Wonder if Olly Moss is a permanent employee of Campo Santo. His style is all over Firewatch. Still love his SW posters.

This was an emotional/nostalgic acquisition. One summer in college, Gabe worked one summer as a ranger in Yellowstone.

Flatline wrote on Apr 23, 2018, 14:37:
WTF?

Mark of the Ninja, Walking Dead, and Firewatch were made by 3 different devs: Klei Entertainment, I'm assuming Telltale, and Campo Santo.

Those are games that some of the devs at Campo Santo worked on previously. People move around in the industry

Flatline wrote on Apr 23, 2018, 14:37:

Verno wrote on Apr 23, 2018, 11:46:

Sepharo wrote on Apr 22, 2018, 17:25:
Oh no, unlimited time and funding for a good group of developers, what terrible news.

Unlimited time and funding sure, I don't know about good. I never played Mark of The Ninja but Walking Dead was really uneven and Firewatch was straight up bad in my opinion. I guess maybe I just don't care for walking sims.

If nothing else at least they will hopefully help Valve produce something again.

WTF?

Mark of the Ninja, Walking Dead, and Firewatch were made by 3 different devs: Klei Entertainment, I'm assuming Telltale, and Campo Santo.

The devs worked on those prior.

HoSpanky wrote on Apr 22, 2018, 15:45:
Hrm. Firewatch was pretty good for a large portion of it, but the ending was...a letdown. Yes, it's a glorified walking simulator, but I'll be damned if what was happening didn't freak me out. Shame the ending isn't as awesome as the rest of the story, but I think it's meant to be a "the drama we create isn't nearly as exciting as WE think it is" lesson?

Maybe they've taken the criticism of it to heart, and their next game will have a more satisfying ending.

Man I guess I'm just in the minority that the story turned out to be kind of real and not some x-files conspiracy story.

As for the very end of missing Delilah... Sure it was disappointing, but so much in life is. Especially in the middle of an emergency like that. Things don't resolve neatly. It's part of why we get PTSD after emergencies.

I don't play many walking simulators. I played The Stanley Parable and that's about it other than Firewatch, so maybe I wasn't burned out when I played it. Or maybe it hit me in the right time of life.

I enjoyed it a lot. And while Delilah was kind of kooky/manic pixie dream girl from the beginning, once you got into the story, a lot of the banter felt like the kind of banter you might have with someone after you've done a routine many times over. I've had multiple friends that fit that kind of relationship/friendship. It felt more natural to me than Wheadon-dialogue does.

It also helped that Firewatch was *gorgeous*.

Verno wrote on Apr 23, 2018, 11:46:

Sepharo wrote on Apr 22, 2018, 17:25:
Oh no, unlimited time and funding for a good group of developers, what terrible news.

Unlimited time and funding sure, I don't know about good. I never played Mark of The Ninja but Walking Dead was really uneven and Firewatch was straight up bad in my opinion. I guess maybe I just don't care for walking sims.

If nothing else at least they will hopefully help Valve produce something again.

WTF?

Mark of the Ninja, Walking Dead, and Firewatch were made by 3 different devs: Klei Entertainment, I'm assuming Telltale, and Campo Santo.

Sepharo wrote on Apr 22, 2018, 17:25:
Oh no, unlimited time and funding for a good group of developers, what terrible news.

Unlimited time and funding sure, I don't know about good. I never played Mark of The Ninja but Walking Dead was really uneven and Firewatch was straight up bad in my opinion. I guess maybe I just don't care for walking sims.

If nothing else at least they will hopefully help Valve produce something again.

jdreyer wrote on Apr 22, 2018, 17:46:

ItBurn wrote on Apr 22, 2018, 17:28:
I also don't get what Valve has to gain from this. Firewatch was a pretty good walking simulator. Not the best, but it had more gameplay than most. I can't wait for their next game though, it looks like such a rich idea.

What would you consider the pinnacle of the genre? Edith Finch?

Honestly The Stanley Parable is still my favorite, but What Remains of Edith Finch is outstanding.

These guys might have been working on something awesome, something we are not privy to but that might profit from Gabe Newell's unlimited coffers.

A successful company usually doesn't buy out a smaller up and coming start up unless they feel like they will gain something out of it.

A very much privately owned company, that is famous for doing its own thing with a fuck-it-all attitude towards how it's supposed to be done might do things differently but every time they have acquired some new developers in the recent past has resulted in a critically acclaimed and financially successful game.

So yeah, there you go.

Slick wrote on Apr 22, 2018, 17:24:
Do you mean employees? I highly doubt that, people will line up around the block to get in on that office.

Yeah, normal people might, who long for regular pay without much to do. But I don't think any creative mind that Valve had make something is still with them. Marc Laidlaw was the last to go, but I think the Counter-Strike guy or the Portal people have left long ago to make new games instead of just wasting time at Valve with nothing coming out of it...

jdreyer wrote on Apr 22, 2018, 17:44:

Mr. Tact wrote on Apr 22, 2018, 16:26:
How long before the layoffs?

It's Valve, not Electronic Arts.

I guess it's hard to lay people off when you only have 2% of the workforce of the other, also you stopped making games a long time ago.

Wesp5 wrote on Apr 22, 2018, 16:08:
Firewatch was just another walking simulator, I agree. But then look at the original demo of the team that Valve bought to make Portal! At least if they don't want to make some own games (HL3 confirmed!) they keep buying other teams to keep the fake image up that they are still a game developer and not just a game distributor.

This was probably the best post in this thread. Thanks for the optimistic outlook.

Personally, I love valve and what they've done for computer games.

ItBurn wrote on Apr 22, 2018, 17:50:

jdreyer wrote on Apr 22, 2018, 17:46:

ItBurn wrote on Apr 22, 2018, 17:28:
I also don't get what Valve has to gain from this. Firewatch was a pretty good walking simulator. Not the best, but it had more gameplay than most. I can't wait for their next game though, it looks like such a rich idea.

What would you consider the pinnacle of the genre? Edith Finch?

I actually didn't play Edith Finch or Tacoma yet. My favorite so far was Gone Home.

Oh yeah. I really enjoyed Gone Home. I got caught up in the story and the mystery.

Rilcon wrote on Apr 22, 2018, 18:35:
Oh boy, an article about Valve! Time for a deluge of puerile bitching and lazy memes!

don't forget the hyperbole, lots and lots of hyperbole

Oh boy, an article about Valve! Time for a deluge of puerile bitching and lazy memes!

I wonder how many guys are gonna scoot their desks over to the "useless garbage" section and spend their time working on that.

Hope they enjoy making hats for the rest of their lives.

jdreyer wrote on Apr 22, 2018, 17:46:

ItBurn wrote on Apr 22, 2018, 17:28:
I also don't get what Valve has to gain from this. Firewatch was a pretty good walking simulator. Not the best, but it had more gameplay than most. I can't wait for their next game though, it looks like such a rich idea.

What would you consider the pinnacle of the genre? Edith Finch?

I actually didn't play Edith Finch or Tacoma yet. My favorite so far was Gone Home.

ItBurn wrote on Apr 22, 2018, 17:28:
I also don't get what Valve has to gain from this. Firewatch was a pretty good walking simulator. Not the best, but it had more gameplay than most. I can't wait for their next game though, it looks like such a rich idea.

What would you consider the pinnacle of the genre? Edith Finch?

Mr. Tact wrote on Apr 22, 2018, 16:26:
How long before the layoffs?

It's Valve, not Electronic Arts.