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Comment by aresant | Hacker News Reader

A four paragraph website outlining the vision coupled with a simple way for customers to engage directly with the CEO of the company.

Notch understands "Minimum Viable Product"

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I don't disagree. But it is important to note that the minimum viable product for the creator of minecraft is significantly different from the minimum viable product for random internet denizen x. You are guaranteed a certain amount of customer engagement when your pre-existing customers have already begging for years to hear about your next product.

"Hello, I'm Gabe Newell,

I would like to introduce you to our new game, titled "Fill in The Blank". You run around, maybe as part of a group of some sort. Maybe rescue some hostages, scout and snipe terrorists every now and then and maybe stab a chicken or two. Physic, shaders and purple monkey dishwasher; I'm surprised you got this far before signing up for our email notification subscription."

Yes, some personalities have plenty of currency to spend amongst their fan base.

Where's the link to the Kickstarter page so I can contribute?

Only 1/2 :-)

You forgot micropayments for hats.

He forgot hats, to start with.

He also counted some things up to 3, a numeral (and index) which does not exist in the ValveVerse.

I know this is pedantry, but lets remember that Gooseman and Jess Cliffe were responsible for Counter-Strike's initial development, not Gabe Newell.

I think he proved that with minecraft. I'd pay for 0x10c right now.

I found it strangely compelling - I don't even play Minecraft and I felt like playing.

Should there be a button so he could have some feedback?

No, there shouldn't :) Nothing worse than game design by committee.

>Nothing worse than game design by committee.

Notch clearly disagrees: "The game is still extremely early in development, but like we did with Minecraft, we expect to release it early and let the players help me shape the game as it grows."

Design by committee ("the players say they really want X, let's include X") is not the same thing as design with consideration of feedback ("the players really liked X_0, let's build X_1, and deemphasize Y because it didn't turn out fun").

What about the twitter feed on the right?

The fact that you're looking at the site is all the feedback he needs.

It's interesting the first iteration of the site was actually on April fools day, a good way to withdraw the idea if it sucked (no withdrawal needed ; ) ). I'm guessing but I wonder if there are more sites out there with slight variations on the idea to determine which one gets the most exitement and spreads the fastest

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