Where Science is Created: Penny Arcade Report Goes on a Tour of Valve Software Offices
Penny Arcade Report visited the main office of Valve and made a corresponding photo report.
Valve's reception. Be careful when choosing where to sit so you don't wake the old god.
The sign is made of steel and was cut using an underwater laser cutter. Every shape in the design was taken from Valve games.
View of the reception from the entrance to the office. Don’t walk directly under the Barnacle on the ceiling.
A giant valve in the reception area. They didn't tell me what it controls, so I didn’t turn it.
Directly opposite the main elevator, the wall features a collection of game cover magazines featuring Valve's games.
On the other side of the magazine wall, there is a whole collection of items and games from the company.
Concept art for [Portal 2](/games?search=Portal 2). Created specifically for the development team to understand what works best.
A place where people provide support in 15 languages to 140 countries. Some people from the department also help with game localization.
Photo from the support room. If you find a large monitor, you can imagine where Gabe sits.
Valve uses its own IT department for processing, creating, and updating the system. Every system test lasts about 6 months before final requirements are specified.
Coat hooks in the shape of valves
Photo of the cafeteria on the 6th floor. Each floor has its own cafeteria with fresh fruit and pastries.
A life-sized soldier made of paper.
A place where games are tested. The chairs are very comfortable.
My favorite corridor in the entire building. Valve seems to favor the red team.
What is about to go on sale.
Walking past this inflatable turret made me uneasy.
The conference room.
The company has extensive experience in thank-you speeches.
The most interesting place in the building. Valve encourages all its employees to self-actualize. The company invites experts and conducts classes, such as programming languages, photography, or music.
Each floor has a plethora of old arcade machines.
This wall will be particularly interesting for TF2 fans
Valve's release clock.
Life-sized, one of the robots in co-op mode.