of nailing people with a flying toilet or pinning them to a wall with the crossbow etc...
Posted 09:20am 10/5/11
Crossbow, yes, but you lost me at the gravity gun. :(
Bring back the old HLDM days...
Posted 09:52am 10/5/11
The only noticable deviation to the TF format IMO was ET:QW.
I was hoping that HL2:Ep3 would continue with the innovations to story-telling and game-play. Not being a corporate entity, I have absolutely NO interest in evaluating development cycles or determining marketing strategies. As a paying customer want the product to work well and ENTERTAIN me, for a reasonable price. I don't want to have an on-going role in the success of the franchise - I don't want to be a peg for the success of Valve's corporate image, the game is unfinished, I want the ending.
As I felt in the beginning, it turns out the "episode" strategy is a leverage for consumer engineering. Valve has made us change the way we consider buying. Perhaps they would do well with a T-shirt in their merch stating "Valve's b****" to celebrate the release of HL3
Posted 10:16am 10/5/11
A Valve dev has been quoted as saying that they're not really in it for the money, and that Gabe Newell could pay all of their salaries for decades without any new income at all. Don't know how true that is however.
Posted 11:03am 10/5/11
Posted 11:06am 10/5/11
But I just wanted EP3 to come out, its shocking how long its taken them.
I dont care for L4D and portal was fun but lets get to the REALLY GOOD STUFF?
EP3 or HL3 come on!
Posted 01:22pm 10/5/11
Posted 04:38pm 10/5/11
props kr0b4r
Posted 05:24pm 10/5/11
Posted 05:32pm 10/5/11
I don't understand how this applies to single player games like HL.
When the game comes out it has to be a complete playable game doesn't it? In a multiplayer game like TF2 it came out as fully playable and they added bits and pieces to change the gameplay and have more multiplayer maps. But if you do that for a single player campaign, aren't you effectively doing episodes?