tips for modmaking

[J.E. Sawyer]

(previously posted on another forum where I saw mod projects rise and fall continuously)

 

Hello. My name is Josh Sawyer. I am a game developer, formerly of Black Isle Studios, currently working for Midway San Diego. I

Edited July 10, 2012 by J.E. Sawyer
inappropriate pejorative use

[nik_bg]

In some old thread in this forum I mentioned that the most important for a software project to be successful is not the individual programmers but the management. I completely agree with you. BTW, your guidelines are applicable not only to mod making, but in many other areas.

[Raymondo2000]

Finally, someone gave modders some advice, maybe now we

[Blackbishop]

Very Imformtive and to the point.....

 

Vote to be stuck...... All new modder's need to read this post.....

[Sarjahurmaaja.]

This needs to be stickified.

[bat]

great post.

Perhaps sticky or link it on the nwn2 toolset forum too?

Nearly missed it here... i'm guessing the toolset forum will get more mod-group traffic.

 

also would be nice to see this supplemented with links to example design docs etc

[EnderAndrew]

I'm stealing your post and putting it up on the Fanout forums!

 

Thanks!

[Raymondo2000]

Maybe you should forget about stealing it and start taking notes from it. *pats EndWiggin softly on the head* There, there little modder.

[EnderAndrew]

Many of these ideas we were already implementing.

 

Either way, I intend to pretty much implement all of them currently.

[Aaron Contreras]

Good stuff. Thanks for taking the time to write this up.

[darthmole12]

One thing I would definitely recommend rather than setting up an FTP is using CVS to synchronize your project. The way it works is someone sets up a CVS repository which holds the centralized code/asset base for the project.

 

Then when someone updates a file locally, they "check in" their changes with the server. It will also recognize any conflicts in changes if two people on the project change the same line of code, etc.

 

If you have more than a couple of people working on your mod/game, you definitely should look into it. It's pretty easy to setup, and using a client like Tortoise CVS makes it easy to use.

 

Some sort of asset/code management is used professionally in the industry...whether it's CVS or Perforce or AB (personally here at EALA we are using Perforce for code management and Alienbrain for asset management). For a small project, though, stick with CVS, especially since it's free.

 

However, I can speak from experience that working on a project with a couple of coders is MUCH easier if you have a CVS server setup. I've done one side project without CVS, and I've done a few with it, and it definitely helps you accomplish a lot more.

[Cantousent]

This is great. I wish I would have seen it sooner. I hadn't thought of a lot of this stuff.

[Hawkwise]

I can't even express how helpful this is. I am currently leading a mod group

for NWN. The game school (UAT in Tempe AZ) I go to doesn't have a nice set of guidelines like this that I can follow so I am kind of "Wingen' it".

 

Eric "Ic" Foster

[JShipleyEB]

Josh,

 

I'm a student in Game Art and Design at Westwood College Online. I just wanted to take a moment to thank you for the information you've provided. It's very helpful and appreciated by someone like me who wants to be a part of this industry. Thanks for the time you spent writing it.

 

Jack

[Volourn]

Great tips. I know how it feels to be part of a failed project, and I'm still in the midst of trying to finihs my own NWN project. Hopefully, it'll be successful. It better me or after reading this thread (again) I'll blame Mr. Sawyer.

[kumquatq3]

For those that talked about a few fallout mods getting completed now, this was first (like Josh vaguely meantioned) posted over at NMA, iirc.

 

They still have it on the main page.

 

So I doubt this helps FO mods.

[Jack_Wellington]

French translation of this excellent post if anyone is interested... Edited August 9, 2006 by Jack_Wellington

[metadigital]

Thanks Josh, I will me more inclined to actually begin and maybe even finish a mod now.

 

:D

 

Well done and thank-you, on behalf of those who haven't voiced their appreciation.

[Oracle of Mythos]

Wonderful topic, thank you very much for posting this Josh

 

This will be very helpful indeed.

[Marcus]

J. E. Sawyer,

 

I know this may be late, but thank you for sharing this with us. Your post was very insightful.

[M.Y.Vinci]

nice tips,Josh...Modding is not a easy job as it seems to be,you may sit your ass off...

[Nihilus5078]

Yes I know, 1 year old bump, but will this work for really any game that can be modded? Nice tips as well.

Edited June 28, 2009 by Nihilus5078

[Walsingham]

Yes I know, 1 year old bump, but will this work for really any game that can be modded? Nice tips as well.

 

It should work for any game. I think most of the tips are good project management full stop.

[Nihilus5078]

Heh, for my Jedi Outcast game, I could make Kyle Katarn Captain Jack Sparrow, , Stormtroopers as Cloned Hitlers , Desann as Davy Jones the tentacle Davy Jones, Reborn as Grim Reapers , Jan as Bastila, and Galak Fyyar as a mongoloid . Sounds like fun.

[Walsingham]

I think it'd be funnier to make that assassin droid into Pooh bear.