Rob's Viewpoints #1
EDIT: Original bloated article, so bloated.
Basically asking people to discuss their ideas and process/style in dmod making, somehow stretched out to a bazillion words.
<Removed>
Basically asking people to discuss their ideas and process/style in dmod making, somehow stretched out to a bazillion words.
<Removed>
June 28th 2009, 10:52 AM
hahaha
haha i saw them talkin in the chat they says that your lp suck
I'm sorry. That was my little brother posting from my computer.
ok boys stop talkin bout nothin and get in depth. spill yer guts! heres one of my view points which im sure the majority will feel is that godley needs to change his attitude before he brings back WC from the dead. then it will be bad for all of us!
My strength lies in scripting new things and detail. I just love to make up new things for Dink and to script them. Survival and Magical Mayhem are good examples of that since they're a lot different from the usual D-Mod.
I also can't stand to leave my map without detail so I spend plenty of hours adding grass and other small sprites in places most people wouldn't even look.
I try to keep the rest of my D-Mod detailed as well. I probably spent countless of hours scripting things some people won't even notice or will just play trough it in a minute. This kind of behaviour makes my progress slow but it's all worth it since it's against my principals to create an epic D-Mod with nothing special in it.
I don't really make brand new graphics but I do quite a bit of editing if one of my new ideas really needs another look aside from functioning differently.
Story is one of my weaknesses I think. I never make up the whole dang story before I start creating my D-Mod. I usually make up a basic story and start working from there. After some progress is made I add more detail to the story and make up the rest of it as I go.
I don't know if my stories are good or bad, I've never released a D-Mod with a complete story before. (Except for The Treasure Battles but that's just a piece of crap.)
I always put story at the bottom of my to do list since I'm just more interested in other things and I don't want my story to have any influence on that. I just think of something nice I want to have in my D-Mod and then I make a story that fits that picture. This results in my story being a bit unclear at first. I tend explain a lot about the story at one point resulting in one heck of a cut scene. I don't know for sure if that's a good thing since a lot of people can't stand to read for too long.
There are quite a couple of things that can make a good D-Mod and not everyone likes all of those things best, so it's quite a challenge to make a D-Mod that everyone likes. I think that performing well on all terrains is a must for a good D-Mod. Nobody likes to see bugs or crappy graphics or hear music that makes your ears bleed. That's why it's best to avoid your weaknesses. If you suck at making graphics don't add any until you're better. If you can't find an awesome midi for a certain place just take something that's not completely out of place. Once your D-Mod is without any real weaknesses it's up to your strengths to make it stand out.
I also can't stand to leave my map without detail so I spend plenty of hours adding grass and other small sprites in places most people wouldn't even look.
I try to keep the rest of my D-Mod detailed as well. I probably spent countless of hours scripting things some people won't even notice or will just play trough it in a minute. This kind of behaviour makes my progress slow but it's all worth it since it's against my principals to create an epic D-Mod with nothing special in it.
I don't really make brand new graphics but I do quite a bit of editing if one of my new ideas really needs another look aside from functioning differently.
Story is one of my weaknesses I think. I never make up the whole dang story before I start creating my D-Mod. I usually make up a basic story and start working from there. After some progress is made I add more detail to the story and make up the rest of it as I go.
I don't know if my stories are good or bad, I've never released a D-Mod with a complete story before. (Except for The Treasure Battles but that's just a piece of crap.)
I always put story at the bottom of my to do list since I'm just more interested in other things and I don't want my story to have any influence on that. I just think of something nice I want to have in my D-Mod and then I make a story that fits that picture. This results in my story being a bit unclear at first. I tend explain a lot about the story at one point resulting in one heck of a cut scene. I don't know for sure if that's a good thing since a lot of people can't stand to read for too long.
There are quite a couple of things that can make a good D-Mod and not everyone likes all of those things best, so it's quite a challenge to make a D-Mod that everyone likes. I think that performing well on all terrains is a must for a good D-Mod. Nobody likes to see bugs or crappy graphics or hear music that makes your ears bleed. That's why it's best to avoid your weaknesses. If you suck at making graphics don't add any until you're better. If you can't find an awesome midi for a certain place just take something that's not completely out of place. Once your D-Mod is without any real weaknesses it's up to your strengths to make it stand out.
Personally, I like to create d-mods organically. Take a simple concept and see how it grows. In fact, whilst I'm in the mood for writing, I'll give you all a small insight into the development of one of my d-mods. Perhaps I'll come back and do the others some time.
The A Knight's Tale Trilogy.
The plan was to make a d-mod in 72 hours - This is not easy. There was no way I could create a game with anything but the most basic of plots, so I therefore decided to come up with something overwhelmingly simple. There is an evil wizard... kill him! A change of character allowed for fewer frames in the hit sequence and therefore allowed you to punch faster; this was of huge benefit in making an fast paced hack 'n' slash game.
But if the game had nothing but combat it would grow stale very quickly, wouldn't it? Without the time - or inclination - to put a plot in place, some off-beat humour seemed the way to go. By off-beat, I mean bad. So bad it's almost good.
Essentially, that was it. It all evolved from having such a short time scale. AKT2 improved on the formula; the character of Jarvis was formed and a more linear map allowed more focus on the diabolical jokes. It's easy, it's fast, it's furious... and it's fun. Just what a romp should be! The less said about AKT3 the better.
A test version of A Knights Tale 4: Knightmare exists on my old computer. If I was ever to go back and finish this, I would focus on fun 'n' furious combat, dark humour and I'd also look at implementing multiple routes.
The A Knight's Tale Trilogy.
The plan was to make a d-mod in 72 hours - This is not easy. There was no way I could create a game with anything but the most basic of plots, so I therefore decided to come up with something overwhelmingly simple. There is an evil wizard... kill him! A change of character allowed for fewer frames in the hit sequence and therefore allowed you to punch faster; this was of huge benefit in making an fast paced hack 'n' slash game.
But if the game had nothing but combat it would grow stale very quickly, wouldn't it? Without the time - or inclination - to put a plot in place, some off-beat humour seemed the way to go. By off-beat, I mean bad. So bad it's almost good.
Essentially, that was it. It all evolved from having such a short time scale. AKT2 improved on the formula; the character of Jarvis was formed and a more linear map allowed more focus on the diabolical jokes. It's easy, it's fast, it's furious... and it's fun. Just what a romp should be! The less said about AKT3 the better.
A test version of A Knights Tale 4: Knightmare exists on my old computer. If I was ever to go back and finish this, I would focus on fun 'n' furious combat, dark humour and I'd also look at implementing multiple routes.
I actually haven't played AKT 3, is it that much worse than the other 2? (which I liked)
As for creating D-Mods, I'm not very good at making my own graphics, yet the D-Mods I'm working on have a shootload of new graphics. And they look good, too! It's magic.
My biggest weakness is actually doing all the things I have in my mind. I'm kind of lazy.
As for creating D-Mods, I'm not very good at making my own graphics, yet the D-Mods I'm working on have a shootload of new graphics. And they look good, too! It's magic.
My biggest weakness is actually doing all the things I have in my mind. I'm kind of lazy.
Good article, lovely read 
I start out my game ideas with an interesting story and work from there.
I start out my game ideas with an interesting story and work from there.
Really Sabre, you should make this into an article. I really like the stories behind DMODs.It gives you an interesting glimpse in how other people make DMODs. (For this reason I decided to post regular updates for my remake of the scourger)
As for the original post: I tend to disagree with Rob. There really doesn't need to be anything that sticks out. There needs to be if it is going to be a great DMOD, but I don't just like playing great DMODs. Sometimes I also enjoy playing good DMODs.
Take for example Legend of the duck, it doesn't have anything special, but still I enjoyed playing it. Dink is a good game, sometimes the only thing it needs is an objective and a couple of enemies. (Note that the legend of the duck isn't really what I would call a 'good' DMOD, but it will suffice for our example.)
Now the real problem with originality is that it might turn a good DMOD into a great one, but it might also turn a good DMOD into a mediocre one. Don't force it, often your strong points will show up eventually.
For me story is my real weak point. I cannot make a story more interesting than the stereotype 'collect 20 magic gems/stars/pixies'. It'll do, but I want to do better. This often means development is brought to a halt until I'm so desperate I get back to the old cliches anyway.
My strong point? Well I don't know, I think my DMODs in general are just nice and enjoyable. Not world class, but good enough for a couple of hours of good fun. And that's what's most important.
As for the original post: I tend to disagree with Rob. There really doesn't need to be anything that sticks out. There needs to be if it is going to be a great DMOD, but I don't just like playing great DMODs. Sometimes I also enjoy playing good DMODs.
Take for example Legend of the duck, it doesn't have anything special, but still I enjoyed playing it. Dink is a good game, sometimes the only thing it needs is an objective and a couple of enemies. (Note that the legend of the duck isn't really what I would call a 'good' DMOD, but it will suffice for our example.)
Now the real problem with originality is that it might turn a good DMOD into a great one, but it might also turn a good DMOD into a mediocre one. Don't force it, often your strong points will show up eventually.
For me story is my real weak point. I cannot make a story more interesting than the stereotype 'collect 20 magic gems/stars/pixies'. It'll do, but I want to do better. This often means development is brought to a halt until I'm so desperate I get back to the old cliches anyway.
My strong point? Well I don't know, I think my DMODs in general are just nice and enjoyable. Not world class, but good enough for a couple of hours of good fun. And that's what's most important.
Well I haven't made any (proper) D-Mods yet, but I have two already part made and ideas for two more.
The bit I most enjoy is scripting. Writing the code and working out problems, making it do what I want... it's great.
Mapping is fun, at least making the basic layout, but when it gets down to details I get bored pretty fast. "Hmm, a bit of dust here, ...grass there, um, er, aargh I'll come back later".
Story. Definitely one of the (if not THE) most important parts of a good D-Mod. As I said I have 4 ideas on the go, all of them pretty good I think
but we'll see what happens when I get down to actually writing them into the game, dialogue and such. Not my strong point.
The main thing is if you want to keep playing, whether you want to know what happens next, whether you're having so much fun, whether you have to beat the challenge, whatever. This is what all the best D-Mods have and hopefully mine will have some of that too, which would be nice. But it's hard.
One of my favourite D-Mods is The Basilisk Smile. No fighting to speak of, no huge epic quests, shiny new graphics or the like but the atmosphere is just so good and the whole D-Mod so well made. Sabre's D-Mods do seem to have much more emotion in them than the average inanity.
The bit I most enjoy is scripting. Writing the code and working out problems, making it do what I want... it's great.
Mapping is fun, at least making the basic layout, but when it gets down to details I get bored pretty fast. "Hmm, a bit of dust here, ...grass there, um, er, aargh I'll come back later".
Story. Definitely one of the (if not THE) most important parts of a good D-Mod. As I said I have 4 ideas on the go, all of them pretty good I think
but we'll see what happens when I get down to actually writing them into the game, dialogue and such. Not my strong point.The main thing is if you want to keep playing, whether you want to know what happens next, whether you're having so much fun, whether you have to beat the challenge, whatever. This is what all the best D-Mods have and hopefully mine will have some of that too, which would be nice. But it's hard.
One of my favourite D-Mods is The Basilisk Smile. No fighting to speak of, no huge epic quests, shiny new graphics or the like but the atmosphere is just so good and the whole D-Mod so well made. Sabre's D-Mods do seem to have much more emotion in them than the average inanity.
Metatarasal: I'll strongly consider an article on d-mod creation. In fact, I've got the day off work tomorrow so I may have a go at putting something together.
Sparrowhawk: It means a lot when you say my d-mods seem to have a lot of emotion in them. Thank you.
Sparrowhawk: It means a lot when you say my d-mods seem to have a lot of emotion in them. Thank you.
It's good to see this created a little discussion. Also, can't wait for your article Sabretrout, now that will be a good read.
I love your Dmods, they are simply awesome.
I love your Dmods, they are simply awesome.
I think it's time we stop going after Godley, it's getting boring and getting WWWAAAAAAAYYYYY out of hand.
July 2nd 2009, 03:41 PM
hmm
some of the older dmods are good for being funny, or haveing easter eggs or references(valley of talking trees, monkey island), and some hav nice scriptin like redinks or joshriots among others i think
