Before you make a mod feature

[page=Introduction]
For many, the content of this article may seem self explanitory and obvious. Strangely enough most tips and techniques contained herein are not apparent in the vast majority of new modifications. So read the following article by aea of www.gamecache.net and then lets get moddin!!

---Before you read on, I would like to add my thoughts (INtense!)---
Whilst the following might seem an easy process - it isn't. While you may see mods like Counter-Strike, DOD making it big time and recieving the glory, there isn't anything glorious about making a mod. Sure the rewards are there, and those that plan out a story, integrate some unique gameplay elements, polish everything up models and all to immpecable quality will most likly command a bunch of die hard fans don't expect this. Create a modification because it is what you love doing. Create it because it is what you want to play, and this will be reflected in it and people will acknoledge your efforts then!
---Here ends my introductory rant, enjoy the feature by AEA!...---

Many games today are capable of being modded, in which people can change many aspects of the game, essentially making a new game. Modding is an old art, dating beyond the release of Quake. With all these years of modding behind us, there have been many mods created by those who set forward time and effort to create envision their dream. Modding is time consuming since there are many aspects to making a mod, coding, mapping, modeling, etc; in this text when I refer to a mod I refer to a total conversion, where [almost] everything has been changed, not just a few small features.

The most important step in making a map is a good plan. If you want to make a mod “w17h c001 gUn$ @nD $h1t,” forget it, you need to have a real plan. Start realistically, you won’t make a great mod the first time you try to. Try modding something simple like Quake, get a bunch of your friends together, and try to pull off a simple mod. It won’t be great, probably not even played, but you can always try improving the mod to make it better and better. When you are drafting up your plan, think of your main objectives first, other things like weapons are considered secondary. Take this for example, you want to create a mod where you’re part of an elite crime syndicate; breaking into vaults undetected, and vandalizing museums might be the primary objective, but having really cool weapons that destroy unprotected electronics might be a secondary objective.

[page=Whats Involved - talents needed!]
The most important job in making a mod is, and will probably always be coding. When you do coding for a mod, you are changing how things work. When you add a weapon to a game, you have to code how the weapon works, primary fire, secondary, ammo, damage, speed, spread, etc. Coding is controlling everything that doesn’t relate to gfx, although there are some exceptions such as the HUD. The job of a coder involves looking at code (text) and editing that code (text) to do what the coder wants it to do, I would recommend googling about coding for your engine, so if you need coding info for Quake, search for “quake coding.” Coding by all means is the hardest part of making a mod, you need a lot of previous coding experience to get off to a good start. Check your library for coding books.

From here on in, all modding jobs will involve a certain degree of artistic skill; you can only get better by practice, practice, and practice. The three major gfx jobs in any mod are mapping, modeling, and misc. gfx. A map is the “arena” that you play in, for example de_dust is a map; it’s the basic arena where the characters play. Most of the time mapping is a very easy skill to learn, but very time consuming, generally mappers are in large supply. Modeling is creating the characters that play (like the CT’s and T’s) and the guns, sometimes complex geometry is created as a model instead of being mapped. Miscellaneous gfx is creating all the other gfx used in a mod, background graphics, crosshairs, etc; this isn’t a modding specific job so you will find many people that could help.

[page=What you need to get started!]
Before you start modding, you need a few simple resources, such as a website, a forum, and a suitable means of communication. Any website won’t do either, try to get your website hosted with no ads, usually you will have to pay for this. For the slightly more daring, you can host a site off your own pc. With a site you get at a paid host, you have fewer limits, more space, more bandwidth, and the ability to host a forum. A forum is a modern BBS system, if you click the forum link at the top, you get taken to the modDB forum. Alongside with a forum, you need a fast method of communication, an irc server for your mod is perfect for this, lack of communication can ruin a mod.

You’ve got everything you need to get a mod started, a site, a forum, and plans. You can’t make a mod all by yourself (unless you’re cheapalert) so you need a team. There are a few very important guidelines to getting a team, first make sure all the plans are done and you present your ideas very clearly (don’t give out sensitive info), if developers see your mod idea has potential, they will quickly be interested in helping you create your mod. Don’t forget to state your position on the team, nobody wants to join a mod team if the leader can’t do anything, I would recommend the leader to do coding since coders are in short supply. I would post requests on many forums that might have the developers you need lurking around.

[page=The end & rewards]
You and your team is now diligently working on your mod, your site is being updated, and you have a small fan base. As weeks pass, updates are available to your team almost everyday, this is a dangerous time for communication. You should probably have a developer manage updates, so that everybody knows who’s doing what, why, etc. It would be sad for a mapper to spend a day incorporating new features to find that feature scraped. Your mod should be finished about 3 weeks from the release date, no updates should be made to it after that unless approved by the leader. The team should put forward a lot of effort in the first few days after the mod is finished to promote the mod, make interviews, advertise on modDB, post screenshots, anything! After you have a moderately sized fan base, have the team spend a few hours a day playing it, searching for bugs, exploits, and other issues. Your mod should come out with about 75% of the issues removed, and fully playable.

Anybody seeking more information on how to do the technical stuff in mapping should google it, search on modDB, and if anything else fails, just ask.