Marc Laidlaw facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Marc Laidlaw
Laidlaw in 2011
Occupation	Writer
Language	English
Alma mater	University of Oregon
Genres	Science fiction, horror, video games
YouTube information
Years active	2013–present
Subscribers	4 thousand
Total views	100 thousand

Marc Laidlaw is an American writer. He is best known for his work on the popular Half-Life video game series. He was the main writer for Valve, a big video game company, until he left in 2016. Before working on games, Marc Laidlaw wrote many books. He wrote stories in the fantasy and horror styles. In 1996, he won an award for his novel The 37th Mandala.

Marc Laidlaw's Life Story

Marc Laidlaw went to the University of Oregon. He tried computer programming there, but it was not for him. He enjoyed writing short stories instead. His first novel, Dad's Nuke, came out in 1985. Over the next ten years, he wrote several more novels. During this time, he also worked as a legal secretary in San Francisco.

Marc Laidlaw had played some computer and arcade games. But he became truly interested after playing Myst in 1993. He loved Myst so much that he bought a new computer just to play it. He even wrote a book called The Third Force (1996). This book was based on the world of the Gadget computer game.

Working at Valve (1990s–2016)

Marc Laidlaw joined the video game company Valve in the 1990s. They were making their first game, a first-person shooter (FPS) called Half-Life (1998). He was first hired for another game, Prospero. But that game was canceled. So, he joined the Half-Life team as the project grew.

Laidlaw said his job was to add "old storytelling tricks" to Valve's new ideas. He worked with the team to create ideas together. He helped with the "visual grammar" of the level design. This means he focused on telling the story through the game's buildings and areas. He said the story "had to be baked into the corridors."

For Half-Life 2 (2004), the team worked on making the characters better. Laidlaw created family connections between the characters. He felt this was a "basic dramatic unit everyone understands." It was not often used in games at that time. He also worked on Half-Life 2: Episode One (2006) and Half-Life 2: Episode Two (2007). He also worked on some Half-Life games that were never released. This included Half-Life 2: Episode Three.

Laidlaw had planned for Episode Three to finish the Half-Life 2 story. After that, he wanted to "step away from it." He hoped to leave the series for "the next generation" of writers. In 2012, Laidlaw started a Twitter account. He used it to tell a story about the Half-Life 2 character Dr Breen. He called this story "fan fiction." He wrote that he could not personally make a new Half-Life game.

Laidlaw also helped with Valve's puzzle game series Portal. These games are set in the Half-Life world. He did not like this crossover very much. He felt it "made both universes smaller."

Leaving Valve (2016–Present)

Marc Laidlaw announced he was leaving Valve in January 2016. He said the main reason was his age. He wanted to go back to writing his own stories. Laidlaw later explained he was tired of the FPS game style. He was also tired of solving story problems in the Half-Life way. He had hoped they would find new ways to tell stories in FPS games. Ways that let players do more than just shoot or push buttons.

On August 25, 2017, Laidlaw published a short story. It was called "Epistle 3." He said it was "a snapshot of a dream I had many years ago." Many people thought it was a summary of the plot for Half-Life 2: Episode Three. However, Laidlaw later said it was not. In 2023, Laidlaw said he was sorry he published the story. He said he was not thinking clearly at the time. He felt it caused problems for his old co-workers at Valve. Valve released a new game, Half-Life: Alyx, in 2020. As of 2023, Laidlaw had not played it. He said he did not want to see another Combine soldier again.

In 2018, Laidlaw finished a new novel called Underneath the Oversea. But he could not find a publisher for it. So, he published it himself on Kindle. He said the publishing world had "forgotten who he was." He felt his age stopped publishers from finding him a new audience.

Marc Laidlaw's Personal Life

In 2003, Laidlaw shared his favorite games. These included The Legend of Zelda, Animal Crossing, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, Ico, Fatal Frame, and Thief: The Dark Project. After leaving Valve, Laidlaw moved to Kauai, Hawaii. He has a license for amateur radio. His call sign is WH6FXC.

Games Marc Laidlaw Worked On

See also

In Spanish: Marc Laidlaw para niños