I had a pretty good weekend of programming considering the flu I’ve got. Here’s a run down.

First off I fixed a few bugs that Valve’s latest patch caused with the modcache. Second of all I started a Nine Tenths gamemode script. It works pretty fine, here’s a picture.

The HUD graphics are applied by the server. The server can draw any materials that the client has.. so if you’re making a new gamemode and want to put graphics on the HUD all you have to do is include the materials inside your map’s BSP. It makes good sense to put the lua script in there too so it’s all in one neat package that can be completely downloaded from a server.

Then I started a new game mode. Melon Racers. You basically drive a melon around a map. I did a quick test and started a server and people joined and it was fun. Being a melon adds an extra challenge since if you go too fast and hit a wall you explode. One of the great things about Lua is that when you’re editing your gamemode you can have a server with people on it and change the scripts in the background. You don’t even have to restart the map. Anyway, here’s some shots of what went on.

We changed the map to gm_construct and I was the only human. Everyone else were melons. As you can see from this shot the player melons are like real props. The players just control their velocity. The names above their heads are defined serverside (font, colour, offset).

I thought this was pretty cool. I told them to drag him underwater but they needed to use teamwork to get him there..

And finally.. melon players vs headcrabs. They can kill the headrabs by running them over. This opens a space for a melons vs humans gamemode – with a deadly melon leap attack.

So yeah. A pretty great weekend of programming. I really can’t wait to get 8.4 out to see what people make – there’s tons of possibilities.