Turtle Rock Studios Interview (con't)

FiringSquad: Since you have worked on both Source and Valve's Steam service how do you personally feel about the work Valve has done on both projects?

Michael Booth: I founded Turtle Rock Studios with the intention of publishing on Steam. I saw it as a crack in the big corporate game development fortress where I could escape with my creative freedom and IP ownership intact.

Over the last four years, my experience with Source and Steam has only made these convictions stronger.

Source and Steam are both polished and mature platforms that have been proven viable in the real world. In addition, Valve has attracted a truly world class collection of talent who are actively working to enhance and evolve Source and Steam.

Valve has also long been a leader at building and maintaining gamer communities. In 1999/2000 when I was arguing with the powers that be in big corporate game development that releasing level editors and supporting the online community was a Good Thing (and being categorically shut down), Valve was already cultivating support for community-made "mods". Counter-Strike itself is a great example of their success in this area.


FiringSquad: Recently Turtle Rock announced plans to release an all new first person shooter using Valve's Source engine and using Steam as its delivery system. What hints can you give us about the game at this stage?

Michael Booth: All I can say right now is that we look forward to playtesting it every night here at the studio.


FiringSquad: How do you see the first person shooter evolving in the next few years?

Michael Booth: Although there are several areas where I see such evolution in the first person shooter genre, such as richer interactions with the environment and deeper plots/scenarios, the area I have long been preparing for is robust and interesting AI.

Even as far back as Ultima Underworld and the first System Shock, I was frustrated by the disparity between the reasonably believable environment and the simplistic actors within them. This has continued to be an issue, and today's ultra-realistic visuals just make the problem more apparent. There are exceptions, such as Alyx in Half-Life 2, that have made solid progress in creating believable personalities. However, most games have very realistic mannequins that run headlong into solid walls, move robotically, and emit a single canned line of dialog when you interact with them. Clearly, more can be done here.


FiringSquad: Do you see digital distribution of PC game becoming more popular, perhaps replacing retail store distribution altogether?

Michael Booth: Digital distribution is undoubtedly where things are going. I don't see it entirely replacing retail sales, but I do think digital distribution will become the primary channel in the very near future. As a corollary, I can't remember the last time I bought a CD - but my iPod is full of new music. In fact, I have discovered more kinds of interesting music in the last couple of years than I ever *even knew existed* when all my music choices came from the retail channels. As a result, I'm enjoying music even more these days.

For the game developer, digital distribution is a far better situation than the traditional publisher model. The overhead of selling and delivering a game experience is far lower than having to invest in manufacturing thousands of boxes, DVDs, and manuals and then shipping them around the planet. In contrast, the internet's reach is worldwide, instantaneous, and fairly inexpensive. Plus, our ability to seamlessly update our game at any time with no user intervention required is invaluable.

It is that last point - ongoing and seamless updates - that really puts the nail in the coffin of traditional retail sales for me. My interest has always been the online/multiplayer community and the kind of game experiences that medium can offer. The combination of online communities and ongoing updates has massively huge potential that we've barely begun to explore.