W00t, Gabe Newell Answered My Email!

DOOManiac · August 2003

I sent Gabe Newell a question about HL2, and he actually answered! Shazam shazam!

<a href='http://www.halflife2.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=71944#post71944' target='_blank'>clickity click</a>

tbZBeAst · August 2003

Woo, power to the people!

DY357LX · August 2003

Nice questions there Doomy. It's nice to see Gabe + Co
are still checking their emails and actually bothering to reply.
Keep us updated on the other question (I forgot what it was now)
that you emailed out,

Mullet · August 2003

Woooooooo, I'd feel so happy if Gabe answered me....Print what he wrote and frame it, and when HL2 comes out, you can say

"Yup...I was answered by <i>HIM</i>"

Tell him Mullet Loves him...omg im so dumb....yeah....

BTW: Nice questions.

esuna · August 2003

I know that Gabe obviously doesn't really have the time to make long-winded replies to emails, and it is good that he's actually replying to a fans questions, but he sounded so cold, rude and entirely uninformative.

Mullet · August 2003

</span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (::esuna:: @ Aug 5 2003, 03:03 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> I know that Gabe obviously doesn't really have the time to make long-winded replies to emails, and it is good that he's actually replying to a fans questions, but he sounded so cold, rude and entirely uninformative. </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'>
Yeah, I've noticed the same thing in many interviews.

But you've got to put yourself in his shoes...

What if you recieved HUNDREDS if not thousands of fan emails a day? I know I wouldn't sound that excited to talk to some person about a game they've worked on for hours and hours. Think of all the interviews and other fan mails he answered, anyone who even recieved a reply from Gabe should feel privleged.

He probably can't be that informative because they dont want to tell everyone about the whole damn game before it comes out. (Perhaps.)

I've sent an email to Flayra once, and he didn't answer..... <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/sad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad.gif'> *cries*

esuna · August 2003

</span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Mullet @ Aug 5 2003, 05:10 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> </span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (::esuna:: @ Aug 5 2003, 03:03 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> I know that Gabe obviously doesn't really have the time to make long-winded replies to emails, and it is good that he's actually replying to a fans questions, but he sounded so cold, rude and entirely uninformative. </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'>
Yeah, I've noticed the same thing in many interviews.

But you've got to put yourself in his shoes...

What if you recieved HUNDREDS if not thousands of fan emails a day? I know I wouldn't sound that excited to talk to some person about a game they've worked on for hours and hours. Think of all the interviews and other fan mails he answered, anyone who even recieved a reply from Gabe should feel privleged.

He probably can't be that informative because they dont want to tell everyone about the whole damn game before it comes out. (Perhaps.)

I've sent an email to Flayra once, and he didn't answer..... <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/sad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad.gif'> *cries*  </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> 
That's why i said that i think it's good that he's replying to fan's emails. It's great infact, but he does come off sounding extremely rude still...

Mullet · August 2003

He works on HL2 and that's all that matters <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/wink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wink.gif'> ....I love him no matter how rude he sounds <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'>

JediYoshi · August 2003

With the last question - It seems he(gabe) feels just because it is HL2, he does have to answer questions about is since he presumes it's a large fact.

TychoCelchuuu · August 2003

Well, I would expect him to be rude at 3 AM.

Smoke_Nova · August 2003

Just by the sheer fact that he answered at all one should feel some blessing. I mean, come on, it was 3:00am, He's had to answer the questions probably a dozen times and he didn't wanna give away company secrets and such.

Plus, he gives you enough to know if it's gonna be in or not.

DOOManiac · August 2003

</span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Mullet @ Aug 5 2003, 04:10 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> What if you recieved HUNDREDS if not thousands of fan emails a day? I know I wouldn't sound that excited to talk to some person about a game they've worked on for hours and hours. Think of all the interviews and other fan mails he answered, anyone who even recieved a reply from Gabe should feel privleged.  </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> 
And add 3am onto that equation...

And yes, I do feel very privleged.

NumbersNotFound · August 2003

I'm on page6:

Q: Hi, sorry to disturb, but I hold a plea from most frusterated HLers.
In HL2 will there be some sort of optional server-side compression system
which will make server-client map downloads smaller and faster?
It's currently frusterating to have to download a 5mb BSP file at 5kb/sec
because the map in question is nowhere to be found on the net. Whats more is
that these maps can be taken down in size considerably just by using a
simple zip or rar compression method... Will HL2 support this? I think it
would be a much better way to get HL2 maps rather than exiting, googling
<mapname>.zip, installing, getting back on the server, etc.

A: Steam completely replaces this with a more efficient map propagation
approach.

acer_r · August 2003

the url is teh broke

That_Annoying_Kid · August 2003

I know exactly the feeling when someone in high places answers your query's and you feel happy even if they were prompt or rude becuase you know they have better things to do but they still took the time to answer what you said

*gives Doom a cookie*

PanzerOx · August 2003

</span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (That Annoying Kid @ Aug 5 2003, 12:33 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> I know exactly the feeling when someone in high places answers your query's and you feel happy even if they were prompt or rude becuase you know they have better things to do but they still took the time to answer what you said  </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> 
That makes me sad then, I sent gabe an email a week ago, so far no reply.

I heard he replied to others in like 5 mins too.

esuna · August 2003

</span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (PanzerOx @ Aug 5 2003, 12:38 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> </span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (That Annoying Kid @ Aug 5 2003, 12:33 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> I know exactly the feeling when someone in high places answers your query's and you feel happy even if they were prompt or rude becuase you know they have better things to do but they still took the time to answer what you said </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'>
That makes me sad then, I sent gabe an email a week ago, so far no reply.

I heard he replied to others in like 5 mins too.  </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> 
I see this as another problem with responding to emails from fans. A great number of them won't see a reply, and because they've seen other people get replies they get frustrated and irritated.

DOOManiac · August 2003

Yeah PanzerOx, this is actually my second email to Gabe, first went unreplied to. No biggie.

PanzerOx · August 2003

</span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (DOOManiac @ Aug 5 2003, 02:31 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> Yeah PanzerOx, this is actually my second email to Gabe, first went unreplied to. No biggie.  </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> 
I guess it was a bit too demanding, I asked about some monsters and stuff.

Hotmail deleted my sent items folder, so I don't have a copy of it, if he actually replies to it I'll post it here. I made a request that the garg be included in the HL2 .pak files, or whatever, even if it's not used. I asked for a more clearer reply about the Vivendi release thing, how many videos they were planning to release on steam, and the Single player online thingy, that once you connect to steam to play HL2 online, you have to do everything online, I asked him if this was true.

5 Bucks says the reply says "Can't answer it."

Dirty_Harry_Potter · August 2003

</span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (DOOManiac @ Aug 5 2003, 02:31 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> Yeah PanzerOx, this is actually my second email to Gabe, first went unreplied to. No biggie.  </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> 
a-HA! you cheated <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'>

well good questions, just too bad they weren't answered in more detail, but as noted here earlier its prolly a bit tough...

PanzerOx · August 2003

Alright, I guess I'll cheat the system too, and send him another email.

(I bet like 500 other people are thinking the same thing.)

NeoKnight · August 2003

man you didn't mention NS to him in your email! lol <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'>

J_D_W · August 2003

</span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (::esuna:: @ Aug 5 2003, 05:03 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> I know that Gabe obviously doesn't really have the time to make long-winded replies to emails, and it is good that he's actually replying to a fans questions, but he sounded so cold, rude and entirely uninformative.  </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> 
LOL!!!!??
Watch until the end of this movie.
<a href='http://www.planethalflife.com/half-life2/delaymovie/' target='_blank'>PHL Presents.... HALF LIFE TWO DELAY OF GAME MOVIE!</a>

DOOManiac · August 2003

</span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (NeoKnight @ Aug 5 2003, 11:44 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> man you didn't mention NS to him in your email! lol :p  </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> 
1) I'm not a moron fanboy ;)
2) You think Valve doesn't know about NS? I can assure you they played it before you did. Its actually quite customary for Valve guys to be sent a particular pre-release build of a mod (they ask for it, not mod authors pushing it on them). Guess they just like to see people's stuffs, moreso if they've been helping the mod team w/ bumps along the way. :P

PanzerOx · August 2003

Valve supports the modding community, just like iD did with Doom and Quake.

DOOManiac · August 2003

Actually, they support it a whole load better than id does.

id's ideology is that mods are nice, but ultimately unimportant to the game sales, and thus they don't really go that much out of their way to support them (to the extent Valve does at least).

Valve's ideology, however, is that mods are critical to continuing game sales after the game has been out for awhile (as noted by HL1 being a top seller for 4 whole years), so they really go out of their way to help mod teams, especially those who have something unique that might be the Next Big Thing to drive people out to buy copies of HL1.

So which do I think is correct? 2 years ago I would have agreed with id's ideology that mods aren't that important in the grand scheme of things, but now I've started to shift over towards the Valve ideology camp, although I still think a LOT of mod teams today think that they're more important than they really are...

p4Samwise · August 2003

Dead link. Could you summarize, DOOM? Pwetty pwease?

DOOManiac · August 2003

The link isn't dead, but here it is anyway:

</span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'>
-----Original Message-----
From: DOOManiac [mailto:doomaniac@cox.net]
Sent: Tuesday, August 05, 2003 12:39 AM
To: <a href='mailto:GabeN@valvesoftware.com'>GabeN@valvesoftware.com</a>
Subject: A few quick questions about the SDK, Steam, & lighting

Arg, I was gonna attend the IRC Chat session but I had to work. I have a few
quick questions if you wouldn't mind answering them:

- As far as complexity of coding goes, has HL2 gotten easier or harder than HL1? What I mean is, say you were to code the exact same mod (something fairly simple that doesn't push HL1's limits) in both engines, which would be the easier to code?

<b>HL-2 is easier to work with.</b>

- Its been mentioned that the SDK will be released before HL2, maybe
sometime in August. Will this include the source code as well, or just
Worldcraft and/or modelling related stuff?

<b>The SDK when it is finished will have quite a bit of source code.</b>

- Is there any possibility of mod teams being able to have their own private steam servers for their internal beta testing? Or any other way to make it so only certain people have access to the mod?

<b>Check with Erik on how using Steam for secure limited distribution will
work.</b>

<i>(DOOM's Note: I've done so, and I'll post a reply from Erik when/if I get one)</i>

- Its been said that while HL2's lighting is static based, there will be
some dynamic lighting. Do dynamic lights cast dynamic shadows? Is this
something will only be able to be used in a few places (such as in the HL
engine, where dynamic lighting is was a pretty big system hit) or could we do things like in Splinter Cell, with having lots of light bulbs being shot out and whatnot? Would it be possible to have a swinging light ala DOOM III?

<b>I'm not sure where people get the idea that HL-2 doesn't support dynamic lighting.</b>

<i>(DOOM's Note: Still didn't really answer the question though...)</i>

Thanks for your time.</td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'>

Clint · August 2003

Glad to see him take the time, and answer these questions of yours.

DOOManiac · August 2003

I got an email back from Erik Johnson w/ his reply to the question:

</span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'>Is there any possibility of mod teams being able to have their own private steam servers for their internal beta testing? Or any other way to make it so only certain people have access to the mod?

<b>We're still working out some of the kinks of getting limited Steam
distributions working.

It will likley be a system where you let us know the account names that you
want to have access to a paticular application, and then we'd make the
neccesary changes here.</b>
</td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'>

w00t :D

W00t, Gabe Newell Answered My Email!

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