The man who sent his game to Gabe Newell in a briefcase

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Richard Seabrook woke one morning and realised his life wasn't where he wanted it to be. He was 23 years old, he'd graduated from university and he'd taken a job he thought would lead to his dream career in games. But it hadn't quite worked out. He was stuck in the British seaside town of Bournemouth, in quality assurance testing, where months were sprawling ominously into years. "You know what?" he said to himself that day. "I'm sick of this. I'm just going to go for it." He set his sights high: Seabrook wanted to go for a job at Valve.
This wasn't a shot in the dark. Valve's Source engine had been the topic of his 70-page dissertation, and he knew the Bellevue company and its work inside out. He'd entered a Portal mapping competition in 2011 and earned high praise for his work. In all his dreams it was Valve he designed levels for - and he knew exactly how hard getting a job there would be.
Dreams can come true, as Seabrook knew. Adam Foster earned a golden ticket for his "Minerva" series of Half-Life 2 mods, and Valve courted and then hired him - a story I heard from Foster himself. He proved it could be done, and Seabrook seized upon his tale, holding it as inspiration and template for his own all-out bid.
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