John Walker, of Rock, Paper, Shotgun, had the chance to chat with some of the principal folks behind Valve's most excellent puzzle/shooter hybrid Portal. He comes away with the goods from lead designers Kim Swift and Jeep Barrett, who discuss their momentous hiring by Valve, the evolution of Portal from Narbacular Drop, and the origins of the Weighted Companion Cube. Walker also talks to Erik Wolpaw, who not only wrote Portal but was co-writer on Psychonauts and the site Old Man Murray (back in the day). From that discussion: "Valve talks a lot about 'collective design process this' and 'collective design process that' to the point where, if I were me before I worked here and stopped swearing so much, I'd be like, this is some fake-ass marketing-ass Bigfoot-ass legendary bullshit. But, honest-to-God, I've seen it with my own eyes. Valve is the most collaborative creative environment I've ever heard of much less experienced. So the [Team Fortress 2] shorts grew out of basically everyone at Valve's desire to see these awesome TF characters put through their paces outside the constraints of the game. We did the Heavy as a proof of concept, and kind of freaked ourselves out, and then immediately decided to move ahead with the other eight."
Very good informative article and even if you don't like to RTFA this one is a must.
I also thought that the feminine tone tends to be lacking in most games and I just adds to the innovation of the game. It adds to the commentary from the game.
I loved this game so much the ending song is my ringtone:)
I want more maps.. or even perhaps a good SDK so other modders can make good maps / etc.
Better yet, get the Dystopia team into Valveworld... http://www.dystopia-game.com/ [dystopia-game.com] -- heck Dystopia is probably a better put together game than either CS or DOD were (considering they were mods at one time). Some bugs, yes, but CS and DOD were (and sometimes still are) buggy as hell..
Oh, and for the obligatory Portal joke..
Check out what happens when you're NOT playing in Portal..
I don't know about that, one of the main selling points of CS, DOD and TF was that they continued to have popularity long past their origional release date. There's no doubt that Dystopia was an incredibly polished game, but the gameplay itself was really shallow compared to the former three games.
First, the level design from a pure gameplay standpoint was beyond abysmal in most cases, you were usually funneled into one chokepoint with one distinct way in, and it was simply bashing your head up against
It's a shame too, because the game itself reeks of polish, and I imagine that playing a game of dystopia on a meatspace-only map that didn't have ridiculous chokepoints, or on a meatspace/cyberspace map where the cyberpsace objectives were merely helpful instead of required, the game would be tons more fun. As it stands now, though, it's got less players than a buggy Counterstrike "Promod", a conversion of Team Fortress Classic to source (which already has a TF2), and most embarassingly a Dragonball Z mod
Eric still gives some of the best interviews I've ever read.
If you've never read any of his and Chet's stuff from back in the day on Old Man Murray [oldmanmurray.com], you owe it to yourself to check out some of their features and reviews.
If you have beaten portal already, you owe it to yourself (especially if you're interested in game design) to run through it with the developer commentary ON!
I love that feature! It's like watching a DVD, then turning on the commentary track.
It's amazing how much work they put into this game that you won't even notice (as that was the point of the work).
Indeed. I liked that feature ever since Lost Coast; Valve really made a good move there. Guarantees I'll play the whole game through a second time, right off the bat. In Portal's case, it's wonderful to hear commentary from Ellen McLain herself. I confess I never bothered to know who she was until those commentaries. And now I learn of the past work she's done for Valve. Portal should result in an enormous boost in her notoriety, and IMO she deserves every bit of it for what she did in just that game al
It's interesting they comment on the Valve design philosophy of training the player, to the point where I was afraid I was burning through the game too quickly. The first 13 puzzles out of 20, 0-12, are all incredibly elementary, they're there to showcase a certain "feature" of thinking with portals, and the first 11 puzzles don't even give you full control of the portal gun, and they all have essentially one unique solution. The final 7 set of levels are all very well done, they even have a "challenge mode
I'm particularly partial to RenTest2 and Station 1. There are at least 8 maps currently out there that I know of that are well worth downloading and playing.
You don't understand. The WCC with the heart is like the essence of all cubes embodied in one, representing all cubes past and future that selflessly help you while getting left behind or even incinerated!
It was a fun part of the game, and I can understand people thinking, "Aw, I don't want to burn it after it helped me reach the end of this level," but the kind of affection I'm seeing around the internet now is just unhealthy.
That's the point. It's ironic, because GlaDOS mentions exactly these symptoms. "We would like to take this opportunity to remind you that the Weighted Companion Cube cannot speak. If the Weighted Companion Cube does speak, we suggest that you disregard its advice."
Cake (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:Cake (Score:5, Funny)
The summary is a lie!
The summary is a lie!
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RTFA this one is a must read! Very informative. (Score:5, Informative)
I loved this game so much the ending song is my ringtone
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Re:RTFA this one is a must read! Very informative. (Score:4, Insightful)
"And the Science gets done,
And you make a neat gun,
For the people who are still alive."
This kind of catchiness can only be the work of dark powers.
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Re:RTFA this one is a must read! Very informative. (Score:5, Funny)
"I've experiments to run
There is research to be done
On the people who are still alive"
(Emphasis is mine)
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Bill and Ted's...wait (Score:4, Funny)
Anyone else immediately think of Bill and Ted here?
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Of course the number was 69!!!
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Moar Maps!! (Score:4, Interesting)
Better yet, get the Dystopia team into Valveworld
Oh, and for the obligatory Portal joke
Check out what happens when you're NOT playing in Portal
The Turrets visit the Portal Cafe http://picasaweb.google.com/robpoe [google.com]
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First, the level design from a pure gameplay standpoint was beyond abysmal in most cases, you were usually funneled into one chokepoint with one distinct way in, and it was simply bashing your head up against
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yeah (Score:1)
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Eric & OMM (Score:3, Insightful)
If you've never read any of his and Chet's stuff from back in the day on Old Man Murray [oldmanmurray.com], you owe it to yourself to check out some of their features and reviews.
BTW (Score:2, Interesting)
I love that feature! It's like watching a DVD, then turning on the commentary track.
It's amazing how much work they put into this game that you won't even notice (as that was the point of the work).
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In Portal's case, it's wonderful to hear commentary from Ellen McLain herself. I confess I never bothered to know who she was until those commentaries. And now I learn of the past work she's done for Valve. Portal should result in an enormous boost in her notoriety, and IMO she deserves every bit of it for what she did in just that game al
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The first two-thirds of the game is a warm-up (Score:1)
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I'm particularly partial to RenTest2 and Station 1. There are at least 8 maps currently out there that I know of that are well worth downloading and playing.
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The Meta-Cube (Score:2)
WCC, my hat is off to you and your kindred.
I would so go for a WCC T-shirt!
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That's the point. It's ironic, because GlaDOS mentions exactly these symptoms. "We would like to take this opportunity to remind you that the Weighted Companion Cube cannot speak. If the Weighted Companion Cube does speak, we suggest that you disregard its advice."
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Yes.
There are lies, damned lies, and (Score:2)
Weighted Companion Cube vs. Clippy (Score:2)
One thing that Narbacular Drop had over Portal (Score:2)
Although this might have made the game too easy.