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Valve Software was founded in 1996 by two former Microsoft Corporation employees, Gabe Newell and Mike Harrington, and headquartered in Bellevue, Washington, United States, later becoming Valve Corporation. They are best known for developing the Half-Life series & developing the Source Engine. Valve work very closely with Facepunch Studios & they also acquired Campo Santo.

Games[ | ]

Valve have unique way of making a video game; unlike other video game development and publishing companies, the employees choose to work on whatever projects they want to. They don't have deadlines, and they don't have managers. Most of their games were not actually made by them; Valve often hires the developers of popular mods and improve upon them, then release it as a game (e.g Team Fortress series, Counter-Strike series).

Half-Life series[ | ]

The Half-Life series was a series of first-person shooter developed by Valve and Gearbox Software using the GoldSrc and Source Engines. It is Valve's biggest series yet containing Half-Life, Half-Life: Opposing Force, Half-Life: Blue Shift, Half-Life 2, Half-Life 2: Deathmatch, Half-Life 2: Episode One and Half-Life 2:Episode Two.

Half-Life[ | ]

Half-Life was a first-person shooter released in 1998. The player takes control of fictional theoretical physicist, Dr. Gordon Freeman when an experiment goes wrong. The game uses the GoldSrc Engine, which is a heavily modified version of the Quake Engine developed by id Software.

Half-Life: Opposing Force[ | ]

Half-Life: Opposing Force was a first-person shooter developed with help from Gearbox Software. It was an expansion for the game Half-Life and released in 1999. The game is set during the Black Mesa incident from the perspective of Corporal Adrian Shephard, a US marine. The game uses the GoldSrc Engine.

Half-Life: Blue Shift[ | ]

Half-Life: Blue Shift was a first-person shooter developed by Valve with help from Gearbox Software released in 2001. It is set during the Black Mesa incident, but from the perspective of another character, Barney Calhoun, a security guard at the Black Mesa Research Facility. The game uses the GoldSrc Engine.

Half-Life 2[ | ]

Half-Life 2 was a first-person shooter released in 2004. It is set after the events of the seven-hour war where humanity was enslaved by the Combine. The player once again takes control of Dr. Gordon Freeman. The game uses the new Source Engine developed by Valve.

Half-Life 2: Deathmatch[ | ]

Half-Life 2: Deathmatch was a first-person shooter released in 2004. It was released separately from Half-Life 2. It was a deathmatch game using the same character models from Half-Life 2. It also has a Team Deathmatch mode, where you can choose either the Rebel team or the Combine team. The game uses the Source Engine.

Half-Life 2: Episode One[ | ]

Half-Life 2: Episode One was a first-person shooter released in 2006. It was the first expansion for the game Half-Life 2. This episode takes place after the event of Half-Life 2, next to the well-worn Citadel. The game uses several upgrades of the Source Engine since the release of Half-Life 2, for example, High Dynamic Range (HDR).

Half-Life 2: Episode Two[ | ]

Half-Life 2: Episode Two is a first-person shooter released in 2007. It was the second expansion to the game Half-Life 2. Following the events of Half-Life 2: Episode One, Dr. Gordon Freeman and all the other major characters move into the wilderness away from City 17. The game uses the Source Engine.

Half-Life: Alyx[ | ]

Half-Life: Alyx is a virtual reality shooter released in 2020. You play as Alyx Vance in events set between Half-Life and Half-Life 2. The game is considered to be one of the most beautiful games in virtual reality for the time. Stress Level Zero, the creators of BONEWORKS were actually developing their game as Half-Life in virtual reality, but they were shot down when they pitched it to Valve because of Half-Life: Alyx. The game was made to showcase the capabilities of full finger tracking in virtual reality with the Valve Knuckles which was bundled with the Valve Index.

Team Fortress series[ | ]

The Team Fortress series is a series of first-person shooters originally developed by Team Fortress Software. Later Valve hired the developers so therefore the rights of the game were acquired by Valve. They remade the original Team Fortress using the GoldSrc Engine and titled Team Fortress Classic. Valve also made another Team Fortress game using the Source Engine and titled Team Fortress 2.

Team Fortress Classic[ | ]

Team Fortress Classic is a multi-player first-person shooter released in 1999. It is essentially Team Fortress but running on the GoldSrc Engine with different character model, more maps etc. It also has different weapons, many of them were based on games in the DOOM series.

Team Fortress 2[ | ]

Team Fortress 2 is a multi-player first-person shooter released in 2007. It is essentially Team Fortress Classic but made using the Source Engine with better graphicss, a new game mode, cosmetic items, etc. It was made free to play in 2011. Like the rest of the Team Fortress series, it has nine different classes the player can choose from.

Counter-Strike series[ | ]

The Counter-Strike series is a series of first-person shooter originally developed by Minh Le and Jess Cliffe using the GoldSrc Engine as a mod for Half-Life. Valve then hired them both, and the rights to the game were acquired by Valve.

Counter-Strike[ | ]

Counter-Strike (commonly refered to as Counter-Strike 1.6) is a multi-player first-person shooter originally developed by Minh Le and Jess Cliffe as a mod for a game Half-Life (under the name Half-Life: Counter-Strike). Valve eventually offered them both a job; they agreed and the rights to the game were acquired by Valve. The game was officially released in 2000. The game uses the GoldSrc Engine.

Counter-Strike: Condition Zero[ | ]

Counter-Strike: Condition Zero is a multi-player first-person shooter released in 2004 developed by Gearbox Software and Turtle Rock Studios. It is a follow-up to the game Counter-Strike, featurin updated character models, textures, maps and other graphical tweaks. The game also features a single-player campaign which comes as standalone game in the Steam library, labeled Counter-Strike: Condition Zero Deleted Scenes.

Counter-Strike Online[ | ]

Counter-Strike Online is a multi-player first-person shooter developed by Nexon Corporation. Due to the way the CCP government handles game publishing, Valve needed to publish Counter-Strike via a third-party company based in China. Rather than having the game be wholey the same they allowed Chinese developers to work on the game & add their own unique spin to it. The game is very different from Counter-Strike with many unique game modes like the popular zombies game mode. The game would also later be released outside China too, under the moniker Counter-Strike Nexon: Zombies but it would change names once more to Counter-Strike Nexon: Studio.

Counter-Strike: Source[ | ]

Counter-Strike: Source is a multi-player first-person shooter released in 2004 as a complete remake of the original Counter-Strike using the Source Engine. As with the original game, the player is put in a team of Counter-Terrorists or Terrorists, competing against the opposing side. The teams have to complete different objectives, depending on the mode is chosen, in a series of rounds.

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive[ | ]

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is a multi-player first-person shooter released in 2012. It is a follow-up to the game Counter-Strike: Source. It is essentially the same as previous Counter-Strike video games, with additional improvements and enhancements. It was also made available on the Xbox 360.

Counter-Strike Online 2[ | ]

Counter-Strike Online 2 is a multi-player first-person shooter released in 2013 and developed by Nexon Corporation. Due to the way the CCP government handles game publishing, Valve needed to publish Counter-Strike: Source via a third-party company based in China. Rather than having the game be wholey the same they allowed Chinese developers to work on the game & add their own unique spin to it. The game never released outside China, but many features from Counter-Strike Online 2 would make it into Counter-Strike: Global Offensive like monetized skins in the Arms Deal update.

Counter-Strike 2[ | ]

Counter-Strike 2 is a multi-player first-person shooter released in 2023. It is essentially a direct port of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive to the Source 2 engine & unlike other Counter-Strike entries, Counter-Strike 2 has fully overwritten the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive game, rather than being a standalone release.

DoTA series[ | ]

DoTA 2[ | ]

DoTA 2 (Defense of the Ancients 2) is a multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game released in 2013 after two years of beta testing. It is a stand-alone sequel to Defense of The Ancients, which was a community made mod for Warcraft III developed by Blizzard Entertainment.

Artifact[ | ]

Artifact is a multiplayer card battler game developed by Valve. It is a spin-off game set in the Defense of The Ancients universe & features many popular characters from DoTA 2. Artifact is also one of the few games Valve has released on mobile for Android & iOS. Artifact was infamously shown off at GDC, where the crowd was excited then became audibly dissapointed when the sub-title reading "The DoTA 2 Card Game" appeared. The game was not recieved very well & there was even more controversey when the game was split into two versions, Foundry & Classic.

DoTA Underlords[ | ]

DoTA Underlords is a multiplayer auto battler game inspired by the community made mod for DoTA 2, DoTA Auto Chess. However, unlike other mods which Valve became inspired by, they did not hire the former mod developers of DoTA Auto Chess, Drodo Studios. The former mod developers would go on to publish their own standalone Auto Chess. Underlords is also one of the few games Valve has released on mobile for Android & iOS. The game was generally recieved well by DoTA 2 & Auto Chess fans, but the game has not been updated very much. The Auto Chess standalone from Drodo Studios seems to have taken most of the steam away from DoTA Underlords.

Day of Defeat series[ | ]

The Day of Defeat series is a series of multi-player first-person shooter video games that originally started out as a Half-Life mod. It was not as popular as other Valve games but was still well-received. The game was known to be extremely hard as the player can die from just around three hits. The series uses the GoldSrc and the Source Engines with the two games, Day of Defeat and Day of Defeat: Source.

Day of Defeat[ | ]

Day of Defeat is a multi-player first-person shooter released in 2003 originally started out as a Half-Life mod. Set in 1944 in the European theater of World War II on the western front. It does not include a campaign. The games uses the GoldSrc Engine.

Day of Defeat: Source[ | ]

Day of Defeat: Source is a multi-player first-person shooter released in 2005 as a remake of the original Day of Defeat using the Source Engine. The gameplay was fairly similar to the original, however, the British army and several classes were removed, which resulted in reduced possibilities for gameplay.

Portal series[ | ]

The Portal series is a series of first-person video games which were inspired by the game Narbacular Drop, which was developed by Nuclear Monkey Software. Valve hired the developers and made the game Portal. It was a huge success, and this lead to the development of Portal 2. Both games were made with the Source Engine.

Portal[ | ]

Portal is a first-person shooter released in 2007. It contained no multi-player mode, only including a single player campaign. The game is most famous for the Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device (Portal Gun) which is a device that shoots portals. The game contains lots of puzzles that the player most complete. The games uses the Source Engine.

Portal 2[ | ]

Portal 2 is a first-person shooter released in 2011, and was the sequel to the game Portal. It includes new features and contains a longer storyline than Portal. It is set a hundreds of years after the events of Portal. The game uses the Source Engine.

Left 4 Dead series[ | ]

The Left 4 Dead series is a series of multi-player first-person shooters developed by Valve and Turtle Rock Studios. It is about four survivors caught in a zombie apocalypse. The first game were released on 2008 and just one year later, the second game was released.

Left 4 Dead[ | ]

Left 4 Dead is a co-operative first-person shooter developed by Turtle Rock Studios and published by Valve. The game pits four survivors against a horde of infected. Left 4 Dead was well received, and Left 4 Dead 2 was developed a year later.

Left 4 Dead 2[ | ]

Left 4 Dead 2 is a co-operative first-person shooter developed by Turtle Rock Studios and published by Valve. The game is essentially the same as Left 4 Dead but with more weapons, maps, and enemies.

Standalone Titles[ | ]

Ricochet[ | ]

Ricochet is a game.

Garry's Mod[ | ]

Garry's Mod is a first-person shooter sandbox game released in 2006. Garry's Mod began as a modification for Half-Life 2, made by Garry Newman. Valve would eventually work with Garry Newman to publish Garry's Mod on Steam, which would allow Garry and his new found game studio Facepunch Studios to monetize the game. Garry's Mod has become a massive platform with tons of popular original games, created by tons of different creators, an ecosystem similar to Roblox. Facepunch Studios would continue to maintain Garry's Mod, acquiring the rights to the popular game mode Trouble in Terrorist Town as well. Facepunch studios also independantly released the massively succesful survival first-person shooter game Rust.

Alien Swarm[ | ]

Alien Swarm is a top-down 3D shooter released in 2010, which is also completely open-source to the community. The open source nature of Alien Drop would lead to the popular community project Alien Swarm: Reactive Drop released on Steam in 2017, with a community SDK & community support.

Firewatch[ | ]

Firewatch is a first-person exploration game released in 2016 and developed by Campo Santo. The success of Firewatch would attract the attention of Valve, who would acquire the studio outright. Although Firewatch itself is not the intellectual property of Valve & the game is now published by Panic, it is notable in the history of Valve Campo Santo.

In The Valley of Gods[ | ]

In The Valley of Gods is a first-person exploration game yet to be released. It is developed by Valve Campo Santo & it is the spiritual successor to Firewatch with a very similar style. The game has been indefinitely delayed until December 2029 or beyond as Valve Campo Santo have mostly been working on Half-Life: Alyx, Counter-Strike 2, & other Valve projects.

Tech Demos[ | ]

Half-Life: Decay[ | ]

Half-Life: Decay is a first-person shooter developed with help by Gearbox Software and released in 2001. It is available exclusively on PlayStation 2. It is set in the same time as Half-Life but with the perspective of two female characters. The game uses the GoldSrc Engine & is essentially a tech demo to display GoldSrc Engine on PlayStation 2 hardware.

Half-Life: Source[ | ]

Half-Life: Source is an engine port of the popular game Half-Life using the Source Engine. It was released in 2004 at the same time as the Source Engine upon which it is based was also released. It was not very popular since it was a generally lazily ported version & had many flaws.

Half-Life Deathmatch: Source[ | ]

Half-Life Deathmatch: Source is an engine port of a portion of the popular game Half-Life using the Source Engine, released in 2005. It was once again. not very popular because of how badly ported the game was with only around 20 players every day (according to Steam Database).

Half-Life 2: Lost Coast[ | ]

Half-Life 2: Lost Coast is a promotional tech demo released in 2005. It was originally created as a chapter for Half-Life 2 but was later cut; the developers turned it into a promotional tech demo demonstrating the new High Dynamic Range (HDR) lighting added to the Source Engine. Half-Life: Lost Coast does not seem to be part of the canonical Half-Life story.

The Lab[ | ]

The Lab is a promotional tech demo released in 2016 to showcase the capabilities of room scale virtual reality with Valve's light house base station which was bundled with the HTC Vive. It was developed in collaboration with HTC & was built with the HTC Vive in mind. The Lab is set in an alternate pocket universe which is adjavent to the Portal franchise.

Aperture Hand Lab[ | ]

Aperture Hand Lab is a promotional tech demo released in 2019, developed by Cloudhouse Games and published by Valve. The game was made to showcase the capabilities of full finger tracking in virtual reality with the Valve Knuckles which was bundled with the Valve Index.

Aperture Desk Job[ | ]

Aperture Desk job is a promotional tech demo released in 2022 to showcase the capabilities of the Steam Deck. Unlike the other two Portal themed tech demos, Aperture Desk Job actually seems to be set in the canonical Portal timeline.

External Links[ | ]

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