Writer wants to make Portal 3, but Valve's 'flat structure' makes it a challenge

Re:Writer wants to make Portal 3, but Valve's 'flat structur... by pathartl on Tuesday April 11, 2023 @07:29PM (#35533143)

I might be an outlier, but I'm extremely attached to the Half-Life series and while it's difficult to not get HL3, I'm also not currently disappointed in any game in the series. If the only thing I have to be disappointed in is the release cadence, then I'm probably okay with that?

Someone in a Reddit thread pointed how Valve's structure reduces the fragility of a product by not basing it on one vision and that their games are based on a pretty pure collaborative effort. A writer becomes inherently less influential on the final product, but their individual contribution is more passionate and worked. One could argue for hours about the approach, but I think the results speak for themselves.

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Re:Writer wants to make Portal 3, but Valve's 'flat structur... by 23B1 on Tuesday April 11, 2023 @07:34PM (#35533174)

There's plenty of other counterexamples of that though – visionaries with a singular vision being able to get a team to help them create something amazing. Not saying one is better than the other, but it'd be a damn shame if amazing stories like Portal don't get more airtime because of collective lethargy. It's too good to let flounder!

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Re:Writer wants to make Portal 3, but Valve's 'flat structur... by pathartl on Tuesday April 11, 2023 @08:06PM (#35533421)

I'd suggest checking out "Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar" to learn about their design process. It's fascinating. There can absolutely be visionaries out there... Miyazaki, Kojima, Miyamoto are probably the top three right now. But there's a ton that are kinda went out with a whimper such as Molyneux, Wright, Carmack, Romero, the Housers, Schafer, Sweeney.

I think abstraction is key. There's gotta be a happy medium between absolute control or almost a sense of worship and not allowing a singular person to guide the ship.

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Re:Writer wants to make Portal 3, but Valve's 'flat structur... by dolni on Tuesday April 11, 2023 @09:05PM (#35533800)

The key is not about how many people are guiding the ship, it is about their overall abilities.

A BDFL is great if the dictator is competent. A committee is also great if the committee is competent (overall).

Most people don't have what it takes to be a BDFL. But a few do. And for those people, the answer is to take good notes and get the hell out of their way.

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