We'll all I can say that, as someone who is new to modding for HL(2), the more tutorial type information available the better. I just had the impression that Epic tended to provide more for the beginner then Valve seems to have. I look forward to climbing the 'learning' ladder, and I look to as many tools, tutorials, and examples as possible to make that climb easier.
As Jeffrey said, I think Valve has incredble opportunity with the ability to push content for modders through Steam. I look forward to seeing how this is utilized. I hope we see a steady stream of examples, tutorials, documentation and the like brought to us in this manner. I bring up Epic mainly to use as an example of what I 'thought' to be a better example of focus on the beginner, and seemingly mod community overall. It is only through recognition of a higher standards in modder support can work begin on reaching and surpasing said standards. Just to be clear, I'm not saying Epic does have higher standards, only that I have percieved it to be that way. Since I'm new to the HL(2) mod community I posed the question to the list in order to hear the viewpoints of individuals who are more seasoned in this community then I. Thank to everyone for taking the time to respond with your views and thoughts on this matter. On Thu, 2 Dec 2004 10:44:23 -0500, Dave Sanders <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > This is the reason Epic is pushing and trying to open up their > community with videos / tutorials / contests / etc: > > http://www.unrealtechnology.com/html/powered/released.shtml > > Unreal: The Game, is just a playable tech demo for their engine. I > think they make their REAL money with the engine licenses and > royalties. That said, they are following the Microsoft model of > making their platform THE platform: create as many developers as > possible. If you train the talent, and make the talent plentiful, > then it helps drive game engine choice later. > > Which is better? Who cares? This is the HLCoders list - so, why are > we talking Unreal? :) > > My 2 cents. > D > > On Thu, 02 Dec 2004 09:29:50 -0600, Jeffrey botman Broome > > > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > ChessMess wrote: > > > Ahh let me clarify. I wasn't meaning the actual code and whatnot, I'm > > > talking about SDK/Mod Support. Such things as Epic releasing all the > > > video tutorials and whatnot. What they do to empower the MOD community > > > vs what Valve is doing. > > > > > > I personally, and maybe this is because I'm new, expected a bit more > > > in terms of tutorials and documentation from Valve with the release of > > > HL2 and the large amount of lead time they had. Thus I posed this > > > question to see if that viewpoint was right, wrong, half-right, > > > half-wrong, etc. > > > > Valve has always been supportive of the modding community, but not > > always in a public manner. If you had a question about how something > > worked in Half-Life, you could email the developers directly and get a > > response back pretty quick. > > > > Epic seems to be more publicly oriented toward trying to improve their > > mod community by providing tutorial videos and reference information on > > the udn.epicgames.com website. Basically encouraging as many people as > > possible to MOD their games in an effort to make the games more popular. > > The easier you make something to do, the more likely people are going > > to try their hand at it. > > > > Valve has recently begun making developer documentation available on the > > collective.valve-erc.com website. And, of course, there are many 3rd > > party websites that provided documentation, tutorials, etc. for games > > from both of these companies. > > > > With Half-Life, I don't think that Valve knew that the modding community > > would become as huge as it has. Since Half-Life was Quake based, much > > was already known about the engine and how entities worked because > > people had figured out much of this already for Quake. Jumping from a > > Quake MOD to a Half-Life MOD wasn't that huge of a leap, since QuakeC > > code was fairly similar in function (but not structure) to Half-Life code. > > > > Epic didn't initially have a huge modding community either, but since > > the Unreal engine of today is very similar to the original engine used > > to create the first Unreal game, people have had lots of time to > > understand how things work in the Unreal engine and what can be done > > with UnrealScript. > > > > Epic seems to put forth a little more effort into trying to draw more > > people into the Unreal modding community (by providing video tutorials, > > MOD and map contests, etc). Valve doesn't really need to do this since > > a bazillion people are already playing Half-Life MODs and creating > > Half-Life MODs of their own. It's almost like Half-Life games have some > > kind of "dark matter" black hole effect that tends to suck people into them. > > > > I believe that over the past couple of years, Valve has spent more time > > and effort trying to provide modding information to the public and have > > hired people that have this task as a main part of their job. > > > > You have to remember that Valve was pushing to make Half-Life2 publicly > > available and didn't have much time to spend developing tutorials and > > documentation. I imagine that over the next few months you will see > > more and more of this type of stuff coming directly from Valve (more > > than likely though VERC), but you will also see lots of this information > > coming from the Half-Life modding community itself. > > > > Also, with Steam, it will be very easy for Valve to distribute news and > > links to this type of information when it becomes available. Valve, in > > essence, is able to "push" this content to the entire gaming community > > to encourage more people to get involved in this kind of thing. Before > > Steam (as with the Unreal universe), the people playing the games have > > to actively seek out modding information, and many people just aren't > > that skilled at being able to use search engines to track down exactly > > what they want and they don't visit (or don't know about) many of the > > gaming news sites that make some of this information available to the > > public. > > > > Is Epic better at encouraging MOD development than Valve? Possibly, but > > Valve now has the resources to improve in this area and I wouldn't be > > surprised if this status changed over the few months or years. > > > > I really look forward to seeing what the Half-Life community will be > > able to accomplish using the Source engine (as I'm sure Valve is also). > > Having "true" Physics, multiplayer vehicles, sophisticated > > animation/blending/facial expression systems, and a large community to > > begin with sets the foundation for some very interesting possibilities. > > > > -- > > Jeffrey "botman" Broome > > > > _______________________________________________ > > To unsubscribe, edit your list preferences, or view the list archives, > > please visit: > > http://list.valvesoftware.com/mailman/listinfo/hlcoders > > > > > > > -- > ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Open Innovation Software > Software Consulting for Small and Medium Business > > Staff Writer - GamersInfo.Net > (http://www.gamersinfo.net) > > > > _______________________________________________ > To unsubscribe, edit your list preferences, or view the list archives, please > visit: > http://list.valvesoftware.com/mailman/listinfo/hlcoders > > -- ChessMess Stratactic Studios http://www.StratacticStudios.com _______________________________________________ To unsubscribe, edit your list preferences, or view the list archives, please visit: http://list.valvesoftware.com/mailman/listinfo/hlcoders
