Star Filled founders part with Valve

The founders of Star Filled Studios have left their new posts at Valve to form yet another indie studio called Temple Gates.

Valve acquired the San Francisco team back in December, but now IGN reports that Tod Semple and Jeff Gates have left after just over eight months with the company.

“Jeff [Gates] and I are working on indie games again,” said Semple.

“We were working for Valve in a remote office in San Mateo. It turned out that there weren’t many benefits for either side in that arrangement.”

Apparently Valve has let the pair keep their IP, so the team will keep working on the game at their new studio.

“Valve was super cool about it and is letting us continue to work on our game and is also giving us the office,” explained Semple.

“So Jeff and I are starting up a new company called Temple Gates Games.”

Valve issued their own statement, suggesting the acquisition had been fueled by the pair’s previous work, and that the split was amicable.

“We were big fans of their prior work,” reads the statement.

“We worked with them during their startup phase, but they’re independent now and still working on their game. We wish them the best of luck.”

Before their time at Valve, Gates and Semple had experience at companies likePopCap, where Semple programmed Plants vs Zombies, LucasArts, Blizzard North, and Maxis.