Hammer Tutorial (1): Getting Started/Your First Brush

Hammer Tutorial (1): Getting Started/Your First Brush
All hail the first episode! In this tutorial, I explain how to download the Source SDK, make an error message that doesn't go away, launch Hammer, and create your first brush.

Flash Drive Fury

The next Hammer tutorial has been delayed this long because of a weird problem. I borrow someone else's laptop to use Camtasia, so I load my uncut video file onto my flash drive for processing. The problem I'm having is that my flash drive seems to be unplugging itself. (not visibly) Don't get me wrong, Lexar's tech support was very helpful and I'll get a replacement pretty soon. But for now, we wait. So, don't expect the next episode to be coming anytime soon.

EDIT: I just remembered that I may be able to dust off an old external hard drive I have and use it. If I can, then I will have the episode up today.

A quick update

I've decided to do video tutorials about Source under my YouTube account, wrathofmobius. However, I will not be able to start them until probably this weekend as I do not have a good microphone and one is currently being shipped. (Logitech FTW) These tutorials will focus on Portal mod development. I may do some other ones on HL2, TF2, and CS:S, but Portal is a great place to start as it is a very simple game. And it's awesome.

Getting Started

A while ago, back in 2009, I saw a trailer on YouTube for this new videogame, "Portal", made by some developer that I hadn't heard of before, ValvE. It was an interesting game - full of brain-teasing physics fun, sentry guns that apparently didn't like being knocked over, and a talking computer. Oh yes, and a pit of fire. I eventually convinced my parents to buy it - $20 was a small amount for such an obviously brain-building game, right? Skip forward to now: I'm making maps for Portal, and soon, ValvE games in general. It's a lot of fun: something about hitting "Compile" after an especially long stretch of map-building is especially fun. And come on- you're making things that wouldn't be thought feasible 10 years ago.


So you want to get started? Here's a list of things that you should do:

• GET PORTAL. It's a ridiculously fun game, and it has infinite replayability, as there are tons of maps out there that are free to download. Plus, it's pretty cheap right now. ($9.99 if I remember correctly) 
• Bonus points for Half-Life 2 Episode 2, however, it is not required. 
• Under "Tools" in Steam (you bought Portal through Steam, right?) download Source SDK. It's offered at the price of $0 and it comes with Hammer, Model Viewer, and Face Poser. 

You're all set!