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Deadlock (Valve's Unannounced Title) Passes 12k Peak Players in Closed Alpha (files.catbox.moe)

submitted 3 months ago by simple@lemm.ee to c/games@lemmy.world

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https://steamdb.info/app/1422450/charts/

Valve keeping up with the trend of "worst kept secrets". You need an invite to join the alpha but since everyone who owns it can refer their friends, it spread very quickly.

I've been playing it the past few days and it's honestly very fun. Still a bit rough around the edges (especially in terms of balance) since it's in early access, but it has serious potential to be dota 2 levels of popular.

For the unaware, Deadlock is a 3rd person shooter MOBA. It feels like a mix of Dota and Overwatch/Team Fortress. Nobody is allowed to share footage or screenshots, but obviously with so many playing there's a ton of leaks out there.

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[+] mox@lemmy.sdf.org -11 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

I'm with you in principle, but I think it's unlikely that Valve are building the game themselves, given that they haven't done much of that in ages.

It's reasonable to think their first priorities were finding a development studio [Edit: or even in-house developers] capable producing a good game, and helping them to do so. If the developers are most familiar with Windows tools and APIs, then the path to a successful game would be letting them use those, at least to begin with.

Let's just hope that they're being guided along to way toward design decisions that make a native port relatively easy if the game turns out to be good.

Edit:

The project is reportedly led by "IceFrog", which looked like a studio name when I first read it, but it's apparently a person. So maybe this is in-house development after all. Great! It would be nice to see Valve making significant games again.

Nevertheless, gathering a team with the talent and vision to make a good game is harder than finding people who can learn a certain API or platform, so if they have the former, it would make sense to let them target the platform they already know and get the game out the door. Doing it in-house just makes it even easier for Valve's linux folks to guide them in design choices that would simplify multiplatform support later. (Cross-platform development isn't all that hard if you plan for it from the start instead of painting yourself into a corner.) If the game is well received, it would then make sense to invest more time into training the devs on linux and doing a linux-native port.

Or to put it another way: Yes, Valve has an OS that keeps them independent from Windows, but that's just one tool in their kit. Proton is another tool. That gives Valve flexibility in how they bring a game to market, and how they prioritize/schedule various phases of the project. This still-unannounced game might be Windows-only for now, but I would not assume that will be forever.

[-] themusicman@lemmy.world 7 points 3 months ago

Valve is absolutely developing this game themselves

[-] woelkchen@lemmy.world -2 points 3 months ago

If that studio’s developers are most familiar with Windows tools and APIs, then the path to a successful game would be letting them use those, at least to begin with.

So you're saying, if Sony or Nintendo made a new console and contracted an outside developer, that developer should develop for Windows instead of the new consoles because they are unfamiliar with the new tools and APIs? Why even develop using Source Engine (2)? Why not also give in to a total Unreal Engine monopoly because that's what every game developer knows? CS2 on Steam Deck is bad right now.

[-] mox@lemmy.sdf.org 3 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

No, that is not what I said at all. Either you've misunderstood, or you're arguing in bad faith. Given that you're now pushing an unrealistic all-or-nothing point of view and putting words in my mouth, I think it's some of both.