Sawyer (ex-Black Isle) talks modding

[theGreenBunny]

Josh Sawyer, ex-Black Isle Studios dev, posted a long post on mods and managing them on the Obsidian Entertainment boards. I haven't fully read it yet (will after I hit Submit), but I thought it might be of interest to some.

The post: http://forums.obsidianent.com/index.php?showtopic=8168&hl=

I'll quote his intro

Hello. My name is Josh Sawyer. I am a game developer, formerly of Black Isle Studios, currently working for Midway San Diego. I’m not necessarily an expert on the game development process, but I have worked with quite a few producers and had the opportunity to see many different styles of project management and mismanagement. I see a lot of ambitious people set out to make mods, 90%+ of which are never completed. I don’t think it’s because the ideas aren’t sound or because the people involved are a bunch of idiots. I think it’s because the projects are a) poorly planned B) poorly scheduled and c) poorly managed in general.

Discuss, talk, you know, do that forum thing

[edit] woops, I forgot to link the post at first (hah)

 

[Ansur]

Sounds very interesting should you happen to develop a mod.
Its nice that persons like him create such lovely advice.

 

[synth]

that post is really important - all mod leaders should follow the suggestions if they want their mods to be successful.

 

[The Dark Elf]

stuck it then

 

[theGreenBunny]

Wow, it was being pretty much ignored except for Ansur, and now it gets stickied. Funny how things go. Anyway, I shouldn't be going off topic *shuts up*

 

[The Dark Elf]

Wow, it was being pretty much ignored except for Ansur, and now it gets stickied. Funny how things go. Anyway, I shouldn't be going off topic *shuts up*

I could always unsticky it if thats what you'd prefer?

 

[Shinobi]

I kind of agree,, but I also think there's still situations where the mod is ruined by idiots

also another big factor is over-ambition,

 

[steelslay]

yer great knowledge

yer peeps!! thats wot we need more peeps that know wot they r on about i have big respect to black isle wonder how long ago [josh] worked for b.i loved all there games esp neverwinter nights

 

[Nostradamus]

This is top sweet... Wonderful post,,, This is THE most important thing I have ever read regarding mod development tbh!