Creating Counter-Strike, Leaving Valve, & Starting From Zero - Minh Le | grokludo 12
If Counter-Strike were made today, would it rise to the same heights?
Minh Le, also known as Gooseman, is best known for creating the world-conquering Counter-Strike. It started out as a small Half-Life mod, and now sells out the largest stadiums around the world as one of the greatest esports of all time.
In 2006, Gooseman left Valve to make Tactical Intervention. Since then, he's worked on Rust, Black Desert Online, and now he's got a new game, Alpha Response, marrying his traditional semi-realism with co-op PvE heavily inspired by Left 4 Dead.
I never miss a chance to talk to Goose, and since we've talked before about tracking the genealogy of game mechanics on this podcast, I also wanted to quiz him on the industry's trend towards static recoil patterns in gunplay, which Counter-Strike popularised.
In this chat, Goose opens up about the challenges of starting from zero, which he's had to do more than once in his career. I've always known him to be candid and humble - in fact, it's downright challenging to get him to take credit for Counter-Strike - and here, he talks openly about how hard it is to retain players when there's just so much to play.
If even the creator of Counter-Strike has trouble rising above the noise of modern gaming, what hope have we mortals?
Counter-Strike, Tactical Intervention, Alpha Response – there seems to be a type of game he's been chasing all these years. It invariably involves Deagles, GIGNs, and of course, vehicles. But modern warfare is more asymmetrical than the John Woo movies inspiring Gooseman, so he's leveraging these new gadgets to ensure Alpha Response can't be cheesed by campers.
Timecodes:
00:00 - Intro
01:15 - Alpha Response
03:06 - Challenges in retaining players
06:39 - Stop Killing Games
11:31 - Taking inspiration from Left 4 Dead
17:18 - The style of game Gooseman likes to make
19:10 - Playing and watching modern CS
20:50 - FPS moving towards static recoil patterns
25:35 - Leaving Valve, making artistic leaps
I hope you enjoy this ep, and as usual, thank you all for supporting grokludo!