http://www.homelanfed.com/index.php?id=25999
Seems like this would be a good one to read. Valve even talks about the September 30th debacle and their other failures during this entire process.
Here's the most interesting question and answer:
HomeLAN - Are the strategy guide and mod making books still going to be published as well?
David Hodgson - Yes, I've just finished up the strategy guide (I'm labeling maps currently!), and that will release with the game. The Raising the Bar book, however, is something Prima hopes to release 14-30 days PRIOR to the game shipping. I'd urge fans to watch where they open the book, as there's a lot of HL2 spoilers in there! Regarding the Mod book, we're waiting on that until a few months after the release of HL2, so there's time for Valve to help out and the community can get to grips with their mods.
And this one:
HomeLAN - Besides the actual coverage of the making of Half-Life 2 will there be any kind of pre-production artwork and screenshots from the game itself?
David Hodgson - Hoo, boy! That's the entire premise of the book! I just did a quick check through of the art contained in the book, and we're at just under 1000 separate art pieces. Around half of those are HL2-related (although there's pre-production stuff for Counter-Strike, HL, and all the expansions). Myself and Jess Cliffe went through all the available art for HL2, and selected all of the best bits. That means early sketches, monsters that didn't make it, a whole section just on Strider head designs... and over four hundred more art pieces that I can't currently talk about! All of this is full-color, and large-sized. The books around 390 pages currently. I've managed to acquire all the important pre-production sketches, artwork, and screenshots and placed them in the book. There's literally NOTHING I left out, with the exception of a few E3 screenshots we didn't have room for. Bottom line: If Valve had it in their art repository, and they gave it to me to use, it's in there.
Seems like this would be a good one to read. Valve even talks about the September 30th debacle and their other failures during this entire process.
Here's the most interesting question and answer:
HomeLAN - Are the strategy guide and mod making books still going to be published as well?
David Hodgson - Yes, I've just finished up the strategy guide (I'm labeling maps currently!), and that will release with the game. The Raising the Bar book, however, is something Prima hopes to release 14-30 days PRIOR to the game shipping. I'd urge fans to watch where they open the book, as there's a lot of HL2 spoilers in there! Regarding the Mod book, we're waiting on that until a few months after the release of HL2, so there's time for Valve to help out and the community can get to grips with their mods.
And this one:
HomeLAN - Besides the actual coverage of the making of Half-Life 2 will there be any kind of pre-production artwork and screenshots from the game itself?
David Hodgson - Hoo, boy! That's the entire premise of the book! I just did a quick check through of the art contained in the book, and we're at just under 1000 separate art pieces. Around half of those are HL2-related (although there's pre-production stuff for Counter-Strike, HL, and all the expansions). Myself and Jess Cliffe went through all the available art for HL2, and selected all of the best bits. That means early sketches, monsters that didn't make it, a whole section just on Strider head designs... and over four hundred more art pieces that I can't currently talk about! All of this is full-color, and large-sized. The books around 390 pages currently. I've managed to acquire all the important pre-production sketches, artwork, and screenshots and placed them in the book. There's literally NOTHING I left out, with the exception of a few E3 screenshots we didn't have room for. Bottom line: If Valve had it in their art repository, and they gave it to me to use, it's in there.
