Hello Slash, I agree with your conclusion, but not with your ideas.
S> I think the code itself is not what is important- it's S> the ideas behind the code. I'm sure Carmack could code S> all the features of HL2 himself, but it takes a highly S> inspired and innovative team like Valve to come up S> with these ideas in the first place. Even if every S> game company copies off Valve (which they would have S> done anyways- with the source code or not), Valve will S> blow them out of the water again with their next S> release. THAT'S what is important. There are so many S> great coders out there, and it's really just a way to S> put your ideas and thoughts and visions into something S> more tangible, like an artist. Valve not make really amazing engines. Half-Life was not more than a glQuake engine with a good serverbrowser. Half-Life2 will have a good phisic engine, Havok, but is licensed technology. So looks to me that Valve make fucking good games, not engines. Half-Life-1 singleplayer was amazing, but Quake1 singleplayer was patethic. The engines where very similar. To avoid all errors, I think the changes Valve has made to Quake1 to make Half-Life1 was genius key changes, exactly the key changes needed to make really good mod and games like CS and DOD. S> I'm sure a lot of the code for HL2 is very good, I agree. S> but I S> also think other coders could do what Valve did. Maybe not. Hehehehe... gameplay is dificult to create. S> That's why the source code itself isn't as important. S> But would those other coders have a development team S> with such vision to come up with the ideas that HL2 S> has in the first place? Probably not. Ok, I think you S> get my drift... :D S> As far as hackers/cheaters/exploiters go... well... if S> you write good secure code, it won't matter if the S> source is freely known or not, right? Hare Videogames companys ready for Internet? Can code games, sure, but client applications where something about security that is really dangerous. Has applications become complex, become much more dangerous to leave holes open. Using OE in a hacker-targeted enviroment looks like where not really security conscientscious to me. S> Besides I'm sure S> they will take extra measures to fix any possible S> security issues before the full release, in addition S> Steam is an excellent tool to patch up any problems S> very quickly. Imposible. You can't fix these bugs you dont know exist. S> I think this whole situation will just be a bump in S> the road... Will it delay HL2's release further? No..!!!, please, nooo!!!... S> Maybe- but not because of programmers having to "fix" S> code- rather all this media attention and FBI and S> lawyers, checking comprimised computers, etc, etc :/ S> might distract them from their original schedule. I S> hope they have a couple of guys handling all this BS, S> while the rest of them pick up the pace and stay on S> schedule. :/ S> Remember, when you change your schedule because of S> hackers- the hackers win ;p system crackers, script kiddies system crackers. posdata: Valve is doint something amazing interesting that no one speak about. Is development a "XBOX" alike platform for PC. So you only have to pay the bills and download games, Steam will do all for you, games will be steam extensions, games will share code, games will have mods that will be fully games... recursivelly!.. So Valve is building something new, something that is not a boring and crappy DRM application to fuck players that want to play offline, but a Giganteous Game Framework! No one notice this? I am still analizing if will hate Valve for this or love. Has I dont want another Microsoft alike company fucking everything. _______________________________________________ To unsubscribe, edit your list preferences, or view the list archives, please visit: http://list.valvesoftware.com/mailman/listinfo/hlcoders
