HL2Central: Clash of the Ages Shutting Down

[The PC Nerd]

http://forums.gamecentralnetwork.net/index.php?act=ST&f=52&t=5823&st=0

Thought I would post it here because they didn't send the letter out to anyone but us.

It is a shame, I was part of Citizen-132 and they shut down; Now Clash of the Ages. Both mods I loved and was really looking forward to seeing finished. At least there are all of the other mods, but none of those are similar to these two classics.

In other news, HL2Central is coming back soon by the way, sorry for the nearly 3 months of downtime with one forums crash, two hosting changes, and various mangement changes. We are currently in the process of getting a web design and adding all of our old content to the brand new custom designed CMS. If you haven't noticed already we have opened an entire network which we have planned since late 2003, so the forums are now multipurpose. I have seen some comments about people not visiting multi-game forums; I would like to know the reason for such a decision, so please let me know why you think that, if you do via email: [email protected]

 

[Angry Lawyer]

I'm willing to bet they couldn't find a competent coder. Or a coder at all.

You can have all the flashy graphics and ideas in the world, but it all means nothing when you have no way of actually implementing your ideas in HL2.

Solution: Learn C++. Do it yourself. Everyone wins, especially you. And me, because I always win.

-Angry Lawyer

 

[The PC Nerd]

Why are there so few replies, or even views of this topic? Where is everyone?

 

[Ennui]

I haven't the slightest idea. Probably because most people don't browse the modifications forum, just me and Angry.

 

[Ti133700N]

And me lol, I come 5 times a day.

But this MOD wasn't in my top5 so... Most of the MODs shut down because they were started in a hurry, like let's make tons of maps and muddles but in fact they can't skin all the models, they haven't looked at what they're gonna need (in therm of coding, how they are going to work as a team). I can't speak for this MOD though maybe it was for another reason.

 

[Insano]

Why are there so few replies, or even views of this topic? Where is everyone?

Not much people come here

 

[Angry Lawyer]

I'm only here to enforce IP laws and crush people's dreams. It's official.

Series of issues were at the root of our choice, where the most problematic elements were fought to be resolved but could not be surmounted. A project of this magnitude required full dedication and a full team, factors lacking due to a number of reasons.

Sounds like the team couldn't be bothered. Apathy is the root of all mod faliures. Nobody can be bothered to pick up their own slack, or learn new skills to fill in for empty team positions.

-Angry Lawyer

 

[SidewinderX]

Why are there so few replies, or even views of this topic? Where is everyone?

I browse this forum regularly, but didn't reply because I didn't think I could have anything to add. In all honesty, my interest in this went something like this.

"Mod closing?"
"Maybe I can pillage some team members to add to CW:MP"
*Checks sites*
*Finds names, but no e-mail addresses*
*Looses interest*

Honestly, this is another one of those mods that said that they were going to 100% for sure complete it... and they didn't.

And yes, Angry Lawyer is just here to crush other's dreams by telling them they can't make a Perfect Stargate 007 Dark mod.

(And if you're looking for a mod team angry, our coders at CW:MP are still looking for company! )

 

[Angry Lawyer]

I'm currently working on two seperate mods right now (both near public testing stage), and then I promised Ennui some of my time. But I'm sure I can fit you in the schedule somewhere, depending what you actually need coding.

-Angry Lawyer

 

[Insano]

I'm currently working on two seperate mods right now (both near public testing stage), and then I promised Ennui some of my time. But I'm sure I can fit you in the schedule somewhere, depending what you actually need coding.

-Angry Lawyer

Can we have releasedates for those two mods?

 

[Angry Lawyer]

Both sometime soon. One of them I'm not allowed to talk about just yet. The other, Conquest: City 17, is an RTS in the HL2 universe. Currently, it's pretty much working, although a few more features need to be implemented before I start promoting it everywhere.

-Angry Lawyer

 

[StardogChampion]

I look at the CotAges website media section and all I see is models and music... I can't say I'm surprised they've closed.

 

[Angry Lawyer]

It's the truth, smaller size is greater efficiency. The larger the mod is, the stronger the leader needs to be. Although, below a certain point, although you get ultimate control, the production speed tends to drop quite a bit. Which is why all of the stuff in my mod is definately stuff I want in there, but it's going to take some time before I release it (I'm a one man team with Conquest: City 17).

I've found that the strongest mods have one coder, a modeller/skinner/animator (I remember the days when all three of those would be combined, by default), two or three mappers, and a guy doing miscellaneous things such as sounds, music, and web design. No "Ideas People". No "PR assistants". The only time a team would take on a concept artist would be either if they had a secondary talent that could be applied, or were really, reaaaally good at art (there are a few guys like that left here, you know who you are).

Large mod teams tend to have high-numbers of people who actually have no skills at all. And it's a proven fact that code-fairies steal semi-colons and squiggly braces from your source code.

-Angry Lawyer

 

[Javert]

Hmm, darn. I was actually kinda into C-132 and CotA back then. But then was then and now is now. Competition is getting exceptionally fierce and market entrance very hard.
And yes, I ALWAYS stressed the importance of a coder along with a community.

 

[The PC Nerd]

Yea the small team thing, that is true, didn't realize it until you said that.

C132 was a big bowl of jello being held by a few peoples hands, i can imagine the same thing for cota. - don't diss the analogy just because it sounds funny.

The article might have been down today, we just had to change servers because I knew more than even the senior support people, and I can't stand that.