Guidelines for new modders

Discuss modifications and also recruit team members.

Guidelines for new modders

Postby marks on Thu Dec 29, 2005 3:17 am

Modding is hard. It takes stupid amounts of time, a huge amount of work, and in the end you are giving it all away for free. But bearing that in mind, would you say that it is worth it ? I would. Modding can be an extremely rewarding experience, both in the people you meet, the friends you make, and the experience you gain through working on one.

The majority of modders fall into 2 categories - those who mod for fun, and those trying to get a job in the gaming industry. I will say that generally most mods which are run by somebody who wants to make it for fun, will probably fail at some point or another.

Inevitably - if you want to work on a mod you have two choices:


Looking for a mod team to join/help

Rule number 1 in this situation which many people overlook - be very skeptical of any mod whose 'leader' has little or no discernable skills other than "designing the game" and "leading the mod". I can tell you from personal experience that they will 90% of the time have no idea what they are doing or how to organise a stag night in a brewery, let alone a multi man-year computer engineering project.

Whenever I am looking at mods, the first thing that I look for is not their website, nor is it their concept art - it is what actual content they have so far for their mod. Be it models or maps, characters or documented code; having something is better than saying "we're just starting".

Running your own mod

This I recommend only to people who really know what they are doing. People who understand how games work as a whole, not only their specialist section of it.
First of all, you're going to need a design document. No matter how good an idea you have, no matter how detailed it is in your head - if you do not have it down on paper in incredible detail then the talented people you are trying to attract will simply ignore you.

Running a mod is hard. Not only do you have to work more in the early stages of the mod than almost any other person - you have to motivate other people to work, you have to inspire the rest of your team, and you have to give them goals to attain. Running a mod is a mammoth task and a huge responsibility if you do it properly and it is not something easily dropped.

(A tip to mod leaders: Do not continually pester your members to see what they are doing - work takes time, and as a rule most modders don't have an abundance of time in which to work, even if they wanted to. Give them some space and they will work better)


At the end of the day, shipping a finished game whether it be a beta mod release or a AAA commercial title - its a damned nice feeling. Even more so when you see all these people enjoying what you spent so much of your time on. Just dont forget all the time and effort it takes to get to that point.
Last edited by marks on Sat Feb 20, 2010 11:25 am, edited 3 times in total.
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Postby Blink on Thu Dec 29, 2005 11:08 am

Thanks space jesus, very useful and inteesting post.
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Postby Jest@ on Fri Jan 27, 2006 7:58 pm

well said that man, well stickied that admin. Hopefully, a good read through of this, followed by some serious thought, will halve the number of threads in this section.
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Postby Fate™ on Fri Feb 24, 2006 9:52 am

Yea ive experienced the leading of a mod and mine has died because i wasnt able to motivate the team i had, but maybe thats because they were all imature adolescents.
I set out to create a game based on the night of the living dead movie which is one of my favourite all time films .. a few models were created, a few maps started but never finished, and a few pieces of concept work and documentation.
Even when you do start a mod as a fairly inexperienced leader, everything might seem to be going well but then it eventually falls apart. This is why you need an experienced leader unlike me. :)
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Postby mana20 on Fri Feb 24, 2006 11:33 am

the only way to gain experince is trying though.
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Postby Fate™ on Fri Feb 24, 2006 11:37 am

True, maybe my mods death also had something to do with my limited free time to a certain extent. I had only starting mapping for hl2 and css a few weeks before starting my mod. maybe one day ill carry on with it :)
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Postby mana20 on Fri Feb 24, 2006 11:40 am

ive been mapping on and off since duke 3d, but I never have taken it too serouisly. I enjoy it as a hobby and would like to bring some of my ideas to life, for me its a creative output, as of late its been the most enjoyable and I plan to stick to it for a while.
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Postby Fate™ on Fri Feb 24, 2006 1:03 pm

I need to practice more of the advanced techniques and get good with lighting. Im pretty decent with brush work but i just cant seem to make my maps "realistic" enough. I also have no idea how to make large buildings look realistic in terms of windows and textures. :(

Maybe there should be a tut on making realistic urban areas :P
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Re: The Art of Modding

Postby Dr.iCe on Sat Dec 05, 2009 7:27 pm

yeah well said..
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Re: The Art of Modding

Postby Zipfinator on Sat Dec 05, 2009 7:33 pm

Well said...


Oh hay, nice bump.
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Re: The Art of Modding

Postby MrTwoVideoCards on Sat Dec 05, 2009 7:35 pm

C-C-COMB0 BREAKER
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Re: The Art of Modding

Postby Armageddon on Sat Dec 05, 2009 7:59 pm

Awesome thread dude!
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Re: The Art of Modding

Postby marks on Sun Dec 06, 2009 12:31 am

Re-reading this is embarassing. Who would have thought I was more arrogant and pretentious 4 years ago? :o unsticky and delete tbfh
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Re: The Art of Modding

Postby Zipfinator on Sun Dec 06, 2009 12:36 am

esJ wrote:Re-reading this is embarassing. Who would have thought I was more arrogant and pretentious 4 years ago? :o unsticky and delete tbfh


Maybe he'll unsticky it if you write a new one!
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Re: Guidelines for new modders

Postby marks on Fri Feb 19, 2010 5:10 pm

OP/Thread title edited, cut out a lot of crap, more objective content, thread title changed to better suit the content
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