Valve's Design Process GDC 2006

[Tom3334]

Audio:
https://twvideo01.ubm-us.net/o1/vault/gdc06/audio/GDC-06-087.mp3

Related slide show:
https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/apps/valve/2006/GDC2006_HL2DesignProcess.pdf

Check it out, it's really interesting.

[Shift]

Some points from audio:
- Metrocops were originally developed for the end of the game, and were added to canals much later (proven by "Simple cops" flag for their NPC)
- Energy orbs at citadel (and therefore AR2 altfire) were a very late addition too
- Gravity gun's primary fire could damage enemies, so testers would just use that and not throw things to crush and slice npcs, so it got cut
- "You spend entire game fighting only zombies, soldiers and antlions" totally was a deliberate design choice
- Hydra gets called a "tentacle" once

I could point out a bunch of contradictions, and we know for sure how development was far messier than they're admitting, but that doesn't make it not interesting.