All i can say is, perhaps you're taking a step longer than your legs, biting more than you can chew-- Starting modding by updating a project that is not yours, with a complex way past XML defs. This is the kind of thing that would require assemblies (DLL's), and i don't even dare step that far into modding.... So, yeah, good luck to you, hopefully you can get those mods going! Wave survival sounds like fun.
As for helping, i'm afraid most modders already have their hands full with other things, but indeed, learning from the sources of mods can be useful, but isn't anywhere as good as being taught how to do things.
As for helping, i'm afraid most modders already have their hands full with other things, but indeed, learning from the sources of mods can be useful, but isn't anywhere as good as being taught how to do things.