Belgian Webgaming Forever have a interview with Randy Pitchford from Gearbox Software

Here's a Snippet
BWF: Opposing Force really put you guys in the spotlights. Valve never expected Half-Life to become such a hit. Did you ever expect to suddenly become such a well-known developer? How did all those awards and positive reviews make you guys feel?

Randy Pitchford:

Opposing Force felt pretty good. It was a really interesting project. Rob and I spent some time with Marc Laidlaw before we really got started to learn about the Half-Life backstory and understand where his care was in each of the main characters and we just sort of took off from there.

Everyone at Gearbox put a lot into Opposing Force – we just treated it like it was our own thing. At the time, the relationship between Valve, Sierra and Gearbox was positioned perfectly for this to work out in Opposing Force’s favour. So, the game was developed to be great, it was great and it was really great to get the success and acclaim from that.

I remember sitting with Gearbox COO Landon Montgomery at the 2000 Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences awards ceremony. We were nominated for Best PC Action Game against Quake 3 Arena, Unreal Tournament and Tom Clancy’s Rogue Spear – we didn’t think we had a chance. I’ll never forget the look of shock on Landon’s face when they announced us as the winner. I’m pretty sure he saw that I had a similar look. What a crazy, unbelievable night!

At the end of the day, Opposing Force was really was a good idea and it was really executed well by the team. It wasn’t about fancy tech or a huge feature list – it was about a great story, with great pacing and action and really great feeling game play. That’s all it takes – a great promise.

You can read the rest of the interview at BWF