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[Mercanthyr]

I seriously don't know why people keep thinking it's a good idea for DF to get corporate money/support. Corporations care about calculating profit margins when making games because they are businesses and we pay Toady to make his game because he wants to make the same kind of game we all want to play. There is a difference. I will say that Blizzard and Valve are two of the companies that really stand out in not wringing the neck of the customer. The only games that get upgraded with a significant of continuing content so far are MMOs and the content they receive is further storyline but with Toady we receive new game mechanics that make the game deeper and deeper.

As far as I'm concerned, the things we love about DF would be compromised by bigger business and other minds and interests taking ownership in DF. Just about the only thing that wouldn't do that is if Toady were left a small fortune by someone and told to use it to make DF in any way he wants (which would just be a larger example of what we fans do on a regular basis)

There's nothing de facto wrong with commercial game design, it just doesn't always give the deepest most satisfying gaming experiences.

One other thing that might be cool is what if valve put DF on steam with no strings attached, just because they felt like it... meaning that it was free and it would basically just be another place you can download it. That would give it tons of free publicity.

[Randominality]

Hmm ive gotta play the DF tune on audiosurf NOW!!!!

[sneakey pete]

Valve is almost certainly developing a next generation engine in secret. Valve has not released any new PR stuff on HL2:Episode 3 or HL3 for any number of potential reasons. For example, they released movies and screens of HL2:Ep2 that featured stuff that was cut from the final game, including story elements that never happened. They probably are playing it safe this time around.

EDIT: Removed mention of a fake HL3 screenshot.

Why would they almost certainly be developing a new next gen engine when they've specifically stated that they plan to progressively update the source engine for years to come, and have activally gone about adding to the engine over the last few years? I'd say the media blackout is just to keep the story quite, not to hide the development of a new engine.

Of course, this doesn't mean that they probably won't put some cool new features into the source engine for the release.

[Tormy]

I think valved only wanted to show its own workers what a real Programmer is .

Yep, yep. 

[Mr.Person]

Valve is almost certainly developing a next generation engine in secret. Valve has not released any new PR stuff on HL2:Episode 3 or HL3 for any number of potential reasons. For example, they released movies and screens of HL2:Ep2 that featured stuff that was cut from the final game, including story elements that never happened. They probably are playing it safe this time around.

EDIT: Removed mention of a fake HL3 screenshot.

Why would they almost certainly be developing a new next gen engine when they've specifically stated that they plan to progressively update the source engine for years to come, and have activally gone about adding to the engine over the last few years? I'd say the media blackout is just to keep the story quite, not to hide the development of a new engine.

Of course, this doesn't mean that they probably won't put some cool new features into the source engine for the release.

The blackout for Ep3 is because they're focusing on content upgrades for TF2 and L4D right now.

[Sir Finkus]

I seriously don't know why people keep thinking it's a good idea for DF to get corporate money/support. Corporations care about calculating profit margins when making games because they are businesses and we pay Toady to make his game because he wants to make the same kind of game we all want to play. There is a difference. I will say that Blizzard and Valve are two of the companies that really stand out in not wringing the neck of the customer. The only games that get upgraded with a significant of continuing content so far are MMOs and the content they receive is further storyline but with Toady we receive new game mechanics that make the game deeper and deeper.

As far as I'm concerned, the things we love about DF would be compromised by bigger business and other minds and interests taking ownership in DF. Just about the only thing that wouldn't do that is if Toady were left a small fortune by someone and told to use it to make DF in any way he wants (which would just be a larger example of what we fans do on a regular basis)

There's nothing de facto wrong with commercial game design, it just doesn't always give the deepest most satisfying gaming experiences.

One other thing that might be cool is what if valve put DF on steam with no strings attached, just because they felt like it... meaning that it was free and it would basically just be another place you can download it. That would give it tons of free publicity.

I agree.  I love valve and bay12, but I don't think they are really compatible.  I like things the way they are now.

[sonerohi]

Valve can contribute, just not in developing terms. Toady could always use a cook and a maid that he wouldn't have to pay for, even better if they throw in some peon to fetch him coffee and type out the dev notes as Toady dictates them. Man, now that would be sweet.

[Mel_Vixen]

That or we as toadys Fans could donate our Time for this. Would be a nice refference too for some people if they can say they worked for a month at bay12.

[bombcar]

From the sounds of the podcast, Toady could use a beefy bodyguard or two.

[Kardos]

From the sounds of the podcast, Toady could use a beefy bodyguard or two.

Welcome tourist to Seattle ToadyOne military defense base.

[sonerohi]

That or we as toadys Fans could donate our Time for this. Would be a nice refference too for some people if they can say they worked for a month at bay12.

That's an unfair advantage over anyone else applying for a job though. That would be like the (forgive me for delving into the Christian bible) twelve discipals going out and putting "Worked for god" on their resume.

[Guy Montag]

Eh, from the sound of the podcast it sounds like he could use a car and steak dinner, medium rare.

All the more reason to donate, I suppose?

[Rusty Mcloon]

Why would they almost certainly be developing a new next gen engine when they've specifically stated that they plan to progressively update the source engine for years to come, and have activally gone about adding to the engine over the last few years? I'd say the media blackout is just to keep the story quite, not to hide the development of a new engine.

Of course, this doesn't mean that they probably won't put some cool new features into the source engine for the release.

Okay, I didn't consider that, and I also was taking into account the fake screenshot of HL3. But even for TF2 and L4D, the Source Engine is looking old. The Unreal 3 engine looks much better to me, and it still runs nicely on my semi-low-end system. Valve is going to need to do a lot to make Source something special again. At this point, as much of a Valve fan as I am, I have trouble seeing how what they could do in Episode 3 to make HL2 exciting and new. Episode 2 was good, but it borrowed a lot from the previous incarnations of HL2 and some of the models and textures were sure showing their age.

[Capntastic]

But even for TF2 and L4D, the Source Engine is looking old.

That's a bad example, considering that TF2 and L4D both look pretty great, have excellent art direction, and are multiplayer games made to have lots of stuff happening on-screen at any given time.   Maybe you're playing it on Xbox or something.  It's also good to point out that not everyone has a computer that can run Crysis level graphics.

[Keiseth]

Eh, from the sound of the podcast it sounds like he could use a car and steak dinner, medium rare.

All the more reason to donate, I suppose?

Both the car and the steak medium rare?

Fans at Valve, fans at Microsoft... this is a pretty phenomenal thing when you think about it. You've got commercial developers rooting for totally independent, hobbyist ones, cheering them on through their insanely difficult and taxing project.

It's like those movies where all of humanity ends up cheering for the heroes to defeat the big bad or stop the meteor or what have you. Only instead of stopping a world-shattering meteor, it's a project to make an immaculate game. And therefore just as dire as the meteor! If not more so.