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Obligatory comical YouTube thread

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Has PonPonPon been linked yet?

pb3IdLdIc6s

(Edit: I non-ironically love this song.)

OH GOD I CAN'T STOP WATCHING

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I cannot begin to imagine why the Snack Mistress might dislike the guy in the green shirt. He seems like a fantastic person.

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Didn't Erik Wolpaw work at Double Fine before joining Valve?

Lawls.

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There's a really interesting piece on Wolpaw and why it didn't work out with Double Fine in The Final Hours of Portal 2.

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Me, too. Or a link? (Is there a way to get this that doesn't require an Apple device?)

It's on Steam now. You can get it there for like $2.

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I guess no one on this planet cares to give us a short version of it?

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I guess no one on this planet cares to give us a short version of it?

Apparently not.

I speculate it's because Shafer's more of an artist than a businessman, which just made it harder for his fellow artists under him.

I'll pick it up and find out.

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Wolpaw is a man very much (autistically so?) set in a certain rhythm in which he operates. Apparently he wakes up every day early in the morning, goes to work and then works and then goes to bed really early. At Valve, this [peculiar] behavior is tolerated and worked around. At any other gaming company it is less accepted.

Apparently, at DF there was such a crunch during Psychonauts that it broke Wolpaw. When you read the stories of the troubles DF had starting up (a horrible place with overflowing toilets, rats and no airconditioning or heating), it's easy to see how that turns into a bad experience, especially for someone less than flexible. I empathize with Wolpaw since I too have my peculiarities and wouldn't be able to work under just any condition.

How much influence Tim Schafer's personality had, it didn't state. Either there isn't anything personal between the two, or Wolpaw is being a gentleman about it. I suspect the former and that it was the company trouble and general video game production malaise that did him in.

I recommend reading the Final Hours. It's a great view into Valve.

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I recommend reading the Final Hours. It's a great view into Valve.

It's also a great piece of recruitment advertising for Valve. I don't know if anyone who wants to work in the games industry in some capacity didn't desperately want to get a job at Valve after reading it. I know I did.

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When you mentioned the peculiarities of Wolpaw, I didn't realise which guy it was, as I hadn't paid attention to the subs, but I suspected it was the guy in green shirt, judging on his mannerisms. I went and checked, and it was - there might be a little autism there from the way he's pictured sat in his chair with his rucksack on (editing?) and his detailing the travails of the butter.

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I was under the impression most of that was tongue in cheek, but maybe the dude is really aspergy.

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Apparently, at DF there was such a crunch during Psychonauts that it broke Wolpaw. When you read the stories of the troubles DF had starting up (a horrible place with overflowing toilets, rats and no airconditioning or heating), it's easy to see how that turns into a bad experience, especially for someone less than flexible.

The basic gist I got out of various interviews over the years was the experience drained him. They'd be sitting in the room and Wolpaw would hear the jokes he'd written over and over again, and no-one would laugh. He sat there, continually testing Psychonauts, and it was deathly silence. It wasn't something Schafer experienced since he had his own office. He couldn't take it anymore and in December 2004, he left after Chet Faliszek encouraged him to come to Valve.

They're both on amiable terms, though. I know that Wolpaw visited DF before Brutal Legend was finished and saw it in development. As far as I know, they're still good friends.

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