Minh Le, also known as Gooseman, is best known for creating the world-conquering Counter-Strike. It started out as a small Half-Life mod, and now sells out the largest stadiums around the world as one of the greatest esports of all time.

In 2006, Gooseman left Valve to make Tactical Intervention. Since then, he's worked on Rust, Black Desert Online, and now he's got a new game, Alpha Response, marrying his traditional semi-realism with co-op PvE heavily inspired by Left 4 Dead.

I never miss a chance to talk to Goose, and since we've talked before about tracking the genealogy of game mechanics on this podcast, I also wanted to quiz him on the industry's trend towards static recoil patterns in gunplay, which Counter-Strike popularised.

Timecodes:
00:00 - Intro
01:15 - Alpha Response
03:06 - Challenges in retaining players
06:39 - Stop Killing Games
11:31 - Taking inspiration from Left 4 Dead
17:18 - The style of game Gooseman likes to make
19:10 - Playing and watching modern CS
20:50 - FPS moving towards static recoil patterns
25:35 - Leaving Valve, making artistic leaps

Alpha Response is in Early Access now on Steam, and you can get it now.

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