Beginner's Guide in Registered Access Area

[Zitheral]

Any word on when the new version of this will be ready? I would like to buy it, but I'm skittish about buying an old version on the premise that a new version will be released "some day"

[Robert]

For now i'm sticking with preparing textures and models as well as being lazy until the update too.
It would indeed be a practical thing to get a rough estimation of time 'til the update, so one can easier decide if it's a better idea to i.e. use the actual gui for now or to completely wait for the update with that.
(I like the progress-bar thing like they use on the blender site. Instead of giving out a date, they estimated a rough time frame and noted down what got finished or what bugs got fixed. One could check the dev site and watch the progress going on and on, i found that rather inspiring.)

[Eric Lengyel]

(I like the progress-bar thing like they use on the blender site. Instead of giving out a date, they estimated a rough time frame and noted down what got finished or what bugs got fixed. One could check the dev site and watch the progress going on and on, i found that rather inspiring.)

Good idea. There is now a progress bar on the roadmap page:

http://www.terathon.com/wiki/index.php/Official_Roadmap

Note that you can see what bugs have been fixed and what feature requests have been implemented in the bug tracker. There are also some preliminary release notes here:

http://www.terathon.com/wiki/index.php/ ... ersion_2.5

As for the book, the authors tell me that they hope to have it ready within the month.

[Frank Skilton]

That is a good idea, I really like it.

Eric, are you still planning on putting a link to the roadmap on the main wiki page (with the other developer links)?

[Eric Lengyel]

Eric, are you still planning on putting a link to the roadmap on the main wiki page (with the other developer links)?

The link has been moved to the developer links now.

[Grognard]

That is a good idea, I really like it.

++

[TomL]

The bar looks like the release is imminent, but haven't we all see bars stalling for ages when it just said 3 seconds left? I'm really really looking forward to the new release, it's almost tied to the buying decision here.

[David Vasquez]

Any word on when the new version of this will be ready?

Zitheral, the team is completing their work on the second edition of the Guide, to be made available as an electronic update within the next 30 days. The second edition includes updated versions of the tutorials from the first edition, for the latest version 2.1.2 of the C4 Engine. After the release of version 2.5, the authors will re-check all of the content for compatibility, and then the updated Guide will be ready for our final review.

[CodeNewt]

The bar looks like the release is imminent, but haven't we all see bars stalling for ages when it just said 3 seconds left? I'm really really looking forward to the new release, it's almost tied to the buying decision here.

I don't know if you have a lot of experience with other indie game engines out there, but a lot of us on the forums do. By far and large, a large population on this forum all agree that C4 is the best engine available for the amount of money you are paying.

With the large number of features already included in the engine, the engine it self is constantly being maintained, the VERY active community with a sizable number of people contributing to topics every day, and last but entirely the most important and most valuable asset on this forum is Eric who develops the engine and answers many questions every day - even sometimes the trivial questions that leave your cheek a little red for asking. There is no doubt, in my mind, that if you are a game developer 'enthusiast' then you should definitely buy this game engine.

Mind you, all of that is with a grain of salt. Programming is a requirement in order to create a game that isn't a modification (mod) from the demo game.

[Fratercide]

Any word on when the new version of this will be ready?

Zitheral, the team is completing their work on the second edition of the Guide, to be made available as an electronic update within the next 30 days. The second edition includes updated versions of the tutorials from the first edition, for the latest version 2.1.2 of the C4 Engine. After the release of version 2.5, the authors will re-check all of the content for compatibility, and then the updated Guide will be ready for our final review.

I'm really looking forward to this, Thank you!

[Davaris]

Any word on when the new version of this will be ready? I would like to buy it, but I'm skittish about buying an old version on the premise that a new version will be released "some day"

I bought it as a beginner and even though parts of it are out of date, my only regret is I didn't buy it sooner, because it makes it a lot easier to learn C4, than using the wiki alone.

[Robert]

Oooh ! Progress bar ! Shiny !
I just hope i can bring up enough self control to keep myself from staring at it, waiting it to finish.

[Grognard]

The bar looks like the release is imminent, but haven't we all see bars stalling for ages when it just said 3 seconds left? I'm really really looking forward to the new release, it's almost tied to the buying decision here.

Yeah, I think blender was at 95+% for like a year. I still think this is a good system, though. Report what's done, not estimate what will maybe hopefully be done on some complicated coding you have never done before and might not even be possible to do in the way you are planning. Much better than saying October, then saying Nov when Oct blows past, then saying Dec, and so on endlessly as seems to be case with nearly every project out there, while irate customers who don't understand programming think you are a conman.

Maybe having a date by each tickmark would be helpful to let people see real progress and let developers adjust their tickmark making in the future.

[Robert]

Blender's bug fixing spree took quite a while indeed !

[mmelo]

I'm really sitting on a fence about this book. 30 dollars is a fairly steep price for an ebook in my opinion especially one that is a few versions behind the curve. If the book was, say, half the price I'd take the gamble. As it is, I'll keep an eye out for further developments before taking the plunge...

[a2k]

I'm really sitting on a fence about this book. 30 dollars is a fairly steep price for an ebook in my opinion especially one that is a few versions behind the curve. If the book was, say, half the price I'd take the gamble. As it is, I'll keep an eye out for further developments before taking the plunge...

You did take a look at the sample pdf and know it's 800 pages with sample source code, right?

[joe513]

I'm really sitting on a fence about this book. 30 dollars is a fairly steep price for an ebook in my opinion especially one that is a few versions behind the curve. If the book was, say, half the price I'd take the gamble. As it is, I'll keep an eye out for further developments before taking the plunge...

I must say that it is well worth the money. I have learned a lot from the book even though it is for the older version of the engine. I am sure the new version will be even better.

[Grognard]

Well there's no other book, really. If it saves you just an hour or two it's worth it, but if you don't use C4 for much of course a book is not needed.

[weshowe]

I'm really sitting on a fence about this book.

I was pleased with the book. It really helped me get past not knowing where to start at. I can understand the desire to wait and see that the new edition gets published in a timely manner (it was current when I bought it), but IMO the book was as well prepared as anything published at Amazon (and better than some).

And I never expected to get a revised edition for free. That itself is a better deal than you find almost everywhere else.

<* Wes *>

[Robert]

It's nicely done and gives a useful qick entrance. If you're a C4 pro already i guess all you get from it is a few hints or perhaps different view points on solving some situations. But since i'm a C4 noob, i found it quite practical.
I'm usually a person who prefers either wikipedia tutorials and how-to's or a good old printed book, though.

Anyhow, turing an ebook into a real one seems easy : http://www.lulu.com

[mmelo]

You did take a look at the sample pdf and know it's 800 pages with sample source code, right?

Yes, I know it's very comprehensive and it took a lot of effort to do. I am not faulting the end product at all. It's just that - as someone hinted - I indeed am not working on anything C4 related, nor do I expect to in the near future. So, I would purchase the manual in a mix of "just to have a look" and "reward those that worked on it". In that light, 30 dollars is a bit steep.

But I'm sure it is a worthy item for anyone really beginning work on a C4 project, even if it's slightly behind the times.

[Zitheral]

Any word on when the new version of this will be ready?

Zitheral, the team is completing their work on the second edition of the Guide, to be made available as an electronic update within the next 30 days. The second edition includes updated versions of the tutorials from the first edition, for the latest version 2.1.2 of the C4 Engine. After the release of version 2.5, the authors will re-check all of the content for compatibility, and then the updated Guide will be ready for our final review.

That is great news David... I intend to purchase it once the new version is out. Thanks for all your hard work.

[Robert]

Guess it might definitely be much more useful to most if it targets version 2.5 (a while after that one is out). Along with the other changes, i get that at least a completely new GUI chapter could or might need to be added.
...Still can't keep myself from peeking at the progress bar at least twice per day, wondering if it actually grew a pixel or not. Such things have a habit of making people keep checking back with them.

[Zitheral]

Guess it might definitely be much more useful to most if it targets version 2.5 (a while after that one is out). Along with the other changes, i get that at least a completely new GUI chapter could or might need to be added.
...Still can't keep myself from peeking at the progress bar at least twice per day, wondering if it actually grew a pixel or not. Such things have a habit of making people keep checking back with them.

That will never work Eric releases versions too quickly. At some point, they have to just go with what they have or it'll never come out.

[Grognard]

Guess it might definitely be much more useful to most if it targets version 2.5 (a while after that one is out). Along with the other changes, i get that at least a completely new GUI chapter could or might need to be added.
...Still can't keep myself from peeking at the progress bar at least twice per day, wondering if it actually grew a pixel or not. Such things have a habit of making people keep checking back with them.

Usually the new releases are not too hard to figure out, but having examples compile with current version is almost a must to make things useful unfortunately.