Modding Timeframe

[TheOneFreeMan]

I'd like the advice of some experienced modders out there.

I'm currently at the starting point of a final year university project. My project involves producing a few short snippets of gameplay from a story set in the Half Life 2 universe. Each snippet will provide around a minute or two of gameplay, with there being around 3-5 in all.

These gameplay demos, if you like, involve producing a few gameplay areas, creating new NPCs with a few original animations for them (I know this is a hairy point, but I'm procuring the services of an animator), and voicing them. My Source modding knowledge is rudimentary at present; I know the basic ins and outs, can make a map that works with no leaks, has lighting effects, displacements, etc. So not a total newb, but still basic level of knowledge, nothing on the level of implementing new animations into characters and building complicated scenes yet.

I have 8 months from now to hand-in. Given that I have basic knowledge at present (but will be spending a lot of time on this, given that I'm a student and this is my project), am I setting myself a ridiculous goal, or is this acheiveable? The people around me, including the ones who are going to be supervising my project, were putting the fear of God in me today by basically saying "Jesus, that's a lot of work you've set yourself". I believe I can do it and am ready to prove them all wrong, but I'd appreciate the opinion of people who have experience about how difficult the challenges I've set myself are before I go rushing into something too big for me to handle. Thanks.

 

[Barnz]

Yes, it's achievable. What are your plans?

 

[Krynn72]

Sounds doable. Hard to say without knowing what "gameplay snippets" entails. Are you planning on writing some complex scripted events, or trying out all new types of gameplay that isnt in hl2? Or is it simply going to be hl2 gameplay with new maps, models, textures, etc?

Eight months is a seriously long time when you're doing something even 20 hours a week. Me and 3 other people made a custom UT2004 map together with completely original content in a one month class, and we were learning the editor from scratch while doing it. None of us knew even how to do simple mapping in it going into the project.

Although, I would suggest to go with the low end of how many bits you want. Not for lack of time, but because then you could make the couple you have extremely polished and professional looking.

Let us know what you're up to, and be sure to post your WIPs here for critiques if you're allowed/want to. I'd be happy to help if you have any questions about artwork/general game design. I'm not terribly familiar with modding in source, I've always had others do the bitch work (sorry heppa!), but my job's gotten me fairly familiar with game design and art creation. HL2.net is here to help

 

[TheOneFreeMan]

The project is basically an exercise in scriptwriting for video games.

The general idea is to demonstrate in short gameplay segments how I've implemented some complex and interesting writing techniques into the game in order to make it engaging, develop emotional connection to the plot and characters, and give the player genuinely difficult moral decisions. So the "gameplay snippets" will generally be short areas which show some interaction with and between new NPC characters, and demonstration of some traditional HL2 gameplay which has been given emotional significance for the player via the writing/character development. This may involve a couple of relatively complex scripted events, and will definitely include a couple of short scenes with NPCs talking and reacting to each other and the player, but everything within the demo shouldn't be a far cry from traditional HL2 gameplay and events.

I'm not planning on implementing many new textures or models; the new NPCs will have new models and a few original animations, but for the rest I'm going to use existing textures and models unless it's essential. The focus is on demonstrating the writing first, and graphical polish second. Once I have the tricky stuff roughly in place (scripted sequences and original animations are the scary ones I want to focus on) then I can look at how to make it look more professional.

Thanks for the encouragement, it's put my mind at ease and now I can hopefully push on with making it all a reality. With any luck I'll be back in the future with some WIP to show.

 

[Barnz]

Moral decisions you say? You can borrow some ideas from original Fallout. Just don't push for complex stuff, try to stick to what you already have in your hands.

 

[Krynn72]

Just don't slack off. Projects with far away deadlines have a tendency to make time pass much quicker than anyone expects. I suggest you make a thorough timeline for where you should be at the end of each month, and have the project set to be completely finished in 7 months. Trust me when I say that if you plan for seven months, you'll still be in a major crunch mode days before its due. I'd suggest you take the next two weeks for just planning. Come up with a tiered system. First tier is stuff that you absolutely must have done in order to pass the class at all, second tier is the stuff you want to have and that will give you a good grade, third tier being things you'd like to have but are just little flourishes that arent very important. Once thats done you can figure out your timeline and where you need to start, how much work you need to get done, and how much time you need to spend on each bit.

The general rule for projects like these is figure out exactly how much time you expect you'll need, then double it to get the amount of time you'll actually need. Keep that in mind.