View Full Version : Any would-be mod makers out there?
Danyboy
08-01-2007, 01:47 PM
Any Splash Damage forum members may have seen my request for help (http://www.splashdamage.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=17045) in creating an ET:QW mod.
Considering it got little attention I thought I'd re-post here. At the moment it's just an idea, not even worthwhile having a moddb presence. As I wrote at SD, it's a single-player mod telling the story of the human war effort that counters the Strogg invasion. It sits in between ET:QW and Quake 2 timelines.
If you fancy helping out or even just suggesting an idea reply here or send me a PM
channie
08-01-2007, 01:59 PM
Single Player over a multiplayer game might be a wrong idea, since you'll have to rewrite most of the AI which is *alot* of work. Starting out the mod from a single player game is better imho.
Danyboy
08-01-2007, 02:03 PM
true, but for large exterior landscapes Quake 4 won't cut it
Kamikazee
08-01-2007, 03:12 PM
Single Player over a multiplayer game might be a wrong idea, since you'll have to rewrite most of the AI which is *alot* of work. Starting out the mod from a single player game is better imho.
It will take quite some AI routines to be rewritten, but I believe it's easier to make an NPC out of a bot than to do so the other way around.
It might also be easier to convert a bot into a co-op teammate.
Anyway, any mod takes work.
MWLL|Criminal
08-01-2007, 05:10 PM
Hey Danny,
If you have the desire then nothing is outside of the realm of possibility. I really like where you're going with this idea. Now a few questions that I'm just curious about.
1. Are you looking to make it more of a RPG "Oblivion/Morrowind" style using the vast landscapes as a quasi-persistent type world/character?
2. Are you more or less looking for an adventure game?
3. I guess essetially what are you trying to achieve as far as genre and feel go?
4. Do you plan on ONLY singleplayer?
5. Do you plan on creating your own enemies or using basic strogg?
Man i guess i have alot of question but so far right now these are the main ones...you may definetly be on to something but i think it may help get some interest if you explained your goals a little more in detail...not too much but enough so that we know more than just "It's a singleplayer game"
Sounds like a killer idea! One thought, since the other Quake SP games have featured only Human player-characters, could be cool to do it from the Strogg's POV, might work =].
Danyboy
08-01-2007, 06:35 PM
1. Are you looking to make it more of a RPG "Oblivion/Morrowind" style using the vast landscapes as a quasi-persistent type world/character?
2. Are you more or less looking for an adventure game?
3. I guess essetially what are you trying to achieve as far as genre and feel go?
4. Do you plan on ONLY singleplayer?
5. Do you plan on creating your own enemies or using basic strogg?
Man i guess i have alot of question but so far right now these are the main ones...you may definetly be on to something but i think it may help get some interest if you explained your goals a little more in detail...not too much but enough so that we know more than just "It's a singleplayer game"
heh - right now all I have are ideas and floating them over t'Interweb gets me worried but I suppose if I want help others will want info. As for your questions:
1. I see the mod as being your standard FPS (Quake2, HL2 affair) linear but not obviously linear.
2. I hope it to be more than just killing A.I. the player has to find their way through on their own. I'm not a fan of "Your objective soldier is to go there and kill everything that moves, pick up red key card and exit base". There will/should be a logical progression of having to complete this task in order to achieve a larger goal.
3. If I was to liken it to anything, it would be the sense of imersion that i personally experience when I started HL2 for the first time. You're in an environment that is familiar yet unfamiliar. You are just as anonymous as the AI characters around you. It's up to you to investigate and work out where to go (in this particular scenario, Kleiner's lab)
4. For the moment singple player will be a mammoth-enough challenge - but Co-Op would be a nice touch - I have happy memories of playing through Q2 with a buddy during LAN games
5. Ideally, a wide variety of Strogg characters. Some familiar faces from Q2 would be nice - but some new variants would add to the detail of the mod.
Like I said, at the moment I just have ideas, I could really do with boucning them off other people. Then once a story has been pencilled out, start looking to designing it and filling positions.
As for Strogg POV - yeah it would be an intresting tilt on things - however I see a definite void and potential a great story of how Earth went from being invaded to building intergalactic cruisers and sending their own strike force to Stroggos.
TTK-Bandit
08-01-2007, 09:46 PM
Man you really need to think a little before recruiting members.. check out these links for the beginning:
http://www.doom3world.org/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?f=58&t=9300
http://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Successful_Mod_Team_Tips
and then create a nice looking concept what your mod is going to be like.
Write a nice text to make people interested, show em what you are going to do on the mod, recent work you have done, and show up what kind of help you need and what expectations you have.
Sorry, but just saying 'hi, my name is xy, I wanna do a mod, and need help, not much information I can tell you about my mod but it sure r0x0rs.' is simply not enough.
MWLL|Criminal
08-01-2007, 10:26 PM
I like your ideas, definetly keep going with this...IMO Co-op will actually end up being easier to create than solely singleplayer simply because of the inherent nature of ET:QW already so try to keep that in mind. Perhaps you could start by just creating a Co-op sort of campaign where it's 2-4 guys vs. the world...maybe like a 28days later feel where everyone is stroggified? I dunno just got crazy ideas whirling in my head about that...i always though a game like that would really be immersive.
If you went for a story like that then you could build areas that like you said are familiar yet unfamiliar. It wouldn't really be that linear as the objectives aren't really objectives rather than a decision the players will have to make.
Seriously keep going with this...try to chew out some concepts and get them down on paper (e-paper) :D share it and see if others are interested in helping. You've really got the start of a fairly unique mod here.
Danyboy
08-01-2007, 10:48 PM
Man you really need to think a little before recruiting members..
I don't think you read my posts properly. I'm not asking to recruit people. I said at the moment I just want to discuss ideas with others. Once a story has been created, then start looking at assembling a team.
This is precisely why I haven't created a moddb profile as there is no mod yet!
TTK-Bandit
08-02-2007, 03:20 AM
>I'm not asking to recruit people
>>If you fancy helping out or even just suggesting an idea reply here or send me a PM
and your topic at SD forums is "Mod help request..."
I might have misunderstood the topic, but It seemed to me like you where looking for help.
and even if its just an idea, you need to tell people a little more then just singleplayer + between etqw and q2, so there is actually some base to discuss.
sounds more like a 3rd person shooter idea to me, like Hidden and Dangerous, but sandbox style
Danyboy
08-02-2007, 12:23 PM
sounds more like a 3rd person shooter idea to me, like Hidden and Dangerous, but sandbox style
im not a fan of 3rd person much - certain games require it, such as H&D, Hitman - ones in which you have to pay attention to your envirnoment much more closely.
I personally feel that the first-person perspective immerses you deeper into a game.
hellomoto
08-02-2007, 03:42 PM
Your best bet is to make script the "single-player" objectives into a map and have players just host their own server instead of making it standalone. This approach would also make it easier for a co-op mode.
Any Splash Damage forum members may have seen my request for help (http://www.splashdamage.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=17045) in creating an ET:QW mod.
Considering it got little attention I thought I'd re-post here. At the moment it's just an idea, not even worthwhile having a moddb presence. As I wrote at SD, it's a single-player mod telling the story of the human war effort that counters the Strogg invasion. It sits in between ET:QW and Quake 2 timelines.
If you fancy helping out or even just suggesting an idea reply here or send me a PM
Given that it's not really know at what point the etqw story ends yet I guess it would be hard to come up with much story wise.
It would be interesting to discuss how close etqw is to single player already.
Of note is the lineage of RTCW:MP which had re-engineered single player maps to team based mp.
Maps where you are on attack and enemy defense is like the standard 'always on the offensive' of standard sp games.
With the chained objectives, the progression through a map is already similar to the linearity of some sp maps.
I'll definitely see what stacking the stogg team with a lot of low level bots and playing with a very small gdf team will play like.
Being more specific than 'single player' what type of gameplay do you envisage?
[]v[]
08-03-2007, 08:28 AM
I don't see why you can't just script the bots to patrol areas like any normal single player game. Yes they would act differently and more randomly but is'nt this better than a rigid npc who does the same thing over and over. Why would he want to rewrite and dumb down these bots. Better to use the extra attributes that they already have. I think this is a very good idea it just needs a little time to work out.