My Book - Source SDK Development Essenti Created 10 years ago2014-02-06 01:36:24 UTC by Tetsu0

Hey All

As some of you may or may not know, I was approached by a publishing company late 2012. They saw my profile here and asked me if I was interested in writing a book about the Source SDK. Once my suspicions about the the authenticity of the publisher (PACKT) wore off, I took the red pill, jumped down the rabbit hole, and started writing.

I got about 2/3 through the book before Valve decided to release the Steampipe which broke many, many things. Faceposer included. I then had to break the news to my editors and re-write the better part of 8 chapters to include the new folder structure, and to ensure everything still functioned properly. This set me back a good 4 months. It took a lot of effort to re-do what I put so much work into. I took that time to create the floating island compo map. This taught me two things: The SDK tools still function perfectly, and I love mapping. so I NEED to suck it up and finish this book.

So. After multiple setbacks, innumerable revisions, hours of research/ testing, and one scrapped chapter (faceposer, RIP)..... I have entered the final proofing stages; and the book is due to be released next month.

http://www.packtpub.com/source-sdk-development-essentials/book

I learned quite a bit writing this book. I can say I've learned more about Source Scripting in the last 4 months than I have over the course of a few years. But I needed to know every detail because I wasn't learning for me, I was teaching others and HAD to be right.

As excited as I am to break this news to all of you guys, I almost feel as though I'm capitalizing on the efforts and general knowledge of this site and its members. I know that I would not have the experience and confidence in my abilities without the support and criticism I have received from TWHL over the last 10 years. I don't want any hard feelings or anything, or I may just be delusional.. It doesn't matter. This book wouldn't exist without TWHL and I owe a lot to everyone here, past and present.

To whomever has helped me get here, I truly, and deeply thank you.

Amazing! Congratulations! Did you make sure you ran the spellchecker on it one last time?

I just have to find out how to get a signed copy.

Wee! Gotta collect some money to buy that, it looks so awesome, and hard copy of course. (;

Congrats man, and yeah, like DiscoStu said, check with the error/spell checker? xD

Holy balls, congrats on finishing it man! =P

You shouldn't feel like you are capitalizing on anything. I would bet everyone at TWHL is nothing but happy and excited to see one of our members accomplish such an amazing feat

Pure awesome sir, i can't wait to read it!

This is great! Unfortunately, the hard copy costs more than my rent so I will probably wait for a while.

I am convinced it's a well-written piece though, and who knows... this might get some Valve eyes on you! ^^
I hope your efforts will be thoroughly rewarded.

DUDE.

I am so fucking proud man, very, very well done!
I was able to read an early draft of the first three chapters of this, and trust me - it's the real deal, guys. Really good, well researched stuff. I'm super excited to see how far it's come.

the hard copy costs more than my rent

WHERE DO YOU LIVE THAT RENT IS THAT CHEAP AND CAN I MOVE THERE?!

i would like to see samples...

WHERE DO YOU LIVE THAT RENT IS THAT CHEAP AND CAN I MOVE THERE?!

Well it's actually my dorm rent. Still a pretty good comparison term, right? Erhm...
Don't worry, I know the price is more than fair. As a mapper with enough self-respect, I will someday have that on my shelf :P.

Sign one for me and i will buy one right now ! Please

I'll open a paypal if anyone would like signed copies. I'll buy the book, sign it, and ship it myself.
Just shoot me a PM and i'll make a list.

Thanks for your support and kind words

And don't worry about the spell / grammar check. The final proofs go through 4+ editors, plus me for the final approval.

Congratulations man.
Nowadays it's actually not typically that hard to break into the video game industry online, if you keep at it long enough you're bound to make it in some way or another.

Yeah. True that.
At least now I can focus on creating awesome content instead of teaching it.
I hope this catches Valve's attention because there's few things I'd like to do more than work for them
Chances are slight, but I can dream.

Also, No creating accounts just to get signed copies. I'm offering for the regulars, active/experienced members.

Also, Also, there will soon be an example chapter posted on the website if anyone would like to check it. - I'll post updates when I know more. These final stages are happening quite fast and the book info page has been updated a few times already. It's possible you'll know before I do.

Congratulations finishing the book. That's pretty good damn job doing this kind of work. Hope to read it all someday. It must be unbelievably useful!

Do you know why they chose you specifically?

They said "Given your experience..." and linked to my profile here.
I'm assuming a number of factors played a role in their choice:

• I've placed top 3 in a few compos
• I've been around for a while
• My contact information is there and legit
• I have a lot of 4+ star rated maps to my name.

I had to do some email interviews and submit an outline for review before beginning writing. They apparently liked me, so I got the job.

How hard is it to write a book ? This question always stuck around and i never had a chance to ask it

It was a lot of work, rufee.
Each chapter probably takes between 15-25 hours to complete the first draft.
After that, I had to submit to editors who would bounce revisions back to me for clarifications, edits, etc etc..
Then it went to a peer reviews, and a few more editors for content accuracy, clarification etc.

All said and done, I have about 6 or 7 revisions on each chapter!

What I found most difficult about writing it was finding motivation to write. I work a 40hr/week job, go to school part-time, there was a death in the family... Often times it was really hard to come home from a day full of work and school just to sit down again and keep my brain working.
I've found myself cursing these chapters as I was writing them because at times there were certainly other things I would have liked to be doing.

So on a scale of 1-10 of hardness... 1 being breathing, 10 being Navy Seal Training, I would say it's a 7. I had to test everything I wrote about, take pictures, organize my ideas, formulate the outlines... It was like a never-ending school paper But well worth it!

It's more time and motivation than anything. Writing isn't really hard, It's explaining ideas accurately and clearly that gets tricky.

The way i write, it would have take me about 20 years to complete.. I don't know where you found the time to finish it so quickly!

The testing must have been extremely tedious, especially considering the problems with the Source SDK being nerfed while you were trying to work...

You have inspired me sir

Yessir I'm glad to inspire!!
I really hope there's an increase in Source maps after this drops

My heart dropped when the SDK got nerfed and I raged for quite some time.
Restructuring everything took a lot of time, and we almost had to change the book title. Unfortunately, the Steampipe conversion shifted the book focus more towards Episode 2 than I originally wanted.
I was the most upset about faceposer because I actually know how to use it
Not many people do, and It's hard to find good tutorials on it. I was really excited to get to share what I know about that, but maybe Valve will fix it, and I can submit a Revision request for the book.
[Version 1.2 - Now with Faceposer!]

Wow congrats sir! Rushes to wallet.

UPDATE - 2/19/14

Hey guys & gals.
There's an example chapter (Chapter 8 - Tracktrains and Cameras) posted on the book website! Each chapter will follow this same format.
Check it out here!
One day closer to publishing

Also, It's available on Amazon!

You know how Valve presents the developer's commentary mode, with usable description bubbles and occasionally the camera showing you specific things about the map you're in? Is there any insight on these mechanics in the book?

I was wondering the other day whether it's special entities that are enabled/disabled or just a different compile of the same maps with the commentary entities and cameras added.

Edit: I have a question regarding page 187 and the settings of the button. At least in Goldsource, I'm QUITE sure that if you set the "delay before reset" on a button to -1, it doesn't matter whether you set it to toggle or not, because the button will stay pressed forever. It only toggles between states if you set the delay to something other than -1. Has this changed in Source? I'm mainly asking in case it's an error that can be fixed before it goes out to print.

Also, does the book include an entity reference chapter, or is the reader left to his own devices (say, look it up on TWHL) to find out?

There's no insight on the developer commentary unfortunately.
It's not really wholly important to mod development, and I've never used it before, so there wasn't any reason for me to pursue that road.

You bring up a great point though, and It would be interesting to learn about, and then teach!

The delay before reset works differently between GS and Source. Because in source, you can specify different actions for when the button is a) pressed (generally) b) pressed IN c) when the button returns / resets

With delay before reset at -1, and without the toggle flag, the button will be inoperable after the first push. But the toggle is necessary if you want to control the in and out operations of the button on each push.

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On a related note: Today, I got an email saying that on February 21st, 2014; The Source SDK Development Essentials was officially published!

PACKT Publishing Website
Barnes and Noble
Amazon

Again, If you want signed copies, PM me, and I'll hook you guys up!

Congratumalations!

I would order a signed copy, but currently I am broke.

Anyway,

Congratulations! You've completed this quest [+100XP]. All that hard work wasn't in vain.

Proud of Tet

You already know what I think about this, my friend.

Congrats, by the way!

Copies are in!

Brettsu0

I get payed next week, lets get one of these in my hands.