Current events
ModDB & Gamers Unite (GSR) team up for the Golden Spanners
The http://www.moddb.com Golden Spanner nominations close on the 15th of January, and the http://www.GameSurgeRadio.net Games Unite show will be hosting the ceremony on the 25th of January.
Dystopia Update 4 Released
11 Jan 2006: Update 4 for the Dystopia demo has been released. The update includes 2 new levels, dys_Silo and dys_Fortress along with a huge number of changes. You can find a long list of mirrors on the downloads page of the Dystopia website.
See also:
- Full Update 4 Changelog
- New Player Guide
- Update 4 Screenshots
- Dystopia Forums
- Dystopia Player Statistics
HL2: Aftermath Dated: April 24th on Steam and at retail
Doug Lombardi via ModHQ:
"We're currently targeting April 24th for the release of both Aftermath and
Platinum.
Platinum will include HL2, HL2 DM, CS: Source, DoD: Source, and Aftermath."
Twilight War: After the Fall Cancelled!
04 Jan 2006: Smiling Gator's Source-licensed MMORPG has been cancelled due to lack of funding.
"Our committed funds have run dry and we were not successful in the hunt for additional investment. The websites and email will be disabled in the coming days, so this is our last announcement before we shut down for good."
See also:
- Official announcement URL
- Fansite Twilight War HQ
- Forum thread Twilight War HQ Community > Ideas to save Twilight War!
HL2: Substance v1.2 Gold Released
03 Jan 2006: A new version of HL2: Substance has been released. Go down to: halflife2.filefront.com to download it. Changelist.
ModDB Back Online
03 Jan 2006: After some small hickups the ModDB Is Back
New version of Battle Grounds 2 released
01 Jan 2006: A new version of Battle Grounds 2 called BG2 v0.15 has been released
RDKF Demo
24 Dec 2005: A demo for Rag Doll Kung Fu has been released
Day of Defeat: Source & Source update
22 Dec 2005: A Day of Defeat: Source update has been released. If you are running the SDK beta and find that the game crashes at the menu screen, remove the -beta sdk parameter from your Steam shortcut.
- A temporary solution to this problem can be found here.
Available Now: 64-Bit Half-Life® 2 and Lost Coast™
Mistake Of Pythagoras Released
22 Dec 2005: A surprise gift from the author of Sweet Half-Life, the Half-life 2 Singleplayer mod Mistake Of Pythagoras was released after 9 months development. You can download it from 
ModDB page.
Wikipedia page
Added a page in the Wikipedia for the Valve Developer Community. Why hadn't anybody done this already?
CAD fans rejoice
17th Dec 2005: It isn't every day one of the mist well-known comic artists in the gaming world offer to make textures for a mod. Which is probably why anyone who remembers the classic Rocket Jockey should right now be jumping to attention:
"In fact, now that I think about it, if some independant mod team out there were to tackle this project, were to bring an updated Rocket Jockey to the scene using, say, the HL2 engine, well... I'd have to volunteer to help do the texture work." [1]
Only one question now: any takers?
Combine Destiny Released!
4 Dec 2005: The Half-life 2 Singleplayer mod Combine Destiny is released! Grab the mod at their site
ModDB v3
4 Dec 2005: Mod Database has launched version 3.0, with a sleek new design, tabbed environment, Mod of the Year award and many other improvements!
Scaling the Cabal: Valve's Design Process for Creating Half-Life 2
4 Dec 2005: Last month Valve wrote a piece for Game Developer Magazine, Scaling the Cabal [2]. The article covers their unusual system of several tight-knit 'cabal' groups each concentrating on their chunk of the game, rather than the standard system of each developer working on a wide area over the course of development. It also describes the ways in which they overcome the problems cabals present, and how the system changed from Half-Life 1 to 2. A fascinating read, especially having used the Source mod tools.
Robin Walker's presentation "Making Mods with Source" available for download
4 Dec 2005: Robin Walker spoke about Mod Development at a seminar hosted by IGDA Kansai (IGDA chapter for Kyoto and Osaka, held in LED ZONE Kyoto (Counter-Strike NEO Arcade center). You can download his slides here (igda.jp). It's a must-read along with Making a MOD.
Press coverages(all in Japanese):GameWatch,IT media +D Games,Robin Walker interview by igda.jp
Warren Spector is also coming to Steam!
Oh my.
Source Beta SDK
21 Nov 2005: It seems the Beta SDK is upon us! Ladies and Gentlemen, start your engines!
steam.exe -beta sdk Note: The parameter is case sensitive.