6 Challenges to modding

Post » Tue Jun 28, 2011 10:59 am

I came across this altdev blog which had a relevant article called http://altdevblogaday.org/2011/06/22/6-challenges-to-the-hobbyist-game-developer-and-how-to-overcome-them/

I thought it was pretty relevant to modding - here's a sample

5th Challenge: The Overprotective Parent Syndrome
The game you’re working on, especially if it’s something you’ve been doing solo, is like your child. You attend to it lovingly, often at ridiculous hours of the night, you grow and nurture it, you enjoy playing with it even if it’s not really fun, and sometimes you get angry with it and you call a time-out for a while. As such, sometimes you become overprotective of the project, not wanting anyone to see it until it’s perfect and reflective of what you had originally envisaged. There is always a bug to fix, a character to add, and an art piece to replace. You end up telling people about what the game is going to be, rather than showing them what it is.

The Solution:
One of the greatest motivators is human feedback. Dare I say both positive and negative. Showing your game to friends and even letting them play with it will give you a sense of progress which no amount of code check-ins will do. And even though you are probably not going to implement every piece of feedback you get, this is still a great way to keep objective.


Quite few good articles at the site - the one on estimating time length was pretty good to

Anyone else got any good links to articles they find useful for modding?
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Michael Russ
 
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Post » Tue Jun 28, 2011 7:59 pm

Unfortunately I have nothing to contribute. However I wanted to thank you for posting this as I found it very insightful :D
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Dan Scott
 
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Post » Tue Jun 28, 2011 9:44 am

posting to much here rather than working on the actually mod.
i stopped that though...
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Quick draw II
 
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Post » Tue Jun 28, 2011 6:01 pm

That's why I release Rebirth in parts, pushing myself to release a new version every now & then. This instead of making a HUGE release sometime in the distant future & showing of things along the way, I'm sure it would take a lot of more time doing so :P
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JaNnatul Naimah
 
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Post » Tue Jun 28, 2011 5:53 pm

5th Challenge: The Overprotective Parent Syndrome
The game you’re working on, especially if it’s something you’ve been doing solo, is like your child. You attend to it lovingly, often at ridiculous hours of the night, you grow and nurture it, you enjoy playing with it even if it’s not really fun, and sometimes you get angry with it and you call a time-out for a while. As such, sometimes you become overprotective of the project, not wanting anyone to see it until it’s perfect and reflective of what you had originally envisaged. There is always a bug to fix, a character to add, and an art piece to replace. You end up telling people about what the game is going to be, rather than showing them what it is.

I believe there was a certain famous modder from around here that had this problem...

Actually this is a problem with quite a few people and I can definitly say this is a problem of the Black Mesa Source team, they have been at it for more then 6 years now with little to show anyone.
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Cody Banks
 
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