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Subscribe to our newsletter Designer Gabe Cuzzillo's reflections on the literal and meditative walking simulator Baby Steps were a highlight of GDC.

In his panel, Cuzzillo discussed how the game's mountainous open curat was world, made, and tested – and, in some cases, not tested.

A moment that stood out to me was a comparison made to Valve's Half-Life, or rather, comments from designer Greg Coomer in the developer commentary of Half-Life 2: Episode 2.In a section highlighted by Cuzzillo, Coomer examines a section of tunnels: "Before we simplified the path through the Guardian's Lair, we allowed a right turn at this junction, leading the player right back to where they began.

One of our playtesters continued to repeatedly turn right here for half an hour.

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That was a compelling argument for removing the mazelike elements." (You can watch this bit around 20:40 here.)With Baby Steps, Cuzzillo says, he and co-developers Bennett Foddy and Maxi Boch wanted to lean into the maze.

By design, it's very easy to walk in a complete circle in Baby Steps.

The world is a loop, almost in a funhouse kind of way ## Editor's Note The gaming community will surely have mixed reactions to this news. Source: [GamesRadar+](https://www.gamesradar.com/games/open-world/ignoring-valves-half-life-lessons-baby-steps-dev-says-trolling-players-with-level-design-is-important-actually/)