new to moding

[kaf11]

my friend and i have been talking about how much we want to make a game for so long, we recently decided we should try. were both dying to play HL2, so the source engine is the obvious choice for us to use for our mod. we have plenty of ideas, the only thing we lack is the technical know how. what i want to know, is would it be possible for me to start completely from scratch and teach myself how to use all of the editing tools necessary to make our game? i would really like to learn how to make a mod, but it seems a little intimidating for someone who has never even tried. any help or suggestions from your own experiences?

 

[Adrien C]

IT takes will power and determination.
I would advice you to have a skill to start then join a mod team, you will learn a lot.
It's the best way to start.

 

[kaf11]

ok, thanks, ill see if i can do that. i just get the feeling that learning to mod is discouraging.

 

[Yakuza]

It is discouraging, but also VERY rewarding. Its all about your mind man, your body will fight you somtimes. Tell you things like; lets play games, or go out with friends. You must learn the art of sacrafice and obtain the ever rare chalice of patiance.

Its in our discouragment that we grow and find new strength to carry us along.


When thy hand trembles and the blood of my opposition but stain
my angry fists,
Thine power sapped beneath my knees and into the mud, is were my weary body claims its rest,
Today I wear the dressings of battle, deep into the body the ribbons run and flay thine spirit knumb and chiseled my heart to dust,
Yet today, upon my head I wear the crown of my oppressors,
For today I wear Victory.

 

[Andy]

Well some very important rules would probably be:

1. Learn the basics Worldcraft (sorry "hammer" :hmph: ) - dead easy: its the lego equivilent of 3D design.

1a. Experiment and expand - put your guy, in a room, with a zombie, a light and a gun and hit compile. Then go from there. Do tutorials.

2. Plan your idea from start to finish ON PAPER - Exactly what's gonna happen, what characters you'll use where, script, weapons, level designs, overall feel, concept. Detours are fine but if you don't have a precise destination, you'll never get there.

2a. For god's sake start small - if you've never modded before forget about models, forget about coding, forget about multiplayer. Do a "what if" mod or something similar. Even then it's really difficult to stay focused, but just do one or two linking levels.

3. Everyone has great ideas. Make sure yours are feasible, sensible and above all, are realised. Make yourself do something every day, even for fifteen minutes.

4. Annoy every moding forum you can find with incessent questions

Good luck

 

[Yakuza]

2a. For god's sake start small - if you've never modded before forget about models, forget about coding, forget about multiplayer. Do a "what if" mod or something similar. Even then it's really difficult to stay focused, but just do one or two linking levels.

LOL so true. Man how many times do people come up with this grand ideas and wind up not doing anything cause their ideas are to grand.

Seriously start small. The first mods I did were gun sound modifications for CS several years ago.

 

[Cyanide]

my friend and i have been talking about how much we want to make a game for so long, we recently decided we should try. were both dying to play HL2, so the source engine is the obvious choice for us to use for our mod. we have plenty of ideas, the only thing we lack is the technical know how. what i want to know, is would it be possible for me to start completely from scratch and teach myself how to use all of the editing tools necessary to make our game? i would really like to learn how to make a mod, but it seems a little intimidating for someone who has never even tried. any help or suggestions from your own experiences?

It's always good to see people interested in doing mods. However, I think you may be getting a bit ahead of yourself by wanting to learn everything there is about making a mod. There are quite a few things involved in modding.

First of all, there are different kinds of mods. There are total conversion mods which basicly strip all the art and content away from the engine and replace it with all new content to create an entirely different game. Then there are mods that may only replace or add a couple weapons, or change a vehicle, or add a new gameplay mode, etc. Those are much simpler and it's far more likely that you and and your friend could do something like that in a reasonable amount of time.

Total conversion mods usually require a fairly large team of skilled people to realize in a reasonable amount of time. For a total conversion you need multiple modelers, texture artists, animaters, and mappers. At least 1 programmer, maybe more if your mod will require a lot of functionality that's not already in the engine. At least 1 sound engineer to make new sound effects, and maybe even a composer if you want new music and your sound effects guy doesn't do that.

For you to learn to do all those things well would take years (unless you have a lot of natural talent or you're really obsessive and have no life). Not to mention any limitations that may be imposed by your own natural artistic talent. Something that very few people have in both musical and all the art related subjects involved in a total conversion mod.

Also, don't chose to use the Source engine just because you want to play HL2. Get a good idea for a game and then find an engine that will best support it. That may or may not be the Source engine.

In other words. Yes, it would be possible for you and your friend to learn to make a mod from scratch. However, by the time you had all the knowledge you need to do something like a total conversion (which is what most people think of when they hear "mod") HL2 may be on its way to the bargin bins. A better idea would be to pick one subject (modeling, texture creation, sound, programming, mapping, etc) and learn to do that as well as you possibly can. Then you'll have a skill that will allow you to join a mod team, or even come up with an idea and create your own mod team.

 

[kaf11]

thanks a lot for all of your help and advice, i appreciate it. and @ cyanide, were not planning on doing a total conversion. the only things we really need to change would be weapons, player models, and a few cars (even if we have to contract some help). we just want to make a game customized to what we feel is missing from a lot of the games we play. essentially HL2 would be perfect for our needs, because our idea is set in an eastern europe locale. i feel that the art design and all of the existing textures and architecture of the game would fit perfectly into what we want to do.

 

[Adrien C]

Talking about texture artist I'm suposed to find one, got to get back to work, C-ya all later.