Interview with Valve's Greg Coomer

[MJCfromCT]

http://whutdufuk.com/?post=632339216647885000



I recently had a chance to "sit down" with Greg Coomer from world renowned Valve Software located in Bellevue, Washington. Read along as I explore some hidden features in Half-Life 2 as well as what is next for VALVe.

Recently, Greg had a chance to visit Japan for a symposium for the computer entertainment industry, TGS 2004. Greg gave a talk entitled "New-generation Game Development Skills and Distribution found in Half-Life 2 and Steam." (Quite a mouthfull I realize.) During IDGA-sponsored event, HL2 was shown to the crowd. Greg also talked about some of "the technical design decisions that the team has mad along the way."

Greg also clued me in to one of the features of HL2 which hasn't been shown off yet. This is the Bird AI found in the game. Adrian Finol spent a considerable amount of time creating realistic birds for the Half-Life 2 engine. They fly and react to their environment just as a bird in the real world would. I recall from my playtest at VALVe birds flying off of a cliff in one area of the game. I didn't realize they were there until I made noise and they flew away. It was quite amazing to say the least.

You won't find Greg playing CS these days as he has switched primarily to CS:S. He plays online sometimes along with a few other VALVe employees, but due to Repetitive Stress Injury, he has to play left-handed which leads to "sucky playing."

Despite the delays, Greg is optimistic about the upcoming release of HL2. He says "the anticipation for HL2 does not seem to have waned over the course of the past year." Although there are some fans fairly upset with VALVe, so far they have received better than excellent reviews. "As Doug Lombardi said, it's always nice to hear nice things about your baby."

So what's next for VALVe? "TF2 is definitely one of the next things on our plate." There is also a MOD expo planned for Seattle (expect WhutDuFuk.com to have full coverage of that). The SDK is planned for release shortly along with tweaks CS:S.

I would venture to say that despite Greg's (feigned?) ignorance, VALVe will go ahead and start production on Half-Life 3 as well. Who's to say what's in store, however. I do know one thing. I'm ready to walk around City 17 and start a whole new adventure.

[PacNW CE]

Good to know they have the bird behavior down. I was really worried that the Crows in the distance were flying in a scripted pattern. :rolleyes:

I sure hope the sunrays are properly modeled. The speed of light is constant, and the pulse with which light leaves our sun to the earth is modelable. I will be really dissapointed if the sun isn't properly developed.

Don't get me started on the real time rendering of toilet flushes. They better take into account the size of Brown Trout being pushed through the sewer system. And for that matter, I better be able to flush the toilet in a building, and accurately follow the path of the "waste" to the sewer outfall into the river. :t

Who cares Greggie? Would any one outside of the Audoban society have known? This is why we waited an extra year?

[Rabbitrunner51]

PacNW...

Good sarcasm... you have a way with words....

Could'nt have said it better myself....

Its kinda like when your watching the news or even a commercial someone wasted thier money and your time on.....who in the xxx cares..??

Substance should come in oh so many little ways....and humility is golden..

I guess he patted himself on the back there...;)

[Cyan]

Dont kid yourselves, its all about the immersion. Big stuff makes the game, little stuff makes immersion.

We can hardly talk about how we want realistic scenes and water and sky and rain and physics and grass and guns and...

then say that bird AI isn't impressive? and cool?

[PacNW CE]

Bird behavior is a touch extreme. Water modeling, cool. Wind gust modeling, cool. Moles correctly distiribuiting their holes on a grass field, prolly over the top. You have a point that the details make for imersion. I happen to think cooler effects that bird flight paths should be rendered first.:t

[Someone Stupid]

Birds in FarCry even have a primitive AI. Fire a gun, they will fly. Go near one on the ground, it will fly away. It's been done already, albeit HL2 may have invested more resources to make it a bit more lifelike, but. . . who cares?