Don't worry, this isn't a homework assignment :p
I've been working on a Half Life 2 modification for a little over a year now. I tried learning C++, I picked up a visual c++ book and it came with a compiler. The book is about 4 inch thick, seems very daunting to learn that much.
I started out by making that "hello world" dos prompt (I’m sure you all know that one :p)
I got a billion errors just trying to compile it and gave up on ever learning C++ :( I might try and get back into it if I ever find my book though, but in the meantime I'll stick to mapping, modeling, unwrapping, texturing, skinning, and animating models :p
The reason I'm posting is because we've had a few coders working on this project from time to time but they always seem to get jobs or get arrested (didn't think coders were that dangerous, I guess I underestimated? :lol:)
My project is a post-apocalyptic total conversion for Half Life 2. The graphics are no problem, we have a small team of very talented artists. As I said, it takes place after the end of the world, and a series of factions are fighting for control of the continental United States (possibly pieces of Canada and Mexico also). The storyline is long but leaves a lot of open possibilities. The game play will essentially first-person shoot'em up, but with a few RPG elements such as an inventory screen for combining items to make improvised weapons, explosives, and equipment. You will also be able to equip clothing and armor to your character to modify his look or better protect him. The maps will be objective based team play, each map being very different objective-wise than all of the others. For example, in one map your objective would be as a Raider to steal fuel, or as a Villager to defend it for 20 minutes.
Or, in another map, your objective as a Villager would be to drag a recently discovered, live, armed, tactical nuclear missile to the enemy village's base using pickup trucks and chains (Sort of like football!) Before the enemy can drag it to your base. In 5 minutes, that nuke is going off and taking half the map with it. Which half will you be on? :p
There is a lot of creativity and talent behind this mod, and although our team is small we have the ability to make a kick-ass game. But this is what brings me here; we need a person to help us get this thing off the ground.
The Half Life 2 SDK is to the best of my knowledge just C++ that must be compiled with the Microsoft Visual Studio C++ 2003 .NET compiler. The original Half Life 2 code, although way over my head, looks as if its neat and concise; there are a lot of comments throughout it to explain how some parts work. Our most recent coder was able to make progress in programming our pistols to jam realistically when fired a few times.
In addition to the code being commented, there are a multitude of great websites where programmers can discuss HL2 coding and help each other out.
If computer games really aren't your thing then that’s fine, and I apologize for wasting your time with this lengthy post :-|. However, if you do feel that you'd enjoy working with a team of talented, mature, and friendly people for the fun of making something great (which in my opinion when completed will be a huge success in the modding world, who knows, it might even get published!) then we'd love it if you would help us out.
I'll include some eye candy here, just so you don't feel totally gypped by reading all this stuff :p
http://img198.echo.cx/img198/9196/pic53af.jpg
http://img198.echo.cx/img198/6112/pic11pd.jpg
http://img198.echo.cx/img198/5705/pic39it.jpg
http://img198.echo.cx/img198/6973/pic41vv.jpg
http://img198.echo.cx/img198/7587/pic21ga.jpg
If you're interested in helping out or have any questions, or even know someone who might be interested in helping let me know! Thanks for your time, I appreciate it!