Blogs - KingofBees

There is a common theme communicated to people who have aspirations of running large operations someday: start small.

If you want to run a world class restaurant on the shores of Malta, you should begin running a food cart. If you want to build the next Empire State Building, begin by building a shed. If you want to play in a traveling band around the world on spectacular stages, give the local open mic night a go first. Likewise, if we're going to make the next Counter-Strike, Battlegrounds, Chivalry, or Red Orchestra, we need to start with a mod.

Starting small gives us the necessary head room to "fail," with the only real failure being that no one wants to play the mod. This allows us to take on new ideas with more vigor than before. If we had borrowed loads of money and made a dud game, we would have many more problems to deal with. Running a company into the ground is not cheap, and many have seen their ruination from betting their life (sometimes literally) on the business. Remember when Curt Schilling started a video game company?

Building a video game from scratch means you have to build everything from scratch. Not just the game itself, but your fanbase, media exposure, company track record, company profile, etc. There is simply so much that can go wrong, and even if you do everything right, something out of your control could overshadow or kill your game, or the timing could be terrible.

Building a mod is an entirely different atmosphere. We get feedback from other modders and people from the modding community, a free platform to share our creation on, a place with like minded people looking for fun mods to play, forums to discuss issues and smooth bumps along the way, and best of all - a game already there to mod!

Finally, starting small grants us immunity from one of the most overlooked aspects of enterprise - pressure. Being under no pressure to create a fun mod verses having to meet task quotas, deadlines, impatient investors, and any of the stresses of time constraint - is extremely important. Having a mod before diving into making a full game would serve only to alleviate initial pressures on delivering a solid product. People who are working on a product as complex as a game do not respond well to the feeling of having the weight of the world on their shoulders. In fact, many developers in the gaming industry have had enough and leave for the indie scene hoping for greener pastures.

All the tools are there to make a new concept fully realized. The video game industry is one of the last industries where you can get your foot in the door with an original and fun idea.

Until next time

Buzz buzz 🐝

Welcome to my blog!

I am new to the modding community and am bringing many ideas I have that I would like to see come to fruition. Here's a basic rundown of my plans:

1. Post concept content of any and all ideas I have.

Some mod ideas are higher priority than others. Ideally, I would like to have multiple projects going at the same time, but having just one to focus on would be enough to satisfy me. All the concepts I post will have fleshed out supporting media to provide maximum visualization of what I envision to the best of my ability. Of course, when any of my ideas are taken on, content updates for them will be posted as well.

2. Assemble like minded individuals with the skills required to work on a mod.

I do not have any experience in modding or development. I simply have the vision and the will to make it happen. I am willing to learn as I go, but my efforts would be best placed in managing the operation, PR, and any duties outside of actual development. I have other businesses to run and do not have the time or the inclination to sit at a computer and code all the time. Hats off to the guys who put in the time to know this stuff, but all cogs in the machine must come together to make it work. Of course, there are preliminary steps to take before any development actually takes place. I would communicate with the team involved on how much time they want to spend on things, as well as laying out a development roadmap, workflow management system, and the other basic requirements so that there is a clear direction the team wants to head in. A donations page will be set up for every active mod project in which every penny will be given to team members proportionally to the amount of effort put in - I will not be taking anything for my own until the mod has realized its full potential.

3. Once mod goes into 1.0, look toward future development opportunities

So a mod is made. We have a sustainable playerbase that enjoys playing the mod. Major bugs have been squashed and not much further development is required on it. Maybe we'll add new content, maybe the mod could live on its own for a while - but that would only be self-limiting. It is no secret that PUBG was a massive success, popularizing a new genre that is making AAA companies adding it to their yearly releases. But not everyone knows it started as a mod of Arma 2. Here's a video giving a brief history of the game:

PUBG isn't the only game to start from a mod, and there are many examples over the years that I'm sure this community has heard of. PUBG made a lot of mistakes though, but a key takeaway from its story is this: people still were willing to buy the game, even with the boatload of technical issues it had. It was a fun concept, and gamers are hungry for a game that is just simply - fun.

With the mod, it can be used to show off the game concept to outside development teams, venture capitalists, private equity firms, crowdfunding, and even private investors. Or, we simply start as an indie company. There are many paths to take if we want to make this mod a full-fledged game. I believe there is an abundance of talent out there (here on Moddb as well) that can spend time on something that could eventually net big returns. Many mods are made with little to no money and remain free forever. I have played many mods for many games over the years I have been playing video games, and have gleefully watched gameplay of countless other mods to games I do not have. I can say without a doubt that the raw talent out there is incredible. And these people do it for FREE.

Many mods have been turned into their own games. The industry is ripe for innovation and new concepts. The yearly AAA releases just aren't cutting it anymore. Gamers want more. They want new. There is a void that is waiting to be filled, markets waiting to be tapped.

A few things to be clear about:

As PLAYERUNKNOWN has said himself, I just want to make a game that I would want to play. I want to have a hand in making some really fun mods. Greed is not my motivator here. I want fun games to play with other people. But I can't do it alone.

Conclusion

I'll be around on here, posting ideas as I complete them in easy to read formats. I'm open to any message or comment, and if you want to be a part of my vision, then don't hesitate to chat with me. I'll also be around other threads as well. If you want to stare into the unknown with me and break into the video game industry, let's see what you're made of.

Until next time

Buzz buzz🐝