Which mod has the most potential?

M

Motley

Guest
Hi all, first post.

I'm wondering what the community's opinion is on the current crop of modifications? I obviously realize that nothing has been produced, but on paper, what looks good to you? Any mods in particular that are worth keeping an eye on?

I'm asking because I'm a mapper (for Call of Duty at the moment) and want to start searching for a dev team that is focused (most important) on a goal and has proven talent.

Thanks all.
 
if you want a mod ill tell you one of the mods im looking forward to insurgency, the player models and weapon models are excellent also the way that they try to reward teamwork is a plus but i cant say it not likec cs most mods are and if this is like cs who cares it looks fantastic.
 
armanguy said:
if you want a mod ill tell you one of the mods im looking forward to insurgency, the player models and weapon models are excellent also the way that they try to reward teamwork is a plus but i cant say it not likec cs most mods are and if this is like cs who cares it looks fantastic.
Click to expand...

Wow, that was difficult to read. Use some periods broheim. =] That said, I agree. Insurgency mod looks really good so far, but there's others that have really good concepts. I hope they turn out.
 
How can you two judge a mod's gameplay on a concept pic and some pre-rendered weapons and figures alone?

Wait until you play it before deciding. People are all too easily swayed by neat concepts.
 
Indid, most "Ultra-cool" mods you see, with those really-neat sites, are not the ones that are going to make some noice.
You need to wait for the "un-anounce" mods, I've seen a couple of them, amazes me what this guys can do.
 
Well, I've got to say Dystopia, very smart lads full of potential.
 
TBH, the usual mods, like insurgency don't really scare me, when times comes, mods will speack for themselfs.
 
I have to admit, the overall quality of mods has ranged between 'appauling' and 'very good', with the average set at 'could be interesting'. However, none of them have really knocked my socks off yet, so I'm waiting for some releases.
Besides, I'm most excited about my own unannounced mod :p

-Angry Lawyer
 
Insurgency and Nuclear-Dawn. But there are lots of other really great mods out there.
 
Nuclear-Dawn won't last long, the leader has the rep to be an ass.

Insurgency just sounds like CS with a few more options.

I want SP mods, like Malin or Nuclear Dreams. Now that will rock.

EDIT : Edge of Justice will rock
 
I hate to blow my own horn :LOL:

But I know we, the BlackDragon team, have definite potential to be great.

I have an excellent team that really cares about making an amazing mod.

Check us out: www.blackdragonmod.com
 
Please refrain from self-promoting (at least totally)

And I put in my vote for SourceWorld, simply because Fenric is leading and he can do it all himself.
 
Sprafa said:
Please refrain from self-promoting
Click to expand...
you suck yo :p

edge of justice looks like one of the most interesting and fresh ideas for a mod EVER though ;)
 
Although Insurgency doesn't sound the most original, i'd say it has the most potential to be completed, since I hear they have more than a few team members that have completed mods before.
 
I actually think Eternal Silence is going to be pretty good. It's pretty much the only mod that I actually follow the development of.

edit - I can't believe I put Darkness instead of Silence. I am ashamed
 
Hmmmm.... I have mixed views on mods really. Most of the common mods seem to be going at it way to early. I mean... I even asked Argyl this him self "what the hell is insurgency going to do once all the models are finished" (which looks like quite soon. He seems to have a plan but imo he has done his PR a little wrong.

I dunno really. I don't want to choose a mod which looks better than another at the moment because they all seem common as shit :p I can't say I have seen a mod yet which is 'Truly Original' which is quite depressing :p
 
Sprafa said:
Insurgency just sounds like CS with a few more options.
Click to expand...

First off, Insurgency is nothing like CS at all, if you read our features. Second off, this thread is about potential not whether you like a mod or not.

IchI said:
I mean... I even asked Argyl this him self "what the hell is insurgency going to do once all the models are finished" (which looks like quite soon. He seems to have a plan but imo he has done his PR a little wrong.
Click to expand...

Hmm, I wish I could simpathize for you/understand you here but I don't really think its your place to criticize the way we're doing PR. Our growing community happens to appreciate the way we're doing PR greatly.

On a personal note, regarding the mods I think have the most potential, I'd have to say probably Insects Infestation (sounds really cool/interesting, despite it not even being my type of mod), all the Source conversions (I mean c'mon, they have a lot of potential cause all they have to do is convert), and hmm... probably Corporate Anarchy and INCorporated, in terms of potential. Also btw, Heat of Battle (ya know the CoD mod?) is supposedly doing something for HL2 it appears, in which case they're going to bring even more competition to the ww2 genre and they DEFINATELY have potential, having already been through a mod dev cycle before.

And of course I think my mod has potential but those are the others I think do too!! ;)
 
^Insurgency and Sourceworld.

Mainly because they both seem to be very well organized and planned out.
 
IchI said:
Hmmmm.... I have mixed views on mods really. Most of the common mods seem to be going at it way to early. I mean... I even asked Argyl this him self "what the hell is insurgency going to do once all the models are finished" (which looks like quite soon. He seems to have a plan but imo he has done his PR a little wrong.

I dunno really. I don't want to choose a mod which looks better than another at the moment because they all seem common as shit :p I can't say I have seen a mod yet which is 'Truly Original' which is quite depressing :p
Click to expand...


I have been working on a fighting system for over a year now.

Its a Kung Fu fighting system. There is a Single player aspect to it but thats is till being heavely worked on. Allthough the Mp system is all but done.

Basicaly this is how the MP works.

Its based in a fictional China that is split down the middle by Kung fu warfare. Each side has a group of clans that aid them in the battle. Each clan specializes in a particular form or style of Kung Fu.

For example....

Clans in the Northern regions Practice styles such as:

The Soaring Eagle
Black Leopard Fist
Drunkin Monkey
Iron Mantis

Clans from the Southern region:

Tiger Claw
Dancing Lotus
Striking Sparrow
Spitting Viper


And in each clan you have 2-3 guys to choose from, each guy having his/her own unique twist to that particular style.

The clans wage ware in game types like CTF, Last man standing, Duel, DM, TDM....


One of the things I am realy working on are the visuals and how the levels will look. having a slight fantasy feel to it.
 
I would say Insurgency :LOL:

Anyway, when I was looking for a mod which already had a very strong base, good organisation and quality in every way... Insurgency was the most obvious choice back then. I've never regretted this decision. We are still growing in maturity, quality and popularity every day... It's a great team with great potential.
Other mods that would make it in my list now are Nuclear Dawn, Incorporated and Eternal Silence.

Btw Insurgency is nothing like Counter-Strike... It's a a mixture of tactical gameplay alla NS and modern infantry combat alla Full Spectrum Warrior were realisme is important but not as important as gameplay.

Good luck :)
 
Great answers all. I'll be looking up every one of them.

HL2 seems, on paper, to be the most exciting thing to happen to modding since the original HL, so I hope VALVe will keep up the trend and and give us all something to dig our teeth in to.

For those that questioned how early some mods have started and how it's pointless to try and judge the merits of a mod so early - I disagree. If you plan a mod purely with the tools in front of you you're already compromising the vision. I believe you should have a goal in mind and use the tools to achieve it, not the other way round. Pre-production and planning has to be a good sign for a mod. Not the only sign, but a good sign none the less.

Modding may be amateur, but that doesn't mean it should be amateurish.
 
Motley said:
Great answers all. I'll be looking up every one of them.

HL2 seems, on paper, to be the most exciting thing to happen to modding since the original HL, so I hope VALVe will keep up the trend and and give us all something to dig our teeth in to.

For those that questioned how early some mods have started and how it's pointless to try and judge the merits of a mod so early - I disagree. If you plan a mod purely with the tools in front of you you're already compromising the vision. I believe you should have a goal in mind and use the tools to achieve it, not the other way round. Pre-production and planning has to be a good sign for a mod. Not the only sign, but a good sign none the less.

Modding may be amateur, but that doesn't mean it should be amateurish.
Click to expand...
But its still down to gameplay. Gamers want something that'll keep them interested, can have the most beautiful artwork ever seen, but if its just a random shoot em up with no thought gone into gameplay and map layout, many will get bored of it.
 
Jeremy said:
Hmm, I wish I could simpathize for you/understand you here but I don't really think its your place to criticize the way we're doing PR. Our growing community happens to appreciate the way we're doing PR greatly.
Click to expand...

Yes but I'm not talking about your already existing fans. Think about it, I will try and explain. The HL2 community is very small atm (its big, but nothing compared to how huge it will be). Then you have all your media releases, which obviasly are gaining popularity bit by bit. But your only taking small chunks from what could be huge chunks. I'm not saying your mod will be crap because I do think it will be well made. But the fact still remains that you have decided to gain a semi large community before even the SDK has been released. Not only do you now have to keep this going for a longer amount of time. But you then have to mix newer community followers talking about old dicussions. Imo, its badly done.

Also, its anyones place to talk freely and judge another modification. I'm not saying its correct. But at the end of the day thats my opinion. Please judge my opinion without getting angry.
 
I understand what you're trying to say...
When HL2 gets released every mods PR is back to 0%, every mod gets a clean fresh start in front of the public.
This is when the real popularity fight between mods will start.
By gaining popularity now we builded some sort of advantage that other mods, that never released anything (or just small bits), don't have... This advantage gives us opportunities that I can't really talk about right now. But you'll see what I mean in the following weeks/months and when we come closer to release. We have some big surprises for the future :)

It's not because we already started with a pretty intensive PR that we wont have anything left for the future.

And I know that you're right in some parts, certainly when you don't know half of whats happening behind the screens. But let's first see what the future brings ;)
 
Well, PR isn't about having loads of people in your forums or having all this blah blah blah. Its about getting your multiplayer modification played when its released. If you start the 1st day of release with a couple of servers which then get bored so leave and new people start to hear about it and they start a couple more servers a couple of days later. You will not have a sudden burst of servers. People will asume not many people play it and leave.

Imo, it doesn't matter how good your game is. If no one plays it at the same time people just don't play it, or litrally can not play it. Its also about preperation and advertising about 1 or 2 weeks before your modification is complete, if not many people know its been released you won't have people burst play it. I saw the same thing happen to the ut2k4 modification 'Neo Tokyo'. But I must admit that did have some gameplay issues.

Overall this brings me back to my point. The point is that I don't think you should start releasing media or gaining a fan base until you have a fine line towards your release date. There is nothing worse than waiting around for a modification to be released. Your community gets bored and leaves. I would say start releasing media and use the shock factor for about 5 months before release.

The worse thing that can happen after long periods of wait is people start to look at your media straight away and gradually slow down. It then ends up like:

"(name of the mod), oh ye I heard about that about 2 months ago. I can remember it looking pritty good. Oh? its got a release date? might have to look into downloading it some time."

"(name of the mod), omfg I can't wait for this mod. I'm getting so excited so close to release."

To comment on Insurgencey I would say, well... yes your weapons look good. But its got to the point when you release a media update for a weapon your like... ok thats just the same as the other. Obviasly its good, but its nothing new from the existing media. Thats what brought me to my point early before. What do you plan on releasing to keep people going for another 10/11 months? I mean, is there anything you could actually do? videos and animation won't last you that long. Unless you plan on programming some new shaders or something really new. But I really can't see that.

Do you get my point anyone?

Ow just to add, a good example would be Nuclear-Dawn. Yes you hate there leader. But just look at what the mod is doing. I can bet my bucks that they will hit big and play big. Actually. I didn't actually realise how important PR was until I talked with Ankalar (ex Nuclear-Dawn member).
 
Well like i said before... It's not because we released media now that we wont have the possibility to have a great PR campaign when we are close to release. Now we're just showing of renders and sounds. Nothing very attractive about that I must say. We're just gaining little chunks as you said before. But once we come close to a release we still have the possibility to create that wow effect...
You wont create a real wow effect by just releasing some renders of your guns when you are close to release. What's important then is how the game looks and plays in his totallity... and how it's represented in the media. Take for example NS... they released screens and renders etc many months before they released, they gained a lot of fans the first months who were excited about the game and waiting for the release... others were not so interested and were just waiting for more. Once they were close to release they made a stunning cut scene, let the big news sites play and review their game, release more media then ever and so on. The long term fans who were waiting a couple of months already were super excited cause they knew they would finally play the game they were waiting for... People who never heard about NS or just a bit trough the hl news sites were impressed and wanted to try it because of the wow effect. It really doesn't mather that much if you're PR is long term or short term... If you make a cool good looking game everyone will play it or at least try it out. Take HL2 for example.. who released media over a year ago and still didnt release. Everyone is still excited about it cause they just know it will kick ass. And there are always ppl complaining about delays etc and the waiting.. but once they get their hands on the game they will play and hold their mouth for ever :) Same thing for Doom3, Stalker, Duke Forever... and so on. What's most important is the game you make, not the PR. Well, the only thing thats important bout PR is that you create a WOW effect just before releasing your game. But if you create that wow effect and no one heard about it before... I dno thats not the best situation in my point of view. You've got to let the people wait and make him hungry for more long before you release.

And btw I don't have anything against DaveL like some of us... I think he's doing a great job with his mod and I wish him all the luck. Honestly I can't wait to play Nuclear Dawn :) But what I noticed is that only a few people know about ND. They never reached any big news site only a couple of forums were they posted media themself, to attract talent people i guess?
 
Potential has little to do with the media that mods are currently releasing. That media is merely an attraction to gain interest... to click on the website link which should provide much more information into the dynamics of the mod.

When I see an attractive piece of artwork, I usually check out the mod that is producing it. If their website does not have much in terms of information regarding the mod itself... I lose interest.

I judge the potential of a mod based on what they provide for their information about how they plan on going to carry out what they promise for gameplay.

There are mods out there that will generally die because they are too optimistic about what they want to do. The engine has limits, but to understand those limits, you should base your features off of what you know is already possible in games... especially with similar engines (i.e Half-Life). You can also take a look at what Valve has already stated as fact for what can be done in HL2. They also need to have a clear and concise goal. Having all sorts of things is great in the long run, but not practical for preliminary development (promise things you know will be possible for the first release so that people won't be completely disappointed).

Also, it is about personal interest into which mod has the most potential. Take a look at the fanbase of the particular genre that the mod is going for. How do you base success for a mod? Based on the amount of players/downloads? There can be an awesome mod, but only a few people play it... but does that mean it won't be successful?

Based on what I know about the mod and in my favourite genre (War), I would have to choose...

Resistance and Liberation - They have a strong goal and keep things concentrated on a certain area. Rather than going for the whole War, they concentrate on the actions of the 82nd Airborne during the Normandy campaign (and beyond...?). They leave a large window of opportunity for their future releases as well by expanding on that campaign. Also, World War II is still popular, so no doubt they will attract those gamers. They have released nice media so far, which is attention grabbing and drew me into look further into the mod. Much of their features though do appeal more to 'realism' fans which may deter those regular FPS gamers, but that could benefit them.

RnL likely will have a successful rate until release where if their gameplay is solid, will definitely make it successful as a whole.

Re: INS's PR...

Our intentions from a public relations standpoint isn't to attract as many people as possible right now... that just happened! Originally, I wanted to get the media out in order to attract more team members so we could produce nicer media to attract interest in the mod. Now though, we just release what we produce once we have a suitable number of pieces of media. No doubt though that it is quite impressive and has attracted almost 800 registered members to our Forums.

In the long run, I don't think we will have many problems when it comes to PR. Right now we are just showing what we can do now... which is merely just weapon/player/vehicle models along with the occasional sound demo and concept art. Once we start full production of the mod with HL2... the renders will slow down and be replaced with in game screenshots which are no doubt more impressive and preferred over renders. It maintains interest rather than sparks it. We have already sparked interest from those in the HL2 community now, but once we start to get better media going, we are looking to spark the interest of players from other games who would potentially enjoy our mod.

I understand what you're saying IchI, but what I'm saying is that there are a lot more fans to bring in and with the media that we will have, it can be done. With regards to the recycling information to the new fans... that's why we have an informative website and it can only get more informing once we have a solid foundation to work on. That's also why there are interviews conducted going into the details of the game, along with previews and eventually reviews... so that the fans can gain that information from both the development and press sources.

And for what you're saying about hyping up before release... Take a visit to The Trenches (WWI Half-Life mod). They just released a nice trailer of in game footage which will certainly attract many more people. We will definitely be having some much better media in order to 'hype' up the community to want to download the mod.
 
I would have to say Edge of Justice.

I'm being unbiased as always. ;)
 
IchI, don't really understand what you're talking about. Just because currently we're building up a community does in no way mean we're going to be ignoring the fact that the mod's release is the most important thing. And we are aware that we are building up a lot of hype and will need to stick to it, we're committing to that. We intend to make our first release all the community can hope for, and hopefully more. We have quite the skilled team and committed community to pull this off I feel.

To be honest, I don't think there's a such thing as bad PR right now (unless it's non-existant). Public Relations is of course the most important when a mod is nearing release, but before then it can't hurt the mod at all. I feel like you're saying that the mod isn't benefitting from what we're doing now, but it would certainly be hard to say that the mod is hurting from what we're doing now, because it certainly isn't.

And you're right, people will download the mods that have the best stuff at the given time, not the mods that produced good stuff way back when, and we are committed to bringing new updates to new levels, and bring something new every time, and especially have good stuff when nearing release (like screenshots, videos, and more). If people see a lot of sweet stuff for a mod that they have heard about in the past, they will download it just like a mod they havent heard about much in the past but see sweet stuff for. We shall see

As you mentioned about ND, I think it would be strong to say we hate the leader. Not sure where you heard that. We've had dissagreements, but we respect his mod like all others.
 
You kinda misse dmy point in a lot of things. I will try and explain. I'm talking about maximizing PR, not getting 1000's or 0. This may help:

You release a new m4a1 model:

Before HL2 is released: 50 community members gained.
After HL2 is released and at peak: 200 community members gained.

Thats my whole point.

Also about DaveL last time I spoke with him he was alright, but after arguing directly with him for very stupid reasons I find it hard to say he is a good person. But I respect his mod and team, we just have disagreements. Its the same with the Neo-Shock Online leader.
 
If the mod im considering making ever happens i think it has the potential to be the best. At least for fans of the greatest sport on earth ;)
 
Yea IchI, and that's why we plan on having a lot of stuff to show once HL2 is released. Thanks for describing it that way however, makes it a lot more clear. And I could not agree more. Don't worry about us though, we're aware.

And yes, DaveL is an interesting character.
 
awww, no one mentioned my mod :(

(it's in my sig if you're interested... if you're seriusly interested, you'll need to chat with me in real time... stuff's happening :p)


anyway, asking for people's opinions in forums is a bad way of going about this... look around and read up on the mods yourself.... www.hl2mods.co.uk
 
SidewinderX said:
awww, no one mentioned my mod :(

(it's in my sig if you're interested... if you're seriusly interested, you'll need to chat with me in real time... stuff's happening :p)


anyway, asking for people's opinions in forums is a bad way of going about this... look around and read up on the mods yourself.... www.hl2mods.co.uk
Click to expand...
your site isnt working properly in opera
unless its meant to look like that..
 
IchI said:
You release a new m4a1 model:

Before HL2 is released: 50 community members gained.
After HL2 is released and at peak: 200 community members gained.
Click to expand...

Good point.

Certainly there needs to be an art in the timing of PR events such as a model release, but needing that skill doesn't detract from the benefits of having comprehensive pre-production.

Building tangible assets encourages the team. It spurs idle team members into designing on paper, or another editor.

It builds self confidence in the development team. If you follow any game's modding community you'll note that the number one reason for a mod's demise is "due to lack of interest...". That's not just the community, that's the team itself. Every time a team member produces new material it inspires each department. Dedication is essential for any mod that wants to survive.

The difference between a mod's success or failure is not measured just by downloads, the volume of it's community and dev team play a major role. Media release creates fans.
 
Jeremy said:
Yea IchI, and that's why we plan on having a lot of stuff to show once HL2 is released. Thanks for describing it that way however, makes it a lot more clear. And I could not agree more. Don't worry about us though, we're aware.

And yes, DaveL is an interesting character.
Click to expand...

Yes, but thats my point again Jeremy. After the SDK is released the estimated time until Incsurgency is released will be about 10 months, imo. From the looks of it you have pritty much released all the player models and weapon models I would (you can't show them all, that would be a little stupid) So what do you plan on doing for the next 11 months?
 
IchI said:
Yes, but thats my point again Jeremy. After the SDK is released the estimated time until Incsurgency is released will be about 10 months, imo. From the looks of it you have pritty much released all the player models and weapon models I would (you can't show them all, that would be a little stupid) So what do you plan on doing for the next 11 months?
Click to expand...

Every week we create new content and this will happen till the release of INS... this will probably also be the case after the release.
 
Dark Elf you are completely correct and that is the most down-to-earth and realistic comment I have heard all day!

Never judge a book by it's cover. A mod may have a fancy website, but thats no indication of what it will play like.

I never understood the point of posting model renders when they dont represent how the thing will actually look in-game, and, if some of these 'renders' are anything to go by, these 5000 poly weapons models and 10,000 characters with there 2048x2048 textures are just totally unrealistic, and would most likey never make it in-game in there current condition.

My mod has been under construction for the past year, but I dont post renders fo the above reasons.

Still, there are some mods out there which DO have some great potential!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

MFL
Fascinating look at the ongoing psychological evolution of flat hieirarchies.
Replies
2
Views
2K
Tollbooth Willie
Tollbooth Willie
B
Community Interviews: Tony Newton, co-creator of Redemption
Replies
0
Views
5K
Barnz
B
Omnomnick
Examining The Files Of "SteamVR Performance Test" & "Aperture Robot Repair"
Replies
27
Views
91K
MFL
MFL
Rico
So I've been working on my own game: Rebirth - procedural survival horror sandbox game
Replies
18
Views
5K
Rico
Rico
DEATH eVADER
Nexus 2: The Gods Awaken Kickstarter only 9 days to go
Replies
0
Views
795
DEATH eVADER
DEATH eVADER
Back
Top