Over at Computer and Video Games they've posted up and interview with Valve's Kim Swift and Doug Lombardi on the upcoming Episode Two in-house mod, Portal. It's a pretty interesting read, documenting the jump from a small group of students giving a look to Gabe Newell of a proof-of-concept to being flung into the world of some of the best game designers on the planet.

Kim Swift claims to have never heard of Prey before starting at Valve, which is a bit silly: it's only a game that dates back to 1997. But here's something that I hadn't really considered — Portal actually has it's own story and takes place in the Half-Life universe:

How does the Portal story fit into the Half-Life universe? How much work has gone into it?

Kim Swift: Uh, no comment? We've definitely thought about how the storyline's going to fit back-ends with the main characters in the Half-Life universe - Gordon's Half-Life world. But there's nothing we can really disclose at this point...

Doug Lombardi: You're not Gordon in a Portal. You're someone who hasn't been introduced before. You play a new character in the Half-Life universe. And you're basically a rat in a maze in this test facility - a test subject for Aperture Science laboratories.

Which is kind of neat, though I assume it can't really be in the Half-Life 2 universe. I doubt there are many independent theoretical physics facilities after the 7 Hour War. Florian Eckhardt

Interview: Portal [CVG]

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