Just yesterday, a rumor appeared on the Internet that the owner of Valve announced the free distribution of Dota 2. However, we have waited for the official release of the full version of the interview with Gabe Newell, from which you will learn not only about the development model of Dota 2, but also the future of Steam, cooperation with Apple and much more.
Well, we present important excerpts from this conversation related to Dota 2 and the future of Steam.
-The first question is not related to games. How do you like your trip to Hawaii??
Hawaii is cool! We have already traveled as a group a dozen times to different countries on vacation – we were in Mexico, the Caribbean, etc.d. But some employees have problems with Visas, so this time we chose Hawaii*.
*Hawaiian Islands is a US state, Americans do not need a visa there (approx. author)
-Let’s move on to Dota 2. How did you come up with the idea of creating a sequel to the legendary Dota??
Well, let’s start with the fact that we do not have management in the traditional sense, i.e.e. no one tells people what to do. Regarding Dota, it went like this:
A small group of people from our team were fond of the first Dota, but they constantly lost in tournaments. Then these guys decided to contact IceFrog in order to learn something from him, and generally find out how he makes Dota. After a short conversation, it turned out that IceFrog had a lot of ideas, but he could not implement them due to the limited capabilities of WarCraft. That’s how he was invited to Valve to create Dota 2.
At first, Adrian Fenol and Eric Johnson were in charge of the game. Adrian made the first piece of character movement code over a weekend and got more people involved with the project. As the code was refined, more and more developers joined the creation of Dota. This is exactly how we work – employees switch between projects as they wish, no one forces them to sweat over a single game. When a lot of people began to take part in the creation of Dota 2, we finally thought about whether it was worth continuing and whether it was necessary to start such work at all. As a result, we came to the conclusion that the idea is quite normal and we need to further develop Dota 2.
-Dota will be easy to learn for noobs? And what about experienced players?
We know that noobs and pros don’t like to play together. Therefore, the game will be both easy for noobs, but also interesting for pros. We still have a lot to do in this direction.
-Will you add new items and https://meccagamescasino.co.uk/mobile-app/ heroes to Dota 2 that are not in the original Dota?? Will artifacts created by community members be added??
Yes, there will be new heroes and items. And we are already working with some people from the community in terms of implementing their ideas.
-Will there be more mods in Dota 2??
People who design mods have a million different ideas. But first we need to leave the beta test stage, release all the heroes, and then make mods and other similar “tricks”.
-Will Dota 2 become an exclusive game on PC?? What about other platforms?
The game will definitely be released on Mac, but it won’t be easy on consoles. We don’t plan to make a console version of Dota yet.
-Dota 2 will be free?
Ummm. How can I answer so as not to give away unnecessary information…..
In general, yes. It will be free, but with a twist..
-What kind of “highlight” is this??
Well, we’re thinking about how to evaluate a player’s contribution to the community. After all, if a certain person is in the game, we also want to play, and if an inadequate cancer with PD bursts in, then we want to get out as quickly as possible (approx. author). How to determine who is more valuable? After all, you need to reward those who make guides, who are friendly, responsive, etc.d. Overall, this won’t be your typical free-to-play game.
-Last question about Dota 2. Who is your favorite and least favorite hero??
I play randomly and try all the heroes. I love Sand King the most, and Morphling least of all, because I don’t know how to play it *laughs*
-What about the Steam development model? Will it be a social network??
Not in the traditional sense.
How can you benefit from combining games?? For example, if you made an animal model in Skyrim, it would be cool to use it as a courier in Dota 2. This is the direction we will develop Steam.
-Tell us about your competitor – Origin.
They still have a lot to work on. They have excellent staff who work tirelessly, but I don’t think they do anything very cool.
-Are you happy with Steam?? What future do you see for the gaming industry??
The life or death of our industry is whether it can be fun. This is not a battle between Steam and Origin, but a question of people’s life preferences. Will they play? Or go to the cinema / for a walk?
By the way, it’s better to have good competition and a lot of quality products, because bad games cause much more harm. After playing trash, users simply stop buying any games and this is sad.
I’ll also note that the more blurred the line between consumer and developer, the better for the industry. We need to use this. After all, for example, you can’t achieve this in films. Once a movie has been released and the user can evaluate it, nothing can be remade.
-Recently there was a rumor that Tim Cook from Apple came to your office. This is true?
Apple is a great company and we would love to work with them, but this is just a rumor. No one on our team has met Tim.
-And Steam and Apple could become partners?
Anything is possible, but to be honest, we haven’t discussed it yet.
