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The Crab Gets It
In the same conference area where Valve holds its 4:00 meetings, the team reassembles on Monday at 3:45 and declares that the game has indeed gone gold. Today's 4:00 meeting is going to be a bit different, highlighted by the smashing of the Headcrab. Most of the team can't wait. Most of them can't believe the day has finally come. And most of them want to get back to sleep.
Gabe Newell takes a whack at the Headcrab. |
The clock strikes four, and the solemn ceremony begins. Newell picks up the crowbar with both his hands. He sets his sights on the Headcrab, and everyone else stands back. He winds up, takes a stance, and gives it a good whack. It goes flying. A rubber band drops down on the ground from inside the crab.
Mike Harrington prepares for his chance to smack the crab. |
Next, Mike Harrington takes over the crowbar and prepares for his assault on the Headcrab. As he winds up, Newell is already thinking about Valve's next project. "Next up for us is Team Fortress 2, a team-based online action game. After that, we really have to sit down and decide what we want to do next."
If the blueprint on the wall is any indication, Valve has big plans. It's already under construction on the rest of the floor to greatly expand the office space.
Team Fortress 2 is Valve's next project. |
"You can certainly expect that Valve will be working on Half-Life 2, and they are also looking at expanding to a second team," explains Scott Lynch. It must be music to his ears, considering that Valve's Half-Life is bound to bring the Sierra name back to the forefront of interactive entertainment.
Harrington takes a whack at the crab, narrowly missing Newell with the crowbar. Out flow pieces of Monopoly money and some wind-up South Park characters. Guthrie's girlfriend Jamie hadn't told anyone what was inside of the crab. To be honest, it's unlikely the team members cared much about the paper money and plastic wind-up toys it contained. What mattered more what the piņata symbolized: They were finally done. Half-Life was gold. Everyone at Valve was caught up in the moment.
The Headcrab is destroyed. Half-Life is gold. |
"I'll be the first person to admit we were lucky," says Newell, as he can reflects back on the process of developing Half-Life, from those first initial meetings with id through going gold moments ago. "I don't mean to diminish all the hard work that went into this game, but there was an element of luck associated with Half-Life. Hopefully, its success will let us do even more interesting things with our next game."
The entire Valve team (including the Head Crab) assemble for a group picture. |
As the team stands around the conference room, everyone is elated that the game is done. All the trials and tribulations of the past two years seem insignificant right now. But what is significant involves how Valve Software has quickly gone from zero to hero in the process of just two years. Seldom is a game of Half-Life's quality released, and next to never is such a product the creation of a brand-new development team, founded by software developers with little or no professional game experience. This is something special.
(l to r) Valve's Bill Van Buren, John Cook, and Mike Harrington (with beard) celebrate going gold. |
Now that they are done, the developers will go back to reality. Ken Birdwell will ride his Harley around Kirkland. Kelly Bailey will likely pick up the microphone and sing again for his band, Lucy's Fishing Trip. And maybe John Guthrie will even go deliver a pizza for the fun of it. That is, after the entire team and their spouses hit the beaches in Mexico for a company-wide vacation celebrating the release of the game.
And no, they aren't allowing any laptops on the beach.
They should probably leave that crowbar behind, too.
Geoff Keighley invites you to read more of his features on GameSlice, including his daily editorials on the latest industry news and trends.
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