User:Jazmeister
I'd been playing with the Source SDK and Visual Express 2005, and found myself increasingly interested by the information on offer here. I had a cool idea for a mod which, sadly, probably isn't legally viable right now as it uses too many tf2 models. However, now that another nugget of coolness is forming in my mind, I'm going to continue to use and contribute to this community in the meantime. I'm also quite concerned with putting in an effort to develop the site actively; I'll be trying to improve the presentability and usefulness of all articles I come across, when I have free time.
The Extent of My Usefulness
I started making games when I was 4 or 5. These were cut-outs on paper, and I moved the mario-clone with my one hand, and the enemies with the other.
When I got spat out of the other side of school, I wanted to write, and so I started submitting short stories to publishing companies and magazines. One magazine, Chapman's of Edinburgh, a prominent scottish literary mag, wanted to publish one of my stories if I'd only edit it slightly. I never got around to it, coming as it did in the middle of a busy move to another continent where Scottish prominence wouldn't matter very much, but I am told it went through 2 in-house readings and ended up on the shortlist for publication. So, to me, that means that when I get a friggin minute and actually submit something, they'll probably publish it. Which means I'm a good writer, and not just self-proclaimed.
I became a wikipedian for 2 years, sometimes picking at grammar, sometimes helping with disputes, sorting vandalism, etc etc. After that, I got bored of it. I'm not a professor, so I could only write for it to a certain point, but I definately got to know how a wiki works.
I did the first year of a programming course in C. This isn't much, I know, but I know what a variable is and I have a good place to work from. The subject matter never seemed to stray beyond stuff I already knew, like functions and libraries, but from what I see from the Windows Platform/Valve Source SDK's, it's all about knowing a particular library. I learn fast.
As an avid gamer and an analytical thinker, I've always enjoyed analyzing games: What makes them good, what makes them bad, which elements are decoration and which are core to the excitement and stimulus... these are questions I love to answer. When I found out that making a Source Mod might require little more than hard work and imagination, I leapt at the chance to create my own game. I know that the proof of the pudding is in the eating, and nothing I can say will prove my worth more effectively than just creating something genuinely cool; for this reason, I am developing my own sp mod for half-life and will attempt to make everything on my own, from maps to models to code to art. Obviously, keeping all that to a minimum and making sure my eyes aren't bigger than my belly will help make that happen.
If you think you need me, or I need you, drop me a line on my talk page.
My Knowledge Gaps
I don't know how to format an FGD file for my weapons. As an example, I've cloned the .357 from half-life and intend to gut it and turn it into an interesting Game-Selling beam weapon. Coding aside, I can't place it in Hammer; I know that I need FGD's for that. I can make brush FGD's, point FGD's, and Logical FGD's... is that all I need as far as hammer? Did I just answer my own question?
Improving the Modding Section
(Other users feel free to edit this section as work progresses)
Todo:
- Decide on whether to develop Category:Modding...
- ...as a set of easy to understand tutorials.
- ...as a comprehensive knowledge base for experienced users.
- ...as something incorporating all of the above.
- Gather all relevant articles and plan how they link and connect to eachother.
- Start to finish tutorial, incorporating everything?
- Gateway tutorial, layered to allow easy skipping of things like programming or mapping if those aren't your particular cup of tea?
- Disconnected tutorials linked to main, informative articles?
- (Actually do it)
- Perhaps attempt to form a sort of "WikiProject" for modding, with established standards, etc.