Releasing a mod into the wild, & what comes next

[Aasyranth]

I've recently taken the plunge and released my Neverwinter Nights 2 module into the wild. http://www.moddb.com/mods/mantas-pulse The funny thing is, I'm am at a bit of a loss in deciding what happens from here. I'd put around 600 hours into the project, for building, writing, scripting, testing, balancing, and conducting internal play tests with any victim I could find. A few days ago, I finally decided that this beast was ready to be unleashed, and as of yesterday afternoon, it is up on the web, waiting to be judged.

 

All is well and good, so far. But I am torn in deciding where to go next. Part of me wants to open the module (Manta's Pulse) back up and desperately search for more things to fix and improve. The other part wants to let it be and dive head-first into a new project, using the skills that I'd grown from the first project to make something much greater.

 

So I ask any person that has ever released a mod: What did you do next, and how did it all work out?

 

Thanks in advance for any feedback!

[Darth InSidious]

Well, first you need to bask in the glory of having released your mod, and hype it (and yourself) as much as possible. It is customary at this point to start to develop a personality cult, and become convinced of your own imminent apotheosis. Next you need to provide technical support for the twenty-thousand people who are going to try and use your mod while having no idea how to unzip a .rar file, and the other fifty thousand who tried to install your mod over two mutually incompatible works. You will also have to deal with the untold masses who are incapable of reading a readme file.

 

Then you start work on the next project, are equally hated and loved for it, rinse and repeat.

 

More seriously, I started work on the next project, tried to provide technical support to the people who needed it, patched the mod where necessary, released updates, and began work on the next project. This is not necessarily sensible, though.

 

Oh, and I'd advise releasing at nwvault.ign.com - it seems to be where the majority of the NWN/2 modders post their stuff, so if you're looking for feedback, it's probably one of the better places to go.

Edited March 30, 2009 by Darth InSidious

[Aasyranth]

Well, first you need to bask in the glory of having released your mod, and hype it (and yourself) as much as possible. It is customary at this point to start to develop a personality cult, and become convinced of your own imminent apotheosis. Next you need to provide technical support for the twenty-thousand people who are going to try and use your mod while having no idea how to unzip a .rar file, and the other fifty thousand who tried to install your mod over two mutually incompatible works. You will also have to deal with the untold masses who are incapable of reading a readme file.

 

Then you start work on the next project, are equally hated and loved for it, rinse and repeat.

 

More seriously, I started work on the next project, tried to provide technical support to the people who needed it, patched the mod where necessary, released updates, and began work on the next project. This is not necessarily sensible, though.

 

Oh, and I'd advise releasing at nwvault.ign.com - it seems to be where the majority of the NWN/2 modders post their stuff, so if you're looking for feedback, it's probably one of the better places to go.

 

Drat! I spent so much time on that readme file, too. My module file exceeds the size limit on NWVault, so I'm waiting on approval from their site master to host it up. Thanks a lot for the advice. I'm keeping an eye out for feedback, and I'm trying to encourage those that play it to share their thoughts. With any luck, I'll know what needs to be addressed soon enough.

[Darth InSidious]

Well, first you need to bask in the glory of having released your mod, and hype it (and yourself) as much as possible. It is customary at this point to start to develop a personality cult, and become convinced of your own imminent apotheosis. Next you need to provide technical support for the twenty-thousand people who are going to try and use your mod while having no idea how to unzip a .rar file, and the other fifty thousand who tried to install your mod over two mutually incompatible works. You will also have to deal with the untold masses who are incapable of reading a readme file.

 

Then you start work on the next project, are equally hated and loved for it, rinse and repeat.

 

More seriously, I started work on the next project, tried to provide technical support to the people who needed it, patched the mod where necessary, released updates, and began work on the next project. This is not necessarily sensible, though.

 

Oh, and I'd advise releasing at nwvault.ign.com - it seems to be where the majority of the NWN/2 modders post their stuff, so if you're looking for feedback, it's probably one of the better places to go.

 

Drat! I spent so much time on that readme file, too. My module file exceeds the size limit on NWVault, so I'm waiting on approval from their site master to host it up. Thanks a lot for the advice. I'm keeping an eye out for feedback, and I'm trying to encourage those that play it to share their thoughts. With any luck, I'll know what needs to be addressed soon enough.

Wow, must be a big mod.

 

Readmes are always going to be ignored by a certain proportion of your downloaders, though. The most time-efficient answer to most of the queries you'll get is probably going to be to read the thing. On the other hand, I was exaggerating somewhat the number of people who don't read them.

[Aasyranth]

Each terrain system added a sizable chunk, and there are a few of those, bringing the module size to 115mb. There's also a 45mb video, as well, and the entire package zipped down to about 77mb. I've gotten very little feedback on the module so far, though the good folk that run ModDB.com included a review in their "ModCast" feature the other day. It didn't highlight anything that needs fixing, but I'm already certain of many ways that I can make the next module better.