Reply to Re: The Icey Article #2 - DMod Drought
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Whilst I enjoyed reading this article (as I did the first) I cannot help but see many things I disagree with. I do commend Morpheus for writing this article, as it does bring up many interesting points.
But first, I'm gonna be a bit of a meanie...
Firstly I find it a bit silly to have an advocate of motivating yourself to release this or that d-mod, when the author has released...what?
As somebody who has released a fair few files and d-mods, I would say that bringing down your original idea for the size is generally a bad idea. It is fine as long as the game is still well paced and thought out, but if you have started the game too slow (thinking it would be a might epic) but release a romp with it...it can seem to be all intro and no action.
But I do see Jamie's point, as it is better to have small d-mods growing bigger in scope, then large ones to get smaller.
Jamie speaks the truth on scripting, it can appear hard, but you must simply persevere. Just get a script from an open-sourced d-mod, see what it does in game, an fiddle with it (along with a tutorial) to get the basic idea of how to do things.
I'd personally advise keeping scripting to the simple commands for your first game.
When it comes down to graphics, the only thing I can say is YOU DO NOT NEED NEW ONES! I think that you should only start using new graphics after a fair bit of experience, or you could end up getting caught with the "frilly" bit's of the game, and not concentrating on the gameplay enough.
But saying that, being the Alternative Heroes freak I am, if you can do a few simple graphical changes (such as I did with "A Knights Tale", or Redink did with "Ed the SCV") then it can add a new dimension to the game, without exhausting all your time trying to create new graphics.
One of the main reasons (I think( that few d-mods are being released is that the community is almost split into 3. The old timers (Redink, Striker, Simonk) do not release often anyway, but mark what they do with exceptional quality. The next group is the "stock" of the community. Dinkers such as myself, Morpheus, Simeon, bin have been about a while, and are working on bigger projects then we did initially (Morpheus - You gotta update me on how SPIKE is coming along
)and so release a lot less often.
The 3rd segment are the n00b's, which a large influx of has arrived, and are enjoying Dink, but largely being overcome by the problems involved with making a d-mod.
And who am I to talk about motivation? I have announced millions of d-mods, which will never be released, and only a few that will. If you want my advice on getting motivated it too try and do something a bit "different" to the way others have done. "Cycles of Evil", and "Lyna's Story" did things in a drastically different way to most d-mods, and were all the better for it. A d-mod with something personal in it (not just Dink - - find a wizard - - kill him), something with a bit of originality, will always pull you back.
And the competition has probably slowed down people production as well.
But first, I'm gonna be a bit of a meanie...
Firstly I find it a bit silly to have an advocate of motivating yourself to release this or that d-mod, when the author has released...what?
As somebody who has released a fair few files and d-mods, I would say that bringing down your original idea for the size is generally a bad idea. It is fine as long as the game is still well paced and thought out, but if you have started the game too slow (thinking it would be a might epic) but release a romp with it...it can seem to be all intro and no action.
But I do see Jamie's point, as it is better to have small d-mods growing bigger in scope, then large ones to get smaller.
Jamie speaks the truth on scripting, it can appear hard, but you must simply persevere. Just get a script from an open-sourced d-mod, see what it does in game, an fiddle with it (along with a tutorial) to get the basic idea of how to do things.
I'd personally advise keeping scripting to the simple commands for your first game.
When it comes down to graphics, the only thing I can say is YOU DO NOT NEED NEW ONES! I think that you should only start using new graphics after a fair bit of experience, or you could end up getting caught with the "frilly" bit's of the game, and not concentrating on the gameplay enough.
But saying that, being the Alternative Heroes freak I am, if you can do a few simple graphical changes (such as I did with "A Knights Tale", or Redink did with "Ed the SCV") then it can add a new dimension to the game, without exhausting all your time trying to create new graphics.
One of the main reasons (I think( that few d-mods are being released is that the community is almost split into 3. The old timers (Redink, Striker, Simonk) do not release often anyway, but mark what they do with exceptional quality. The next group is the "stock" of the community. Dinkers such as myself, Morpheus, Simeon, bin have been about a while, and are working on bigger projects then we did initially (Morpheus - You gotta update me on how SPIKE is coming along
)and so release a lot less often.The 3rd segment are the n00b's, which a large influx of has arrived, and are enjoying Dink, but largely being overcome by the problems involved with making a d-mod.
And who am I to talk about motivation? I have announced millions of d-mods, which will never be released, and only a few that will. If you want my advice on getting motivated it too try and do something a bit "different" to the way others have done. "Cycles of Evil", and "Lyna's Story" did things in a drastically different way to most d-mods, and were all the better for it. A d-mod with something personal in it (not just Dink - - find a wizard - - kill him), something with a bit of originality, will always pull you back.
And the competition has probably slowed down people production as well.
