What the Videogame Industry Should Learn from the Half-Life Documentary

The Half-Life 25th anniversary documentary, released on Valve’s YouTube channel on the 17th of November, has a lot of valuable information that developers can use to improve their games. The people interviewed in it have a lot of wisdom about the gaming industry, and using their knowledge to improve how games are made is a very good idea.

Don't be afraid to innovate

New experiences are something everyone likes; they’re always refreshing, and truly innovative games can create an entirely new genre. When making Half-Life, the developers created something completely new that entirely changed the industry, and that’s the case with almost every one of their games: Portal showed how good videogame technology can be while also advancing the puzzle genre, Counter-Strike completely remade competitive shooters and helped boost the popularity of esports, and Half-Life: Alyx made VR a more mainstream platform for gaming.

Innovative games have always succeeded in pulling in audiences, and new technologies are fun for both gamers and developers to play with. Doki Doki Literature Club succeeded as much as it did because it broke the players’ assumptions that the game is only played within the game. This is the kind of innovation that can make players like an experience, and the current gaming industry could use more of it.

It's okay to be late

There aren’t a lot of universal truths in gaming, but there is one — don’t rush game releases. Not being able to meet a provided release date isn’t great, but it’s a lot better than releasing an unfinished and unplayable game. Nobody is going to enjoy playing a buggy mess, but everyone knows that sometimes, you just have to wait to get what you’re looking for.

Creating a game is a big and meaningful project, and some games can be considered art. To create something meaningful, you have to be patient and figure out exactly how everything will work together. It’s always better to take longer in order to deliver the best possible product instead of building on possible hype and releasing something that will forever taint your name. As Gabe Newell himself said, “Late is just for a little bit; suck is forever”.

Nothing is perfect

While it’s always good to be striving to provide the best product possible, it’s impossible to create a perfect game. There will always be problems and imperfections in every single thing humans make, but that’s not a bad thing — bugs being turned into features is one of the things gamers like most!

If a game feels ready, there is no point in obsessing over every little problem with it. Early, unfinished Half-Life copies did better than a lot of complete AAA projects today! That said, being careless is also bad; a good game does need to have a lot of thought and care put into making it.

Trust yourself

There are so many types of gamers, and people are always going to like different things, so don’t think your game might not succeed because it’s in a niche genre or isn’t part of the current gaming trend. As long as you put love and effort into making your game, there will be people who like it. Undertale’s genre isn’t very popular, but it’s still a very successful game because of how much effort Toby Fox put in while making it.

Some of my favourite videogames, such as Dishonored, Hollow Knight, and Oxenfree, didn’t follow a particular trend when they came out. The creators were passionate and created something that has a lot of meaning for them, and that love they have for the game is apparent when playing it. The beautiful art direction in Dishonored, the amazing story of Hollow Knight, and the livelihood of the characters in Oxenfree are all direct results of care and love being put into a game.

Closing thoughts

There are a lot more lessons that can be taken from the Half-Life documentary, and I absolutely think everyone who is passionate about videogames and wants to understand more about them should watch it. I only wrote about the things that concern your mentality when making videogames, and not the technical details, and watching the video is one of the best ways to understand the wisdom of people who have been in this industry for years.