This is Mod related :) Thread

So are you a mod maker or play alot of mods? or even know alot about game design?

Read on.... (pllleeeaase )

Hi there

I am currently working on the maximum velocity paintball team but that’s not important. What is important is that I and a friend, and any one else that is interested (contact me) want to make a community site for U Mod Development and many other things. I state that I am part of a mod team only in an attempt to relieve any fears that you may have about the following.

Part of the development process of this site is a good few articles. These articles will be professionally written, contain views/opinions from mod makers, be absolutely exhaustive and a great source of information for the unreal community

I am currently researching an as yet unnamed article. The information I would like to research is peoples experiences of making mods. These experiences include but are in no way exclusive to:

What is it like working in a mod team?
What are the pros?
What are the cons?
What mistakes are easy to make on a mod team?
What is the best way to organise a mod team?
What are the most important things to do when setting up a mod?
What is the best policy on when to release a beta of a mod?
What is the best policy when it comes to news updates?
What is the best way to make a thriving community around your mod?
How can the jobs of modelers, mappers, texture artists and coders be made easier by good organisation and forethought on the part of the mod leader.
What qualities are required for a mod leader
What resources are currently available for information on all the above?

As I say the information I would like to research includes the above but is in no way exlcusive to it.

So heres where you come in, if you are a mod maker (part of a mod making team) I would really really appreciate any information you can provide on these subjects. Whats in it for you? … well you will have your name and your mod advertised in the finished article if any information you provide is used and you will be helping to build a site that will be real big in the U community some time in the future.

So how do you provide this information?

Either click Mbsclan.co.uk and fill in the form (preferred)

Post in reply to this message.

Email richardo@Gmail.com

Please remember to leave your preferred name email address and mod name/web site. Infact it is so much easier for you and for me if you use the link here Mbsclan.co.uk

Thanks in advance

Come on guys, this sint spam, this isnt soemthing bad

This is myself and a friend trying to provide soemthign good for the U community, please please give up a little tiny bit of time

it says UT.

well indeed it does, but many of the questions apply to all mod making not just UT mod making, so i'd still, even if ure not a UT mod maker appreciate some input. Thanks

Richardo-P wrote:
1. What is it like working in a mod team?
2. What are the pros?
3. What are the cons?
4. What mistakes are easy to make on a mod team?
5. What is the best way to organise a mod team?
6. What are the most important things to do when setting up a mod?
7. What is the best policy on when to release a beta of a mod?
8. What is the best policy when it comes to news updates?
9. What is the best way to make a thriving community around your mod?
10. How can the jobs of modelers, mappers, texture artists and coders be made easier by good organisation and forethought on the part of the mod leader.
11. What qualities are required for a mod leader
12. What resources are currently available for information on all the above?

Here comes my answers then...

1. I think it's quite fun. I'm the leader, so I can do anything.
2. I'm teh pro!
3. Prisoners?
4. Choosing team members who do not do any work to the mod. Not really an error, but quite annoying...
5. Getting schizophrenic and then you got loads of people living inside your head and then you tell them that now we are doing this and voilá, you got a mod team.
6. Thinking that I'm not going to give up, no matter what happens. So eventually the mod will get done.
7. I just release almost anything I've done at that point. But I'll probably keep most of the maps unreleased, so there will be more action when the full gets released.
8. Just posting news on the site and possibly somewhere else...
9. Just asking people if they have heard of that mod and then they get interested and then just keep talking...
10. The mod leader, must know something about everything, so he can do stuff and issue instructions.
11. Skill to lead people, skill to do lots of stuff and intelligence, so you can know how to lots of stuff.
12. I don't know, I have never checked out. Try googling it....

- Edited By Jimi On Tue 29th, Jun 2004 @ 7:07:06am
- Edited By Jimi On Tue 29th, Jun 2004 @ 7:07:24am

Here are mine, too:

1. I really like doing it, because I like being in the leadership position. However, I don't consider myself a dictator as a mod leader, because I want everyone to have freedom on their portion of the work.
2. Allowed to spread the word about the mod, recruit people, make friends, say you lead a mod; there's plenty of pros.
3. Sometimes you don't understand what's going on, and it's hard to get in touch with members at certain times. You're even blamed sometimes for someone else's ignorance.
4. Choosing people that you don't think make it up to even par on what you want your mod to look like. The worst thing you want to do is make your mod quite underwhelming. It's also a pain when no one on your team does any work, or takes a month to do something small, but necessary, and it really annoys the rest of the team.
5. Go to your usual hangout spots related to video games, on forums and chat rooms and such, and find the guys you had a nice time talking to, and have the skills you think would help your mod.
6. Making sure all bases are covered, and that every team member is aware of what exactly their role is in the mod.
7. When you think a lot of what you wanted to get done in the mod is at least halfway done or on its way to getting done. Take your time to pour a lot of time and energy into it, so people know that your mod has not been cheaply made just so you can say you did it. It's definitely a learning experience, and not to be wasted.
8. Whenever we learn something new, you'll learn something new.
9. Spread the word about the mod, and ask them if they wouldn't mind visiting your forums to chat about the mod . Then, ask them if they can recruit some people to come to the forums, and then it goes from there. That is also a way to find potential new members for your mod.
10. Like Jimi said, the mod leader needs to understand that these jobs are difficult and take time to do, and don't require the nagging of others when it's only been a few days when you assigned the jobs. You need to be caring and understanding, so they can do their jobs and not feel hassled.
11. A natural leader; nice, friendly person that has good communication skills; knows what his or her place is in the mod; is smart enough to help out with even tiny bits about the mod.
12. I think there are some threads around Moddb that discuss about leading a mod or going through a mod. Just go through Search

1. What is it like working in a mod team?
2. What are the pros?
3. What are the cons?
4. What mistakes are easy to make on a mod team?
5. What is the best way to organise a mod team?
6. What are the most important things to do when setting up a mod?
7. What is the best policy on when to release a beta of a mod?
8. What is the best policy when it comes to news updates?
9. What is the best way to make a thriving community around your mod?
10. How can the jobs of modelers, mappers, texture artists and coders be made easier by good organisation and forethought on the part of the mod leader.
11. What qualities are required for a mod leader
12. What resources are currently available for information on all the above?

1. Compare it to a travel to the top of a high mountain - takes time, there are many traps and so, but it's still fun.
2. The biggest pro is that you can check out what you've learned by venturing through all of various forums, tutorials, codes and so on. Also, you can meet interesting people, share your opinions with them.
3. It takes much time - it's only a hobby, but sometimes you just can't stop thinking about additions, changes to your mod.
4. Overhype your mod, and then never finish it. "Vapourware" is one of the biggest problems around in the community (at least here on ModDatabase). Take someone's work and then don't write his name in the credits.. death penalty for that.
5. To get skilled modders, go to the forums about a game you are modding - there's probably a section about modifications.. post requests, ask, search. Then organize by setting up your own forum with a hidden "developers" subforum, where you can discuss all of the aspects of modding.
6. Do what you can. Don't search for thousands of people only because you can't do one particular thing. Better search websites for the solution instead of getting many people; it's hard to manage, and you probably don't want your mod to turn into "Community Work", right?
7. I'd say don't release betas at all... play with the people you have in the team, and don't do "demos", "alphas", "betas". It's confusing and gives additional pressure on the creators.
8. Make sure your news update is important. Instead of creating many single, short news posts, do a massive and detailed update.
9. As Karuto said, spread the word - add the keywords to searching engines, etc. Then make sure you have a forum, and a good looking (attractive ) website. It'll work, if your mod is good enough and it's visual Internet presentation is good enough, too.
10. Just what Jimi and Karuto said. Leader has to know a bit about every part of modding, so he knows how much does it take, and don't bitch around if someone's late.
11. Organization skills, ability to speak good English (no 1337ism ), good communication abilities, knowledge about all aspects of modding (of course, concentrate on the aspect you know best, but have not-detailed knowledge about the rest too)
12. Both Jimi and Karuto answered.

wow, cheers guys

i really do apreciate those comments, thanks alot

I wonder could u please give me permision to quote from your text exactly?
Please could u pm or find soem way ure happy of gettin the info to me as follows

ure preferd name (i dunno u might wanna remain anonomous)
ure email adress
ure mod
ure mods web site adress

Thanks in advance guys

and thanks again, ill try to keep ppl informed of how the project si coming along, but its a long haul and is gonna take, well along time, tis kinda liek amod this project

- Edited By Richardo-P On Tue 29th, Jun 2004 @ 7:39:46pm

hey ill give you a hand, just not tonite, im glad to c that somebody is doing a bit more than posting about their new kick ass cs clone zombie hunt game

I'm to lazey to send you a PM

Name: Krycha
E-mail: I prefer not to reveal it
Mod: Moddb.com
Website: Wolfenstein3d.tk

No, you can't quote it, it's copyrighted...

haha... just kidding... Sure you can quote it.

Name: Jimi
E-Mail: greyjimi@hotmail.com (I change it quite often... they tend to get spammy)
Mod: Moddb.com
Website: Zoowad.doomrepublic.com

I sent you a pm, Richardo.

thanks you guys, thanks again, ne 1 else?

if u dont have answers to those questions anything else to do with mod making would be a real help

- Edited By Richardo-P On Wed 30th, Jun 2004 @ 5:10:02pm

Thanks fellas for the information you have offered Richard and myself. This is helping a great deal. Here is a bit more about the project itself. Sorry if some of the information is redundant. I am trying to back Richard up with all this and let folks know this is a legitimate request and the data will be used in a very genuine way. Again, thank you for taking the time to help with this project.

The information gathered from this research is to be used in a compilation for future mod developments and future mod devs. It's used to accurately portray the lifecycle of the mods from a true software development standpoint so that others will know what they are faced with as well as the aspects that are generally more important in the mod production lifecycle.

I encourage all mod teams and independant mod devs to help in this research to encourage the future growth of mods. There is, currently in development, a site that will use all information gathered and return it back to the users so that they can use the contents in an organized fashion to hopefully help organize thir thoughts and production schedule.

DB Center - Dbcenter.org - is helping in storing and organizing the data in a private area until such a time as the data is presentable and useable to the end users. I personally run and oversee every aspect of DB Center and encourage anyone with ideas to offer them, as well as reply to this post and use the form which Richard has posted a link to. Thank you very much for your time.

- Edited By 13th_Disciple On Wed 30th, Jun 2004 @ 7:51:45pm

Hope you guys fair well