User:MossyBucket/The Zen of Modding

Introduction

This is a tutorial about how to make a mod.

Let me rephrase that:

This is a great aid for those who want to make a mod.

You're reading this because you had a vision - a grand vision that you want to share with the world. Whether it's for yourself or for their sakes doesn't really matter. You are eager to get started, and have dedication to spare.

Announcing your mod

Straight away, this is where most people (and even respected gaming companies) go ”Geronimo!” and jump off the nearest cliff, through announcing far and wide how awesome their mod is going to be, and that people better remember their names, or they'll miss out on what's coming. ...but you're not a gaming company. You don't have investors asking you to justify their investments this year, or starved reporters and fans snooping around trying to figure out what you're up to. Sometimes the fact that nobody has heard of you is a good thing.

So, when that initial reflex has been dealt with, you slowly turn to face the actual work that you have to do to actually realize your idea. It might not be apparent at first, because Source has lots of different aspects to it that is easy to take for granted in-game, unless they're missing.

If you're from my generation, then your mommy probably told you that you can do anything, and be anything, if you just put your mind to it, just like she told me. Sadly, being self-confident and stubborn won't help you as much as time, experience and dedication will. You can be how awesome you want to - making a mod will still take the time it takes. Realistically, making a full mod takes years. Many mods fail at an early stage as people move on to other things, and many mods fail at a later stage. Many mods have been ripped apart by their own mod teams that couldn't agree with eachother, or even tried to rip eachother off.

There's a lot of unknown terrain to cover, because right now you're not really sure how to assemble a mod team, or even why you would need one. ...and maybe you don't need a mod team to back you up – some mods have been done solo, one of them being the famous singleplayer Half-Life mod They Hunger by Neil Manke. However, announcing that people should look forward to your mod now, at this stage, is like saying that people should expect you to be returning from the North Pole by the end of next summer.

Another reason to not get people excited just yet, is because even if you will release a mod eventually, it will take a heck of a long time even if you work 24/7, without school or girlfriends to hold you back. In the meantime, the people who want to play your mod will patiently hold out at first, but after about a week or a month, the waiting for your mod has begun to turn into a torment. Every memory of belief that you have inspired in them, of your mods awesomeness, will only serve to torment them, and in the end, all that that will amount to, is that if you finally get done with your mod, you'll be facing grumpy people who wants justification for the wait they've had to endure, and they want your work to answer one question alone while they play your mod:

Was it worth the wait?

All enjoyment and excitement that you had envisioned that your players would experience, has killed itself off, and has been replaced with bitter scrutiny.

This is one reason why you don't tell people about your distant mod.

Another reason is that knowing that you've basically promised these people a mod, you will feel, if you have any semblence of honor, like it's your duty to deliver them a final release. Over the years, this will amount to much stress. You will choose to give up things in life to work on a chore that no longer feels fun, or even like it's worth it to you. In the end you either give up on the mod, and try to repress the shameful memory of your dishonor throughout your life, or you release it with a final, exhausted death-croak, swearing never to make another mod for as long as you live.

A mod should be fun to make for you as well, shouldn't it?

Write the coolness down

There is one way to save all the things that you've found great about the mod, so that you can always remember it: Write it down. Any and all cool ideas that you get over the course of your modding, should be written down, or better yet drawn or sketched. A mods growth starts on paper, as what's called a ”concept”.

Small steps

The smaller the steps of any journey are, the more enjoyable the trip is. Now that you've written the cool ideas down, forget about the goal of the mod.

• Learn Hammer.
• Experiment.
• Make fun environments, connected to the mod or not.
• Above all, make lots of prefabs of basic things that require more than five minutes to make, and that you need more than one of. Let's say that there will be about fifty windows in your mod. Do you want to make a prefab of your first window, or of your fifth window?

Forgetting your mod is important. Write all your urges down on paper and leave them. Work on Hammer whenever you feel like it, and don't when you don't.

Release

Then one day you might find that you simply do not know what else to put in your mod – that it really has everything that you envisioned, no matter what size it is. You feel like this was what you wanted to achieve before you forgot everything.

You may think that this is it – that it's time to finally let the world know of just how awesome you are.

No.

The first one who plays your mod from start to finish, should be you. Attempt to get a feel of how the story transpires, and try to understand how a player would feel. Maybe you could improve things after all, to make things even more awesome than before.

Then, when you're done playing the game, it is time to let your closest friend know. He may know of your mod already, and now it is time to play it through.

He will not quite get your mod, and what's worse, he thought that he was supposed to build a pile of physics props against one of the fences, and is now complaining about the skybox hindering his progress.

Remember to thank him for this, because right now he's representing the thousands of players that might consider doing the same thing, and end up thinking less of the mod for it. Luckily you can fix this, without anyone but your closest friend knowing about your mistakes.

Once your friend has given up climbing the walls of your mod, and finally finishes it with satisfaction, the time has come to let your other friends know. Be thankful for their inputs as well, because they're showing you what you need to fix before you embarrass yourself in front of even more people.

Then, when they are satisfied with your mod as well, and have to admit that it was overall just as awesome as you wanted it to be, then you can announce that you've made a mod, due for release next month, or better yet next week, or better yet tomorrow. Take some nice screenshots of your mod (that doesn't contain spoilers) and let the big mod sites know.

Then release it.

Post release

People will hate your mod. You will get comments saying ”Your mod sucks, because there was not enough zombies in it!” and you will get comments saying ”Your mod sucks, because there were too many zombies in it!”. They're both right, but at least you know that the people that you released your mod for, thinks it's just as awesome as you do.

Well, except for that horrible bug that you need to fix. Maybe someone can help you with that – someone who knows how to code, perhaps?

Then, when all is said and done, maybe you'll see a movie or have a weird yet compelling dream, that will inspire you to not announce your next mod...