TKAzA Blog

3 comments by TKAzA on Jan 8th, 2008 digg this super bookmark

2008

Is here and after a long drunk holiday season, its time to get back to the thing we all love the most.
TKAzA Ahem i mean ... Modding

For some this time may mean gearing up their mods media for MOTY Phase 2 or creating a few maps for good old CS, either way modDB hasn't been as drunk as me and is a folorish of activity.

Many new mods have added themselves to the database in the last month.

A shoutout goes to Max Freeman the mod taking HL1 to the Max Payne engine and giving you a look at the back of MR.Freemans head, rather than in.

Other large updates come from Exodus, Talon 1-5, Depth and Revolt RC Stories.
Its always great to see new original mods and old mods still producing work and keeping there fans updated through modDB.

The Addons Section of the site is also growing with some cool creations being uploaded, the stand out of these in December would have to be ctf quarry v2 by PogoP

A Clean amazingly well detailed map for Team Fortress 2 

6 comments by TKAzA on Dec 4th, 2007 digg this super bookmark

Weekends, Modding & More

MOTY time is here and with Christmas fast approaching, the weeks become dev time for avid modders trying to get their mods released before the storm of voters hit the profiles with force.

So what's the best way to get noticed at this time?

• Media, Media, Media lots of media followed by more sexy media.
• Release the beast, release the beta or alpha get servers up and players online.
• Videos and media, patches and addons, expand your mods release with more content to enhance the players experience and prolong the playtime of your mod.
• Fast bug releases and more content and media, be a pr whore and abuse the news system as much as you can.
• Post your news on forums, other sites modDB is a massive hub of news so dont expect it to be on the front page longer than 2 days, pimp it around.

Game courses come to WA

As most aussies might know, Australia doesn't really have a large amount of game developers theres 2k and the guys that made tribes and a few other small name companies that no one can quite remembers, the main issue has been the lack of decent uni courses and places to get the diploma, that you need to work at a games company like 2k and the lack of talent and people looking for work in the industry in places like perth.

As someone that was looking at moving to the UK in 6 months to get a bachelor of arts diploma in games design, i would have been moving half way around the world for a course if they had it, could be done in Perth or any other state in Australia.
Issue is or in this case was the demand isn't great enough, so the uni's skimp out with a games development course suited only to people that want to code and know how to code the engine, not make the art assets.
TAFE and the other 3D courses on offer arn't any better as these are more multimedia focused and you work with super high poly models in MAYA and make animations with effects and what not.
All good for movie production, useless for game art.

These new TAFE courses promise to suit level designers and 3D artists and this has me excited at the possible draw it will bring to game companies to setup shop in our small city.

I guess only time will tell.

G2MODs

G2MODs is almost back a quick domain cleanup is needed and a small site update but all is back and all is the same, so please bare with me and it will be back soon.

3 comments by TKAzA on Nov 11th, 2007 digg this super bookmark

V4

Well it's here, now we have 5 years of work to tweak and correct to make ModDB look sexy again.

However you the public can help, If you work for a game company or team thats made a game, create a group and add engines you have made for your games, this saves us many hours of searching for information, then all you need to do is link up your group, with your games and engines and wola, one new grouped profile in the fight against broken information links.

So far the main companies Valve, Epic, id have been added so you can add your mods with the piece of mind they will all link up nicely and start to be ranked.

Another cool feature is the karma system this works on your ModDB activity and affects your site rank, if you add a game or submit a tutorial you will get alot of activity points and this will boost your site rank.

The mods system has also been overhauld with the biggest change since v2, with this in mind all those that have had those annoying comments from me and the other staff about making a site for your mod can relax, as moddb profiles act as the site for your mod now, so if you dont have a site for your mod, dont worry just keep your profile up to date and you won't ever need a site.

That being said the free mod hosting services of G2MODs has been down for the last 4 months due to a few minor issues, the good news is it will be back in all its classic glory in the comming months with more usage and downloads for ModDB members still 100% mods and 100% Free.

So thats all from me for now however, on a final note... a massive thanks and carton of beers await Intense when he flies into Perth this month, his tireless work on ModDB v4 and his continual outstanding commitment to his community and staff never falters nor asks for anything in return...so from us to you thanks INtense! and Cheers!