The Untold Story of Gunman Chronicles’ Creator and Valve’s Fallout
▼ Summary
– The author nostalgically recalls *Gunman Chronicles* (2000), a sci-fi FPS co-developed by Valve and Rewolf, praising its unique programmable weapons and dinosaur enemies with a retro aesthetic.
– The game is unavailable for purchase today, with Rewolf dissolving post-release and its director, Herbert Flower, having minimal other game credits.
– Flower and his team, originally modders, developed *Gunman Chronicles* from a *Doom* mod, later securing Valve’s support, including funding and workspace, but faced grueling deadlines.
– Flower disputes Valve’s royalty split (11% for Rewolf), calling it unfair, and describes the game’s post-launch reception as mixed and financially underwhelming.
– Flower now runs a photogrammetry business, having left game development after *Gunman Chronicles* and a failed MMO project, while the game’s absence from Steam remains unresolved.
Few games capture the wild ambition of early 2000s shooters quite like Gunman Chronicles, a forgotten gem co-developed by Valve and the short-lived Rewolf Software. This sci-fi FPS blended dinosaurs, programmable weapons, and a globetrotting adventure, yet today, it’s nearly impossible to find. The story behind its creation is just as fascinating as the game itself, filled with youthful passion, corporate negotiations, and a team that briefly danced with gaming royalty before fading into obscurity.
The game’s origins trace back to Herbert Flower, a self-taught developer whose fascination with game design began in childhood. After experimenting with early PCs and crafting his own textures for a Doom mod using handmade miniatures, Flower assembled an international team of teenage modders under the name Rewolf (his surname spelled backward). Their project evolved into Gunman Chronicles, initially conceived as a PvP shooter before morphing into the single-player experience we know.
Valve’s involvement came at a critical moment. With Rewolf struggling financially, lead animator Raniere Banninga reached out to Gabe Newell’s company, which provided funding and workspace in Seattle. For two and a half months, the team worked grueling hours under Valve’s supervision, though Flower recalls tension with Newell over royalty splits. Despite Sierra Studios handling publishing, Valve negotiated the terms, leaving Rewolf with what Flower describes as a disappointing 11% share, a far cry from the independence they’d envisioned.
When Gunman Chronicles launched in 2000, reviews were mixed, with some critics dismissing it as “too much like Half-Life“, a critique Flower still finds ironic. Sales were decent, but the payoff for Rewolf’s team was modest. The studio dissolved shortly after, and Flower’s subsequent venture, an MMO called Linkrealms, drained another decade of his life without commercial success.
Today, Gunman Chronicles remains missing from Steam, likely tied to licensing disputes between Valve and Activision Blizzard (which absorbed Sierra’s parent company, Vivendi). Flower has moved on, running a photogrammetry business called Goatogrammetry, far removed from the game industry’s cutthroat realities. Yet the legacy of Gunman Chronicles endures, a testament to a time when a handful of passionate modders could catch Valve’s eye, even if the fairy-tale ending slipped through their fingers.
(Source: PC Gamer)
