So Minh and Valve agreed to part ways on good terms (he still keeps in touch with people there), and he started his own project soon afterwards. Then he promptly fell off the video gaming map. “I moved into my parents’ basement since I had to save money,” he recalled. “And for two years, I worked as much as I could.” Minh moved to Vancouver and continued the new project with a small 5-man team. But things were difficult for him as he now had to come up with an entirely brand new game on his own, from coding to map-making, with no pre-existing game to rely on. Add in the fact that Minh didn’t have a regular support staff to help him and the one-year project Minh envisioned died a horrible death
http://uk.pc.ign.com/articles/102/1028810p1.html