User talk:Holtt
Hi, I saw your name on O'Reilly catalog - Mapping and Modding Half-Life 2 Complete. March 2006 is still far away, but I'm really looking forward to the book. -n-neko 06:54, 24 Dec 2005 (PST)
Ah cool. I just saw the link on O'Reilly and Amazon a few days ago. Now back to work... :^) -holtt
So what do you think will be covered in it..?—ts2do (Talk | @) 17:09, 28 Dec 2005 (PST)
It will provide an introduction in general to modding (what's a mod, the SDK, parts of a mod), then sections on mapping, the basics of modeling and coding. The way I look at it, there are probably 90 mods out there that never get anywhere for every 10 that actually release something. I want to up the odds that some of those 90 get to the release stage, even if they never get anywhere with it.
Coding is sort of a daunting subject to put in a book, but it will provide a good basic set of information about how to code up a multiplayer team oriented mod. It's suprising what basic things you don't get with the SDK right now - like the code to handle team selection, which is pretty basic to any team oriented mod. It's also going to cover basic weapon coding and entities.
I am also going to cover some of the harder to categorize things with "other topic" chapters on creating textures and sounds (for example), but also things like "Creating a Successful Mod Team"
I should have a chapter outline online in a while, plus will be setting up a companion website where I'll probably put up a few sample chapters to get feedback.