I think of giving up modding business :(
Post Reply
Quote
Re: I think of giving up modding business :(
Posted by Madedog on Tue Jan 24th at 10:54am 2006


Oh well. The best place I could come to and complain.

It all started January 2005 when I started Strikeback project. It was a HL2 SP modification. I got a good team but... most of them were lazy. It failed five months later.

I tried joining Nightfall project. Fortunately they had enough level designers, so I could stay as backup and help out Head-Humped instead. It is dieing out as nobody is doing anything for it. (?)

After it was clear it would be dead, I joined Opposing Source - a remake of Opposing Force with Source engine. Died two weeks after I joined and post pics of my progress.

Today, a mod named Opposing Shephard (a follow up for OPF), I got a message from team leader it was cancelled. Then it got clear.

A clue:
I think of leaving Incoming-Source. It looks good and I don't want it to be dead.


It seems as if I have a curse on me that would stop any mod I have contributed for to succeed.

Or what you think?



HL2 tutorials 'n' stuff: http://madedog.pri.ee
217.159.236.34:27050 - CSS Server - Clean | koffer.ee



Quote
Re: I think of giving up modding business :(
Posted by French Toast on Tue Jan 24th at 12:31pm 2006


Aww, Oposing Source had some beautiful work.




Quote
Re: I think of giving up modding business :(
Posted by Captain P on Tue Jan 24th at 12:36pm 2006


I don't think it's you - it's the mods. There's so many mods that fail so getting on a mod that succeeds or continues for more than a few months is rare as far as I know.<br>So far, I've worked on about three mods, two failed, one is still in production and going very slow.

Funny, as I was asked to join Opposing Source as well. I didn't accept it back then and two weeks later, the mod was dead indeed.

And so we get the saying 'Idea's are plenty, people who work them out are not'... which makes me think, I'd better pick the ones that finish their work over the ones that have enormeous talent.






Quote
Re: I think of giving up modding business :(
Posted by ReNo on Tue Jan 24th at 12:55pm 2006


I've worked on about 5 mods over the years and the only one that didn't die was the one that was already up and running when I made maps for it (the original Adrenaline Gamer). It's sad, but the truth is that the vast majority of mods never see their first release version. You may want to consider releasing a couple of maps for established games/mods, such as HL2, HL2DM, HL2CTF, CS:S or DoD:S, or try and get in with one of the "this is definately gonna happen" mods like Insurgency, Dystopia, Black Mesa: Source, and the like. Problem is that those teams are probably pretty well established by now, and quite possibly not looking for new staff. They are also the teams that have the strictest recruitment procedures and demand the highest quality.






Quote
Re: I think of giving up modding business :(
Posted by Addicted to Morphine on Tue Jan 24th at 2:27pm 2006


I've never been part of a modding team, but I can imagine how difficult it can be to find a team thats dedicated, motivated, and talented. I don't think you're cursed, it's just the odds of being part of a successful mod aren't very high.




Quote
Re: I think of giving up modding business :(
Posted by BlisTer on Tue Jan 24th at 2:38pm 2006


There are 2 kinds of mods: incremental mods and radical mods.

Most incremental mods get finished because the time to completion is less than the span of motivation. The problem is that these run-off the mill mods aren't different enough for most talented mappers to be interested.

Then there are radical mods. Now mappers become interested. One of the mods Reno talks about is paroxysm. We had some of the most talented mappers i know working on it including CJ and CJ. Yet it died.

The problem is that these mods need an incredible and lasting amount of motivation from the key members in the dev team, and a big fanbase community. Fortress Forever is one of such mods who has this. But here there's a history, and in that respect it isnt radical gameplay-wise (rather implemetation-wise).

i only commit myself to mods where i know i will have enough motivation to complete atleast one map, and where i know the mod has the 2 elements mentioned above. But for truly radical mods you can never be certain that these 2 elements will remain as time goes by, as was the case for paroxysm.




These words are my diaries screaming out loud



Quote
Re: I think of giving up modding business :(
Posted by French Toast on Tue Jan 24th at 9:09pm 2006


? quote:
I don't think it's not you


That's rather insulting...




Quote
Re: I think of giving up modding business :(
Posted by Captain P on Tue Jan 24th at 9:47pm 2006


Hehe, you're right, FT. Edited my post. <img src=" SRC="images/smiles/icon_smile.gif">






Quote
Re: I think of giving up modding business :(
Posted by Madedog on Tue Jan 24th at 10:03pm 2006


Naww, I think I'm gonna go into Unreal or the like.
Also, I might of think myself as a programmer somewhere. Been doing it for couple of years now...

oh well.



HL2 tutorials 'n' stuff: http://madedog.pri.ee
217.159.236.34:27050 - CSS Server - Clean | koffer.ee



Quote
Re: I think of giving up modding business :(
Posted by MJ on Tue Jan 24th at 11:34pm 2006


i wish i started with unreal mapping
much more rewarding then hl2 and the community is waayy better.




Quote
Re: I think of giving up modding business :(
Posted by wil5on on Wed Jan 25th at 12:25am 2006


I tried Unreal mapping, didnt enjoy it at all... but if you want a job in the games industry, experience with Unreal helps, since youve got both styles of level design (additive and subtractive) covered.


&quot;If you talk at all during this lesson, you have detention. Do you understand?&quot;
- My yr11 Economics teacher



Quote
Re: I think of giving up modding business :(
Posted by omegaslayer on Wed Jan 25th at 12:28am 2006


Most mods start off with too much ambition, and not enough backup.

Plus I think that most mods are just clones of one another. Not actually doing anything original. I mean Ive heard of 3 different opposing force mods around, 3 Co-Op mods (Not the Sven mod) that eventually combined into "synergy".

And then there are the mods that aren't REALLY mods, more of map packs with a new weapon.

I know I was part of your mod Madedog (Strike Back). But long before you recruited me, I had joined up with Eternal-Silence. Therefore I must say that im sorry, I didn't bring it down, but nore did I do anything to keep it going. Truth be told I turned my attention to Eternal Silence (*cough* and WoW).

The point is, don't give up. You'll eventually find one that will go all the way.






Quote
Re: I think of giving up modding business :(
Posted by ReNo on Wed Jan 25th at 1:17am 2006


I think WoW is probably one of the biggest mod killers of the past year or two <img src=" SRC="images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif">






Quote
Re: I think of giving up modding business :(
Posted by French Toast on Wed Jan 25th at 2:02am 2006


It's probably the culprit in all the deaths of children relating to neglidgence from their parents.




Quote
Re: I think of giving up modding business :(
Posted by omegaslayer on Wed Jan 25th at 7:08am 2006


? quote:
It's probably the culprit in all the deaths of children relating to neglidgence from their parents.

Drop it already. I know several married couples in WoW that stop and take time to spend with their children "mommy time" as they call it.






Quote
Re: I think of giving up modding business :(
Posted by French Toast on Wed Jan 25th at 12:38pm 2006


Hot button issue?




Quote
Re: I think of giving up modding business :(
Posted by Orpheus on Wed Jan 25th at 1:31pm 2006


? quoting ReNo
I think WoW is probably one of the biggest mod killers of the past year or two

It may have contributed, but the disappointments related to HL2 kinda guaranteed it IMO.

WoW must be all that and a bag of chips though. Any Pay-to-Play game starts in a negative just by its very nature of being pay-to-play.

When you consider its popularity, it must be good. (although, stupid people still insist that a killbox is fun too so I am still hesitant to believe totally)





The best things in life, aren't things.



Quote
Re: I think of giving up modding business :(
Posted by Andrei on Wed Jan 25th at 1:45pm 2006


I for one am very close to giving-up on mapping. It's just not fun anymore, plus not knowing how to model is a huge handicap today and that sucks.




Quote
Re: I think of giving up modding business :(
Posted by ReNo on Wed Jan 25th at 2:38pm 2006


So learn how to model; you might get more enjoyment out of it and as you say, it is becoming an important part of mapping <img src=" SRC="images/smiles/icon_smile.gif">






Quote
Re: I think of giving up modding business :(
Posted by Captain P on Wed Jan 25th at 3:17pm 2006


Yeah, modelling isn't too hard and it's fun once you get the hang of it. Models are most of the times much faster to do than complete levels (though skinning them or actually creating those skins is still time-consuming if you want to do it good imho), so they require shorter concentration and motivation spans.

I'm not creating levels these days due to busy schedules and such, plus my interest is moving to game-development in general rather than level-design only. HL2 doesn't attract me too much anymore these days, it's totally different than HL was anyway, but I also think my age has something to do with that. Back then HL was everything I knew to map for, now I see so much more possibilities and area's of interest that I'm not going to stick to something that's just marginally interesting.
Sure I'm going to finish mudanchee and maybe do a few small levels now and then, but that's been my HL time then. Time to move on... to other mapping jobs... <img src=" SRC="images/smiles/icon_smile.gif">







Post Reply