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In the Valley of Gods (Campo Santo's next game) is officially on-hold
- Thread starter Deleted member 5322
- Start date
I think, if they really left the project to go work on Half-Life of their own volition, then it really underscores what a bad work structure Valve has. "Follow your bliss" in a company setting leads to things not getting shipped on schedule and many projects half-built and abandoned.
Oh yeah, that other promising game with only a trailer ...
I seriously hope that comes out and gets recognition.
Yeah, I was an Idle Thumbs listener from about episode 2 until it ended. It was definitely disappointing when they stopped but the blow was softened by the fact that it was clear their hearts just weren't into talking about games anymore. I found the noodling about other stuff fine, but I was there for the in depth design talk and Chris Remo, who was the unmistakable pilot of the design analysis talk, was clearly struggling to even play something to talk about.
I don't begrudge them at all, I can't imagine how exhausting it'd be.
And people claim to love the devs at Campo Santo and then call them liars and sell outs.
Seems everyone is pretty happy, from what they said consistently, and even interviews days before HL:A got announced. Obviously Olly is a bit of an odd one out - as he left Campo Santo partway through Firewatch, and ended up at Valve a while after Campo joined, diving straight into HL:A
Most amusing of all though, the proclaimed fans of Firewatch skip over the turnover at Campo, and they specifically pointed out a high percentage of those devs on Firewatch were not at the company by the time of ItVoG - and that's an entirely normal part of turnover flux for companies like Campo. Talking about Valve and Campo etc as fixed objects is meaningless - and all the more so in a company like Valve where they get to choose for themselves what is worth their time and valuable to them
Valve sets basically no schedules, hence Valve Time.
Yes, there are lots of half-built and abandoned projects, because at Valve people are not afraid to admit when something isn't working out and it's time to move on. I saw lots of stuff get canned because frankly it was not the kind of product Valve wanted to put out, and there is no pressure from external stakeholders on things having to ship or recoup development time.
So it would be better to force people to work on things they no longer want to work on. Got it!
They're nothing but game making machines to a lot of these posters.
Welp guess I didn't catch myself in time. Oh well.
Personally as the person buying the games? Yes.
But I guess I'm just stupid like that, look at what miserable failures the rest of the gaming industry is that try to finish projects.
As far as I know this is the first time an ongoing project of an acquired team was put on hold, so I find it weird that so many people didn't find it surprising or even expected it to happen.
Prey 2.
valve itself had like 3 completely different versions of Tf2. The first one being like a realistic military shooter which got positive previews as the next big thing.
Scalebound, Silent Hills, Star Wars 1313. There are many different reasons why even popular games are cancelled.
That said I would sacrifice like 10 Valley of the gods for a new Half Life. Luckily the conversion rate isn't that bad.
Many. Couple of Blizzard games, the WC adventure and the SC Ghost.
Prey 2.
valve itself had like 3 completely different versions of Tf2. The first one being like a realistic military shooter which got positive previews as the next big thing.
Scalebound, Silent Hills, Star Wars 1313. There are many different reasons why even popular games are cancelled.
That said I would sacrifice like 10 Valley of the gods for a new Half Life. Luckily the conversion rate isn't that bad.
I'm pretty sure all Valve employees get their names in the credits of a game when one is released but everyone at Valve is probably going to do some work on a game before it comes out. That's just how it works there.
I genuinely wish the Campo team the best, and I hope they're enjoying everything they're working on...
...but damn I miss Important If True
...but damn I miss Important If True
That's false, Geoff Keighley's video literally has the team leader of Half-Life 2, David Speyrer, talking about his work on HL:A. Then there are people like Greg Coomer, Robin Walker, and Dario Casali who worked on the original Half-Life. Valve has very low staff turnover compared to the rest of the industry.
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Why did Valve buy the studio? To an outsider it seems like an expensive way to hire extra staff.
Firewatch had a lot of small interactions you could do with the environment that would translate well into VR. They probably hired them to do something similar for HL Alyx
Firewatch is one of my favorite games this gen, an incredible experience, I was really looking forward to their next project. I'll sadly forget about it now. -_-
Laidlaw isn't there along with others, still I have some of my closure with Epistle 3
Well at least someone in here just straight up admitted their lack of empathy and their gamer entitlement instead of feigning otherwise.
Erik Wolpaw, the writer of Half-Life 2: Episode One and Two, is working on Half-Life: Alyx. Laidlaw wasn't working on the story alone. And the story wasn't the only reason to play Half-Life, it was augmenting the gameplay.
And Laidlaw is consulting. I don't know what else you could ask for.
I'm sorry that if I was looking forward to a game that I'd be disappointed if it was canceled because the devs just decided "I don't want to work on this anymore."
How would you - or anyone - feel if they pushed the game out and it was a half-arsed piece of wank that wasn't up to either Campo's or Valve's standards?
I get the disappointment, I really do. But the flip-side of "Valve cancel lots of games" or "Valve time" is that the games they release are quality products, and the ones they kill aren't up to their own standards, which means they would be unlikely to be up to our standards.
(And I'll hasten to add that Artifact is great, just most of the complaints hail from the business model).
I think the Campo Santo guys are one of the most creative ones in the industry. I loved everything they were involved with (Idle Thumbs, Remo's soundtracks, Telltale, Firewatch, etc) and was really looking forward to this one. But they do seem genuinely happy to be working at Valve and I'm sure they contribution there will be substancial.
As long as their happy, that's cool. All I hope is they'll return to their vision for that new game. I want their redemption for the misteps Firewatch made.
I did like Firewatch and was interested to see how they iterated on that concept
but look, at the end of the day I'm not gonna say any developer should have to make the thing I want
and at the end of the day if they end up making a great thing that does well and they're proud of it, then all's well that ends well
but look, at the end of the day I'm not gonna say any developer should have to make the thing I want
and at the end of the day if they end up making a great thing that does well and they're proud of it, then all's well that ends well
The bad guy narrative is laughable tbh. Valve employs them and can direct them to work on products that are beneficial to the company as needed. Since when did employees have the right to pick and choose projects with no concern for their employers need. I need to get me one of these fantasy land jobs.
given the chance to get my name on the next half life game, yeah I'd want to be apart of that too
This blows.
Considering Valve have spent (almost) a decade burning money by not making sequels to their popular franchises, I don't have hopes that the game will ever be picked back up.
But I really hope the new half life game is a sign of things to come and Valve come out of their Konami faze
Considering Valve have spent (almost) a decade burning money by not making sequels to their popular franchises, I don't have hopes that the game will ever be picked back up.
But I really hope the new half life game is a sign of things to come and Valve come out of their Konami faze
Exactly, how is people excited by a minute of gameplay is really beyond me. How can I expect a game like that?
like, it was only a CG trailer lol
I haven't been this unhappy about videogames since it was announced that Amy Hennig was going to work at EA on a Star Wars game.
Campo Santo was one of the most exciting things to happen this generation, and to see them immediately drop what was to be only their second game to work instead on something that I, personally, don't think looks very good or interesting, is such a massive bummer.
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Campo Santo was one of the most exciting things to happen this generation, and to see them immediately drop what was to be only their second game to work instead on something that I, personally, don't think looks very good or interesting, is such a massive bummer.
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Can't say I'm too disappointed. Firewatch was one of the worst games I've ever played (right beneath Gone Home). Seems better to focus the team on HLVR: Alyx which is probably one of the most impressive looking video games I've ever seen. I've probably re-watched the Alyx trailer about 100x already. Already got my Index controllers locked. HYPE.
I loved Firewatch and was looking forward to the teams next game but that team no longer exists. I'm not terribly interested in Valve IPs, so this news is disappointing to me.
I can understand that it isn't disappointing to people who didn't care for Firewatch and would rather have that talent put to use in Valve IPs, but I don't understand the idea that I'm supposed to care about the personal wellbeing of a bunch of people that are ultimately strangers to me. Nothing anyone does or says here has any effect on them so I don't understand the apparent need to defend these particular devs. My disappointment at halted development doesn't equal ill will towards the people behind it.
Being disappointed that work on a game you were interested in has stopped, or even lacking faith in the way Valve operates, does not equal believing that the formers members of Campo Santo should be forced to work on VotG. If they genuinely aren't interested in that project then it's not something I want them to work on anyway.
This is why I'm not really interested in Valve as a game developer. Even when your job is doing something you love, it's still work and there are going to be times when you have to work even when you don't want to, so perhaps the freedom to move on if you ain't feeling it is good for game development. An enviable position as an employee to be sure though.
I can understand that it isn't disappointing to people who didn't care for Firewatch and would rather have that talent put to use in Valve IPs, but I don't understand the idea that I'm supposed to care about the personal wellbeing of a bunch of people that are ultimately strangers to me. Nothing anyone does or says here has any effect on them so I don't understand the apparent need to defend these particular devs. My disappointment at halted development doesn't equal ill will towards the people behind it.
Being disappointed that work on a game you were interested in has stopped, or even lacking faith in the way Valve operates, does not equal believing that the formers members of Campo Santo should be forced to work on VotG. If they genuinely aren't interested in that project then it's not something I want them to work on anyway.
This is why I'm not really interested in Valve as a game developer. Even when your job is doing something you love, it's still work and there are going to be times when you have to work even when you don't want to, so perhaps the freedom to move on if you ain't feeling it is good for game development. An enviable position as an employee to be sure though.