Blogs - Loftless

A lot of new news on the homefront. Not issuing any official information, or even publishing a mod page about the Cyberpunk game I have been working on yet. It's hard, but I am focusing on working out every kink before committing myself fully, and in public view. However, for clarification, the mod will be a single player only mod, focused around one region in our dystopic near future. The game will be a seamless blend of the Action RPG and First-Person Shooter genres, and will be heavily story driven (sorry for all you fans of spray-n-pray mindless shooters, there's lots of games for you out there). That aside... to the new information!

Lately, along with writing storyline and backstory, as well as concept art and texture design, I have been working on selecting an engine to work in. I am pleased to have found the Source engine to my liking. Although it has more limitations than unreal or crytek, it has a lot more functionality that I would rather not use 3rd party software for. That is the one thing that is currently set in stone.

In it's current form, the story is sitting at about 10 chapters worth of content, but that's only core content, meaning I may have more side missions and/or optional paths to take as well. On top of that, there is the possibility, time permitting, of a branching storyline around what is currently the 7th chapter.

The entire process has been one big pain in the butt, obviously. The corner of my place where all my drawing and brainstorming is done is covered in note cards, concept sketches, and random inspirational photos. Not to mention when I get inspired, I tend not to sleep for long periods of time.

However, through it all, I will say that I can hope to have lots of concept art, a finalised name for the game, and lots of in-game screenshots up by... we'll say june at the latest.

Until then, back to work!

I have searched high and low to find that one thing. The one thing mods are missing that make them exciting, and I think the truth is, they need something new. Everyone does a "This is what happens after Gordon Freeman does this... etc" mod, or a "This is a WWII mod for... etc". In essence, these things are over done.

In lieu of being predictable, cliche, whatever you want to call it, I have started work on something in a genre that is entirely underdone. Cyberpunk. Why? That's what I asked myself.

Everyone does what has been done, what has happened. Fantasy games, sequels, story extensions, or copies of their favorite games in Source. I asked myself why. The simplest answer: because it's easy. Everyone knows what to do for a fantasy game. Everyone knows what to expect from yet another Half-Life story addon. Most fans of games know what to expect with the remake. So why not do something original? The problem here is: How do you make the public see that your concept is something original, and not just another remake like the others?

The simplest and shortest answer to that, was to take a genre that is rarely used, but when it is, always seems to work well (provided you actually do it right). Think of your favorite Cyberpunk games (I'm talking single player, story oriented here, since Dystopia is a perfect multiplayer example); what comes to mind for me anyways are games like System Shock, Deus Ex, Shadowrun, etc. Why are they so interesting?

I think one of mankinds greatest intrigues is his future. Who doesn't want to know how society is going to end up in 'x' amount of years? It's an interesting to think on. There's really two sides to it. There's the classic "Humanity always survives and we will live in a blissful paradise." or the more logical approach, the Cyberpunk "Huge companies will rule over countries, hold us for ransom, and live like kings route.

Let's face it, between global warming, multinational companies, and whatever natural catastrophies mankind enjoys inflicting upon themselves, we are destined for a Cyberpunk existence. I want to take that angle, and show that to the viewer, give them the power to change that future, or at least impact it in a large way. Join the revolution, state their cause, and fight the multinational companies that threaten our existence!

Who's with me on this one? Anyone?

So, to start, before I get flamed as "Hey there's a new guy, get him!" or "Those radical ideas are not welcome around here buddy!" I would like to say im a long time ModDB user, and I love it here. I created a new account under a new alias purely for cosmetic reasons... sorry for the now empty DB entry. Don't kill me. Onto the show...

I am a long time Modder in Valve's beautiful communities. The days of Natural-Selection, Counter-Strike (When they were independent, and still, they're an amazing group of individuals), Day of Defeat (ditto to them), and just other hard working mod teams, are a rarity in today's market. Today's market is not-so-niche, which is not entirely a bad thing.

Still, today is the day of DIY gaming. Everyone wants a piece of the action, and with engines like Source, Doom, and so many easy access "pick up and go" tools, it very well should be. (Congrats to so many people in the industry making our industry so accessible to the public, I am in no way bashing them, I think the coming years will be amazing for us)

My problem with this day and age, with all this technology, all this access, community involvement and the like, is commitment. No one is committed anymore. Someone starts up a project, gets others excited about a project, but never really spends the months to years of time to really learn what they need to do, and plan for what they're getting into. Hence the hundreds, and ever growing numbers, of defunct "projects".

The reason I called this blog "The State of Source Mods" is because, while not the only tool available, it is one of the most easily accessible tools ever. It comes with almost everything you need, and then some, and you can get it up and running with any Source Engine game on the market.

I remember a few years back, just around the release of Half-Life 2, PC Gamer dedicated a huge portion of one of their magazines... I wish I could reference the exact issue... anyways, they dedicated a huge section to Modding, calling that the "Year of the Mods". The release of the Source Engine was the start of a new age in gaming. So many people would have access to a "Next Generation" Engine. Heres my question: What do we have to show for it?

Some, have done amazing things with it. Created some very original and inspiring independent pieces from them. One great example would be Adam Foster, creator of the MINERVA mod. His work, from the day it came out, was hailed by the community. Tons of community members commented on how well done, and passionate his work was, they stated that Valve should be watching this guy... and look at that they listened. There are many, many more success stories to come from this community. Games like Left 4 Dead, the afformentioned Counter-Strike and Day of Defeat franchises, that started from a simple group of modders, and countless others. It came from hard work, dedication, and passion.

My friends, and community members. Simply put, we need devotion to what we do. If something's worth doing, it's worth doing right. So please, for the sake of everyone: players, developers, and outsiders alike; please put some time, effort, and love into your projects, and make us all proud.

Sincerely,
A Concerned Community Member