First off, read this.
Okay to start this off "Don't bother with a story" WHAT! What do you think the point of single player mods are? It's story. A strong story, I believe, is key to making a good single player experience. It's what drives the player to know more and to get to the end. Now often times you don't need a HUGE story if it's an action mod. But it would still be nice to have something to give the player a point to why he is doing this.
"Let’s go back to the “YOU ARE HERE AND YOU MUST GET TO THERE AND KILL EVERYTHING IN YOUR WAY” kinda mods. In fact, I propose that the gaming community adopts that as a new sub-genre."
Sure, this would be fine if you are doing a mod like "Half-Life 2 Old School" but for the most part it's just not fun anymore, at least to me. Mods like Old School only work if it makes you feel like the biggest bad-*** in the world, like Duke Nukem, your goal was to save the world and be an awesome dude while doing it.
"Let's be honest, great lighting is easy – anybody can do it."
Most of you should know just as well as I do that great lighting is NOT easy. In fact, it's an art. And a massive skill you need to learn, it can affect the whole way a player views the world he is in. It affects moods, mentality, and movement. It's just a big part of everything.
"It's clear that creating dark levels automatcially creates scary or atmospheric situations."
No it doesn't make anything scary, it just frustrates the player, and makes him quit the mod. This can be seen in a resent mod called "1187". Also you spelled "automatically" wrong, unless you British people spell it in some strange way.
"Or if you don't like the sound of that, what not just opt for the heavy metal soundtrack. Nothing is better than walking around a futuristic setting than some crazy-ass weirdo screeming obscenities in your ear."
I don't have much to say about this, music is something that should fit, it really doesn't make or break anything for me, just don't use commercial music. It's a bad idea and more that likely people have heard it before. I prefer custom music. Also, you spelled "Screaming" wrong.
"Puzzles. There's nothing more fun than getting to a door and finding it's locked, with a message that reads something like “It's locked – you need a key” My God, if it was cool in 1999 you can be damn sure it's still cool now."
Puzzles should be original, 'nuff said.
"Hold your horses there pardner. If it works on your PC it will damn sure work on every other computer on the whole planet. Time wasted on beta testing could be better spent on making another huge box for the player to delight in.
Just drop that idea and get back to work."
No, just no, you MUST beta test, it really helps, you must asked for the tiny details, anything to make your mod that much better. It just gives a better experience and less frustration to the player.
"I have no hesitation in reminding you to go with the “All or nothing” philosophy of level design. There's absolutely nothing wrong with not giving the player any health to find. Geez, how crappy are some players? I know it's hard to believe but some people actually needed health to finish Half-Life 2 on HARD."
First off, that is not a rule. Second off, this is wrong, the player must have health to get though a level, AND you need to place them correctly, not just randomly here and there. You have to be smart about it, why is this here? Tell a story maybe, maybe someone died and dropped this stuff here.
That is all. Now I'm guessing this article he wrote was sarcastic, but I am taking it seriously like an idiot and writing my own ideas, most of which I'm sure you will NOT agree with.
I was just bored.
