As early as 2017, Firewatch developer Campo Santo launched the exciting trailer "Valley of Gods", which is Egypt's first-person adventure.
One year after the announcement, Campo Santo was acquired by Valve. Soon after, the developers of Firewatch started to clean up the "Valley of Gods" from Twitter's profile. It was soon discovered that the developer suspended "Shen Valley" and turned to other Valve projects, including Half-Life: Alyx.
Campo Santo co-founder Jake Rodkin issued the following statement:
"For fans looking forward to the Valley of the Gods, it is likely that the optimistic & # 39; 2019 & # 39; at the end of the trailer is not accurate. Finally, Valve Time fools us all. But, yes Yes, the developers of the former Campo Santo team also joined Valve ’s other projects, including Half-Life: Alyx. As you can imagine, our experience in the first-person adventure type is very important.
"You heard a lot of information about how to work at Valve. It turns out that this is true, and there is a lot of work to do. When we integrate ourselves into Valve, it is clear that there is a lot to do on Half-Life: Alyx Valuable work. Some of us began to lend a helping hand, and since then have become full-time staff as the project starts. Similarly, some former Campos work on Dota Underlords, some work on Steam, etc. So, from today Starting to answer your question, the development of "Valley of Gods" is at a standstill, but it undoubtedly allows people to and can return to this project. When this happens, we will find an exciting way to come Let the fans know. "
We recently had the opportunity to talk to Valve about Half-Life: Alyx, and we asked programmer and designer Robin Walker how this series of events took place internally.
Walker explained: "This is not different from Valve's work situation, because people often look at other situations as they complete some work."
According to Walker, Valve ’s free-form structure (just like Walker himself is clearly a leader, but he calls himself a “programmer and designer”) allows people to choose what they want to a certain extent. Because people position themselves where the skill set is most helpful at any given time, planning can sometimes be delayed.
Walker said: "Therefore, at any time, there is no choice to let the Campo people join us." "They are here and there. One or two people joined us, completed some works, and then over time, more People joined us. They did n’t all come to Alyx. Some of them also work elsewhere in the company. I ca n’t tell you exactly what made everyone make these choices. I mean, someone was jo ining Alyx at that time. ”
One of the reasons why Alyx is so tempting to developers is because it has developed so far. Valve knows that this game is coming soon and is in a state where you can see the potential and see exactly what you personally can bring.
"They can spend some time and then watch,‘ okay, as an animator, I can make that, that and that better. I ’m going to do it or do anything, ”Walker told me. "Therefore, I think this momentum is increasing.
"When you enter the past few years, you really just want to pick up the things we have and make them look better, play better, and then apply the last layer of polish on it. I think this is for many people It ’s very attractive-depending on what you ’ve done in the past, the project you ’re executing, sometimes you have fun from a project that may cost a lot of money, sometimes abstract content, and very limited work to be done. ”
Walker compared it to the three years he worked in Dota 2. He said: "This is just an endless marathon that will always extend into the future, and it is really fun to engage in another race." "I really enjoy the fact that in four days we will have to fix many errors, And so on. But psychologically, I can put most of my energy in my mind and set it aside because I have finished it, and you can never do it in those service games.
Therefore, people walk around the company and engage in various jobs. That's the story about Camp Santo. The stories published in public do not really match what they or we have seen internally. This is a natural thing. People go around the company and apply their skills to things they think they can benefit from. "
Check out our "Half-Life: Alyx" review to understand why VR's killer app is worth your time.
