Originality in mods

[KoKo5oVaR]

Is it just me, or does the mod community lacks a lot of ideas these days ?

I just found that : Far Crysis http://www.moddb.com/mods/far-crysis .

plot

The goal of the player's character is to find and assassinate "The Jackal," an arms dealer that has been selling weapons to both sides of the conflict. But when the player meets the "The Jackal" he sees the truth that "The Jackal" is the good guy. After that the player helps him to defeat the both sides and make the land peaceful again!

Not to mention stargate mods and WW2 simulations.

Seriously .. the great thing about mods is that you don't have any constrains so you can be as creative as you want, especially considering that you do it for yourself. I'm not sure at all, because i was young and i changed a lot since then, but i remember that in 1998 - 2004, when modding was great, people had a lot more original concepts than what the modding community of nowadays is doing (with the exception of some gems of course).

What do you think guys, do the old modding community was more creative, or is it basically the same thing ? because i actually can't answer to this question myself

[Ginger Lord]

Not sure if it was more original back then because we always look back with rose tinted spectacles. There were certainly some original gems however such as Science and Industry.

[-HP-]

I dunno man, all I see these days are a bunch of kids playing "gamedevs", mimicking other successfully games and mods in the desperate attempt of getting noticed by the community.

I remember a mod for Crysis called "Jurassic Park", who was nominated Mod Of The Year on moddb and all they have shown by the time was crappy models, and full of promises. And where do they stand nowadays? the project was canceled... of course it was canceled, like 90% of the mods!

it's really a shame, but what can we do, their a bunch of kids like we once were, marveled by this beautiful world, game modding. Times change so do the mentality of people.

But I dunno, nowadays there's so many info on the subject, look at Hourences books for instance, I would kill for a gold mine of information like that back in 2001!

[e-freak]

Modding has become kind of mainstreamed: While few get really into it, there's a new mass of people actually trying it and never get over the point there they just don't get creative. Back in the gold-source/quake3/ut1 times it was harder to get into but therefore felt more rewarding to get something accomplished. infact I do think you can equal the "easiness" of the modding-tools with the amount of crappy mods/maps (and attempts to do smth). really everyone is whining about the number of shitty maps for Counter-Strike:source, but infact I think the common crysis custom-map is worse than the avg css custom-map, not visually - there's a lot of shaders making sure even the last bs looks decent - but in terms of what was involved in the preparations and creative-process (ofc there's alot of good crysis maps and hp has already proven that the engine is worth a lot in terms of custom-maps).

It's not bad that tools get easier, infact it's the way to go and making it easy to get into modding can help alot in terms of young-talents discovering theyr strengthes maybe. The major problem is that not only the mods get less original/creative, infact the games are less creative either. Everyone's trying to make WW2-Mods these days because every major studio has done a ww2 game as well, back in the days Day of Defeat was kind of one of the first bigger games/mods I knew with setting in WW2.

A good thing however occuring atm is the fact universities really push creative mods. There's alot of good mods coming from DADIU (just google for it) and they are not always technical perfect but they really are creative and refreshing!

[Seldoon182]

":1vb6pgh9]I dunno man, all I see these days are a bunch of kids playing "gamedevs", mimicking other successfully games and mods in the desperate attempt of getting noticed by the community.

qft!

I'd like to add that, in my opinion, it depend to the skills' level too. Perhaps the modding scene has evolved following the game industry:

- Less free time for modding project!

- More enhanced is the technology, more time it takes to create levels, assets and stuff!

[Sindwiller]

You should be happy that the mod community is nothing like the FOSS gamedev community

[R_Yell]

There are many factors to take in consideration: everything has been done twice, unfortunately original ideas don't grow from trees, engines are more complex but kids aren't smarter than 10 or 5 years ago, chemtrails, jews, etc.

sorry if it's not funny but I had to try, nothing personal against the jews just a joke

[Ginger Lord]

Another thing to throw in the mix, being 'original' doesn't necessarily make it fun or give it good gameplay/longetivity. Some of the more popular mods are just rehashes of existing games on different engines simply because the original engine has limitations/low player base etc.

[Steppenwolf]

The biggest problem that i see for original mods is that its hard to find a development team and a player base. Thats even hard enough for a more mainstream themed mod.

[2d-chris]

Might I also point out the technical engine limitations. The games (and their respective engines) that have a community worth modding don't usually lend well to new crazy ideas. Certainly not if you require your own R&D team to make the design work. With those factors considered alone you're almost doomed from the start.

I'm not going to go into the minefield that is creativity or the lack of it. Dare I say it most of the best ideas have been done. (Damn I said I wouldnt go into it)

[Bl1tz]

There are many factors to take in consideration: everything has been done twice, unfortunately original ideas don't grow from trees, engines are more complex but kids aren't smarter than 10 or 5 years ago, chemtrails, jews, etc.

sorry if it's not funny but I had to try, nothing personal against the jews just a joke

I laughed Glad you posted because I think Fistful of Frags is actually one of the more original and well done mods out there. How bout that Koko?

[Inveramsay]

Originality is a bit overrated, I work on a mod which is not very original but harks back to what mods where 2002 but polished and fixed for a new age. No recoil, fast dm type game play and a bit of point click die rinse repeat mentality. Now that I find incredibly refreshing because let's face it, the real world is not a particularly fun place and the chicks aren't actually hawt.

And yes, there are too many CSS kiddies out there wanting to make the next CS

[R_Yell]

Thanks Bl1tz, perhaps FoF is a different approach to a traditional idea, and I feel that's a problem in the end. Isn't radically new (and fun), isn't a proved game mechanic neither, something in the uncomfortable middle. If I have a second chance to create another mod, I'd try to avoid that at all cost.

[Minos]

http://www.moddb.com/mods/omfgzombieslol/

Come one mod community...

[D3ads]

Oh God, don't get me started on the lack of originality in mods, just check these out;

http://www.moddb.com/mods/call-of-duty-2-world-at-war

http://www.moddb.com/mods/smod-crysis

Can anyone say pointless?

Whilst TF might not be exactly be the most original project ever, it at least tries for something new and not just a rehash of old ideas or "Another Zombie Mod #18372726"