Comments - DerekWarner

Doesn't work with the expansion installed though... as far as I've been told.

So... yes... switched game companies again! :) Hello from Seattle Washington!

I now got a new game job in Seattle, not going to say anymore than that, but its a good move :)

I'm finally getting all setup again. There is a good possibility of a delay in Copperhead: Element, but we are re-evauluating where we are in production and what we need to do to finish the first episode. Later this week, I'll give a proper update on the new dates, if they change.

Worst comes to worse the trailer will come out on June 19th and shipping sometime in July.

Laterz.

Ah yes... moving! fun!

Well i have a place! so I should be back up and running the first week of may! then end of may... huge updates then :)

If you sell a mod, you will be expected to have servers running for people to play on.

That is assuming the game has multiplayer. Though, some developers and publishers don't ever ensure that they will have servers running the game.

You also have income and that open you up to lawsuits and so many other fun experiences like taxes.

Taxes aren’t an issue. Most freelance workers have filed taxes exactly how you would if you sold your mod. Get a 1080 form?? I think... it’s been a while :) As for the lawsuits, you can distribute a mod without breaking any legal boundaries as long as what your selling and distributing doesn't contain ANY information distributed from the original game. Programs like Patch, can take the differences from the game and your mod, and per byte include only what you have changed, thus, what you would be selling would be down to the byte, your own work.

You would also need to secure your mod and assets, which is not easy to do since most mods don't have an executable required to run the mod content.

You know, the mod community spends tons and tons of time arguing about this, and some have valid issues, but most of the arguments come from mods that never release anyway. Someone asked me to use my models and textures, and I told them that I wouldn't allow that, and this group then said they'd use it anyway. I still haven’t seen anyone use my stuff to this day. I just figured it was canceled.

Fact of the matter is, if you sell your mod, you have many more legal rights to protect your work than if you give it away for free.

This builds your core audience which is invaluable to your project if you develop a stand alone version of your mod. The other great benefit is from day one of developing your stand alone title; you have something to show the press, giving you another decisive advantage over traditional game developers.

Though I see your point, there are other reasons at play as to why counter-strike and day of defeat went to retail, which could be another article on the subject. WON comes to mind, and the fact that at a time Vivendi owned all the servers, and didn't want to pay for something they were not receiving money for. (IE the counter-strike servers) I Havn't seen a Natural Selection retail box.

Press is great, but any blogger knows, internet press is easy to get. I don't think press and being able to build your community really makes for a better mod. (not that i'm doggin' my community) :)

My question on this Mr. Fileplanet (joking) is as you’re telling us we should not sell our mods, but you are charging people 7 dollars a month to download them! :) How fair is that! ( I could charge 7 bucks for a download of my mod, write it off as bandwidth as well :) ) I don't see the difference in my opinion.

So my final question is what is the difference between a high quality mod, and Sin episodes?
Still paying for a short game based on the engine of (in Sin's case) the last episode.

I sense a follow up article coming along sometime soon, especially after some of these "episodic" games start coming into the mainstream.

Thanks for reading!

Just the way it goes.

99.9% - mods that fail
99.9% - games that fail
99.9% - people fail getting into the industry

Even in the industry we have a 99.9% failure rate. Just that the public never hears about the games we cancel.

Its all just part of the entertainment industry (weither its games, movies, or music).

I know money won't help this... doesn't hurt it either.

Just gotta be part of this group :)

.1% - mods that rule
.1% - games that rule
.1% - industry people that rule :)

Argyll,

Good point. Though towards the end you talk about getting into the industry from doing mods. You happen to hit a little bit on my next article :) heh. I went to a game design college graduated while completing a mod and getting into the industry professionally. I think I hit all the aspects and was going to write up a little article on this as well. Stay tuned for that.

My only comment is that I am amazed how many people really think (and believe) that money automatically leads to "corruption."

I don't think the goal of making money from mods was ever to become the next Enron, but I think it could be a great start for getting your own studio.

Or ones who write articles on mod sites....

Great idea on covering the different engines. I'd like to help out with that with the Far Cry engine, which I think is the easiest to mod more than any engine I have used in the past, in or out of the industry.

Back to the topic though, There are some mods that are really held back from production value. Dialogue is the number 1 thing that I think is a major problem, just for the sheer fact of adding immersion to your mod. Maybe I have so much passion for my creation that I want to create the best experience and I would need money to do that. But thats just me. Going back to the flight sim mods, the reason the quality is so high for the planes and scenery is because they get money for them. They can hire pilots to test the planes, rent the planes for taking pictures and recording sounds, and create a product that is polished.

Money is never the reason I would make a mod. I make it because I have a passion for doing it, creating a piece of work that I would like to play. Looking at the flightsim community they do the same. Looking at some of these companies, they consist of mostly pilots, who really would like to fly their plane in the game, and still is created totally on a love for their hobby even though they are making money at it.

Another aspect to take into account would be looking at the independent film industry. Though, the independent films don't get budgets like the next Lord of the Rings movie, they do get funding to produce their work, and sell their movie after its produced. Without that income they couldn't produce their movie. I look at the mod industry the same way. I would help out other teams to really push what they can do in their mods. I see stories and concepts on this site that are amazing, intregiung, and pushing the industry for change. Being able to get an income and having somewhat of a budget they can do more in their mod, like having voice acting for example.

"Teams need not worry about budget, wages, deadlines, market success,"

Though a valid point, this is actually the reason that 99.9% of all the mods fail, or are never released. WIth my first mod and the current one, we have deadlines, though no budget or wages to consider at the moment, but having a timeline, and a plan for completion is what seperates the "released" from the "unreleased" You can throw money at anything and still get crappy mods, but the players are the ones that ultimatly decided if downloading (or paying) for a mod is worth it.

We are looking for a character artist/modeler. Apply today!

Also, we just did the first alpha build of the game. Amazingly we have a lot of our game mechanics working already, just waiting for the artwork to catch up. I better get busy :)

We are looking for a talented environmental artist for our project. Check out the help wanted section!

Also check out my blog if you like!

www.derekwarner.net - my personal website (though being updated)

my blog - Derekwarner.blogspot.com

Sorry there hasn't been any updates in a while... I spoke with my coder and we have some of the gameplay elements working in code which is amazing. This has to be the easiest engine to mod ever... LUA rocks and its really coming along. Look for updates coming soon!

Must Finish!

Hasn't been updated in 11 months! Lets see some stuff!

Glad your excited... so are we! I got back in contact with Icemage and he is joining the project along with some of my other friends from past game companies that I've worked at. So far Far Cry has to be the easiest and most moddable engine I think I have ever seen. Already replaced all GUI (damn easy) and 1st level is in production (so far all unique textures and such) I'll post up some screen shots and a teaser trailer very soon since I should have enough of a start along with the final script for the first episode done this week. After I get the first part done I am thinking about asking for some help from others.
I will be looking for previous modders or students in the game design field (college) who would like to learn something new and create something they could put on their resume. More on this at a later date.

Screenshots and artwork are now underway. Looking for a March release. The game is going to be released in episodes, so our turnaround will be a lot faster. Thanks for visiting.

Check out the new project Copperhead: Element for Far Cry here!

Moddb.com

Check out the new project Copperhead: Element for Far Cry here!

Moddb.com

will do! Its going to be an interesting year for mods, and games in general...