De heren (en mi chien ook dames?) van Stomped vonden het nodig om Robin Walker, van Valve (bekend van Half-Life zoals jullie allemaal weten ), te interviewen. Mister Walker werkte mee aan de Team Fortre Cla ic mod, en is toen aangenomen door Valve om aan Team Fortre 2 (de stand-alone) te komen werken. Het interview gaat vooral over mods en over de Half-Life engine. Robin zegt onder andere dat de Half-Life engine nog steeds mogelijkheden bied voor mod makers die niet ontdekt zijn en dat we dus nog best wel mooie mods kunnen verwachten.Stomped: Do you feel the Half-Life engine allows for the most creativity po ible for MOD developers, or do you feel that it restricts them?

Walker: I don't think the HL engine's limiting MOD developers yet. We've got many new pieces of functionality that aren't really being used yet. The Persistence API we've just released will allow MOD creators to do really neat things with persistent data, like RPGs. The increased control over camera and input we gave MOD makers in HL SDK 2.0 allows them to break out of the FPS arena, and into arcade games, RTS's, 3rd-person adventures, side scrollers, and so on.

Stomped: If you were to offer one piece of advice to the MOD community, what would it be?

Walker: MODs real power comes from the fact they can try gameplay that fully commercial products can't. MODs have a harder time if they try to compete with commercial products on a content level. So think about what your MOD is offering to gamers in the gameplay department. Imagine a gamer came up to you and said, "Why should I play your MOD?" If you can answer that question convincingly, you're on the right track. If your answer is, "We've got new weapons, new art, and new levels,” you might want to think about what you're really offering that's different to everything out there already.