If there was a book on HL2 modding...

[TimHolt]

...what would you want to see in the book?

$39.95 down at Borders or your other favorite bookstore type deal. Obviously can't show every single thing about modding of course. But what would you like to see in a book like that?

 

[Pajari]

I'd like to see a cd with detailed source code examples for a wide variety of things- stuff dealing with the GUI, adding weapons, etc.

As for the book itself, tips on mapping and modeling would be nice. I think the internet serves the amateur mod maker's needs very well, though.

 

[Angry Lawyer]

A section telling people that "Ideas man" is not a valid team position.
Preferably, it'd focus on the coding aspects of modding - therefore I wouldn't have to keep answering silly questions all day long.

-Angry Lawyer

 

[GonzoBabbleshit]

A section telling people that "Ideas man" is not a valid team position.
Preferably, it'd focus on the coding aspects of modding - therefore I wouldn't have to keep answering silly questions all day long.

Your arrogance amazes me sometimes. You make a fair point about "ideas man" though, it should also mention that Concept Artists aren't just people who 'Like to draw'.

I think the book would have to be based on coding, otherwise it wouldn't be able to explain anything in great detail due to the different software available.

 

[sinkoman]

I'm no modder, but I for one think that the book should be extremely discouraging to those who aren't serious about it. It'd help show some people just how hard modding is, and scare them off prematurely, rather than ending up with some ambitious guy (note how I don't use the word "n00b") who isn't very tallented at ANYTHING, gathering a tallented mod team, him cracking the wip on pointless media releases of guns, and then the leader realizes that this'll get nowhere, and he drops out. Now you've got a team who's worked their carpel tunnel to the bone for some n00b (he's now a n00b) ambitious bullshit.

I saw it all the time on the Newgrounds.com flash board.

 

[Angry Lawyer]

Your arrogance amazes me sometimes.

Somebody's gotta amaze you, I guess it falls down to me.
But in that block of text, I'm not being arrogant. People actually DO keep asking me code questions. I don't mind helping out with harder ones, but when I get people keep asking me "I followed Valve's tutorial on how to change the rocket speed, but its still the same speed." I get a little peeved. I then ask if they got any compile errors. "What? Compile? I thought you just had to change the text files and load the game up." That's when I realise that the forum IQ has been steadily dropping.

-Angry Lawyer

 

[GonzoBabbleshit]

Somebody's gotta amaze you, I guess it falls down to me.

Touché

But in that block of text, I'm not being arrogant. People actually DO keep asking me code questions. I don't mind helping out with harder ones, but when I get people keep asking me "I followed Valve's tutorial on how to change the rocket speed, but its still the same speed." I get a little peeved. I then ask if they got any compile errors. "What? Compile? I thought you just had to change the text files and load the game up." That's when I realise that the forum IQ has been steadily dropping.

I can't say I'm suprised you get a lot of people asking you questions when you seem to surface anytime the word coding is mentioned. It's things like "This mod gets my seal of approval" that get me! Then again, when people seem to believe your word on everything is gospel truth it'll do that!

I agree with you most of the time but that's really not the point! Is it?

 

[Angry Lawyer]

Well, I've noticed that a lot of people do listen to me. So, what better way to make a mod that I think has a chance/should have a chance succeed, by stating that they get my approval? I've also noticed that a lot of the newer coders are a little trepedatious of joining mods, for fear that they'll be too ambitious to code, or that they're lead by pillocks. By pointing out mods that aren't asking for much code-wise, I think I help both coder and mod.

-Angry Lawyer

 

[TimHolt]

lol "idea guy" - indeed. Chapter 16: How Mods Fail

So coding, yes definitely. But there's a lot more to making a mod than just code - in fact I think to some extent a mod is mostly centered upon where their most talented people are. Mappers do neat and effective things with entities when they don't have a coder to recode specific things for example. There also are 2d artists who need to know how to create materials (VMT) files, alpha masks, etc. Model makers need to know how to make little simple props, but also weapon models, view models, etc.

It's a team effort with everyone contributing their part, and I think everyone needs to know a little bit about the other parts. If you know a bit about mapping or model making, you'll be a far better texture artist. A mapper that learns to make simple prop models becomes far more able to create what they want.

What about references? I know there are a million wikis around with a list of all the map entities, but would a book in the hand listing them (Appendix B) be useful? Maybe make it more broadly useful by listing the code files that implement or are related to each.

It also seems like about 60-70% of all (I use this term loosely) mod makers make maps, then there are texture people, model people, and lastly coders.

 

[Limpet]

A book like that doesn't need a section devoted to mapping. Just a list of links to some popular mapping sites and the first link should be "Google". There is enough resources for mapping already.

Angry Lawyer, weren't going to put together a little guide on coding with the Source SDK?

 

[TimHolt]

A book like that doesn't need a section devoted to mapping. Just a list of links to some popular mapping sites and the first link should be "Google". There is enough resources for mapping already.

Unfortunately that doesn't work for everyone. Not to mention there's a lot of disjointed and even inaccurate information on sites.

I don't know if you've ever programmed in Perl at all, but I have for a while. I've got this first edition Perl camel book (O'Reilly) that's been on my desk forever. It's totally tattered, pages folded over, postit notes out the sides, etc. Yet everything in that book is online, and more so. But I still go back to it. A mod book ought to aspire to that.

 

[Ennui]

Sections on Level Design (including texturing), Coding, Modeling (including skinning and animation), information on how to bring everything together cohesively (IE steps on writing code, getting it working ingame, getting a model exported and added to the engine), etc.

Teach basic principles and lingo for each of those three sections as well as basic software (visual studio, 3dsm, hammer, photoshop) knowledge. Also talk about ways to manage not only a team but a community, beta-testing stuff, etc.

A section on game design (focus on multiplayer game design) would be vital as well.

Links to resources for Half-Life 2 modding - interlopers, snarkpit, etc for mapping, and so on.

possibly a few brief profiles of some released mods, interviews, etc.

Among many other things.

 

[TimHolt]

Sections on Level Design (including texturing), Coding, Modeling (including skinning and animation), information on how to bring everything together cohesively (IE steps on writing code, getting it working ingame, getting a model exported and added to the engine), etc.

Teach basic principles and lingo for each of those three sections as well as basic software (visual studio, 3dsm, hammer, photoshop) knowledge. Also talk about ways to manage not only a team but a community, beta-testing stuff, etc.

A section on game design (focus on multiplayer game design) would be vital as well.

Links to resources for Half-Life 2 modding - interlopers, snarkpit, etc for mapping, and so on.

possibly a few brief profiles of some released mods, interviews, etc.

Among many other things.

I like it yea. Lingo, that's a good point. There are so many terms that get tossed around, and probably a lot of people are too embarassed to admit they don't know.

I didn't mean to dis websites that much. They are definitely useful and up to date resources. Sometimes though they can be pretty out of date. Of course a book can get that way pretty fast.

 

[Angry Lawyer]

Angry Lawyer, weren't going to put together a little guide on coding with the Source SDK?

Certainly am.

-Angry Lawyer

 

[Limpet]

Unfortunately that doesn't work for everyone. Not to mention there's a lot of disjointed and even inaccurate information on sites.

Thats true, which is probably why there are so many people that ask the same question over and over again on these forums.

I don't know if you've ever programmed in Perl at all, but I have for a while. I've got this first edition Perl camel book (O'Reilly) that's been on my desk forever. It's totally tattered, pages folded over, postit notes out the sides, etc. Yet everything in that book is online, and more so. But I still go back to it. A mod book ought to aspire to that.

I actually have the second edition of that book. Haven't read all the way through it because I decided to learn php now instead.
Anyway, I think the use of the book depends on the person. Because most, if not all, of the info in this book could be found on the internet. Just a matter of the person compiling their own list of resources.

Not that making book on hl2 modding is a bad idea.

Certainly am.

Good to hear.

 

[Osilo]

I don't know if a book could do this subject justice. You can take courses on the subject of game development and in my opinion those don't do the game industry any justice. This of course assuming a more immersive mod. Something that does a bit more than changing the RPG speed.