The mistakes Valve have made

If there’s one thing all game studios have in common (besides developing games), is that they all make mistakes. It could be anything from a horrible character choice to an ill-conceived feature to an over-ambitious project – it happens to every design team. Even the guys at Valve apparently.

You would be forgiven for thinking that the Washington-based developer has never put a foot wrong. After all, they did bring us the likes of Half-Life, Counter-Strike, Left 4 Dead, Portal and the digital distribution service Steam. But as the saying goes, “true genius is its own harshest critic”.

Speaking with PC Gamer, this what Valve’s Gabe Newell, Erik Johnson and Doug Lombardi had to say when asked what the company’s biggest failures had been:

“Moss in the original Half-Life” – the game’s simulation was intended to be so lifelike that moss would grow in real-time.

“Ricochet” – Valve’s disc-throwing multiplayer game released in 2000.

“PowerPlay” – a networking game which the team worked on for a year before abandoning.

“The first few months of Steam.”

“It’s hard to say now, but the first two days of Half-Life 2 – that was a failure.”

“The Team Fortress 2 that was built up until 2000.” – referring to the game’s initial design after being announced in 1998.

“Prospero, the game we never shipped.”

Well there you have it. Not even beloved Valve is infallible.

Source: CVG