Portal 2 DLC Due This Summer

[DigiQ8]

We all knew it was coming but we didn't really know when. As part of an interview with Fast Company, Valve marketing director Doug Lombardi confirmed that downloadable content will be available for Portal 2 beginning this summer.

We will be announcing some DLC for it, so folks can keep a look out for more content coming this summer. We'll be putting more details out about that in a week or so. We'll support that with more videos or more comics.

Hopefully we'll see the Pneumatic Diversity Vents which was shown in the game before it's release. To read the full (spoiler filled) interview, click here.

 

[leib10]

Cool!

 

[StarBob]

Wow that was a lot of stuff just to say "DLC is coming." I really hope it's some awesome multiplayer stuff.

 

[morgs]

I'd forgotten about those tunnels. I love the wall tiles being sucked through the portal.

 

[Cpt Tenacious]

I doubt it'll ever come to the 360, seeing as how Microsoft wouldn't ever let it be released as fee DLC.

 

[Darkside55]

What makes you think that Valve is going to do free DLC?

 

[Acepilotf14]

Please Valve prove me wrong.

Also why does everything have to be called DLC now, what happened to 'updates'? DLC implies a pricetag.

 

[DEATHMASTER]

Geez, we've had this talk before, Valve doesn't charge for real content on the PC!

 

[Darkside55]

Valve of old didn't charge for content. Today's Valve will sell you a pair of hipster glasses for your robot for $7.49.

 

[DEATHMASTER]

Geez, we've had this talk before, Valve doesn't charge for real content on the PC!

It's a bit more visible now.

 

[Pi Mu Rho]

Valve of old didn't charge for content. Today's Valve will sell you a pair of hipster glasses for your robot for $7.49.

Yet will still give the actual, useful content like maps away for free.

 

[Dinnesch]

Can't wait, for now I'm just praying Valve keeps releasing their DLC for free.

Hopefully we'll see the Pneumatic Diversity Vents[/url] which was shown in the game before it's release. To read the full (spoiler filled) interview, click here.

To be honest I think they took out the Pneumatic Diversity Vent because it had no real use ingame(although it looks cool!). I can't think of a single spot in that video where it was really necessary to get through.

 

[StarBob]

Can't wait, for now I'm just praying Valve keeps releasing their DLC for free.



To be honest I think they took out the Pneumatic Diversity Vent because it had no real use ingame(although it looks cool!). I can't think of a single spot in that video where it was really necessary to get through.

I figure they will charge for it. Maps are nothing compared to what they have to accomplish with Portal 2 DLC... L4D2's content probably isn't even on par with it. However it's always a possibility that they'd make it free since they seem content getting money for dumb things like hats and crap...

That was an E3 video... it wasn't designed to show a puzzle it was designed to show off cool stuff in the game. They could have done the same thing with any of the new additions.

 

[Ren.182]

Valve have never gave the impression they would charge for extra content for their games (excluding cosmetic stuff). I don't see any reason why they'd start now?

Anyway, excited for this! Hope there's some really challenging chambers for us to solve!

 

[MultiVaC]

I figure they will charge for it. Maps are nothing compared to what they have to accomplish with Portal 2 DLC... L4D2's content probably isn't even on par with it. However it's always a possibility that they'd make it free since they seem content getting money for dumb things like hats and crap...

That was an E3 video... it wasn't designed to show a puzzle it was designed to show off cool stuff in the game. They could have done the same thing with any of the new additions.

I don't know, I feel like L4D2's content would actually be more difficult to design than some of the things I envision them adding for Portal 2. L4D2's DLC campaigns need their own environments, with appropriate common infected models, substantial new dialogue for at least 4 characters, new weapons, new uncommon commons, and all sorts of other things. I'd imagine playtesting is much more involved for those campaigns, too, and needs to be done for 4 different difficulties, as well as versus. Portal 2 has a template of test chambers that are relatively easy to make from a level design standpoint, and the existing game mechanics already have tons of possibilities that they have only scratched the surface of so far. A new set of puzzles with the plain Aperture Science theme and some good GLaDOS dialogue seems a whole lot easier to make than The Passing, and I think people would be pretty happy with a DLC like that made up of much more difficult puzzles. That seems to be the thing everyone agrees Portal 2 is a bit short on: advanced puzzles that make use of the entire range of puzzle elements (the 3 gels, faith plates, funnels, lasers, turrets, light bridges, etc... I don't think any of the game's puzzles made use of more than 3 of these at once)

 

[ríomhaire]

I really don't care about dynamic diversity vents. Sure it might have been nice to suck up turrets with them but the only use I can see for them in an actual puzzle is having to figure out how to redirect the pipes like in The Ball. They're just not as interesting as or useful as the light funnel.

 

[StarBob]

I don't know, I feel like L4D2's content would actually be more difficult to design than some of the things I envision them adding for Portal 2. L4D2's DLC campaigns need their own environments, with appropriate common infected models, substantial new dialogue for at least 4 characters, new weapons, new uncommon commons, and all sorts of other things. I'd imagine playtesting is much more involved for those campaigns, too, and needs to be done for 4 different difficulties, as well as versus. Portal 2 has a template of test chambers that are relatively easy to make from a level design standpoint, and the existing game mechanics already have tons of possibilities that they have only scratched the surface of so far. A new set of puzzles with the plain Aperture Science theme and some good GLaDOS dialogue seems a whole lot easier to make than The Passing, and I think people would be pretty happy with a DLC like that made up of much more difficult puzzles. That seems to be the thing everyone agrees Portal 2 is a bit short on: advanced puzzles that make use of the entire range of puzzle elements (the 3 gels, faith plates, funnels, lasers, turrets, light bridges, etc... I don't think any of the game's puzzles made use of more than 3 of these at once)

L4D 2 has the advantage of the AI director. Not to mention nearly every L4D2 DLC has been without new weapons or dialogue. Also the design is very two dimensional... you spend all of your time on the ground... and you're making mostly linear designs. It's the same basic principles that people have used in map making for decades with a strong AI on top of it. Puzzle building requires that delicate balance between difficulty and intuition. People wnat it to be difficult but they want to be able to ultimately solve it. Plus I'm assuming (hoping) that the DLC is for multiplayer - which adds another dimension to development. I just figure as a designer, if I had to choose between the two which is easier to design maps for, I'd definitely say L4D. The fact that you're designing real-world type regions and only have to accomodate for an awesome AI's ability to function sort of lends itself to a more friendly development environment. I can't imagine trying to design one of the larger puzzles of Portal 2 for coop without it being a) too damn hard, b) too damn easy, or c) breakable in a thousand different ways or d) all of the above.

 

[Falcon(Nate)]

I really don't care about dynamic diversity vents. Sure it might have been nice to suck up turrets with them but the only use I can see for them in an actual puzzle is having to figure out how to redirect the pipes like in The Ball. They're just not as interesting as or useful as the light funnel.

I could see some "redirecting of gels" puzzles in areas where there aren't portal surfaces, but that's only if the diversity vents weren't so powerful that they'd just suck the gel in instead of changing its trajectory. They already have plenty of elements to mix, though, so I'm not too broken up about them not being in the game.

 

[Asknoone]

What makes you think that Valve is going to do free DLC?

Because that's what they have always done and will continue to do.

 

[StarBob]

Because that's what they have always done and will continue to do.

Psychic Samon.

 

[MJ12]

What makes you think that Valve is going to do free DLC?

As long as it is gameplay related DLC, I am certain it will be free (Maps, gamemodes, etc)
Didn't valve at one point specifically say that they don't charge for gameplay DLC because they do not like to split the online community?

I don't give a shit if they charge for meaningless aesthetic crap (though still appalling what they ask in terms of price)

 

[Darkside55]

You guys trust precedent too much. I'm not saying they WON'T release free DLC, but I also don't delude myself into thinking just because they've done things a certain way up to this point that they won't change their business model. Always remember that Valve IS a business, and games these days--all games--have been moving deeper into the realm of MTX. Valve, thus far, has never charged for maps.

You would be foolish to believe that they don't know there's money to be made off of map packs, however.

 

[Lobster]

There is a significant difference between vanity items and maps. When you buy a hat in Team Fortress 2 for instance, you don't really buy the hat itself, (Everyone has that already) What you pay for is the ability to show the hat to other people on the server, (Believe it or not there are a significant group of customers that really like dropping a fortune on pimping out their e-peen).

It is much harder to sell client side content such as maps, because of the nature of those items. I mean if they released a 10 dollar map pack of Bonus Chambers tomorrow, it would be very easy for a modder to re-release them as custom content within a day, it makes it difficult to put value on the item.

If you take the Call of Duty series for instance, looking back to Modern Warfare 1 and World at War, both these games had a mapping SDK and received their DLC for free on the PC (Unlike consoles), however Modern Warfare 2 and Black Ops both have paid DLC on the PC, but no SDK.

No reason to say I am right, but that is the way I see it.

 

[Kadayi]

I really don't care about dynamic diversity vents. Sure it might have been nice to suck up turrets with them but the only use I can see for them in an actual puzzle is having to figure out how to redirect the pipes like in The Ball. They're just not as interesting as or useful as the light funnel.

^This.

Also I had a blast playing the co-op through (brofist to Chris_D) and personally I wouldn't object to putting down some cash for some more of the same. Sure it's great that Valve do release free new content every now and then, but if by paying a few $ ensures they are able to deliver a well rounded experience that builds on Portal 2 seamlessly I don't have any great objections.

 

[morgs]

 

[Falcon(Nate)]

You guys trust precedent too much...You would be foolish to believe that they don't know there's money to be made off of map packs, however.

I know the reasoning behind Valve not charging for things like maps and game content over the years because I've followed them for quite a while, read interviews, seen how they handle updates, etc. All of the goodwill and publicity they get from doing things like the TF2 updates all this time are probably much more than worth however much money they would get from charging for maps. (e.g. Charge for maps and get x over the next year with .5x frontloaded in the next 3 months, or don't charge but charge for cosmetic stuff and earn 10x spread out more evenly over the next 3 years.)

Charging for bonus and/or cosmetic content while updating the core gameplay for free just makes a ton of sense. With every update, you're back in the news cycle and bringing more people into the game as well as getting people who've stopped playing back into the game and bringing in friends. People who don't care about cosmetic stuff don't feel cheated, and people who do have the option to buy it, as well as those of us who feel like we've gotten more than our money's worth and would like to show our appreciation to the developer, can spend more and help continue funding development of the game (in a recent interview, they stated that's actually how the idea for the TF2 store started; customers were emailing asking if they could send in more money because they felt like they were getting more value from the game than they paid). I would imagine Valve's stats show that that business model is more profitable in the long run than nickel and diming for normal gameplay content. You also keep people playing longer, foster a better sense of community, have more fun developing (and are able to take more risks in development), make your community happier, and increase sales by increasing the longevity of the game. Over and over, Valve have talked about turning games more into services instead of these little packaged things you buy.

There are just simply way too many downsides to charging for things like maps. Companies like Valve/Riot/S2/etc. are showing that the play-to-get-content/pay-for-cosmetic-content (or to get content faster than you can get it free) model is working really well, and I'm sure there will be a lot more experimentation with what works for customers and keeps them happy while increasing the customer base and revenue overall. Unfortunately, a lot of the bigger mainstream game publishers are so focused on their short-term profits that they often make bad long-term financial decisions for those bigger revenue numbers for this quarter, and those sorts of decisions actually end up eating into their potential userbase. Valve, as a private company, has no shareholder pressure to make such decisions, and in general they've showed that it's possible to listen to what your customers want and make them happy and remain extremely profitable at the same time. You can make money and be aligned with customer interests; it's definitely possible even if it is rare for a company to do so.

 

[ríomhaire]

You guys trust precedent too much. I'm not saying they WON'T release free DLC, but I also don't delude myself into thinking just because they've done things a certain way up to this point that they won't change their business model. Always remember that Valve IS a business, and games these days--all games--have been moving deeper into the realm of MTX. Valve, thus far, has never charged for maps.

You would be foolish to believe that they don't know there's money to be made off of map packs, however.

DLC for all four platforms (including 360) announced for $0.