Mod DB v4 Walkthrough feature

Mod DB for Developers

If you are developing a game, mod or engine and want to use ModDB to promote and distribute it, please read our new tutorial (as well as this!)

Navigating Mod DB

On first glance everything looks totally different, but if you ignore the platform tabs up top, the site operates almost identically to v3. First you choose the platform you are interested in (you can customize this) and then you choose something to browse (lets choose mods). From the mod list you find what you are after, then click its name to be taken to its profile (lets choose the Iron Grip mod). Once you are in a profile you can browse all related content such as news, downloads, features and more without having to jump around the site as you did in v3. We encourage you to try this by clicking the image below and browsing through the Iron Grip profile.

This should make it a lot easier to find what you are after, because if you want Half-Life 2 mods, you simply find Half-Life 2 and then you browse its mods tab. The same idea applies when posting content. Instead of navigating through a control panel, look out for the admin buttons (situated in the top right hand corner of boxes), and click these to do stuff (i.e. post news) where you are. That's all there is too it, simply choose what you want to browse, find your profile and then go through it.

Groups & Links

The major change that v4 brings is the idea of Groups and smart relationships. Do you and a number of people work on different mods, games, maps, skins and more? By creating a group you can link all of this together and show what your group / company is doing. If we continue our Iron Grip mod example, you will notice they are made by a company called Isotx who are also working on various addons (maps, skins etc), a mod download application called Crosus, and two other mods (CNC Holland & Mideast Crisis) which are now all linked togehtor via their groups profile. By registering a group and inviting members, they can link all of this content together share news from their company and give their development team control over all of this. We recommend you click the image below and browse through their profile, to see how they have linked their content up.

The idea of linking above also extends to news, downloads and features which can be linked to multiple mods, games, engines, groups. Want to know what mods run on the Source engine? Soon you can. Want to see news related to Half-Life? Now you can because the system automatically builds these relationships in.

Community Content

These days blogs, social networks, friends and all that nonsense is all the rage. We at the Mod DB believe there is too much of this crap out there, but that didn't stop us from cramming these features in. Why you ask? A few reasons. Any game site to date that has attempted these features has done so in a pretty piss poor way. Allowing comments on posts, user reviews and hidden blog profiles hardly counts in our eyes. We want to change this, because Mod DB is all about game development and game development is all about working with a team of people, sharing your knowledge, creations and thoughts. That's why we have totally opened up the site. You can review games and mods, post your own editorial or blog, add tutorials, upload screenshots to profiles, create a group, add a game, mod or engine we haven't. You can even watch anything you want from games to mods to groups and be notified when they update. You control the sites content because that's how we believe it should work.

Site Administration

The control panel from v3 is gone, and has been replaced by what we call "in-place" editing. Now to do stuff look out for the admin buttons (situated in the top right hand corner of boxes), which allow you to control the content you are looking at. This saves you having to navigate through a maze of control panel options, and makes adding all the community based content (mentioned above) a breeze. For example if you were browsing Half-Life 2 tutorials and wanted to add one yourself, provided the games developer allows content to be added, just look out for these icons and click the appropriate one (the addicon).

Platforms

Up until recently indie game developers and mod makers have stuck purely to PC games, simply because consoles did not allow them to create their own content. Finally these platforms are starting to open up with the XBOX360, PS3, PSP, Nintendo DS and others slowly embracing indie-game creations. Furthermore, thanks to forward thinking developers like Epic and their Unreal Engine 3, soon we will start to see mods made for their games running on all platforms their engine is ported too (XBOX360, PS3 etc). Because of this and our aim as a site to support all game development projects from maps, skins, mods to commercial game projects, we decided it was time to list multiple platforms and support their developers by providing them with the tools and community interaction they require to make a better game. By default all platforms will be listed, but you can choose the ones you are interested in here and customize the site to your liking. So please take advantage of this new functionality and spread the word to developers on other platforms.

Games

The site maybe called Mod DB and mods maybe our love, but for a long time now we have found indie-game developers taking advantage of the sites functionality more and more, using it as a tool that helps them make their game. That's why all indie-games are now listed in our gamessection, alongside commercial game titles. We want to show that they are just as good and if not better than some of the store titles out there, and feel they deserve this recognition. Plus it allows them to open up their title to mods, addons and more which is the way it should be.

Videos & More

There are many more features to use (and many more still coming), so we encourage you to dive in and try out everything you can, ask questions, and join in the community spirit. See you out there. Mod DB Team