Valve: Let Fans Fund Games Development

[Keiichi]

^Strictly speaking that's what MMOs are fan funded projects...
Anyway this sounds like Newell is speaking as a publisher and not a developer. Developers don't care how they get their money. they just want to see their game made. This just sounds like a ploy of some sort to attract developers to buy into Steam without Vavle having to spend the money upfront for them all.

 

[TerranUp16]

You're probably one that bought the Orange Box, even though you already owned Half Life 2 and Half Life 2 Episode 1 and thought it was a good deal

Actually, the Orange Box is still a rather good deal. The better of the two HL2 episodes, Portal (short but a worthy experience), but best of all Team Fortress 2. At launch, perhaps TF2 didn't account for much, but since then it easily surpasses L4D in value by a long shot despite that somehow Valve felt that L4D should be $50 and TF2 only should have been $30... and yet TF2 will still be getting meaningful updates when the mod- I mean sequel- L4D 2 comes out...

 

[Serpico]

That's correct. They bought the idea and adapted it to their Half Life universe. Valve's only real innovation was the first Half Life. Everything else just banked on that success, or they simply bought other ideas / studios and slapped their logo on it.

Right, because Portal, Left 4 Dead, TF2, and the Half Life 2 episodes just make themselves.

 

[Serpico]

Actually, the Orange Box is still a rather good deal. The better of the two HL2 episodes, Portal (short but a worthy experience), but best of all Team Fortress 2.

I agree, Episode 2, Portal, and TF2 are well worth the $50 I paid for The Orange Box, getting HL2 and HL2 Ep1 thrown in there was gravy IMHO.

And for anyone that bought TOB on the 360, what can I say, deal of the century.

 

[TerranUp16]

And for anyone that bought TOB on the 360, what can I say, deal of the century.

Almost. Friend who got it on X360 had PC HL2 and HL2: Ep1 (should have gotten PC TOB but he bought a FailBox instead of a new comp, a decision he's been regretting ever since), but besides that the X360 has still yet to get any of the TF2 updates and Portal: First Slice which is free on PC is only available via a $20 pack on XBL that basically has you re-buying Portal rather unnecessarily. Also, lower player caps in TF2 and a complete lack of patching of any kind (we're not just talking content, but bugs and glitches and etc as well- yay Sentries built into walls!) also hinder it quite a bit. (Insert comment about that anyone getting The Orange Box on consoles should have known what they were getting into).

 

[Silus]

Right, because Portal, Left 4 Dead, TF2, and the Half Life 2 episodes just make themselves.

Portal was an idea that Valve bought from someone else. Left 4 Dead was mostly developed by Turtle Rock Studios, which Valve bought. TF2 is the sequel to the original Team Fortress that was a mod for id's Quake. And Half Life 2 Episodes ARE banking on the success of the Half Life games.

Do I need to explain more ?

 

[Silus]

Actually, the Orange Box is still a rather good deal. The better of the two HL2 episodes, Portal (short but a worthy experience), but best of all Team Fortress 2. At launch, perhaps TF2 didn't account for much, but since then it easily surpasses L4D in value by a long shot despite that somehow Valve felt that L4D should be $50 and TF2 only should have been $30... and yet TF2 will still be getting meaningful updates when the mod- I mean sequel- L4D 2 comes out...

When it launched ? Not at all. And while it was $45-$50 it never was a good deal for anyone that already owned the first episode of Half Life 2 and Half Life 2 itself. For anyone else, it could be a good deal, if you actually wanted to get all the new games in there. But if you didn't want TF2 or Half Life 2 Episode 2 and just wanted Portal, you had to subject yourself to Steam prices, which were and always are way too high, especially in Europe, so screw them.

 

[Blazestorm]

You seem to be really bitter at Valve for no logical reason...

 

[Blazestorm]

That's correct. They bought the idea and adapted it to their Half Life universe. Valve's only real innovation was the first Half Life. Everything else just banked on that success, or they simply bought other ideas / studios and slapped their logo on it.

They didn't buy the idea, they hired the entire team... Also heard rumors they picked up another group of kids from the same school... www.digipen.edu ....(I'm actually starting in the Fall)

If it wasn't for Valve, Portal would have never been created and who knows if those kids would have jobs or not?

Meh.

 

[Silus]

You seem to be really bitter at Valve for no logical reason...

No logical reason ? You really need to read the posts before you reply to them. The reason is right there...

And it's not bitter, it's not caving in to their BS. I had Half Life 2 and Episode 1, why would I want to buy a box with them in it again, after knowing that they purposely canned the black box, that ONLY contained the new games ?

So you are either part of the group that didn't have any of those games, which then I agree was a good deal, if not, you're just bending over to Valve. Plain and simple.

 

[Silus]

They didn't buy the idea, they hired the entire team... Also heard rumors they picked up another group of kids from the same school... www.digipen.edu ....(I'm actually starting in the Fall)

If it wasn't for Valve, Portal would have never been created and who knows if those kids would have jobs or not?

Meh.

Right, because only Valve knows how to recognize a good idea...

This is the type of thinking I loathe in fanboys. Only their favorite company or whatever, can do something right or see good ideas. No one in the world can, except for them...

With a good idea and with the obvious talent they have, these "kids" would get a job, no doubt about it.

 

[CryingGod]

Behind every successful company are a pack of haters. You see it all the time with Apple, and now Steam!

 

[Blazestorm]

Right, because only Valve knows how to recognize a good idea...

This is the type of thinking I loathe in fanboys. Only their favorite company or whatever, can do something right or see good ideas. No one in the world can, except for them...

Not necessarily, but you can't say another company would have done the same thing. It was a really unique game... the entire storyline, characters, etc. were all created by Valve. The only thing taken from the student project was the concept of portals and using them in a puzzle style format, which is the core of the game. But it wouldn't be the same without Valve.. writing / voice-acting / storyline etc.

I'm a fan of good games, Valve makes good games... so do many other companies... this thread was about Valve, what's your point? Honestly the only two companies I see now where I will blindly buy a game from them are Blizzard and Valve. I've never been disappointed with either one.

Name me a "good" game company in your eye's then...

 

[Silus]

Name me a "good" game company in your eye's then...

Bethesda, id, Monolith, Raven, Codemasters, Infinity Ward, Blizzard, Relic Entertainment...the list goes on

And I include Valve in that list too, but they have less to show that any of the above companies and they pull off the BS with the Orange Box and the HL2 Episodes (which are everything but episodic content)and some people still praise them as if they were the best of the best in the industry...which is hilarious and sad at the same time.

At least they're showing their faces with L4D2, so maybe the "blind fans" will understand that they don't care about them, just their money as is the case with any other company.

 

[PrincessFrosty]

I disagree with Valves recent descent into newbness, I would never fund anything of theirs now, Its risky business buying one of their games even after it's been sold, so many console retard reviewers going "OMFGZ VALVE ARE SO DA BOMB ITS AWESOMECOOLWIKKIDSICK"

When in fact episodic gaming has basically failed, they take an age to actually get anything done, fixing friends network, making really basic updates to their platform like server filters. Everything they do is tailored more towards consoles, TF2 was newbed up to the max with spam and crits, L4D is their best example of consolitis to date.

Valve WERE great and I WOULD have invested into this idea, HL1, HL2 were brillaint games, then they started going down hill, if they were working on something for the PC platform I'd be all over it, but they don't now, they've slipped into multiplatform development and I absolutely will not support the rape of the PC platform.

GABE!

Build a PC only game which is a 100% exclusive for the PC with no ports or future plans to release on console, and make it for PC gamers, and I'll put at least the price of the game into investment, probably more.

 

[TerranUp16]

When it launched ? Not at all. And while it was $45-$50 it never was a good deal for anyone that already owned the first episode of Half Life 2 and Half Life 2 itself. For anyone else, it could be a good deal, if you actually wanted to get all the new games in there. But if you didn't want TF2 or Half Life 2 Episode 2 and just wanted Portal, you had to subject yourself to Steam prices, which were and always are way too high, especially in Europe, so screw them.

I do agree that $50 at launch was perhaps a bit much from a pure pricing perspective (that is, evaluating what pricing actually should be as opposed to looking at what most things are actually priced and using relative pricing to formulate what the pricing should be- the Orange Box fared quite well in relative pricing btw) and I agree that while Valve's post-launch support of TF2 has been excellent, that doesn't matter much of a damn at initial launch (or, well, it would have if they hadn't screwed-up so badly with L4D).

Personally, I support a distribution model where TF2's continual updates are indeed present but that the pricing scales with a game's current content. So, for example, TF2 would have started at a low price like $10 and if you bought it then, $10 is all you'd ever pay. Meanwhile, Valve would add content as they have and adjust the price of the game in relation to its current content (therefore raising the price for new purchasers but anyone buying the game new then gets more content right "out of the box" and also has a much better idea of whether or not they actually want to buy the game as they have seen the evolution of its content and undoubtedly know quite a few people who own it and maybe have tried it multiple times now). On Valve's end, they pay for the addition of new content with new customers and that works quite well and from a gamer standpoint, Valve is in a sort of constant marketing loop where the new content needs to attract not only those who have had the game since launch but complete new players as well (which ultimately is good as theoretically this should mean that more effort should go into that content).

 

[Serpico]

Portal was an idea that Valve bought from someone else.

Did you even play Narbacular Drop? To say that Valve didn't put any input into and bring that very basic idea into a whole different level of execution is insane.

Left 4 Dead was mostly developed by Turtle Rock Studios, which Valve bought.

Valve outsourced the game to them (they also worked on CS:CZ), after which they aquired them. Valve had internal staff on the game from the start, why is this a bad thing?

TF2 is the sequel to the original Team Fortress that was a mod for id's Quake.

No shit, Robin Walker and John Cook have been with Valve since 1998. At this point they've been with the Valve for over a decade, while the company itself was only formed in 1996. Again, Valve's collective resources and experience are what made TF2 TF2, it doesn't just magically appear out of nowhere. Execution matters.

And Half Life 2 Episodes ARE banking on the success of the Half Life games.

So sequels shouldn't be pursued? I guess Infinity Ward and Blizzard should just shut down then.

This is before we even bring up the fact that each HL2 Episode has been better than the game that preceded it. Valve continue to show improvement in their design and pacing. To say that they're just phoning it in is crazy.

Do I need to explain more ?

Please don't, your explanations are ridiculous, even by the low standards of this forum.

 

[Serpico]

Bethesda, id, Monolith, Raven, Codemasters, Infinity Ward, Blizzard, Relic Entertainment...the list goes on

You had me until Raven, those guys epitomize mediocre, boring, predictable game design. And I'm actually torn on Infinity Ward at this point, they make great games but man do they ever rehash the same style with ever decreasing levels of improvement.

 

[Serpico]

Behind every successful company are a pack of haters. You see it all the time with Apple, and now Steam!

Two things I love! Steam honestly saved PC gaming for me. People don't have an argument against it being too complex to maintain or whatever, not with autopatching and everything that the platform brings to the table now. I really wish it was Microsoft that stepped up to the plate with such a robust system instead of putting all their attention to the XBox 360.