Gabe N. speaks @ DH

[T2k]

Driverheaven.net: From a developer's perspective when creating Half-Life2 how did the major graphics card companies assist in resolving any issues? Were they quick to respond with driver fixes or technical responses, and would you have hoped for more input from them?

Gabe Newell: If you look at the surveys we've done of the hardware our customers have (on Speakeasy.net), there are two companies that dominate - NVIDIA and ATI. We've spent a lot of time working with both companies. Right now for the DX9 generation, ATI is significantly ahead in terms of absolute performance and price/performance. We are working pretty hard with NVIDIA to try to optimize the situation with regards to getting their performance up to snuff. We spend more of our time with ATI working on new features like high-dynamic range rendering (HDR) which is a new technique to create more life-like lighting.



Driverheaven.net: On average, how long did it take to create each part of the game, such as the engine, the maps, the weapons, the missions, script etc.? And how many people have been involved in creating the game?

Gabe Newell: We actually don't keep super close tabs on that stuff that way as we tend to iterate and revisit stuff over the course of the project. For example some of our models were "finished" four years ago, but now that we have the rest of the game, we are going back and doing another pass on them to bring them up to the same art standards as the rest of the game, simply because our art has matured over the process of creating Half-Life 2. We share a lot of pieces in the company. The Source engine is being developed and used by both Half Life 2 and Team Fortress
2. The same is true for the tools. The Steam group is building the UI and VGUI 2, which is incorporated into Half-Life 2. If you count everybody who has touched something that will go into Half-Life 2, then that's most of the company (we're at around 85 people right now).

Read on: http://www.driverheaven.net/dhinterviews/gabenewell/

 

[Waltar]

Jabba comes out of his lair to tell us things he told us 5 months ago! Shocking indeed.

 

[Pete]

Are all these Jabba the Hut references really nec'y? So the man isn't an exercise fiend. No need to be (repetitively) cruel about it.

 

[bigbud120]

I couldn't find a date on that interview. How old is it?

 

[Hanners]

I couldn't find a date on that interview. How old is it?

I posted it on the front page of EB on November 27th, I think it came out on that day or the day before.

 

[ByteMe]

Are all these Jabba the Hut references really nec'y? So the man isn't an exercise fiend. No need to be (repetitively) cruel about it.

Referring to someone as fat and ugly when in fact they are is not cruel. The thing is he has enough money it makes no difference to him.

 

[Pete]

Fat I can understand; ugly, no. Saying it to his face, I can understand; posting on the internet, no.

Also, I didn't realize money made you immune to humanity. I'm sure it helps take the edge off, but blunt edge can hurt, too.

Meh, perhaps I'm overly empathetic.

 

[digitalwanderer]

Meh, perhaps I'm overly empathetic.

"Empathic" is the word I think you were looking for...but your way cracks me the f--k up!!

'Empathetic'- The ability to empathize with someone or somethings pathetic qualities.

I think that's gonna be my newest favoritist word. 8)

 

[reever]

Are all these Jabba the Hut references really nec'y? So the man isn't an exercise fiend. No need to be (repetitively) cruel about it.

The thing is he has enough money it makes no difference to him.

So why even bring it up?

 

[Bouncing Zabaglione Bros.]

Are all these Jabba the Hut references really nec'y? So the man isn't an exercise fiend. No need to be (repetitively) cruel about it.

The thing is he has enough money it makes no difference to him.

So why even bring it up?

Look at his profile: "Location: trapped inside Jen-Hsun Huang's basement". He's an Nvidia gimp and proud of it. They've never forgiven Gabe for saying the Emperor has no clothes.

 

[ByteMe]

Fat I can understand; ugly, no. Saying it to his face, I can understand; posting on the internet, no.

Also, I didn't realize money made you immune to humanity. I'm sure it helps take the edge off, but blunt edge can hurt, too.

Meh, perhaps I'm overly empathetic.

I don't see the problem. Since maybe about half the people are fat, and about half the people are ugly.... it is not like he is a minority.

 

[T2k]

However here all of us are slim and nice, it seems... lol

 

[Pete]

Empathy + sympathetic + my thought process = (unintentional) humo(u)r!

Er, wait, there seems to be a second layer of humor to this funion. Or not. Maybe I'm just beating a dead funion.

 

[cthellis42]

No, "empathetic" is a completely proper word meaning--essentially--"empathic." In fact, I tend to hear it used more often for that purpose, as "empathic" tends to get the sci-fi references for ESP and such.

 

[nelg]

What's that saying.......... â€￾Every princess in the land was the fairest.. Until the camera came alongâ€￾.

 

[Neeyik]

Err - is anybody going to make any comments about the interview?

:?

/me hunts for the Lock rambling thread button.

 

[digitalwanderer]

Err - is anybody going to make any comments about the interview?

Sure, it was fluff. No offense to the interviewer or DH, but since they didn't ask the big "WHEN" question the whole thing was just a fluff piece.

 

[Pete]

I thought it was nice, but it didn't really get into what I wanted to hear: the release date. The two A's you posted are probably the most interesting. I'm surprised Gabe still thinks the NV hardware is weak, that he didn't discover alternate shaders/ways to make it look better.

(I also remember reading an article on game modding in this week's or last's NYT Circuits section mentioning the Unreal Engine and listing Valve as a company that paid to use it. Strange.)

 

[digitalwanderer]

(I also remember reading an article on game modding in this week's or last's NYT Circuits section mentioning the Unreal Engine and listing Valve as a company that paid to use it. Strange.)

Sure, didn't you hear? They're changing HL2 over to the Unreal engine and expect it to be delayed up to a year now.




































j/k!

 

[Hanners]

Sure, didn't you hear? They're changing HL2 over to the Unreal engine and expect it to be delayed up to a year now.

Isn't it ironic how 'truth' is sometimes stranger than fiction?

http://www.warp2search.net/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=15569