Game development documentaries are always so interesting to me, especially those concerning the early days of studios and products that went on to become especially successful or, as in Half-Life’s case, iconic. Invariably in the docs I’ve seen, it’s always such a scrappy process that teeters, often multiple times, on the edge of project annihilation for one reason or the other but somehow ends up coming together to produce something special.

The hour-long 25th Anniversary Half-Life documentary funded by Valve themselves and directed by Danny O’Dwyer of Noclip fame, reminiscing over the early days of Valve along with production of the classic game, is a fascinating watch, especially to Millennials such as myself who grew up significantly impacted by Half-Life (and its subsequent ecosystem of mods that has developed multiple legacies in its own right). But is also worth a watch to anyone interested in learning about some of the most important behind-the-scenes moments in the history of video games or wanting to see just how greatness is brewed, interestingly similarly across many disciplines and categories of creation, behind the curtain. There is much to be learned from pondering beyond the timeline testimonial and humorous anecdotes.

The consistent takeaway I’ve gotten from this doc, just as many others before is: Do the work, as messy and unfocused at it will inevitably become, but while keeping a healthy degree of top-level control focused on ensuring production of a cohesive end-result that either achieves what the project set out to do or something equivalently satisfactory. Game dev most often involves teams (aside from rare cases such as Dean Dodrill crafting the majority of the exceptional Dust: An Elysian Tail alone), but I believe these principles hold equally true for solo work: Start with the best concept or premise you can, but get to it; do the work. And keep a regular feedback loop on how whatever you’re currently neck-deep in fits with the goal of putting together an overall quality project.

I certainly fall into the perfectionist tendency trap of too much planning and architecting in desire to craft some kind of perfect thing that’s essentially finished before I even begin getting my hands dirty. I have many dormant projects with possibly thousands of hours spent in conceptual and pre-production stages left abandoned. I’ve learned the imprint of the process of the creation–that is, focused efforts over time–is not only inevitable, as it will continually alter results from initial intentions, but also invaluable in producing something more interesting and exciting than we could have ever conceived out of our static, preconceived ideas. Not that those ideas aren’t important, too. They are essential in providing a starting point and solid framework around which to work. Rather, it is a matter of balance, something people are not that good at in general (myself included).

Back to the Half-Life doc, it’s funny that so much that seems thoroughly thought out in the end was really just ad-hoc solutions or accidents. For instance, in regards to the origins and true nature of the still-mysterious G-Man character, I’ve read over the years a number of extraordinarily detailed, labyrinthine theories that analyze his/its vocal mannerisms. And in this doc, the devs recall they were like, to the voice actor, “Yeah, these normal human takes are okay, but can you maybe give us something else?” And so the voice actor spat out some vaguely lizard-manish speak of his own on-the-spot fabrication, devs went “cool,” and those recordings played better so that’s what’s made the final product.

I must say, so far in my game dev documentary watches, I’ve found more enjoyment particularly out of tales of classic game development rather than modern, because throughout the process of development of those oldies, the devs almost always were asking fundamental questions to the heart of what they were doing and why they were doing it. These days, the answer to too many of those basic questions are overly assumed, having become “industry standards,” and therefore continue to produce more derivative products that, even if they are well-received, don’t exceptionally stand out in the test of time. It’s no surprise that these days Indie games and outliers (like the Souls franchise) who aren’t afraid to ask those fundamental questions again are the principal generators of uniqueness in the industry and literal game-changers. As Half-Life was.

So, check out the Half-Life 25th Anniversary Documentary on YouTube if you haven’t yet. Also recommended are really any one of the many, many great video game dev documentaries produced by Noclip, also available on YouTube. Or any of the multitude of fan retrospectives of practically any video game imaginable available… guess where. Simply search “retrospective” on YouTube and you will find the majority of results to be video game related. Often they are longer watches than beating the games themselves, and in many cases, just as or more rewarding.

Upon this website, I write (okay, more like “plan to” in most cases) on an unrestrained number of topics, including entertainment (film, games, music, books, et al.), philosophy, and social issues, as well as am constantly working to create all manner of stuff. Amongst other projects, I’m currently writing a novel, of which you can read a sample of the first two chapters.