Being Valve they may have just hired for attitude and said "go work". Maybe get the tech guys working on the open world needs to couple it with an art style that gets a lot of mileage per man hour.
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Clint Hocking leaves LucasArts (Update: Now At Valve)
- Thread starter SolidSnakex
- Start date
EmCeeGramr
Member
Oh memori-
Wait. That dude changed his name to- OH MY GOD THAT EXPLAINS THAT ALL OF THAT GUY'S POSTS
Glass Rebel
Member
holy shit I'm dying over here :lol
Portal and Portal 2 aren't shooters -- they're puzzle games. That seems bizarrely different in some aspects from say, Half-life 2 which is in turn different from Team Fortress 2, all of which are vastly different than DOTA 2. :/ Am I just missing something?
I H8 Memes
Member
Malaria and instantly respawning enemies confirmed for HL3.
FC2 was terrible, but SC:CT was amazing, so who knows. Valve seem to have a lot of team frontmen at this point, I wonder if they really are all working on their own projects. In this thread people just seem to presume he's going to make his own game, I wouldn't be surprised if that's not the case.
Valve can once again make everyone love them if they made a stealth-based game since SC seems to be dead to a lot of the original fans. Not necessarily a stealth only game, but any game that had a GOOD stealth element to it would go a long way. Look at how salivate over Dishonored for that freedom, lol.
I just miss the Chaos Theory days, but anything Valve does will be a great game in whatever genre it might be and adding another great talent to their studio definitely can't hurt. They really do seem to be the studio where developers want to flock to due to their freedom and creativity while being mellow and fair to their employees. I've only heard good things so far.
Then again, I'd want to go to ANY studio other than LA for what they've done to most of their big series and games this generation. They seem determined to ruin any credibility they once had while sitting on the biggest license in entertainment that should be a cash-in for even mediocre games. Yes, I'm still sour over Battlefront 3 so shut up and let me rant before I cry. Oh, and Indiana Jones.
I just miss the Chaos Theory days, but anything Valve does will be a great game in whatever genre it might be and adding another great talent to their studio definitely can't hurt. They really do seem to be the studio where developers want to flock to due to their freedom and creativity while being mellow and fair to their employees. I've only heard good things so far.
Then again, I'd want to go to ANY studio other than LA for what they've done to most of their big series and games this generation. They seem determined to ruin any credibility they once had while sitting on the biggest license in entertainment that should be a cash-in for even mediocre games. Yes, I'm still sour over Battlefront 3 so shut up and let me rant before I cry. Oh, and Indiana Jones.
I H8 Memes
Member
Atmosphere, passive story telling through environment and the game experience, the feeling of a journey as you progress through the game. Other modern shooters are trying to recreate these gameplay experiences and are failing miserably at it.
Its likely not the case. At most you might throw ideas around the office but it seems Valve employees just tend to conglomerate around a few projects.
Mr_Appleby
Member
it's got some great ideas and technology (fire is awesome) let down by almost-instantly respawning bad guys. Clear an area, turn your back to take in the view.. *poof* full of bad guys again.
Buttonbasher
Member
If he's working on their Sci-Fi Space game I will be so happy. Man that would be so cool.
Actually whatever he does there will be cool.
Cool games.
Actually whatever he does there will be cool.
Cool games.
I don't think Valve will make something traditional like an RPG or an open-world game or a stealth game. They make genre-defining or genre-creating games. I guess if you throw a lot of interactive stuff into an open world this can be innovative too just because of scale and interaction complexity but as Nirolak noted I doubt that Valve will do an open world game.
But who knows... DayZ is an open-world game made by a small team and one man (and Chernarus is only one map).
But who knows... DayZ is an open-world game made by a small team and one man (and Chernarus is only one map).
The Return of
Banned
hahaha damn first post nailed it
Glass Rebel
Member
If Valve does something open world then it'll most likely be close to what they wanted to do with Prospero:
He actually wasn't creative director on the original Splinter Cell game (that was some guy named Francois Coulon or something according to the game's credits). He was a level designer who was then promoted to lead level designer. One thing to note though, Splinter Cell was the first game he'd ever worked on. He then became lead writer, lead level designer & creative director on Chaos Theory & then did FarCry 2.
Again, Hocking did not create the Splinter Cell franchise, but he is responsible for it's pinnacle entry (IMO), Chaos Theory.
What genres have valve created or redefined exactly? I don't feel like those are accurate descriptions of any of their games...
Half-Life - story-driven shooters.
Portal - first-person puzzlers (there are tons of them now on PC and most of them are of rather high quality)
4 players co-op shooters - before it was 2 players max except some very niche projects no one remembers now anyway
Team Fortress - class-based warfare at its best (defines the genre)
DOTA2 - MOBA at its best (defines the genre)
Both Marathon and System Shock were story driven shooters well before HL.
yeah, but they didn't have the tram ride.
MurkyZebra2417
Member
You may add Counter Strike for competitive Shooters. I know, they "bought" the mod pretty late, but still...
Ok and?
Quake was already there for competitive shooters. And their own sequel never recaptured the glory of 1.6.
and it defined storytelling in shooters, not some written or narrated story bits.
Rickenslacker
Banned
As always the first post nails it. I wonder what he'll be responsible for at Valve, but whatever it is I'm pretty excited.
Even if you want to take the stance that System Shock doesn't count because it's not a "pure" shooter, I always felt Marathon and Marathon 2 did a lot of the Half-Life things prior to it. Alt fire on guns, level progression was seamless, you never left the view of your character (arguably with the terminals, but you still had control of yourself and enemies could attack you while in one), you had friendly AI companions, there were even wall mounted health dispensers! Not to take away from Half-Life granted, but damn was Marathon good for its time.
I suppose some of those are true. Guess I was thinking in more generalized terms rather than perspective and variant specific...
And there were 3D open-world games before Grand Theft Auto III. Defining a genre doesn't necessarily mean being first -- it's doing something well enough that others take notice and follow suit.
And how do you know HL wasnt following suit from them. Besides, I only said it cause he didnt make the distinction he made for the other genre definers that werent necessarily first. Also HL was all about scripting. If you make that argument I'm fine with it.
We don't, but that wouldn't change the fact that narrative-driven FPS games were a rarity until Half-Life.
He did Far Cry 2 , one of the best and most unique fps games ever. He's a game design mastermind. I'm giddy just thinking about what he could accomplish at valve
I'm giddy just thinking about what he could accomplish at valve
he can make some fine hats
The Dutch Slayer
Member
Great job Valve awesome hire!
snoopeasystreet
Member
Great news for everyone. Despite one being linear and the other open world, I feel like Half Life 2 and Far Cry 2 share a similar visual aesthetic. This isn't the best word to describe a look of a game but they both look authentic in a way that most other games don't.
I've not played this, so this could easily be completely wrong, but I thought Marathon's storytelling was fundamentally of the form of text infodumps; I can't think of anything prior to Half-life that actually used events in the world during play to tell and establish the story.
It's not really a genre they established, as such, but it's certainly a significant way they pushed it forward.
Also, calling System Shock a shooter is simplifying it to a great extent; heck, I'd say it's got more in common with Ultima Underworld than (say) Doom; more of an RPG with combat generally being in FPS form than a pure shooter.
Clearly now they have Pyrovision concepts in place they've recruited him for his expertise with nightvision goggles.
I thought Team Fortress was originally a Quake mod?
I wouldn't say Half-Life was genre-defining. Genre-evolving, more like.
Someone can make a nice case study of this thread for research purposes.
Someone can make a nice case study of this thread for research purposes.
SniperHunter
Banned
First time I am hearing about this, you care to shed some more light on this please? Never heard of Clint Hocking before, I will check out his wiki later.
CS was completely different to Quake/UT instead of fast paced combat TDM it relied on realism, precision shooting, working as a team and time to master the game.
it was revolutionary in it's own way.
Well that makes two of us, because I never liked Half-Life either. Linear scripted FPS...zzz. (I didn't BioShock either). Love their MP games though.
it was. That is why it's genre-defining, not genre-creating.
Also they were making it at Valve since.... 1998 I guess? The same can be said about Portal - it started out as Narbacular Drop.
Neuromancer
Member
Yes for good or for ill. HL was amazing but it's the reason why so many modern shooters are complete scripted event-fests.
FlutterPuffs
Member
Are you blaming Valve for other Game Developers shitty scripted events? Those companies did it wrong, it has nothing to do with what Valve had to offer.
That's the result of the CoD sales figures.
I don't think you can blame Half-Life if other developers took something that was minor (and relatively useful) and abused the living life out of it. As with most things in life, moderation is key. And Valve has always used it with moderation. If that's all certain developers took from Half-Life, it's no wonder it's still the best FPS shooter series ever created.
He did Far Cry 2 , one of the best and most unique fps games ever. He's a game design mastermind. I'm giddy just thinking about what he could accomplish at valve
He has big ideas and Valve seems like a place that would let him work on them.
Anyway, speaking of gaming masterminds and Valve, does anyone know what Doug Church is up to over there?