1 00:00:04,160 --> 00:00:07,480 Speaker 1: Get in text with technology with tech Stuff from stuff 2 00:00:07,520 --> 00:00:14,000 Speaker 1: works dot com. Hey there, and welcome to Tech Stuff. 3 00:00:14,040 --> 00:00:18,560 Speaker 1: I am your host, Jonathan Strickland. I'm a podcaster with 4 00:00:18,640 --> 00:00:24,599 Speaker 1: how stuff Works. Wow. Things be changing, y'all. Yes, I 5 00:00:24,640 --> 00:00:28,240 Speaker 1: am the podcaster host of Text Stuff, the show that's 6 00:00:28,240 --> 00:00:31,920 Speaker 1: been on the air waves of the internet for about 7 00:00:31,960 --> 00:00:35,880 Speaker 1: eight years now, nine years something like that. Nine years. 8 00:00:36,440 --> 00:00:39,560 Speaker 1: And we cover all things technology, you know, the stuff 9 00:00:39,600 --> 00:00:42,600 Speaker 1: that I love to chat about. Stuff what beeps, as 10 00:00:42,640 --> 00:00:46,839 Speaker 1: my former co host Chris Palette used to say. Today, 11 00:00:46,960 --> 00:00:50,680 Speaker 1: I'm gonna cover a topic that I have received numerous 12 00:00:50,720 --> 00:00:53,880 Speaker 1: requests to cover in the past. Multiple people have asked 13 00:00:53,920 --> 00:00:56,640 Speaker 1: me throughout the last few years to cover this topic, 14 00:00:56,680 --> 00:01:00,319 Speaker 1: and that is the company Valve. So to day, I'm 15 00:01:00,320 --> 00:01:03,760 Speaker 1: going to start down that pathway. But spoiler alert, that 16 00:01:03,920 --> 00:01:07,560 Speaker 1: story is pretty complex and pretty long, so it's going 17 00:01:07,600 --> 00:01:10,400 Speaker 1: to be more than a single part. I will do 18 00:01:10,480 --> 00:01:13,440 Speaker 1: at least two parts on this topic. I do not 19 00:01:13,600 --> 00:01:16,360 Speaker 1: know exactly how long it's going to go, because I've 20 00:01:16,400 --> 00:01:21,120 Speaker 1: only done enough research for one part. In full, I 21 00:01:21,200 --> 00:01:25,160 Speaker 1: suspect I will have enough to do three episodes about 22 00:01:25,280 --> 00:01:29,000 Speaker 1: Valve entirely to cover the full aspect of it. Unless 23 00:01:29,040 --> 00:01:32,400 Speaker 1: I really truncate things in part two. But since it's 24 00:01:32,440 --> 00:01:35,000 Speaker 1: too early for me to say, I'm not sure, I 25 00:01:35,040 --> 00:01:38,320 Speaker 1: will tell you another spoiler alert. This story could also 26 00:01:38,360 --> 00:01:41,720 Speaker 1: be called the Half Life story because the beginning of 27 00:01:41,840 --> 00:01:46,160 Speaker 1: Valve is very much concentrated on the development of their 28 00:01:46,200 --> 00:01:49,600 Speaker 1: first game, that is Half Life. And if you had 29 00:01:49,600 --> 00:01:51,680 Speaker 1: not guessed up to this point and you have not 30 00:01:51,800 --> 00:01:55,960 Speaker 1: heard of them before, Valve is a game developer company, 31 00:01:56,160 --> 00:01:58,480 Speaker 1: or at least that's how they started out. Today they're 32 00:01:58,480 --> 00:02:01,639 Speaker 1: known more for something else. But I'm getting ahead of myself. 33 00:02:02,960 --> 00:02:06,920 Speaker 1: They play a really important role in PC gaming, first 34 00:02:06,960 --> 00:02:09,080 Speaker 1: as the publisher of games and then of course as 35 00:02:09,120 --> 00:02:12,600 Speaker 1: the operator of the most successful online store for PC games. 36 00:02:12,639 --> 00:02:16,839 Speaker 1: But how did it all get started in the first place. Well, 37 00:02:16,840 --> 00:02:20,119 Speaker 1: you know me, I'm not gonna begin this episode with 38 00:02:20,240 --> 00:02:24,600 Speaker 1: the start date for the company itself. That's way too simplistic. 39 00:02:25,080 --> 00:02:27,920 Speaker 1: We need to look at the people who founded Valve, 40 00:02:28,800 --> 00:02:31,480 Speaker 1: where they came from, and how they got to where 41 00:02:31,520 --> 00:02:35,320 Speaker 1: they are. And those two people, the co founders of 42 00:02:35,440 --> 00:02:40,680 Speaker 1: Valve are Gabe Newell and Mike Harrington. Now, Gabe Newell 43 00:02:40,800 --> 00:02:44,959 Speaker 1: was born on November third, nineteen sixty two, in Washington, State. 44 00:02:45,360 --> 00:02:49,680 Speaker 1: After he graduated high school, he enrolled in Havid University. 45 00:02:50,600 --> 00:02:53,960 Speaker 1: He attended classes at Harvard from nineteen eighty until nineteen 46 00:02:54,000 --> 00:02:56,959 Speaker 1: eighty three, at which point he chose to drop out 47 00:02:57,000 --> 00:02:59,720 Speaker 1: of school and work for a little company called micro 48 00:03:00,040 --> 00:03:04,520 Speaker 1: offt The dropping out of school motif becomes a popular 49 00:03:04,639 --> 00:03:08,359 Speaker 1: one in this episode. That doesn't mean that, kids, you 50 00:03:08,400 --> 00:03:11,000 Speaker 1: should drop out of school if you want to become millionaires, 51 00:03:11,160 --> 00:03:14,200 Speaker 1: because trust me, it doesn't work out that way for everyone. 52 00:03:14,919 --> 00:03:18,679 Speaker 1: But in this case it worked out pretty well well. 53 00:03:18,720 --> 00:03:21,760 Speaker 1: He didn't just make the decision spontaneously to drop out 54 00:03:21,760 --> 00:03:24,600 Speaker 1: of Harvard. What actually happened was he was visiting his brother, 55 00:03:24,720 --> 00:03:28,200 Speaker 1: who worked for Microsoft out in Washington, and according to 56 00:03:28,240 --> 00:03:31,760 Speaker 1: Newell himself, he was getting in trouble with Steve Developers 57 00:03:31,800 --> 00:03:36,920 Speaker 1: Developers Developers Bomber for distracting his brother at work. See 58 00:03:36,960 --> 00:03:40,520 Speaker 1: it turned out his brother was so busy developing at 59 00:03:40,600 --> 00:03:43,440 Speaker 1: Microsoft that he couldn't take time off to go and 60 00:03:43,520 --> 00:03:47,480 Speaker 1: see the sites in Seattle with his brother Gabe. So 61 00:03:48,200 --> 00:03:50,880 Speaker 1: instead Gabe went to hang out with his brother over 62 00:03:50,920 --> 00:03:54,840 Speaker 1: at Microsoft. But because you know, he wanted to spend 63 00:03:54,920 --> 00:03:57,320 Speaker 1: time with his brother, he was taking some attention away 64 00:03:57,360 --> 00:04:00,600 Speaker 1: from his brother's tasks. Bomber said, Hey, I don't mind 65 00:04:00,600 --> 00:04:02,200 Speaker 1: if you hang out, but if you're gonna hang out, 66 00:04:02,320 --> 00:04:05,640 Speaker 1: you're gonna do some work. So Balmber actually put Gabe 67 00:04:05,680 --> 00:04:10,520 Speaker 1: Newell to work at Microsoft. Newell would later on say 68 00:04:10,560 --> 00:04:14,320 Speaker 1: that he learned more about computers and software development in 69 00:04:14,360 --> 00:04:18,560 Speaker 1: those three months working with Microsoft than he ever did 70 00:04:18,680 --> 00:04:22,200 Speaker 1: in his undergraduate studies over at Harvard, and so he 71 00:04:22,279 --> 00:04:26,760 Speaker 1: made the decision to quit school and started Microsoft full time. 72 00:04:27,360 --> 00:04:30,799 Speaker 1: He began to work mainly on the Windows operating system. 73 00:04:31,040 --> 00:04:34,719 Speaker 1: You might be familiar with it, or as Newell described it, 74 00:04:34,800 --> 00:04:38,480 Speaker 1: he was the producer of the first three releases of Windows. 75 00:04:38,880 --> 00:04:41,400 Speaker 1: He joined the ranks of what was known as the 76 00:04:41,480 --> 00:04:46,520 Speaker 1: Microsoft millionaires. These were employees during the relatively early days 77 00:04:46,560 --> 00:04:50,560 Speaker 1: of Microsoft who ended up making more than a million 78 00:04:50,600 --> 00:04:54,800 Speaker 1: dollars through their stock options with the company. So, Microsoft, 79 00:04:54,839 --> 00:04:58,520 Speaker 1: like a lot of software companies out there, would reward 80 00:04:58,600 --> 00:05:02,719 Speaker 1: their employees with stock options. As it turns out, Microsoft 81 00:05:02,839 --> 00:05:07,080 Speaker 1: was remarkably successful, as we all know, and so the 82 00:05:07,120 --> 00:05:10,800 Speaker 1: people who had been rewarded with those stock options made 83 00:05:10,800 --> 00:05:14,159 Speaker 1: out like bandits, except for the fact that they actually 84 00:05:14,200 --> 00:05:18,120 Speaker 1: earned the money that they earned. Right they created the 85 00:05:18,200 --> 00:05:22,880 Speaker 1: value in that company, and so the company grew exponentially, 86 00:05:23,000 --> 00:05:25,599 Speaker 1: and as a result, so did the value of those 87 00:05:25,640 --> 00:05:29,960 Speaker 1: stock options, So people like Gabe Newell became millionaires, at 88 00:05:30,040 --> 00:05:34,880 Speaker 1: least on paper. Well. Mike Harrington, the other co founder 89 00:05:34,960 --> 00:05:37,960 Speaker 1: of Valve, attended the University of Oregon before he too 90 00:05:38,080 --> 00:05:41,680 Speaker 1: dropped out of school. Now, he went originally to go 91 00:05:41,800 --> 00:05:45,520 Speaker 1: work for a company called Dynamics, that's d Y in 92 00:05:45,920 --> 00:05:49,640 Speaker 1: a m i X. This was a software company that 93 00:05:49,680 --> 00:05:54,680 Speaker 1: created titles for PC games publisher Activision. So in the 94 00:05:54,720 --> 00:05:57,880 Speaker 1: world of PC games, you typically have a couple of 95 00:05:57,880 --> 00:06:01,040 Speaker 1: different entities. Sometimes they can be one and the same, 96 00:06:01,120 --> 00:06:04,560 Speaker 1: but typically you will have game developers who actually make 97 00:06:04,800 --> 00:06:08,839 Speaker 1: the games you play, and game publishers that take the 98 00:06:08,880 --> 00:06:12,200 Speaker 1: games that other people have made and then published them 99 00:06:12,320 --> 00:06:15,080 Speaker 1: or get them out to consumers put them out on 100 00:06:15,120 --> 00:06:18,360 Speaker 1: the market. So in this case, Dynamics was a game 101 00:06:18,360 --> 00:06:22,080 Speaker 1: developer and Mike Harrington was working for Dynamics. They would 102 00:06:22,160 --> 00:06:24,479 Speaker 1: create games for Activision, which would then go on to 103 00:06:24,520 --> 00:06:29,720 Speaker 1: publish them. Now this would be a seven when he 104 00:06:29,880 --> 00:06:33,640 Speaker 1: was working for Dynamics and he leaves that company to 105 00:06:33,800 --> 00:06:37,560 Speaker 1: go and work for Microsoft. So he joins Microsoft in 106 00:06:37,960 --> 00:06:40,800 Speaker 1: seven whereas Newell had joined a couple of years earlier. 107 00:06:41,320 --> 00:06:44,800 Speaker 1: At Microsoft, Harrington worked as a software developer and later 108 00:06:44,880 --> 00:06:47,800 Speaker 1: a manager on a few big projects, including Windows in 109 00:06:47,920 --> 00:06:56,040 Speaker 1: T and the infamous software bomb known as Microsoft Bob. 110 00:06:56,920 --> 00:07:00,360 Speaker 1: His wife, Monica Harrington, was the communications man up from 111 00:07:00,360 --> 00:07:04,600 Speaker 1: Microsoft Bob. Although they were not married when Harrington first 112 00:07:04,600 --> 00:07:07,240 Speaker 1: went to go work for Microsoft, they met at Microsoft. 113 00:07:07,440 --> 00:07:10,200 Speaker 1: According to Monica Harrington, she was the one who was 114 00:07:10,240 --> 00:07:13,840 Speaker 1: really interested in getting married. They started dating for a while. 115 00:07:14,800 --> 00:07:18,040 Speaker 1: She wanted to marry him, he was not certain yet 116 00:07:18,120 --> 00:07:20,720 Speaker 1: if that's what he wanted, and then they broke up. 117 00:07:21,400 --> 00:07:24,200 Speaker 1: Then they decided to just kind of go on a 118 00:07:24,320 --> 00:07:26,600 Speaker 1: date together. They weren't even really going out. They just 119 00:07:26,640 --> 00:07:28,960 Speaker 1: spent the day together, and at the end of that day, 120 00:07:29,040 --> 00:07:32,080 Speaker 1: Harrington decided that in fact, he did want to marry Monica, 121 00:07:32,120 --> 00:07:34,320 Speaker 1: and he proposed and she accepted. And I think that's 122 00:07:34,360 --> 00:07:38,440 Speaker 1: a very sweet story. However, that sweet story is somewhat 123 00:07:39,640 --> 00:07:43,920 Speaker 1: balanced out by the terrible disaster that was Microsoft Bob. 124 00:07:44,880 --> 00:07:48,600 Speaker 1: Microsoft Bob is an incredible story, so incredible that I 125 00:07:48,640 --> 00:07:52,920 Speaker 1: actually did a full episode of tech Stuff about that 126 00:07:53,640 --> 00:07:57,200 Speaker 1: disastrous software release if you want to learn more about it. 127 00:07:57,520 --> 00:07:59,680 Speaker 1: And I encourage you to do so, because it is 128 00:07:59,760 --> 00:08:02,720 Speaker 1: an amazing story. You can listen to the Tech Stuff 129 00:08:02,720 --> 00:08:07,600 Speaker 1: episode titled what About Microsoft Bob, which published on May eighth, 130 00:08:07,800 --> 00:08:11,760 Speaker 1: two thousand thirteen. It's really the software package of the 131 00:08:11,840 --> 00:08:16,400 Speaker 1: millennium in my estimation, and Lauren Vogelbaum was my co 132 00:08:16,520 --> 00:08:18,640 Speaker 1: host on that episode, So if you guys, miss Lauren, 133 00:08:18,640 --> 00:08:20,640 Speaker 1: you should go back and listen to that episode and 134 00:08:20,760 --> 00:08:25,760 Speaker 1: learn all about that attempt to create an operating system 135 00:08:25,960 --> 00:08:29,720 Speaker 1: for the average person that ended up being a complete 136 00:08:29,720 --> 00:08:33,760 Speaker 1: and total failure in all sense of the word. Anyway, 137 00:08:33,920 --> 00:08:37,319 Speaker 1: Harrington also became a Microsoft millionaire because he was also 138 00:08:37,400 --> 00:08:41,920 Speaker 1: awarded stock options. And you had Newell and Harrington to 139 00:08:42,120 --> 00:08:46,760 Speaker 1: Microsoft employees who were at least on paper millionaires. But 140 00:08:46,880 --> 00:08:49,080 Speaker 1: what were they gonna do with all this filthy lucre. 141 00:08:50,120 --> 00:08:54,520 Speaker 1: The answer to that question followed a former Microsoft employees path, 142 00:08:54,679 --> 00:08:57,080 Speaker 1: and this is where we have to talk about another 143 00:08:57,080 --> 00:09:00,959 Speaker 1: guy named Michael A. Brash. Now A Brash attended the 144 00:09:01,000 --> 00:09:04,559 Speaker 1: University of Pennsylvania and had been programming since the early 145 00:09:04,679 --> 00:09:08,440 Speaker 1: nineteen eighties, and like Newell and Harrington, his work focused 146 00:09:08,440 --> 00:09:11,400 Speaker 1: on lots of different types of software. Now he cut 147 00:09:11,400 --> 00:09:14,160 Speaker 1: his teeth on building computer games, one of them being 148 00:09:14,520 --> 00:09:18,600 Speaker 1: Space Strike, which was essentially a clone of Space Invaders. 149 00:09:19,240 --> 00:09:23,880 Speaker 1: By the early nineteen nineties, he had joined Microsoft, and 150 00:09:23,960 --> 00:09:27,120 Speaker 1: he credits the science fiction novel snow Crash, which was 151 00:09:27,160 --> 00:09:30,600 Speaker 1: written by Neil Stevenson, with inspiring him to work on 152 00:09:30,640 --> 00:09:35,400 Speaker 1: a networked three D engine. In the world of snow Crash, 153 00:09:35,440 --> 00:09:40,320 Speaker 1: there is a virtual reality kind of Internet construct that 154 00:09:40,679 --> 00:09:45,160 Speaker 1: characters can enter into, and they have avatars within this 155 00:09:45,320 --> 00:09:48,840 Speaker 1: virtual world that they inhabit, and they can do all 156 00:09:48,880 --> 00:09:52,000 Speaker 1: sorts of stuff in the virtual world as a result 157 00:09:52,080 --> 00:09:56,040 Speaker 1: of that, and our main character, hero protagonist, which is 158 00:09:56,080 --> 00:10:00,240 Speaker 1: a great name, is one of the early developers in 159 00:10:00,320 --> 00:10:04,640 Speaker 1: this metaverse that is created in the world of snow Crash. Now, 160 00:10:06,080 --> 00:10:08,680 Speaker 1: we have a Brash who wants to create a three 161 00:10:08,800 --> 00:10:12,760 Speaker 1: D networked engine, and he's at Microsoft, and he tries 162 00:10:12,800 --> 00:10:15,720 Speaker 1: to convince people in Microsoft that this is a project 163 00:10:15,800 --> 00:10:19,160 Speaker 1: worth pursuing, but he doesn't get anywhere. No one really 164 00:10:19,200 --> 00:10:22,079 Speaker 1: shows any interest in supporting such a project. It doesn't 165 00:10:22,120 --> 00:10:27,199 Speaker 1: really align with Microsoft's plans at that point. So a 166 00:10:27,320 --> 00:10:30,520 Speaker 1: Brash ended up having a meeting with John Carmack of 167 00:10:30,640 --> 00:10:35,840 Speaker 1: IT software fame. This was a and Carmack and A 168 00:10:35,920 --> 00:10:41,440 Speaker 1: Brash started talking about networked persistent Internet game servers, and 169 00:10:41,559 --> 00:10:45,160 Speaker 1: Carmack had already tried to lure A Brash away from 170 00:10:45,240 --> 00:10:47,840 Speaker 1: Microsoft a couple of times in the past, but A 171 00:10:47,920 --> 00:10:52,720 Speaker 1: Bresh had always resisted this because Microsoft was a stable 172 00:10:53,200 --> 00:10:57,400 Speaker 1: and lucrative gig. Those stock options were no joke. A 173 00:10:57,480 --> 00:11:02,400 Speaker 1: Bresh would be leaving a guaranteed job with security to 174 00:11:02,520 --> 00:11:05,040 Speaker 1: go work for ID software, and he had never really 175 00:11:05,080 --> 00:11:08,720 Speaker 1: been tempted to seriously consider it before. But with this 176 00:11:08,760 --> 00:11:12,520 Speaker 1: conversation about these persistent game engines and the fact that 177 00:11:12,520 --> 00:11:14,880 Speaker 1: that seemed to be a step toward what A Bresh 178 00:11:15,040 --> 00:11:18,400 Speaker 1: envisioned as the future of the Internet, this future that 179 00:11:18,440 --> 00:11:22,360 Speaker 1: was envisioned in Neil stevenson snow Crash, A Brash felt 180 00:11:22,440 --> 00:11:27,320 Speaker 1: the sirens call and decided to go join in Software 181 00:11:27,400 --> 00:11:31,080 Speaker 1: finally after all those other failed attempts to lure him away. 182 00:11:32,440 --> 00:11:34,880 Speaker 1: So he was eager to try and create this metaverse 183 00:11:34,920 --> 00:11:36,840 Speaker 1: like the one in Stevenson's book, and he felt that 184 00:11:37,120 --> 00:11:40,839 Speaker 1: CarMax approach might be the right way to try this. 185 00:11:41,360 --> 00:11:44,360 Speaker 1: His departure from Microsoft to work for a game studio 186 00:11:44,440 --> 00:11:46,880 Speaker 1: we kind of serve as a sort of inspiration for 187 00:11:47,000 --> 00:11:50,840 Speaker 1: Newell and Harrington, they would not consider leaving for another 188 00:11:50,880 --> 00:11:54,440 Speaker 1: couple of years, So a brash leaves in n in 189 00:11:54,600 --> 00:11:58,319 Speaker 1: ninety six. That's when Harrington and Newell started to consider 190 00:11:58,600 --> 00:12:02,640 Speaker 1: doing something similar. Uh. Now, Abresh would later on become 191 00:12:02,679 --> 00:12:07,960 Speaker 1: an important liaison and even later still an employee over 192 00:12:08,040 --> 00:12:11,240 Speaker 1: at Valve Software. But that's getting ahead of the story 193 00:12:11,280 --> 00:12:14,760 Speaker 1: a bit. Let's talk about Harrington and Newell's decision to 194 00:12:14,840 --> 00:12:19,400 Speaker 1: strike out on their own and leave Microsoft behind. Harrington 195 00:12:19,559 --> 00:12:22,040 Speaker 1: was actually the one to make the first move, as 196 00:12:22,080 --> 00:12:25,800 Speaker 1: he would say later on in interviews, I like developing software, 197 00:12:26,080 --> 00:12:30,199 Speaker 1: good working environments, and games. I put all together and 198 00:12:30,280 --> 00:12:33,800 Speaker 1: decided that I couldn't just leave Microsoft and do nothing. 199 00:12:34,480 --> 00:12:37,960 Speaker 1: But he also knew he couldn't just do this by himself, 200 00:12:38,120 --> 00:12:41,240 Speaker 1: so he started to search around and see if there 201 00:12:41,280 --> 00:12:44,400 Speaker 1: was any interest among his co workers in striking out 202 00:12:44,480 --> 00:12:48,120 Speaker 1: and trying to create a new company. But he wasn't 203 00:12:48,240 --> 00:12:51,440 Speaker 1: meeting with a whole lot of enthusiasm. Most people were 204 00:12:51,440 --> 00:12:54,720 Speaker 1: interested in just pursuing research projects, whether it was at 205 00:12:54,760 --> 00:12:58,920 Speaker 1: Microsoft or striking out independently. But they didn't they didn't 206 00:12:58,920 --> 00:13:02,280 Speaker 1: really want to develop software. They were wanting to to 207 00:13:02,360 --> 00:13:05,280 Speaker 1: kind of push the envelope in finding out what you 208 00:13:05,320 --> 00:13:08,160 Speaker 1: can do with code, which is kind of cool, but 209 00:13:08,200 --> 00:13:11,640 Speaker 1: it wasn't really what Harrington was interested in. There was 210 00:13:11,679 --> 00:13:17,120 Speaker 1: one notable exception, Gabe Newell. Newell seemed interested in this 211 00:13:17,200 --> 00:13:20,600 Speaker 1: concept of going out and creating a game company. Harrington 212 00:13:20,600 --> 00:13:23,880 Speaker 1: and Newell decided that they would fund the company themselves. 213 00:13:23,960 --> 00:13:28,079 Speaker 1: They would cash in their stock options and fund this 214 00:13:28,200 --> 00:13:31,720 Speaker 1: whole formation of their new company out of pocket, and 215 00:13:31,760 --> 00:13:35,559 Speaker 1: they called the company Valve. Here's a fun bet of trivia. 216 00:13:35,840 --> 00:13:38,240 Speaker 1: They had other names that they were considering before they 217 00:13:38,240 --> 00:13:43,400 Speaker 1: settled on Valve. The next in line, the second most 218 00:13:43,520 --> 00:13:49,720 Speaker 1: popular of the contenders was hollow Box, so Valve could 219 00:13:49,720 --> 00:13:55,120 Speaker 1: have been called hollow Box had they gone a different way. Now. 220 00:13:55,160 --> 00:13:58,320 Speaker 1: The two had agreed already that they wanted their company 221 00:13:58,440 --> 00:14:03,400 Speaker 1: name to be something cool, but not be reflective of 222 00:14:03,480 --> 00:14:10,800 Speaker 1: some sort of macho, testosterone driven bro version of gaming. 223 00:14:10,840 --> 00:14:13,960 Speaker 1: They didn't want it to be you know, kicking the 224 00:14:14,000 --> 00:14:18,319 Speaker 1: pants games or anything like that, or or you know, uh, 225 00:14:18,679 --> 00:14:23,240 Speaker 1: biden nerd games. They didn't want something that had that 226 00:14:23,400 --> 00:14:27,200 Speaker 1: sense to it. They wanted something a little less aggressive, 227 00:14:27,320 --> 00:14:30,400 Speaker 1: I guess is the right word. They ended up signing 228 00:14:30,400 --> 00:14:34,920 Speaker 1: the limited liability company agreement for Valve on August twenty four. 229 00:14:37,360 --> 00:14:40,000 Speaker 1: That was a really big day for game Newell because 230 00:14:40,040 --> 00:14:43,640 Speaker 1: it wasn't just the day that Valve Software was officially born, 231 00:14:44,000 --> 00:14:47,000 Speaker 1: it was also his wedding day. He got married on 232 00:14:47,040 --> 00:14:48,960 Speaker 1: that day, so he took some time out from his 233 00:14:49,000 --> 00:14:53,120 Speaker 1: wedding day to sign the official papers to form this company. 234 00:14:53,400 --> 00:14:55,440 Speaker 1: It was also a big day for Harrington as well. 235 00:14:56,320 --> 00:15:00,360 Speaker 1: His wife, Monica was a little leery about this Elves 236 00:15:00,360 --> 00:15:03,280 Speaker 1: Software venture. When she first heard that Harrington wanted to 237 00:15:03,320 --> 00:15:05,400 Speaker 1: do this. She thought it was going to end up 238 00:15:05,400 --> 00:15:08,800 Speaker 1: being some sort of modest little side project, that it 239 00:15:08,840 --> 00:15:11,360 Speaker 1: was going to end up being a company run out 240 00:15:11,360 --> 00:15:15,280 Speaker 1: of their garage, which wouldn't be unusual in Silicon Valley. 241 00:15:15,320 --> 00:15:18,160 Speaker 1: If you've been listening to tech stuff, you know that 242 00:15:18,200 --> 00:15:22,480 Speaker 1: in Silicon Valley, which granted isn't in Washington, it's in California, 243 00:15:22,840 --> 00:15:26,160 Speaker 1: that it was a place where numerous companies got their 244 00:15:26,200 --> 00:15:30,000 Speaker 1: start in garages. You had like Apple getting started in 245 00:15:30,040 --> 00:15:33,560 Speaker 1: a garage, and HP and lots of other ones. Microsoft 246 00:15:33,600 --> 00:15:36,720 Speaker 1: too got started in a garage, although that was in Washington, 247 00:15:36,920 --> 00:15:40,760 Speaker 1: not in California. But it turns out this was not 248 00:15:41,040 --> 00:15:45,320 Speaker 1: what Newell and Harrington had in mind. Instead, they signed 249 00:15:45,320 --> 00:15:49,640 Speaker 1: a five year lease on an office space in Kirkland, Washington. 250 00:15:50,200 --> 00:15:54,280 Speaker 1: So this was real business here, and Monica Harrington was 251 00:15:54,280 --> 00:15:57,360 Speaker 1: a little bit nervous about it. She wasn't sure that 252 00:15:57,440 --> 00:16:00,560 Speaker 1: this was going to pan out to be a good 253 00:16:00,720 --> 00:16:07,760 Speaker 1: economic decision. Fortunately, her her worries were ultimately unfounded, although 254 00:16:07,880 --> 00:16:11,960 Speaker 1: it wasn't exactly smooth sailing from the start. Now, the 255 00:16:12,040 --> 00:16:14,800 Speaker 1: question then was what sort of game should they develop? 256 00:16:15,320 --> 00:16:19,000 Speaker 1: And it might seem unusual that a couple of people 257 00:16:19,080 --> 00:16:23,240 Speaker 1: would leave a very lucrative job to go form a 258 00:16:23,280 --> 00:16:26,440 Speaker 1: company and not already have a firm idea of where 259 00:16:26,480 --> 00:16:28,960 Speaker 1: they wanted to go, but that's kind of what was 260 00:16:29,040 --> 00:16:33,440 Speaker 1: happening with Valve in those early days. Now, they were 261 00:16:33,520 --> 00:16:38,200 Speaker 1: both interested in the burgeoning world of three D games, 262 00:16:38,240 --> 00:16:41,600 Speaker 1: specifically first person shooters. Keep in mind, in the mid 263 00:16:41,680 --> 00:16:45,680 Speaker 1: ninety nineties these were just starting to take off games 264 00:16:45,720 --> 00:16:49,840 Speaker 1: like Wolfenstein three D and Doom. They were really creating 265 00:16:49,880 --> 00:16:54,120 Speaker 1: a whole new genre of games for the PC. So 266 00:16:54,920 --> 00:16:57,400 Speaker 1: they wanted to create a first person shooter in that 267 00:16:57,520 --> 00:16:59,960 Speaker 1: Vein they wanted to have sort of a science fiction 268 00:17:00,040 --> 00:17:05,160 Speaker 1: in horror motif, but rather than start completely from scratch, 269 00:17:05,200 --> 00:17:07,520 Speaker 1: where they'd have to build everything from the ground up, 270 00:17:07,960 --> 00:17:11,440 Speaker 1: they decided that they would take elements that already existed 271 00:17:12,440 --> 00:17:15,720 Speaker 1: and then improve upon them, because that would be easier 272 00:17:15,760 --> 00:17:19,160 Speaker 1: than just building a game engine from the ground up. 273 00:17:20,200 --> 00:17:24,960 Speaker 1: That's enormously complicated, and they honestly didn't have any experience 274 00:17:25,080 --> 00:17:28,200 Speaker 1: in developing game engines on that level at this point, 275 00:17:29,400 --> 00:17:33,760 Speaker 1: So they decided that they would take the work out 276 00:17:33,760 --> 00:17:37,320 Speaker 1: of creating those underlying physics of the game off of 277 00:17:37,400 --> 00:17:40,000 Speaker 1: their plates. And they were able to get in touch 278 00:17:40,119 --> 00:17:44,520 Speaker 1: with A Brash. Remember he had been working for Microsoft 279 00:17:44,560 --> 00:17:46,399 Speaker 1: and then in ninety four he went to work for 280 00:17:46,480 --> 00:17:49,880 Speaker 1: ID Software. Well, they touched Base with a Brash. They said, hey, 281 00:17:50,119 --> 00:17:52,679 Speaker 1: we've decided we're going to create this game company. We 282 00:17:52,760 --> 00:17:55,399 Speaker 1: know you went to work for ID Software. We wondered 283 00:17:55,440 --> 00:17:57,480 Speaker 1: if maybe there was some way we could work with 284 00:17:57,560 --> 00:18:00,520 Speaker 1: you guys to get the source code for your Quake 285 00:18:00,640 --> 00:18:04,800 Speaker 1: engine and use that as the basis for our game 286 00:18:04,840 --> 00:18:07,560 Speaker 1: engine for the game we want to create. And A. 287 00:18:07,640 --> 00:18:10,879 Speaker 1: Bresh was able to secure for them a meeting for 288 00:18:10,920 --> 00:18:13,840 Speaker 1: them to come over to ID Software and meet with 289 00:18:13,920 --> 00:18:18,840 Speaker 1: the various executives over there and kind of pitch their idea. Now, 290 00:18:18,840 --> 00:18:21,840 Speaker 1: in an interview, A Bresh would elaborate on this and 291 00:18:21,880 --> 00:18:25,920 Speaker 1: he said, quote, I don't recall that when they came 292 00:18:26,040 --> 00:18:29,000 Speaker 1: down to it, there was a lot of great chemistry. 293 00:18:29,359 --> 00:18:31,920 Speaker 1: Let's put it this way. It wasn't like when nine 294 00:18:31,920 --> 00:18:34,840 Speaker 1: inch Nails came to visit that was a cool thing. 295 00:18:35,760 --> 00:18:39,240 Speaker 1: These were guys that worked on stuff like Microsoft, Bob 296 00:18:39,280 --> 00:18:42,280 Speaker 1: and home automation. You're not going to walk into the 297 00:18:42,320 --> 00:18:44,560 Speaker 1: coolest game company on the face of the earth and 298 00:18:44,600 --> 00:18:47,160 Speaker 1: have the guys say, Wow, nice to hang out with you. 299 00:18:48,359 --> 00:18:54,199 Speaker 1: End quote. Yikes. Nevertheless, they were able to secure this meeting, 300 00:18:54,520 --> 00:18:56,840 Speaker 1: and through that they were able to get a licensing 301 00:18:56,880 --> 00:19:00,119 Speaker 1: agreement for the Quake source code. And then they got 302 00:19:00,160 --> 00:19:04,320 Speaker 1: to work, and that work involved modifying that Quake engine. 303 00:19:04,520 --> 00:19:06,879 Speaker 1: So while they didn't have to build a physics engine 304 00:19:06,920 --> 00:19:11,000 Speaker 1: from the ground up, they did seriously rework the Quake 305 00:19:11,040 --> 00:19:14,439 Speaker 1: engine itself. Now. To do that, they looked for people 306 00:19:14,480 --> 00:19:18,480 Speaker 1: in the Quake community, which was filled with enterprising coders 307 00:19:18,480 --> 00:19:22,560 Speaker 1: who were bending quakes code to their will. So these 308 00:19:22,560 --> 00:19:25,240 Speaker 1: weren't people who worked for ID Software. These were people 309 00:19:25,240 --> 00:19:28,440 Speaker 1: who were using the Quake source code themselves. Are using 310 00:19:28,480 --> 00:19:33,520 Speaker 1: the Quake Engine to create their own modified games and levels. 311 00:19:34,880 --> 00:19:38,679 Speaker 1: So two of those developers who were in this world 312 00:19:38,960 --> 00:19:42,800 Speaker 1: were John Guthrie and Steve Bond. The two of them 313 00:19:43,040 --> 00:19:45,600 Speaker 1: were living out of Florida and they had launched a 314 00:19:45,640 --> 00:19:50,640 Speaker 1: fan site called Quake Command, and they both received invitations 315 00:19:50,640 --> 00:19:53,359 Speaker 1: from Gabe Newell to come to Washington and visit the 316 00:19:53,440 --> 00:19:56,520 Speaker 1: Valve office. And they were both very skeptical of this offer. 317 00:19:56,520 --> 00:19:59,280 Speaker 1: At first. They didn't think that this was really a 318 00:19:59,400 --> 00:20:01,679 Speaker 1: serious at ump to get them to come look at 319 00:20:01,680 --> 00:20:05,840 Speaker 1: a game development development company. They neither of them anticipated 320 00:20:05,880 --> 00:20:10,560 Speaker 1: that ever becoming a reality, but Steve Bond eventually agreed 321 00:20:10,680 --> 00:20:14,360 Speaker 1: to this and gave Newell flew him out to Seattle, Washington, 322 00:20:14,440 --> 00:20:16,879 Speaker 1: and gave him a car rental and a hotel and 323 00:20:17,280 --> 00:20:19,879 Speaker 1: had him stay for several days, and by the end 324 00:20:19,880 --> 00:20:22,600 Speaker 1: of it, Bond was convinced that Valve was the place 325 00:20:22,640 --> 00:20:25,359 Speaker 1: he wanted to work, and so he joined the company. 326 00:20:25,680 --> 00:20:29,240 Speaker 1: A couple of like a week later, Guthrie would also 327 00:20:29,600 --> 00:20:32,560 Speaker 1: join the company. He would drop out of college in 328 00:20:32,680 --> 00:20:36,200 Speaker 1: order to do so, so the tradition would continue another 329 00:20:36,320 --> 00:20:41,040 Speaker 1: college dropout to join Valve Software. Newell and Harrington. Meanwhile, 330 00:20:41,040 --> 00:20:44,120 Speaker 1: we're making other hires. They were luring people away from 331 00:20:44,119 --> 00:20:47,960 Speaker 1: companies like three D Realms and Microsoft, and once they 332 00:20:48,000 --> 00:20:52,440 Speaker 1: had their base team together, they began to work on 333 00:20:52,720 --> 00:20:56,800 Speaker 1: modifying the Quake engine. According to some estimates, they ended 334 00:20:56,880 --> 00:21:00,800 Speaker 1: up changing about seventy of that source code to create 335 00:21:01,040 --> 00:21:05,879 Speaker 1: Half Life, and that game at the time didn't have 336 00:21:06,000 --> 00:21:08,240 Speaker 1: that name. It wasn't called Half Life. It had a 337 00:21:08,280 --> 00:21:13,800 Speaker 1: code name called Quiver. Part of that massive modification was 338 00:21:13,840 --> 00:21:18,400 Speaker 1: the addition of skeletal animation valve, depended upon a developer 339 00:21:18,480 --> 00:21:22,800 Speaker 1: named Ken Birdwell. Birdwell's background was a bit unusual for 340 00:21:22,880 --> 00:21:25,400 Speaker 1: the video game industry. He had actually made a name 341 00:21:25,400 --> 00:21:29,520 Speaker 1: for himself developing software that would scan a person's foot 342 00:21:29,960 --> 00:21:33,400 Speaker 1: so that a custom shoe in Soul company could design 343 00:21:33,440 --> 00:21:37,080 Speaker 1: an insul for that person. So he was looking at 344 00:21:37,240 --> 00:21:40,680 Speaker 1: technology to actually look at the contours of a person's 345 00:21:40,680 --> 00:21:44,040 Speaker 1: foot in order to design insuls that would support that 346 00:21:44,080 --> 00:21:48,000 Speaker 1: person inside a shoe. It's kind of cool, but he 347 00:21:48,080 --> 00:21:51,119 Speaker 1: was the developer who actually created the skeletal animation system 348 00:21:51,200 --> 00:21:56,480 Speaker 1: that drastically simplified the animation process. So instead of having 349 00:21:56,520 --> 00:21:59,840 Speaker 1: to control all the elements of a body so that 350 00:22:00,000 --> 00:22:03,040 Speaker 1: at you could animate things on a very granular level, 351 00:22:03,800 --> 00:22:07,040 Speaker 1: the body ends up being essentially a skin laid over 352 00:22:07,119 --> 00:22:10,720 Speaker 1: top a digital skeleton which has various joints and points 353 00:22:10,760 --> 00:22:15,639 Speaker 1: of articulation. The skeletal animation system would end up indicating 354 00:22:15,680 --> 00:22:20,320 Speaker 1: how those skeletons could move, and that was developed by Birdwell. 355 00:22:21,040 --> 00:22:24,359 Speaker 1: Birdwell was even able to solve the problem of talking 356 00:22:24,480 --> 00:22:29,080 Speaker 1: characters by creating virtual bones around the mouths and then 357 00:22:29,160 --> 00:22:33,399 Speaker 1: animating those virtual bones, which sounds both fascinating and super 358 00:22:33,480 --> 00:22:38,000 Speaker 1: duper creepy. By the time all of these modifications were done, 359 00:22:38,080 --> 00:22:40,600 Speaker 1: the team was really working on a new game engine. 360 00:22:40,680 --> 00:22:43,840 Speaker 1: It really wasn't Quake anymore, so they gave it a 361 00:22:43,880 --> 00:22:47,320 Speaker 1: new name. It was called gold Source or g O 362 00:22:47,600 --> 00:22:51,840 Speaker 1: L D s r C. Now, an early challenge for 363 00:22:51,840 --> 00:22:54,919 Speaker 1: the team ended up not being technical in nature. It 364 00:22:55,000 --> 00:22:58,400 Speaker 1: was all on the business side. See Valve was set 365 00:22:58,480 --> 00:23:00,840 Speaker 1: up as a game developer coup, but they were not 366 00:23:01,000 --> 00:23:04,560 Speaker 1: a game publishing company. Remember I talked earlier about their 367 00:23:04,600 --> 00:23:08,280 Speaker 1: being developers and publishers, so they needed to find someone 368 00:23:08,359 --> 00:23:11,480 Speaker 1: out there who could publish their game. They just couldn't 369 00:23:11,480 --> 00:23:14,360 Speaker 1: handle that side of the business on their own, especially 370 00:23:14,440 --> 00:23:19,439 Speaker 1: not as a startup, So Newell and Harrington started looking around, 371 00:23:19,440 --> 00:23:23,360 Speaker 1: but they encountered resistance from a lot of established game publishers. 372 00:23:24,119 --> 00:23:28,320 Speaker 1: They found this really frustrating. Newell mentioned that it was 373 00:23:28,560 --> 00:23:32,520 Speaker 1: particularly difficult for him. He's had achieved really great success 374 00:23:32,560 --> 00:23:36,080 Speaker 1: and respect within the world of Microsoft, and yet he 375 00:23:36,119 --> 00:23:38,879 Speaker 1: was getting trouble even landing a meeting with some of 376 00:23:38,920 --> 00:23:42,000 Speaker 1: these game publishers. He said it was really kind of 377 00:23:42,000 --> 00:23:45,080 Speaker 1: insulting in a way, although if you think about it, 378 00:23:45,119 --> 00:23:49,120 Speaker 1: he was moving from developing operating system software to developing 379 00:23:49,160 --> 00:23:53,399 Speaker 1: game software. So from a publisher's standpoint, they were saying, well, 380 00:23:53,440 --> 00:23:56,040 Speaker 1: this is apples and oranges. You you haven't proved that 381 00:23:56,119 --> 00:23:58,520 Speaker 1: you know what you're doing in this world, so I 382 00:23:58,560 --> 00:24:00,720 Speaker 1: don't really think that it's a good use of our time. 383 00:24:02,040 --> 00:24:05,199 Speaker 1: But then they got lucky. Newell would end up writing 384 00:24:05,240 --> 00:24:09,000 Speaker 1: to Ken Williams, who was one of the real pioneers 385 00:24:09,040 --> 00:24:13,480 Speaker 1: of PC games and the founder of Sierra Online. Williams 386 00:24:13,520 --> 00:24:16,240 Speaker 1: had been looking for a game in that three D 387 00:24:16,440 --> 00:24:20,240 Speaker 1: first person shooter genre, something similar to Quake. He had 388 00:24:20,280 --> 00:24:24,000 Speaker 1: resisted getting into that field when it first started launching. 389 00:24:24,040 --> 00:24:26,920 Speaker 1: He wasn't sure that it was going to be very popular, 390 00:24:27,440 --> 00:24:29,720 Speaker 1: and then he really regretted the fact that he didn't 391 00:24:29,800 --> 00:24:32,800 Speaker 1: jump on it earlier. So when he got this email, 392 00:24:33,200 --> 00:24:36,000 Speaker 1: he got excited because he had already been thinking about 393 00:24:36,040 --> 00:24:39,000 Speaker 1: possibly getting into that realm and here was a company 394 00:24:39,040 --> 00:24:42,040 Speaker 1: saying we're creating a game in that realm, but we 395 00:24:42,080 --> 00:24:45,480 Speaker 1: need a publisher. Could we maybe work with you? And 396 00:24:45,560 --> 00:24:49,440 Speaker 1: so Williams said, it was the right email at the 397 00:24:49,560 --> 00:24:52,879 Speaker 1: right time. Now, I have a lot more to say 398 00:24:52,920 --> 00:24:56,520 Speaker 1: about the early days of Valve Software in the development 399 00:24:56,520 --> 00:24:58,520 Speaker 1: of Half Life, but before I get into that, let's 400 00:24:58,560 --> 00:25:08,520 Speaker 1: take a quick break and thank our sponsor. So game 401 00:25:08,600 --> 00:25:11,399 Speaker 1: Newell was given the chance to bring a team to 402 00:25:11,560 --> 00:25:16,760 Speaker 1: Sierra Online and present Valves pitch to Sierra and say, hey, 403 00:25:17,160 --> 00:25:20,560 Speaker 1: will you publish our game the day that they got 404 00:25:20,600 --> 00:25:22,320 Speaker 1: the invite, the or the day they were supposed to 405 00:25:22,320 --> 00:25:25,960 Speaker 1: have the meeting. It's snowed in Seattle. Now, this is 406 00:25:26,000 --> 00:25:29,320 Speaker 1: not something that commonly happens in Seattle. Despite the fact 407 00:25:29,359 --> 00:25:32,280 Speaker 1: that it's in the Upper Northwest, they actually don't get 408 00:25:32,280 --> 00:25:35,720 Speaker 1: that much snow in the city itself, and as a result, 409 00:25:35,960 --> 00:25:38,800 Speaker 1: the city kind of shut down. It's sort of the 410 00:25:38,800 --> 00:25:43,160 Speaker 1: way Atlanta shuts down whenever we get snow, or more frequently, 411 00:25:43,160 --> 00:25:47,800 Speaker 1: when we get ice. So there was some issues here, 412 00:25:47,840 --> 00:25:50,639 Speaker 1: but Newell was absolutely determined to make this meeting, so 413 00:25:50,680 --> 00:25:53,760 Speaker 1: he and his team piled into a four wheel drive vehicle. 414 00:25:54,359 --> 00:25:57,760 Speaker 1: They skidded their way across town and they got to 415 00:25:58,280 --> 00:26:03,280 Speaker 1: Sierra Online's headquarters, where there was all of one employee 416 00:26:03,359 --> 00:26:08,720 Speaker 1: in the building. Fortunately, that one employee was Ken Williams, 417 00:26:08,800 --> 00:26:12,040 Speaker 1: the guy who really mattered in the case of this 418 00:26:12,080 --> 00:26:17,119 Speaker 1: particular conversation. So Newell would later on say that kid 419 00:26:17,200 --> 00:26:20,640 Speaker 1: Williams was sold on the pitch and shut the presentation 420 00:26:20,760 --> 00:26:24,560 Speaker 1: down early before they could even deliver their big finish, 421 00:26:24,880 --> 00:26:28,960 Speaker 1: like the big push to get Sierra Online support. That 422 00:26:29,040 --> 00:26:32,679 Speaker 1: was a great sign they landed the agreement. While Williams 423 00:26:32,760 --> 00:26:36,400 Speaker 1: was instrumental in getting things moving, he actually would not 424 00:26:36,560 --> 00:26:40,479 Speaker 1: stick around. He would end up leaving Sierra not long 425 00:26:40,640 --> 00:26:44,880 Speaker 1: after this meeting took place, and Scott Lynch would then 426 00:26:44,960 --> 00:26:47,960 Speaker 1: become the head of Sierra Studios, which become the new 427 00:26:48,040 --> 00:26:52,240 Speaker 1: incarnation of Sierra Online. I have to do a full 428 00:26:52,320 --> 00:26:55,800 Speaker 1: episode about Sierra at some point, I'm sure, because they 429 00:26:55,800 --> 00:27:00,679 Speaker 1: were very important in the early days of PC gaming. Also, 430 00:27:01,000 --> 00:27:06,280 Speaker 1: the relationship between Sierra and Valve would not remain rosy forever, 431 00:27:06,520 --> 00:27:09,639 Speaker 1: but that is something will really have to explore in 432 00:27:09,680 --> 00:27:14,040 Speaker 1: a future episode on this topic because it happens after 433 00:27:14,680 --> 00:27:19,520 Speaker 1: this one ends. Spoiler alert. Well, it would be two 434 00:27:19,600 --> 00:27:26,199 Speaker 1: years before this game, code named Quiver, would launch, so 435 00:27:26,280 --> 00:27:30,080 Speaker 1: from nine the game is in development, and that game 436 00:27:30,200 --> 00:27:32,720 Speaker 1: would become one of the benchmarks for the first person 437 00:27:32,760 --> 00:27:36,119 Speaker 1: shooter genre, and it was of course called Half Life. 438 00:27:36,640 --> 00:27:39,040 Speaker 1: The thing that really set Half Life apart from other 439 00:27:39,080 --> 00:27:42,240 Speaker 1: first person shooter games of the era was the fact 440 00:27:42,240 --> 00:27:47,399 Speaker 1: that it was so dependent upon story. Now, in the 441 00:27:47,480 --> 00:27:51,000 Speaker 1: nineteen nineties, the first person shooter games that were coming 442 00:27:51,000 --> 00:27:54,679 Speaker 1: out were pretty light in the story department. Typically, the 443 00:27:54,760 --> 00:27:58,280 Speaker 1: story was reduced to just a basic premise. So here's 444 00:27:58,280 --> 00:28:02,840 Speaker 1: an example in the first episode of Wolfenstein three D, 445 00:28:03,080 --> 00:28:06,040 Speaker 1: which had three episodes. In the original game, you would 446 00:28:06,040 --> 00:28:08,960 Speaker 1: play as a World War two American soldier who was 447 00:28:09,000 --> 00:28:12,159 Speaker 1: trying to escape a fortress that was held by Nazis. 448 00:28:13,200 --> 00:28:17,639 Speaker 1: That's it. That was the extent of the story. In Doom, 449 00:28:17,680 --> 00:28:20,720 Speaker 1: you're a space marine who's fighting off demonic creatures in 450 00:28:20,720 --> 00:28:24,160 Speaker 1: a futuristic setting, and that was pretty much the extent 451 00:28:24,320 --> 00:28:27,320 Speaker 1: of the story in the first Doom game. Neither of 452 00:28:27,359 --> 00:28:29,840 Speaker 1: those games had really much of a narrative attached to them. 453 00:28:29,840 --> 00:28:33,160 Speaker 1: It was really just a setting, kind of a flavor 454 00:28:33,160 --> 00:28:35,600 Speaker 1: and atmosphere for you to play through, but there was 455 00:28:35,600 --> 00:28:40,320 Speaker 1: no real story developing throughout the game. Newell and Harrington 456 00:28:40,520 --> 00:28:45,920 Speaker 1: wanted to make Half Life a completely different experience. Now. 457 00:28:45,920 --> 00:28:48,600 Speaker 1: They weren't sure that their approach was going to work out. 458 00:28:48,960 --> 00:28:51,960 Speaker 1: It wasn't a proven thing at all. No one had 459 00:28:52,000 --> 00:28:55,360 Speaker 1: really done it. In fact, Newell would say in later 460 00:28:55,400 --> 00:28:57,880 Speaker 1: interviews that he was more than a little anxious about 461 00:28:57,880 --> 00:29:00,160 Speaker 1: putting so much focus on the story of Half Life. 462 00:29:00,160 --> 00:29:03,280 Speaker 1: I mean, keep in mind, the company Valve was being 463 00:29:03,320 --> 00:29:09,600 Speaker 1: funded through Newell and Harrington's stock option sales. They weren't. 464 00:29:09,800 --> 00:29:14,960 Speaker 1: They have never accepted money from outside investors. It was 465 00:29:15,040 --> 00:29:21,240 Speaker 1: always self funded and always a private company. So Newell 466 00:29:21,360 --> 00:29:26,320 Speaker 1: knew that the emphasis up to that point was just 467 00:29:26,520 --> 00:29:29,280 Speaker 1: how can I blow stuff up? He said, you know, 468 00:29:29,320 --> 00:29:31,600 Speaker 1: he would say that people were more concerned how can 469 00:29:31,640 --> 00:29:35,160 Speaker 1: I fire a rocket launcher faster in this first person 470 00:29:35,160 --> 00:29:37,440 Speaker 1: shooter game than I could in this other first person 471 00:29:37,480 --> 00:29:40,280 Speaker 1: shooter game. They weren't looking for story because no one 472 00:29:40,280 --> 00:29:43,400 Speaker 1: had really done it yet. Newell knew that Half Life 473 00:29:43,400 --> 00:29:47,120 Speaker 1: would need to have all the cool gimmicks and weapons 474 00:29:47,160 --> 00:29:49,760 Speaker 1: that the other first person shooters had, but he also 475 00:29:49,840 --> 00:29:52,120 Speaker 1: wanted there to be more to the game than just 476 00:29:52,440 --> 00:29:57,520 Speaker 1: great level design and challenging enemies. They took inspiration from 477 00:29:57,640 --> 00:30:03,520 Speaker 1: a Stephen King novella. It's called The Mist. It's coincidentally 478 00:30:03,560 --> 00:30:07,160 Speaker 1: one of my favorite works by Stephen King, partly because 479 00:30:07,600 --> 00:30:10,480 Speaker 1: when he writes in novella form, he has to be 480 00:30:10,640 --> 00:30:14,160 Speaker 1: much more concise than he is as a novelist, so 481 00:30:14,800 --> 00:30:17,800 Speaker 1: it's not as rambly as some of his other work. 482 00:30:18,280 --> 00:30:21,600 Speaker 1: The story follows a father and son as they try 483 00:30:21,640 --> 00:30:25,600 Speaker 1: to survive when otherworldly Missed appears to creep out from 484 00:30:25,600 --> 00:30:30,960 Speaker 1: a secret military installation and envelope a small New England community. 485 00:30:31,080 --> 00:30:34,720 Speaker 1: The founders of Valve liked that idea, this idea of 486 00:30:34,720 --> 00:30:38,520 Speaker 1: a secret military research project where something goes terribly wrong, 487 00:30:38,680 --> 00:30:41,440 Speaker 1: and that would be the core of their games conflict, 488 00:30:41,920 --> 00:30:46,680 Speaker 1: but neither Nwell or Harrington had any experience in world 489 00:30:46,720 --> 00:30:49,920 Speaker 1: building on that scale. They wanted to bring someone in 490 00:30:50,040 --> 00:30:53,880 Speaker 1: who could really help guide the story and invent it 491 00:30:54,320 --> 00:30:58,880 Speaker 1: along with their vision and create a really realistic setting, 492 00:30:59,040 --> 00:31:02,680 Speaker 1: a believable setting, if not realistic, at least believable, and 493 00:31:02,760 --> 00:31:08,360 Speaker 1: populate that setting with interesting, complex characters, so they recruited 494 00:31:08,520 --> 00:31:11,720 Speaker 1: Mark laid Law to join the team as the story 495 00:31:11,760 --> 00:31:15,520 Speaker 1: developer and script writer for half Life. Laid Law was 496 00:31:15,560 --> 00:31:18,960 Speaker 1: born in nineteen sixty in Los Angeles, and like Harrington, 497 00:31:19,120 --> 00:31:22,960 Speaker 1: he had attended the University of Oregon quote for a 498 00:31:22,960 --> 00:31:27,120 Speaker 1: bit in quote. According to his own website, he worked 499 00:31:27,160 --> 00:31:31,080 Speaker 1: in administrative support and was writing fiction on the side, 500 00:31:31,280 --> 00:31:34,680 Speaker 1: in both short and long forms. He would join Valve 501 00:31:34,720 --> 00:31:37,800 Speaker 1: in nine seven as their head script writer for games, 502 00:31:37,800 --> 00:31:42,840 Speaker 1: and he would stay on with Valve until two thousand sixteen. Now, 503 00:31:42,880 --> 00:31:45,840 Speaker 1: some of you may not be familiar with half Life, 504 00:31:46,280 --> 00:31:50,240 Speaker 1: and I have to confess personally, I have never played 505 00:31:50,440 --> 00:31:52,840 Speaker 1: the half Life games. It's one of the more egregious 506 00:31:52,880 --> 00:31:56,960 Speaker 1: gaps in my PC gaming history. I have played a 507 00:31:57,040 --> 00:31:59,840 Speaker 1: game that ties into the half Life universe, but that 508 00:32:00,000 --> 00:32:02,200 Speaker 1: as close as I ever got, and that's going to 509 00:32:02,320 --> 00:32:05,400 Speaker 1: have to wait till the next episode anyway, But what 510 00:32:05,520 --> 00:32:09,440 Speaker 1: the heck was the story behind Half Life. The player 511 00:32:09,640 --> 00:32:14,000 Speaker 1: controls the game's protagonist, a physicist named Gordon Freeman, and 512 00:32:14,080 --> 00:32:17,600 Speaker 1: Freeman sets off a catastrophic event when he places some 513 00:32:17,720 --> 00:32:22,160 Speaker 1: material into an anti mass spectrometer in order to analyze it. 514 00:32:23,120 --> 00:32:26,000 Speaker 1: This process causes the whole thing to go boom in 515 00:32:26,120 --> 00:32:30,240 Speaker 1: scientific terms, and this opens up a rift into another dimension. 516 00:32:30,280 --> 00:32:34,000 Speaker 1: That dimension is called Zen x e n. It is 517 00:32:34,040 --> 00:32:37,280 Speaker 1: then Freeman's mission to escape the lab. The lab is 518 00:32:37,320 --> 00:32:40,760 Speaker 1: called Black Mesa Research Facility, and he has to fight 519 00:32:40,800 --> 00:32:43,960 Speaker 1: off Zen critters as well as human marines who have 520 00:32:44,040 --> 00:32:47,200 Speaker 1: been sent in to cover up the disaster before anyone 521 00:32:47,280 --> 00:32:51,440 Speaker 1: outside the research facility can learn of it. Freeman eventually 522 00:32:51,480 --> 00:32:55,400 Speaker 1: discovers that Black Mesa had already actually made contact with 523 00:32:55,520 --> 00:32:59,280 Speaker 1: the Zen dimension before the rift opened up, so it 524 00:32:59,360 --> 00:33:02,360 Speaker 1: wasn't totally his fault. He also learns that there is 525 00:33:02,400 --> 00:33:05,880 Speaker 1: a massively powerful entity in the dimension that is keeping 526 00:33:05,880 --> 00:33:09,360 Speaker 1: the rift open from the other side and sending in 527 00:33:09,520 --> 00:33:13,160 Speaker 1: critters and waves into our dimension, and so it becomes 528 00:33:13,200 --> 00:33:16,680 Speaker 1: Freeman's job to travel to the Zen dimension and kill 529 00:33:16,800 --> 00:33:22,200 Speaker 1: this being, known as the Nihalanth or Niehlenth. I apologize 530 00:33:22,200 --> 00:33:24,000 Speaker 1: because I've not actually played the game, so I don't 531 00:33:24,000 --> 00:33:26,680 Speaker 1: even know how it's pronounced within the world of Half Life, 532 00:33:26,880 --> 00:33:29,120 Speaker 1: and I could be wrong in both of those attempts, 533 00:33:29,320 --> 00:33:32,400 Speaker 1: and I probably am. At the end of the game, 534 00:33:32,480 --> 00:33:36,000 Speaker 1: Freeman is visited by a mysterious government agent who offers 535 00:33:36,120 --> 00:33:39,160 Speaker 1: Freeman a job, and if the player accepts the job, 536 00:33:39,200 --> 00:33:41,720 Speaker 1: the agent puts Freeman into stasis, you know, kind of 537 00:33:41,760 --> 00:33:44,600 Speaker 1: like a cryogenic freezing sort of thing, and if the 538 00:33:44,640 --> 00:33:49,400 Speaker 1: player refuses, the agent transports Freeman into an area filled 539 00:33:49,440 --> 00:33:53,200 Speaker 1: with zen critters who will eventually overwhelm you and kill you. 540 00:33:53,920 --> 00:33:57,320 Speaker 1: Spoiler alert, I guess for a game that came out so, 541 00:33:57,440 --> 00:34:00,680 Speaker 1: I think nineteen years is a good a speriod, I 542 00:34:00,680 --> 00:34:04,960 Speaker 1: think we're past it now. Honestly, to make the game work, 543 00:34:05,520 --> 00:34:08,400 Speaker 1: Valve needed to populate it with characters who could talk 544 00:34:08,440 --> 00:34:11,600 Speaker 1: with the main character and flesh out the plot in stages. 545 00:34:11,640 --> 00:34:15,040 Speaker 1: They wanted to reveal the story as you played the game, 546 00:34:15,080 --> 00:34:17,520 Speaker 1: and not just have a big data dump at the 547 00:34:17,640 --> 00:34:21,080 Speaker 1: very beginning, and then Freeman would just be reduced to 548 00:34:21,120 --> 00:34:24,640 Speaker 1: the role of a walking weapon. They wanted more than that, 549 00:34:25,560 --> 00:34:28,120 Speaker 1: so in the beginning they weren't even really sure that 550 00:34:28,120 --> 00:34:29,839 Speaker 1: they would be able to do this. If they would 551 00:34:29,880 --> 00:34:32,880 Speaker 1: have the technical technical ability to create a game where 552 00:34:32,920 --> 00:34:36,040 Speaker 1: the story is parsed out in bits and pieces as 553 00:34:36,080 --> 00:34:40,560 Speaker 1: you play, so that unfolds as you experience it, Bid 554 00:34:40,680 --> 00:34:43,960 Speaker 1: Birdwell's skeletal animation software would end up helping out a 555 00:34:43,960 --> 00:34:47,760 Speaker 1: lot but they still had plenty to do so. Another 556 00:34:47,800 --> 00:34:50,759 Speaker 1: technical challenge they faced was creating AI models for the 557 00:34:50,840 --> 00:34:54,680 Speaker 1: enemies the players would face. They wanted the game's adversaries 558 00:34:54,680 --> 00:34:58,480 Speaker 1: to use realistic tactics and work together rather than just 559 00:34:58,719 --> 00:35:02,760 Speaker 1: rushing mindlessly yet the player. If you've played other early 560 00:35:02,880 --> 00:35:07,600 Speaker 1: first person shooter games, you know that frequently the monsters 561 00:35:07,760 --> 00:35:10,879 Speaker 1: or enemies you face just start firing at you as 562 00:35:10,880 --> 00:35:13,480 Speaker 1: soon as they have line of sight, and that's it. 563 00:35:13,680 --> 00:35:16,439 Speaker 1: They just wherever they are, they move in a certain way, 564 00:35:16,520 --> 00:35:19,440 Speaker 1: and they fire at you. They wanted something different for 565 00:35:19,480 --> 00:35:23,520 Speaker 1: Half Life. They wanted to have a way for the 566 00:35:23,600 --> 00:35:27,120 Speaker 1: AI to work together so that you had to make 567 00:35:27,239 --> 00:35:30,719 Speaker 1: really strategic decisions as you played the game, and this 568 00:35:30,760 --> 00:35:34,880 Speaker 1: would also set Half Life apart from its competitors. The 569 00:35:35,000 --> 00:35:38,160 Speaker 1: level design for the game was done in stages. First, 570 00:35:38,160 --> 00:35:41,000 Speaker 1: the team would develop a general outline for each level. 571 00:35:41,200 --> 00:35:44,439 Speaker 1: Designers would then create the architecture for that level using 572 00:35:44,440 --> 00:35:47,239 Speaker 1: the game engine, and then the team would reconvene to 573 00:35:47,280 --> 00:35:51,040 Speaker 1: create interactive elements in each level. Laid Law said that 574 00:35:51,040 --> 00:35:54,520 Speaker 1: the process was both inspiring and terrifying because they were 575 00:35:54,560 --> 00:35:56,680 Speaker 1: making all of this up as they were going along. 576 00:35:56,760 --> 00:35:59,520 Speaker 1: There was no other game to follow as model. They 577 00:35:59,520 --> 00:36:03,959 Speaker 1: were having to be pioneers in this field. Valve would 578 00:36:04,000 --> 00:36:08,520 Speaker 1: announce the game in nine, although of course it would 579 00:36:08,520 --> 00:36:11,400 Speaker 1: be another year before it would actually be released. They 580 00:36:11,440 --> 00:36:15,680 Speaker 1: did do an early demonstration in my hometown of Atlanta, Georgia, 581 00:36:15,719 --> 00:36:19,440 Speaker 1: because that's where E three nine happened, over at the 582 00:36:19,480 --> 00:36:22,200 Speaker 1: Georgia Dome. I wish that I had been in the 583 00:36:22,239 --> 00:36:24,439 Speaker 1: industry back in those days because I might have gone 584 00:36:24,480 --> 00:36:27,200 Speaker 1: to that, But that was years before I got into 585 00:36:27,400 --> 00:36:31,920 Speaker 1: writing and podcasting about technology. You can still find the 586 00:36:31,960 --> 00:36:34,799 Speaker 1: teaser trailer that they showed for Half Life at that 587 00:36:34,960 --> 00:36:39,960 Speaker 1: E three presentation. It's on YouTube. It's pretty primitive compared 588 00:36:40,000 --> 00:36:43,320 Speaker 1: to the actual Half Life game that was eventually published. 589 00:36:43,600 --> 00:36:46,719 Speaker 1: The trailer promised that the game's publication date was going 590 00:36:46,760 --> 00:36:49,480 Speaker 1: to be November nine, which would turn out to be 591 00:36:49,560 --> 00:36:52,319 Speaker 1: more than a little ambitious by the tune of a 592 00:36:52,520 --> 00:36:56,000 Speaker 1: full year. Still, the limited gameplay the team could show 593 00:36:56,000 --> 00:36:58,160 Speaker 1: off at E three was enough to win Half Life 594 00:36:58,200 --> 00:37:01,560 Speaker 1: the title of best Game at the show, even though 595 00:37:01,600 --> 00:37:04,359 Speaker 1: the game itself was far from complete. They really were 596 00:37:04,400 --> 00:37:11,440 Speaker 1: just showing concepts and some general gameplay elements. Ultimately, as 597 00:37:11,480 --> 00:37:17,359 Speaker 1: they got back to work at Valve. Sometime around August, 598 00:37:17,760 --> 00:37:20,840 Speaker 1: they decided that the game really was not going to 599 00:37:20,960 --> 00:37:24,200 Speaker 1: be ready for that holiday release that they had planned. 600 00:37:24,440 --> 00:37:28,120 Speaker 1: Not only that, but they didn't feel like they had 601 00:37:28,200 --> 00:37:31,359 Speaker 1: really made the best decisions in developing the game. They 602 00:37:31,360 --> 00:37:34,160 Speaker 1: had spent a lot of effort creating the tools necessary 603 00:37:34,239 --> 00:37:37,040 Speaker 1: to build the game, but they were doing that at 604 00:37:37,080 --> 00:37:39,400 Speaker 1: the same time that they were building the game itself. 605 00:37:40,000 --> 00:37:42,440 Speaker 1: They realized that they had really done great work in 606 00:37:42,680 --> 00:37:47,560 Speaker 1: creating the tools, but that the game was nowhere close 607 00:37:47,600 --> 00:37:49,959 Speaker 1: to what they had envisioned when they first set out. 608 00:37:50,560 --> 00:37:54,360 Speaker 1: So they made a super tough decision, which was to 609 00:37:54,520 --> 00:37:58,680 Speaker 1: scrap everything that they had been building. The AI, the levels, 610 00:37:59,160 --> 00:38:02,440 Speaker 1: everything had to oh. The general idea, the story was 611 00:38:02,520 --> 00:38:06,880 Speaker 1: the same, but they were going to rebuild everything using 612 00:38:06,920 --> 00:38:09,120 Speaker 1: the tools that they had developed over the past year. 613 00:38:09,560 --> 00:38:12,920 Speaker 1: So year one Valve was creating the tools set needed 614 00:38:13,160 --> 00:38:16,360 Speaker 1: to build Half Life, whereas year one was supposed to 615 00:38:16,360 --> 00:38:20,480 Speaker 1: be the development and publication of Half Life. It pushed 616 00:38:20,520 --> 00:38:23,279 Speaker 1: them back quite a bit. This also created a little 617 00:38:23,280 --> 00:38:26,360 Speaker 1: bit of a strain with their relationship with Sierra. The 618 00:38:26,520 --> 00:38:29,440 Speaker 1: company had been expecting to publish a game at the 619 00:38:29,520 --> 00:38:34,320 Speaker 1: end of as it turns out the developers said, sorry, 620 00:38:34,680 --> 00:38:38,040 Speaker 1: we're starting over. They used what they learned building the 621 00:38:38,080 --> 00:38:40,399 Speaker 1: early version of the game to reinvent it. Birdwell would 622 00:38:40,440 --> 00:38:44,200 Speaker 1: describe Half Life as really being half life to the 623 00:38:44,239 --> 00:38:47,960 Speaker 1: game Half Life that published. Birdwell says, well, that's technically 624 00:38:47,960 --> 00:38:50,760 Speaker 1: half life too, because it was so different from the 625 00:38:50,760 --> 00:38:55,560 Speaker 1: original version we built and then ultimately scrapped. So they 626 00:38:55,600 --> 00:38:58,359 Speaker 1: said that while they could have released the original game 627 00:38:58,600 --> 00:39:01,239 Speaker 1: and it would have been playable, it just wasn't what 628 00:39:01,320 --> 00:39:06,759 Speaker 1: they wanted to accomplish in the company focused solely on 629 00:39:06,840 --> 00:39:10,280 Speaker 1: getting Half Life developed and out the door. They had 630 00:39:10,560 --> 00:39:15,440 Speaker 1: begun development on a second title called Prospero I assume, 631 00:39:15,560 --> 00:39:20,759 Speaker 1: named after the character from Shakespeare's classic The Tempest. Prospero 632 00:39:21,000 --> 00:39:24,200 Speaker 1: is a great character. Oh brave new world to have 633 00:39:24,280 --> 00:39:27,399 Speaker 1: such people in it. Actually it's Prospero's daughter who says that. 634 00:39:27,480 --> 00:39:32,040 Speaker 1: But never mind that anyway. Prospero was never meant to be. 635 00:39:32,200 --> 00:39:37,799 Speaker 1: It was suspended indefinitely, ultimately canceled in favor of completing 636 00:39:37,920 --> 00:39:41,120 Speaker 1: Half Life. Valve would push the publishing date for Half 637 00:39:41,160 --> 00:39:45,680 Speaker 1: Life back a quarter, then another quarter, then another. Nuell 638 00:39:45,760 --> 00:39:49,000 Speaker 1: would later say that Valve had basically messed up Sierra's 639 00:39:49,080 --> 00:39:52,319 Speaker 1: quarterly results for five quarters in a row because of 640 00:39:52,360 --> 00:39:54,920 Speaker 1: these delays, and that it was a source of embarrassment 641 00:39:54,960 --> 00:40:00,480 Speaker 1: for him. However, in September, Valve published how Off Life 642 00:40:00,719 --> 00:40:04,000 Speaker 1: Day one. This was a demo version of the game. 643 00:40:04,040 --> 00:40:06,200 Speaker 1: It was not the full game. It was about a 644 00:40:06,320 --> 00:40:08,960 Speaker 1: fifth of what the final game would be, so around 645 00:40:10,239 --> 00:40:13,440 Speaker 1: of what Half Life would be. It was meant to 646 00:40:13,560 --> 00:40:18,400 Speaker 1: be a demo for audio card developers and graphics card developers, 647 00:40:18,920 --> 00:40:21,319 Speaker 1: and that was all it was meant to be. It 648 00:40:21,400 --> 00:40:25,479 Speaker 1: was just supposed to be within the industry. It wasn't 649 00:40:25,480 --> 00:40:29,520 Speaker 1: meant to be released to the public. However, it ended 650 00:40:29,600 --> 00:40:33,280 Speaker 1: up getting leaked on the internet, as these things tend 651 00:40:33,320 --> 00:40:36,440 Speaker 1: to happen, and so lots of people began to download 652 00:40:36,520 --> 00:40:40,400 Speaker 1: the demo version of Half Life. That leak ended up 653 00:40:40,400 --> 00:40:44,960 Speaker 1: being an incredibly effective marketing tool for Valve and Sierra. 654 00:40:45,239 --> 00:40:49,359 Speaker 1: Valve had been pretty secretive about Half Life. They had 655 00:40:49,400 --> 00:40:53,239 Speaker 1: shown off Half Life twice at E three, once and once, 656 00:40:54,440 --> 00:40:56,919 Speaker 1: but that was limited and no one was really sure 657 00:40:56,960 --> 00:41:02,520 Speaker 1: what to expect. But this leak demo suddenly impressed everybody. 658 00:41:02,560 --> 00:41:05,560 Speaker 1: It impressed the people who pirated copies of it online 659 00:41:05,560 --> 00:41:08,160 Speaker 1: and then impressed people within the industry itself. In fact, 660 00:41:08,600 --> 00:41:12,520 Speaker 1: peers in the gaming industry started to heap praise on 661 00:41:12,680 --> 00:41:16,960 Speaker 1: Half Life, including people who had previously dismissed Valve, saying 662 00:41:17,000 --> 00:41:19,759 Speaker 1: that it was an upstart company that was never going 663 00:41:19,800 --> 00:41:22,279 Speaker 1: to have anything to show for its efforts. It was 664 00:41:22,320 --> 00:41:24,680 Speaker 1: just gonna fizzle out before they ever had a chance 665 00:41:24,719 --> 00:41:27,719 Speaker 1: to create an actual game. They came back and said, 666 00:41:27,880 --> 00:41:31,799 Speaker 1: you know what we were wrong. Half Life is amazing. 667 00:41:32,200 --> 00:41:36,920 Speaker 1: It was the closest thing to playing an interactive movie 668 00:41:37,040 --> 00:41:39,439 Speaker 1: that had been developed up to that point, at least 669 00:41:39,440 --> 00:41:42,720 Speaker 1: within the first person shooter genre, and this was stuff 670 00:41:42,719 --> 00:41:46,560 Speaker 1: that people who were working on developing competing first person 671 00:41:46,600 --> 00:41:50,279 Speaker 1: shooters were saying about Half Life. Meanwhile, work behind the 672 00:41:50,280 --> 00:41:53,080 Speaker 1: scenes was still going on. The last bits of coding 673 00:41:53,480 --> 00:41:56,919 Speaker 1: fell to Harrington himself and his small team of programmers. 674 00:41:57,239 --> 00:42:01,600 Speaker 1: They were seeking out bugs that were duction stopping bugs, 675 00:42:01,680 --> 00:42:05,319 Speaker 1: stuff that could not ship with the game. This was 676 00:42:05,400 --> 00:42:08,799 Speaker 1: back in the day where you needed to make sure 677 00:42:08,920 --> 00:42:11,560 Speaker 1: you solved all those bug problems, or as many as 678 00:42:11,560 --> 00:42:14,680 Speaker 1: you possibly could, before you shipped the game, because there 679 00:42:14,760 --> 00:42:18,359 Speaker 1: wasn't really an easy way to develop updates and send 680 00:42:18,400 --> 00:42:22,680 Speaker 1: them out. This was pre patch days. These days, when 681 00:42:22,719 --> 00:42:25,640 Speaker 1: you buy a game, frequently there's a day zero patch 682 00:42:25,680 --> 00:42:28,600 Speaker 1: where you buy the game, you install it on your machine, 683 00:42:29,080 --> 00:42:31,920 Speaker 1: and then you spend the next forty five minutes downloading 684 00:42:31,920 --> 00:42:35,200 Speaker 1: an update so that the game is actually playable. Well, 685 00:42:35,520 --> 00:42:38,160 Speaker 1: in those days, you couldn't really do that, so they 686 00:42:38,160 --> 00:42:41,000 Speaker 1: had to make sure that any bugs that were show 687 00:42:41,040 --> 00:42:45,400 Speaker 1: stoppers were worked out. And there was a bug that 688 00:42:45,440 --> 00:42:49,799 Speaker 1: was sort of preventing multiplayer matches from launching reliably, so 689 00:42:49,920 --> 00:42:52,680 Speaker 1: Harrington and his team had to figure this out. They 690 00:42:52,719 --> 00:42:54,880 Speaker 1: eventually were able to track down the problem to a 691 00:42:54,960 --> 00:42:59,239 Speaker 1: single line of code and fixed it, and it was 692 00:42:59,280 --> 00:43:01,680 Speaker 1: a good thing too, was an enormous relief. They were 693 00:43:01,680 --> 00:43:04,960 Speaker 1: already four days behind when they were supposed to have 694 00:43:05,880 --> 00:43:09,359 Speaker 1: launched the game, and Harrington and his team were under 695 00:43:09,400 --> 00:43:13,280 Speaker 1: tremendous amounts of stress to locate and fix that bug, 696 00:43:13,880 --> 00:43:16,400 Speaker 1: so they had definitely been feeling a lot of pressure. 697 00:43:17,280 --> 00:43:23,000 Speaker 1: On November seven, Half Life shipped. It had most of 698 00:43:23,120 --> 00:43:26,239 Speaker 1: the features the team wanted to include, but not all 699 00:43:26,320 --> 00:43:30,080 Speaker 1: of them. For example, originally they hoped to allow players 700 00:43:30,120 --> 00:43:34,319 Speaker 1: to map their own faces onto multiplayer characters for the 701 00:43:34,360 --> 00:43:39,320 Speaker 1: purposes of online competitive multiplayer, but that just didn't happen 702 00:43:39,400 --> 00:43:42,200 Speaker 1: at launch. They also wanted to implement what they called 703 00:43:42,320 --> 00:43:46,320 Speaker 1: pain models, which will reflect damage done to specific body 704 00:43:46,400 --> 00:43:50,040 Speaker 1: parts as opposed to just general damage to the entire body, 705 00:43:50,080 --> 00:43:53,440 Speaker 1: but that also did not make the final product either. 706 00:43:54,280 --> 00:43:57,279 Speaker 1: The day the game went gold, the Valve team got 707 00:43:57,320 --> 00:44:00,720 Speaker 1: together for a party. The center piece of the party 708 00:44:00,840 --> 00:44:03,600 Speaker 1: was a pinata in the form of a head Crab, 709 00:44:03,840 --> 00:44:06,840 Speaker 1: which is one of the monsters in Half Life. The 710 00:44:06,920 --> 00:44:10,960 Speaker 1: team members would take turns smashing open the head Crab 711 00:44:11,160 --> 00:44:14,279 Speaker 1: using a crowbar, which is an iconic weapon in the 712 00:44:14,320 --> 00:44:18,120 Speaker 1: Half Life universe. They ended up breaking it open and 713 00:44:18,160 --> 00:44:22,120 Speaker 1: getting Monopoly money and wind up figures of South Park characters. 714 00:44:22,200 --> 00:44:26,479 Speaker 1: That's what was inside the head Crab. Newell also talked 715 00:44:26,480 --> 00:44:30,239 Speaker 1: about the next project that Valve would work on, and 716 00:44:30,400 --> 00:44:34,879 Speaker 1: that project was Team Fortress Too. And wait, I hear 717 00:44:34,920 --> 00:44:40,520 Speaker 1: you say Team Fortress Too. What about the original Team Fortress? 718 00:44:40,840 --> 00:44:43,080 Speaker 1: Why go straight to two? What what happened to the 719 00:44:43,120 --> 00:44:48,400 Speaker 1: first game? Well, Team Fortress was not originally developed by Valve. 720 00:44:48,680 --> 00:44:53,279 Speaker 1: That was instead a game created by the Quake mod community. 721 00:44:53,640 --> 00:44:56,880 Speaker 1: And while Team Fortress was a Quake mod, Team Fortress 722 00:44:56,880 --> 00:44:59,880 Speaker 1: Too would be based off the Half Life software developer 723 00:45:00,080 --> 00:45:03,520 Speaker 1: hit and it would also be one of several mods 724 00:45:03,680 --> 00:45:06,239 Speaker 1: of Half Life that would make a life of its 725 00:45:06,280 --> 00:45:10,120 Speaker 1: own and take off in ways that Valve could not 726 00:45:10,200 --> 00:45:14,160 Speaker 1: have anticipated. And it would also uh turn out that 727 00:45:14,440 --> 00:45:18,960 Speaker 1: developing Team Fortress Too would become a much more difficult 728 00:45:19,000 --> 00:45:23,000 Speaker 1: task than Newell had anticipated. Much like Half Life ended 729 00:45:23,080 --> 00:45:25,839 Speaker 1: up being more difficult than they thought, Team Fortress Too 730 00:45:26,040 --> 00:45:30,080 Speaker 1: also took way more time than they expected. It actually 731 00:45:30,120 --> 00:45:33,960 Speaker 1: took years longer than they anticipated. While they were working 732 00:45:33,960 --> 00:45:37,240 Speaker 1: on Team Fortress Too, they were also creating a remake 733 00:45:37,480 --> 00:45:41,280 Speaker 1: of Team Fortress itself, the Quake mod, this time called 734 00:45:41,640 --> 00:45:45,280 Speaker 1: Team Fortress Classic, and this was based off the gold 735 00:45:45,320 --> 00:45:48,600 Speaker 1: source engine that they had used for Half Life. As 736 00:45:48,640 --> 00:45:51,680 Speaker 1: for the game sales of Half Life, those did really well. 737 00:45:52,000 --> 00:45:54,880 Speaker 1: It became the fifth best selling computer game in the 738 00:45:55,000 --> 00:45:59,680 Speaker 1: United States in n That's pretty impressive for a game 739 00:45:59,719 --> 00:46:02,719 Speaker 1: cup that had never put out a game before, and 740 00:46:02,800 --> 00:46:06,120 Speaker 1: it was a brand new first person shooter intellectual property 741 00:46:06,120 --> 00:46:08,919 Speaker 1: and had never there was no sequel. It was brand new. 742 00:46:09,239 --> 00:46:12,879 Speaker 1: It was a brand new experiment in storytelling, so there's 743 00:46:12,880 --> 00:46:15,719 Speaker 1: a lot of new stuff going on here. So for 744 00:46:15,760 --> 00:46:18,000 Speaker 1: it to become a bestseller right out of the gate 745 00:46:18,440 --> 00:46:24,000 Speaker 1: was pretty phenomenal. That year, it sold four twenty three copies. 746 00:46:24,400 --> 00:46:28,040 Speaker 1: By today's standards, that's tiny, but keep in mind this 747 00:46:28,080 --> 00:46:31,520 Speaker 1: isn't an era where PC gaming was a much smaller 748 00:46:31,640 --> 00:46:35,680 Speaker 1: niche market, and it ended up bringing in about sixteen 749 00:46:35,760 --> 00:46:38,360 Speaker 1: million dollars in revenues, so for the first time the 750 00:46:38,360 --> 00:46:41,640 Speaker 1: company was making real money and not just being funded 751 00:46:41,680 --> 00:46:45,000 Speaker 1: out of pocket by Newell and Harrington. The game received 752 00:46:45,000 --> 00:46:48,520 Speaker 1: critical acclaim as well, amassing dozens of Game of the 753 00:46:48,600 --> 00:46:52,680 Speaker 1: Year awards in the process. Over the years, sales have 754 00:46:52,800 --> 00:46:56,720 Speaker 1: increased with various ports and re releases, so these days 755 00:46:56,760 --> 00:46:59,680 Speaker 1: we're talking more than nine million copies of the game 756 00:46:59,760 --> 00:47:03,320 Speaker 1: have been sold in one format or another, which is 757 00:47:03,360 --> 00:47:07,200 Speaker 1: a pretty impressive number by any stretch of the imagination. 758 00:47:07,800 --> 00:47:10,280 Speaker 1: Now I have more to say about these early days 759 00:47:10,320 --> 00:47:12,719 Speaker 1: at Valve Software, but before I get into that, let's 760 00:47:12,719 --> 00:47:23,880 Speaker 1: take another quick break and thank our sponsor. So Newell said, 761 00:47:24,200 --> 00:47:27,200 Speaker 1: and and ask me anything or a m a on 762 00:47:27,360 --> 00:47:31,400 Speaker 1: Reddit that he viewed Half Life as a series of regrets, 763 00:47:31,600 --> 00:47:34,360 Speaker 1: insomuch as he was heavily involved in the game's development 764 00:47:34,880 --> 00:47:37,040 Speaker 1: and in multiple stages they had to trade off on 765 00:47:37,160 --> 00:47:39,279 Speaker 1: things they wanted to include in the game for the 766 00:47:39,320 --> 00:47:43,880 Speaker 1: sake of expediency and stability. Specifically, he said, quote, the 767 00:47:43,960 --> 00:47:46,440 Speaker 1: issue with Half Life for me is that I was 768 00:47:46,520 --> 00:47:49,720 Speaker 1: involved in a much higher percentage of the decisions about 769 00:47:49,760 --> 00:47:52,400 Speaker 1: the games, so it's hard for me to look at 770 00:47:52,440 --> 00:47:56,320 Speaker 1: them as anything other than a series of things I regret. 771 00:47:56,920 --> 00:47:58,920 Speaker 1: He went on to say that everything you see in 772 00:47:59,000 --> 00:48:01,480 Speaker 1: the game is the res alt of something else being 773 00:48:01,600 --> 00:48:05,400 Speaker 1: sacrificed so that that could be in the game, and 774 00:48:05,400 --> 00:48:09,560 Speaker 1: that sometimes it was really hard to make those sacrifices, 775 00:48:09,920 --> 00:48:14,480 Speaker 1: and that Newell felt that those sacrifices were more personally 776 00:48:14,520 --> 00:48:18,080 Speaker 1: impactful because of his level of decision making in the 777 00:48:18,120 --> 00:48:23,560 Speaker 1: development of that game. Specifically, now half Life secured valves 778 00:48:23,640 --> 00:48:27,320 Speaker 1: place in the gaming world. They were clearly a dominant 779 00:48:27,360 --> 00:48:31,879 Speaker 1: player as soon as Half Life shipped. But obviously this 780 00:48:32,000 --> 00:48:34,640 Speaker 1: is not the end of their contributions. It was really 781 00:48:34,680 --> 00:48:36,600 Speaker 1: just the beginning. So let's talk about a couple of 782 00:48:36,600 --> 00:48:40,240 Speaker 1: other elements before I conclude part one of this series. 783 00:48:41,080 --> 00:48:44,239 Speaker 1: As I mentioned, moments ago, Newell had announced that the 784 00:48:44,280 --> 00:48:47,880 Speaker 1: next project would be Team Fortress, to a team based 785 00:48:47,960 --> 00:48:51,760 Speaker 1: first person shooter game in which players compete in teams 786 00:48:51,840 --> 00:48:55,600 Speaker 1: against other teams. A red team and a Blue team, 787 00:48:55,640 --> 00:49:01,320 Speaker 1: and various game types like territorial control or Capture the Flag. 788 00:49:02,080 --> 00:49:05,759 Speaker 1: Each player can choose one of nine classes, with each 789 00:49:05,800 --> 00:49:09,240 Speaker 1: class having different abilities within the game, and strong teams 790 00:49:09,239 --> 00:49:12,440 Speaker 1: would rely on classes that complement each other. Some of 791 00:49:12,480 --> 00:49:16,200 Speaker 1: them would be more effective against enemy classes than others, 792 00:49:16,200 --> 00:49:18,600 Speaker 1: which adds a bit of strategy on top of the 793 00:49:18,640 --> 00:49:21,720 Speaker 1: twitch based skills necessary to perform well at first person 794 00:49:21,760 --> 00:49:25,560 Speaker 1: shooters in general. Shortly after the release of Half Life, 795 00:49:25,680 --> 00:49:30,440 Speaker 1: Valve acquired Team Fortress Software Limited, and they brought the 796 00:49:30,440 --> 00:49:36,279 Speaker 1: Team Fortress creator team over to join Valve Software. These 797 00:49:36,280 --> 00:49:39,680 Speaker 1: guys got on board at just the right time, because 798 00:49:39,800 --> 00:49:44,680 Speaker 1: the company ended up holding its first of many company vacations. 799 00:49:44,800 --> 00:49:47,919 Speaker 1: Gabe Newell had promised his employees that if Half Life 800 00:49:48,000 --> 00:49:51,480 Speaker 1: was a success, there would be a full company vacation 801 00:49:51,520 --> 00:49:55,000 Speaker 1: to someplace nice. That's someplace nice ended up being Cabos 802 00:49:55,000 --> 00:49:59,239 Speaker 1: Son Lucas in Mexico, so thirty employees went on that 803 00:49:59,320 --> 00:50:04,120 Speaker 1: vacation with zero children. This is actually from the official 804 00:50:04,960 --> 00:50:08,759 Speaker 1: Valve Software Employee Handbook, which by the way, is a 805 00:50:08,880 --> 00:50:13,640 Speaker 1: fascinating read, and that again was the first of many 806 00:50:13,760 --> 00:50:16,760 Speaker 1: company vacations at Valve. Sounds like a pretty nice perk 807 00:50:16,880 --> 00:50:20,920 Speaker 1: to me. Although you would be worked to death leading 808 00:50:21,000 --> 00:50:24,640 Speaker 1: up to that vacation, it was a well earned vacation. 809 00:50:25,560 --> 00:50:29,799 Speaker 1: People who stuck with Valve they deserved it, trust me. 810 00:50:30,440 --> 00:50:32,759 Speaker 1: While the developers that Valve were hard at work on 811 00:50:32,840 --> 00:50:35,520 Speaker 1: the next titles, the company was also paying attention to 812 00:50:35,560 --> 00:50:38,759 Speaker 1: the mod community. Valve had decided that they were going 813 00:50:38,800 --> 00:50:43,560 Speaker 1: to support mod communities, very much like other developers had, 814 00:50:43,600 --> 00:50:46,560 Speaker 1: such as in Software and three D Realms. These were 815 00:50:46,600 --> 00:50:51,080 Speaker 1: companies that knew that people who were modifying games were 816 00:50:51,239 --> 00:50:55,440 Speaker 1: passionate about the gaming industry, and that supporting those players 817 00:50:55,760 --> 00:50:59,279 Speaker 1: would end up creating loyal customers, and they kept an 818 00:50:59,280 --> 00:51:01,640 Speaker 1: eye out for the best examples of mods that were 819 00:51:01,680 --> 00:51:05,600 Speaker 1: on the community, because if they were really good, they 820 00:51:05,600 --> 00:51:08,759 Speaker 1: would actually reach out and acquire those mods. They would 821 00:51:08,800 --> 00:51:12,200 Speaker 1: pay money to the creators and say you did great work, 822 00:51:12,360 --> 00:51:15,040 Speaker 1: and we appreciate it, and we would like to market 823 00:51:15,120 --> 00:51:18,360 Speaker 1: this under our company name, and so we will purchase 824 00:51:18,440 --> 00:51:22,160 Speaker 1: those rights from you, which is pretty cool, assuming, of course, 825 00:51:22,200 --> 00:51:24,719 Speaker 1: that the deals were all on the up and up. 826 00:51:24,840 --> 00:51:27,759 Speaker 1: I have no reason to assume otherwise. By the way, 827 00:51:27,920 --> 00:51:32,320 Speaker 1: in Valve released an expansion pack for Half Life called 828 00:51:32,360 --> 00:51:36,680 Speaker 1: Half Life Opposing Force. Now, I'm not gonna cover every 829 00:51:36,760 --> 00:51:40,720 Speaker 1: single release that Valve created or all the different expansion packs, 830 00:51:40,719 --> 00:51:44,880 Speaker 1: but this one I felt was particularly interesting. This game 831 00:51:45,000 --> 00:51:49,200 Speaker 1: took a different approach to expanding that original material of 832 00:51:49,320 --> 00:51:54,080 Speaker 1: Half Life. Rather than playing Gordon Freeman for an expansion pack, 833 00:51:54,360 --> 00:51:57,880 Speaker 1: the player would take control of an invading soldier attempting 834 00:51:57,880 --> 00:52:01,680 Speaker 1: to breach Black Mace Up and deal with the Zen problem. 835 00:52:01,719 --> 00:52:04,960 Speaker 1: So this gave players even more story to explore and 836 00:52:05,040 --> 00:52:08,919 Speaker 1: examine the events of Half Life from a completely new perspective. 837 00:52:09,360 --> 00:52:12,120 Speaker 1: I think that's really cool that you can play a 838 00:52:12,200 --> 00:52:16,600 Speaker 1: character who technically would be an antagonist in the realm 839 00:52:16,640 --> 00:52:20,040 Speaker 1: of the original Half Life and learn what was going 840 00:52:20,120 --> 00:52:23,400 Speaker 1: on from that side of the story and open up 841 00:52:23,400 --> 00:52:27,400 Speaker 1: a whole new element to the mythology of Half Life. Again, 842 00:52:27,640 --> 00:52:30,399 Speaker 1: very innovative compared to what a lot of the other 843 00:52:30,440 --> 00:52:34,000 Speaker 1: first person shooters were doing at the time. Having learned 844 00:52:34,000 --> 00:52:36,640 Speaker 1: from their experiences with Half Life and with the help 845 00:52:36,680 --> 00:52:39,960 Speaker 1: of the original Team Fortress creators, Valve was able to 846 00:52:40,000 --> 00:52:45,000 Speaker 1: release Team Fortress Classic near the end of n Now, 847 00:52:45,040 --> 00:52:48,880 Speaker 1: as I make these notes, I have the Steam charts 848 00:52:49,080 --> 00:52:51,920 Speaker 1: up on my computer. So the Steam charts is kind 849 00:52:51,920 --> 00:52:55,520 Speaker 1: of an ongoing analysis of the games that players are 850 00:52:55,520 --> 00:53:02,200 Speaker 1: playing using the Steam platform. So today, eighteen years after 851 00:53:02,360 --> 00:53:06,760 Speaker 1: Team Fortress Classic debuted, there are on average about fifty 852 00:53:06,800 --> 00:53:11,040 Speaker 1: seven people playing Team Fortress Classic online. Now, I know 853 00:53:11,120 --> 00:53:14,000 Speaker 1: that fifty seven is a very small number, but it's 854 00:53:14,000 --> 00:53:16,319 Speaker 1: also kind of incredible to think that a game that's 855 00:53:16,400 --> 00:53:21,440 Speaker 1: nearly two decades old still has people playing it online 856 00:53:21,719 --> 00:53:25,720 Speaker 1: to this very day. Also incredible is that Team Fortress 857 00:53:25,719 --> 00:53:29,320 Speaker 1: two would be delayed until two thousand seven. So I 858 00:53:29,360 --> 00:53:32,880 Speaker 1: remember I was talking about here Team Fortress, to which 859 00:53:33,040 --> 00:53:35,240 Speaker 1: game Newell said was gonna be the next big project 860 00:53:35,280 --> 00:53:37,800 Speaker 1: out of Valve, would not come out until two thousand 861 00:53:37,800 --> 00:53:40,880 Speaker 1: and seven. But more on that in the next episode 862 00:53:41,040 --> 00:53:44,480 Speaker 1: of this series. I think a really good place to 863 00:53:44,560 --> 00:53:47,960 Speaker 1: kind of conclude this episode is in the beginning of 864 00:53:48,000 --> 00:53:52,640 Speaker 1: two thousand, because that's when Mike Harrington, the co founder 865 00:53:52,640 --> 00:53:56,520 Speaker 1: of the company, decided to step down from Valve Software. 866 00:53:57,000 --> 00:53:59,880 Speaker 1: He dissolved his partnership with Gabe Newell, and this was 867 00:54:00,040 --> 00:54:03,080 Speaker 1: not due to some sort of feud or problem between 868 00:54:03,120 --> 00:54:07,240 Speaker 1: the co founders. According to everybody, this was an amicable partning. 869 00:54:08,040 --> 00:54:11,960 Speaker 1: A major reason contributing to Harrington's decision to leave Valve 870 00:54:12,880 --> 00:54:15,920 Speaker 1: was that the company was clearly going to move ahead 871 00:54:16,080 --> 00:54:19,200 Speaker 1: and start to develop a sequel to Half Life. And 872 00:54:19,280 --> 00:54:23,279 Speaker 1: the first game was a major success, and Harrington was 873 00:54:23,320 --> 00:54:26,600 Speaker 1: really proud of it, but he wasn't sure if he 874 00:54:26,640 --> 00:54:30,520 Speaker 1: wanted to devote so much of his time and effort 875 00:54:30,560 --> 00:54:35,840 Speaker 1: and energy into developing a sequel, particularly when developing a 876 00:54:35,880 --> 00:54:39,879 Speaker 1: sequel comes with added pressure you need to outperform your 877 00:54:39,880 --> 00:54:44,799 Speaker 1: original title. Nobody wants a sequel that is less impressive 878 00:54:45,040 --> 00:54:49,600 Speaker 1: than the original title, and unfortunately that happens more often 879 00:54:49,640 --> 00:54:53,000 Speaker 1: than not. Harrington knew this, and he knew that it 880 00:54:53,080 --> 00:54:55,200 Speaker 1: was possible to make a better game, to make a 881 00:54:55,239 --> 00:54:57,640 Speaker 1: game worthy of being a sequel, but he wasn't sure 882 00:54:57,680 --> 00:55:01,720 Speaker 1: that he was up to all of that effort after 883 00:55:02,200 --> 00:55:07,160 Speaker 1: dedicating so many hours, sleepless hours, to getting Half Life 884 00:55:07,160 --> 00:55:10,840 Speaker 1: out the door. So his first challenge really was to 885 00:55:10,880 --> 00:55:13,440 Speaker 1: create a new type of first person shooter with an 886 00:55:13,440 --> 00:55:17,040 Speaker 1: emphasis on story. His new challenge would be to do 887 00:55:17,080 --> 00:55:21,239 Speaker 1: that again, but more betterer, so to speak, and he 888 00:55:21,360 --> 00:55:23,560 Speaker 1: just wasn't sure that he was capable of that or 889 00:55:23,600 --> 00:55:26,759 Speaker 1: if he really wanted to try, So he decided he 890 00:55:26,760 --> 00:55:29,320 Speaker 1: would leave Valve and spend some time with his family. 891 00:55:30,239 --> 00:55:36,560 Speaker 1: On January two thousand, Harrington left Valve Software. True to form. 892 00:55:36,680 --> 00:55:39,960 Speaker 1: Earlier that day, he clocked out after checking his final 893 00:55:40,040 --> 00:55:42,840 Speaker 1: line of code. He didn't just come in and resign. 894 00:55:43,080 --> 00:55:45,520 Speaker 1: He actually finished up his full days of work day 895 00:55:45,520 --> 00:55:49,480 Speaker 1: of work before he left the company. Harrington said later 896 00:55:49,520 --> 00:55:52,319 Speaker 1: that this decision, while it was the right one for 897 00:55:52,400 --> 00:55:55,080 Speaker 1: him at the time, still was not an easy one. 898 00:55:55,520 --> 00:55:58,719 Speaker 1: It was emotionally difficult to let go of the company, 899 00:55:58,760 --> 00:56:00,919 Speaker 1: but he felt that he had a amblished his goal 900 00:56:01,280 --> 00:56:03,600 Speaker 1: and that was better to leave on a high note. 901 00:56:04,320 --> 00:56:07,799 Speaker 1: For his co founder, A. Game Newell, it was also difficult. 902 00:56:08,480 --> 00:56:12,320 Speaker 1: Valve would continue on after Harrington's departure, but Newell couldn't 903 00:56:12,440 --> 00:56:15,759 Speaker 1: even dream of retiring. He said that he felt he 904 00:56:15,840 --> 00:56:19,120 Speaker 1: needed to work in order to stay sane. He couldn't 905 00:56:19,160 --> 00:56:23,560 Speaker 1: just stop and do nothing. Mike and Monica Harrington, on 906 00:56:23,600 --> 00:56:26,879 Speaker 1: the other hand, commissioned a seventy seven ft boat they 907 00:56:27,000 --> 00:56:30,239 Speaker 1: named the m V Meander, and they set forth to 908 00:56:30,360 --> 00:56:33,000 Speaker 1: sail the world, which they did for the next few years. 909 00:56:33,960 --> 00:56:36,880 Speaker 1: Harrington's story with Valve would end in two thousand, but 910 00:56:36,960 --> 00:56:40,200 Speaker 1: Harrington himself would go on to do much more. So. 911 00:56:40,320 --> 00:56:42,680 Speaker 1: Let's talk a little bit about what he then did 912 00:56:42,840 --> 00:56:46,440 Speaker 1: after Valve and wrap up his part of this story. 913 00:56:46,920 --> 00:56:50,279 Speaker 1: In two thousand five, he co founded the company bit Nick, 914 00:56:50,880 --> 00:56:53,920 Speaker 1: which had a product called pic Nick, P I C 915 00:56:54,200 --> 00:56:58,640 Speaker 1: and I K, an online photo editing tool. Harrington spent 916 00:56:58,719 --> 00:57:01,480 Speaker 1: nearly five years there. He would move on to work 917 00:57:01,520 --> 00:57:04,760 Speaker 1: for Google for a year as an engineering manager because 918 00:57:04,800 --> 00:57:08,480 Speaker 1: Google would acquire the company Picnic, and in two thousand 919 00:57:08,560 --> 00:57:11,480 Speaker 1: twelve he would leave to co found a new software 920 00:57:11,480 --> 00:57:14,160 Speaker 1: company called cat Nip Labs, where he works as the 921 00:57:14,239 --> 00:57:18,920 Speaker 1: chief Technology Officer. He's also the CTO for a Committee 922 00:57:19,000 --> 00:57:22,840 Speaker 1: for Children in Seattle, which is I think pretty darn 923 00:57:22,960 --> 00:57:28,200 Speaker 1: awesome to dedicate his talents to uh a an organization 924 00:57:28,200 --> 00:57:31,600 Speaker 1: like Committee for Children. Now, in our next episode, we'll 925 00:57:31,640 --> 00:57:34,880 Speaker 1: look at valves evolution in the post half life era, 926 00:57:35,360 --> 00:57:38,400 Speaker 1: which will also include a discussion of the incredibly disruptive 927 00:57:38,440 --> 00:57:42,080 Speaker 1: platform called Steam. In the meantime, if you guys have 928 00:57:42,160 --> 00:57:44,919 Speaker 1: suggestions for things that you would like me to cover 929 00:57:45,040 --> 00:57:48,040 Speaker 1: on future episodes of tech Stuff, whether it's a technology, 930 00:57:48,320 --> 00:57:51,360 Speaker 1: a company, a personality. Maybe there's someone you want me 931 00:57:51,400 --> 00:57:53,600 Speaker 1: to interview or a person you would love to have 932 00:57:53,720 --> 00:57:56,520 Speaker 1: on as a guest on Tech Stuff, Let me know. 933 00:57:56,680 --> 00:57:59,439 Speaker 1: Get in touch with me. My email address is tech 934 00:57:59,480 --> 00:58:02,560 Speaker 1: Stuff at how stuff works dot com, or you can 935 00:58:02,640 --> 00:58:07,080 Speaker 1: drop me a line on the social media platforms as 936 00:58:07,080 --> 00:58:09,240 Speaker 1: long as they are Facebook or Twitter because of the 937 00:58:09,280 --> 00:58:11,800 Speaker 1: two I use, and I use the same handle at 938 00:58:11,840 --> 00:58:14,560 Speaker 1: both of those for this show, it's called text Stuff 939 00:58:14,840 --> 00:58:18,400 Speaker 1: h s W. Also, you can join me at twitch 940 00:58:18,480 --> 00:58:21,520 Speaker 1: dot tv slash tech stuff and watch me record these 941 00:58:21,520 --> 00:58:25,520 Speaker 1: shows live. I record on Wednesdays and Fridays. The schedule 942 00:58:25,640 --> 00:58:28,840 Speaker 1: is at twitch dot tv slash tech Stuff. Tune in. 943 00:58:29,280 --> 00:58:31,840 Speaker 1: I chat with you guys in the chat room. I 944 00:58:31,920 --> 00:58:35,920 Speaker 1: make mistakes, I fumble over things. Sometimes I yell at 945 00:58:35,960 --> 00:58:38,800 Speaker 1: my producer you're missing out on all the fun. So 946 00:58:38,920 --> 00:58:41,440 Speaker 1: join me, won't you, and I'll talk to you again 947 00:58:42,080 --> 00:59:00,240 Speaker 1: really soon. One