#133 - Erik Wolpaw Interview (Half Life:Alyx, Portal 2, Portal 3, Valve, Writing, Dialogue etc.)

Erik Wolpaw is a writer at Valve and has worked on franchises
such as Half Life and Portal. He recently worked on Half
Life:Alyx and Aperture Desk Job


 


SOCIAL MEDIA TWITTER - @wolpaw


 


TIMESTAMPS


00:00 - Intro


00:25 - Being A Database Programmer Before Being A Writer


01:00 - Procrastination/Psychonauts


03:10 - Coming Up With Names Is Easy/Keeping Up Energy Is
Hard/Jokes Being Cut


04:50 - Erik Doesn’t Like Writing


05:55 - Erik’s Ideology In Terms Of Writing For A Game


07:50 - Time Between Portal & Portal 2/Don’t Write Yourself
Into A Corner


08:25 - Erik Wants To Work On A Portal 3/Valve’s Corporate
Structure 


10:01 - Portal 3 Might Not Happen/Why Valve Doesn’t Release Many
Games


11:45 - Valve’s High Quality Bar/Development Cycle


12:20 - Portal 2 Almost Didn’t Happen/Portal 2 Project Cycle


15:45 - Games Are Terrible Until Near The End


17:04 - Struggling With Ideas For Portal 2 Until Wheatley Idea
Came About


19:14 - Working With Stephen Merchant On Wheatley/Writing To An
Actors Strengths


23:30 - People Involved In Directing An Actor In The Studio


25:00 - Working With Rhys Darby On Russell/Meeting Rhys Darby In
L.A.


27:45 - The Original Writing For Half Life:Alyx Didn’t
Work/Writing Half Life:Alyx


31:47 - Original Ending Of Half Life:Alyx And Tweaking It


34:15 - Connecting Half Life:Alyx Ending To Half Life 2


38:10 - Gabe’s Involvement/Erik’s Relationship With Gabe


39:45 - Writing With Jay Pinkerton


41:22 - Erik’s Easiest  Character To Write Is The
Institution Voice In Portal 2


42:36 - Writing Something And Thinking Its Horrible When Said
Aloud


43:40 - Nate Bargatze Struggled With The Word Turret On Aperture
Desk Job


44:08 - Convoluted Lines Of Portal 2


45:00 - Erik Appreciates The Work It Takes To Write Something
Good/God Of War Caused Erik Stress


46:00 - Erik Is Always Stressed/Erik Hates Letting People Down


47:45 - Comedic Obsessions With Writing/Erik Wants To Improve On
His Writing


49:40 - Re-Purposing Dialogue


50:10 - Erik Respects The Valve Artists/Picturing An Image Well
Writing


53:00 - Jay Pinkerton Is A Good Designer/Comics


54:09 - Erik Wants To See A Sunset Overdrive 2/The Game Industry
Is Quite Small


55:50 - Why Erik Left Valve & Became A Contractor Instead


56:50 - Erik’s Son Being Born During The End Of Portal 2’s
Development


1:00:15 - Where To Follow Erik Wolpaw


1:02:09 - Petition To Gabe Newell To Start Portal 3