New Interview with Valve's Doug Lombardi

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Interview with Valve's Doug Lombardi: Part Two

Computer and Video Games has posted a new interview with Valve's Doug Lombardi.

Lombardi discusses development philosophy, contextual AI, and what they've learned from the original Half Life. He also says that Valve's current focus is "Playtesting, playtesting, playtesting." Surely a good sign.

Part 2 of the interview is now available. It covers the weapon inventory issue, vehicles, how Steam will help combat cheaters, changes in the SDK plan, system requirements, and why we didn't see anything new at ECTS.

About the much rumored inventory management:
Some choices are cool, but having to constantly manage your inventory is tedious - at least, that's how I see it. I wouldn't go so far as to say the inventory in Half-Life 2 is completely unlimited, but I would say that inventory management is not fun so we're not going to place that onto the player.
Click to expand...
 
can any1 be arsed 2 post it here... the damn page doesnt seem 2 load
 
I would be it wont let me get to it any more. Good read anyway, look forward to the rest of it tomorrow
 
This interview must be wrong, they CAN'T be play testing, I have it on very good authority from the planethalflife information minister that half-life 2 doesn't exists. :cheese:
 
The last thing with Alyx and stuff was awesome. There was clarification to a few points I wanted to know more about. Nice interview and yet it was only half of it.
 
Well September 30 certainly seems like a realistic release date if what they are mostly doing is play testing.
 
They have about 20 days left to finish it, basically.
 
Notice that he seems to be refering the Combine in traptown as "Mech"... Or it was another demo, but it sure sounded like it. Also, I think he is exaggerating the DX9 part, TRAOD has alot of DX9 features and DOF, while he says they are going to be the first.
 
Ha, Take that damn person who said "I don't Valve will finish judging by their progress so far."

30th of September does seem pretty likely now, thank god.
 
Y'know all what buggs me? That all playtesting stuff.
In hl2 folks at valve got much much more work with testing than any other game had ever. Why? Because all that situations where player have alternate paths to choose, u know, NPCs got their paths too, that hyped AI where NPCs do something that depends entirely on players acting. Lombardi said it all. Its huuuge field where NPCs may do something stupid when u do something "unexpected". It all have to be tested. What i'm trying to say is, i think that all that "delay rumors" just might not be only rumors. Valve need their time and now i think i know why and fully understand that.
Still that thoughts aint makin me a bit more happy.
 
Originally posted by Cujo
Y'know all what buggs me? That all playtesting stuff.
In hl2 folks at valve got much much more work with testing than any other game had ever. Why? Because all that situations where player have alternate paths to choose, u know, NPCs got their paths too, that hyped AI where NPCs do something that depends entirely on players acting. Lombardi said it all. Its huuuge field where NPCs may do something stupid when u do something "unexpected". It all have to be tested. What i'm trying to say is, i think that all that "delay rumors" just might not be only rumors. Valve need their time and now i think i know why and fully understand that.
Still that thoughts aint makin me a bit more happy.
Click to expand...
That's called overhyping. Its not open... Its still fairly tight movement. Take a look at Far Cry instead, THAT is the huuuuuge fields where the NPCs can do anything.
 
Its not open... Its still fairly tight movement. Take a look at Far Cry instead, THAT is the huuuuuge fields where the NPCs can do anything.
Click to expand...

I think that's overhyping as well. Having big environements doesn't automatically make the game any more complex or open ended. The key is not having a big world, it's having enemies and NPCs who can do complex and creative things, opening up the ways in which you can interact with them. A huge, non-linear world filled with enemies whose only function is to shoot at you is actually a lot MORE linear than a "corridor" map with characters who can do lots of different things. Sure, in the big world you can progress in a different order or path, but when you encounter something, the interactions are always basically of the same sort, and unaffected by what you've done before.

Not saying that this will be a problem in Far Cry, just in assuming that "no path" means that simple NPCs would suddenly become more complex or able to "do anything."
 
You always has a good come back line, dont you? :)
But yeah, that's kind of true... But keep in mind, Far Cry also have cramped spaces, and I assume the AI at least can take care of itself (or its one game I'm not going to buy). The type of complexity is different. In HL2 there will be generally few paths to take. You can easily control enemies, design the world as it should be. With a game like Far Cry, there is mostly terrain, and the enemy can be anywhere at anytime, and so can the player... Which leads to just as many options as HL2 AI would have. The point was that HL2 isnt THAT unique. But since we dont have the games, one cant say anything about either.
 
Can't get into the web site, can anyone post a mirror link to these interviews, dig up your web cache and post?
 
Sure, but as I said, a game with maps that are just long cooridors can be way more interesting and complex than wander around games if they have more interesting interactions. Even if enemies move around in large maps, you still end up with a bunch of random encounters. My point was not to say anything about HL2 or Far Cry, but to point out that large areas (which HL2 will also have) do not automatically make for more complex gameplay, or even more "paths" through an area. Ultimately, what is much more important is having a range of options for interaction.

"Good AI" is often misunderstood as being just better pathfinding and reaction in a firefight. But really, AI really only advances when you add more things that the AI can DO, to increase the possibilities of how it CAN react, rather than just making sure it reacts the right way to the right things.
 
I read that interview, and the Steam Anti-Cheating thing caught my interest.
What would constant updating of the code base to for 56kers who want to play online?
I'm a 56ker, and before you ask, No I cannot in any way get high-speed internet. Regardless, being a 56ker I don't really feel like being left out.
 
It would mean more downloads, no way around that. If you can leave your modem on overnight then you should be fine.
 
Note that he talks about day/hour/minute updates... I think its very small updates. It could be a few hundred bytes for the smaller updates, just something to check if the player has touched anything.
 
Yeah, that's true.

The other advantage is that they can do this globally all at once. If there is a bug fix that everyone needs to share, they can download it over time, and then when they are ready, enable it to install the next time you start up the game.
 
well, as long as it isn't during an online match that the download takes place I don't have a problem with it.
Like if the download takes place before the server list shows up or something, thats fine...or even if its part of a separate program that downloads it.

Its bad enough playing online with a 56k modem, without the game downloading updates while you're playing. No matter how small.
 
Originally posted by InsaneFool
well, as long as it isn't during an online match that the download takes place I don't have a problem with it.
Like if the download takes place before the server list shows up or something, thats fine...or even if its part of a separate program that downloads it.

Its bad enough playing online with a 56k modem, without the game downloading updates while you're playing. No matter how small.
Click to expand...

You make it sounds like these downloads will affect your gaming, it won't. Changing bits and bytes here and there randomly or at specific locations will take what, 1 byte per second? On a 56 kbit modem you can transfer 7000 bytes per second. If you load a small packet into that, say ten bytes, every ten seconds, where's the trouble? DOn't worry, Valve will have this under total control and you will wonder what happened to their anti-cheating method.

Major upgrades will take longer to download, of course. Just as it has done before when you need that 50 MB patch before you can play again.
 
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