Dragon Age: Origins has been out about 9 months now and yet there has not been any real big campaigns done. I understand its time consuming and people have other priorities. However, I think if the incentive were there, it could motivate people to work harder to complete their existing projects and it might get people motivated to start.
If there was a contest and a prize for the best three mods, don't you think it would have a positive influence on mod development. Of course, if the contest started now, the contestants would have at least a good month or two to submit their pojects.
Good, bad, or ugly idea?
Bioware should have a contest!
Débuté par
smjones23
, juil. 19 2010 08:19
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#2
Posté 19 juillet 2010 - 08:36
ITSSEXYTIME
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Hell, if the modding community got organized we could run our own contest.
#4
Posté 19 juillet 2010 - 09:25
masataik
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its a good ideasmjones23 wrote...
Dragon Age: Origins has been out about 9 months now and yet there has not been any real big campaigns done. I understand its time consuming and people have other priorities. However, I think if the incentive were there, it could motivate people to work harder to complete their existing projects and it might get people motivated to start.
If there was a contest and a prize for the best three mods, don't you think it would have a positive influence on mod development. Of course, if the contest started now, the contestants would have at least a good month or two to submit their pojects.
Good, bad, or ugly idea?
#5
Posté 19 juillet 2010 - 09:30
Kilrogg_
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I think it's a bit late for a DA:Origins modding contest when DA2 is coming in 8 months.
If the DA2 toolset stays relatively the same and is available at launch then having a modding contest would definitely be a great idea.
I do have to say I'm a bit surprised at the lack of larger or professional quality mods considering how powerful (and free) the tools are. Yes there are a lot of annoying things with the toolset, but everything that is required to make a pro-quality mod is there.
If the DA2 toolset stays relatively the same and is available at launch then having a modding contest would definitely be a great idea.
I do have to say I'm a bit surprised at the lack of larger or professional quality mods considering how powerful (and free) the tools are. Yes there are a lot of annoying things with the toolset, but everything that is required to make a pro-quality mod is there.
#6
Posté 19 juillet 2010 - 09:38
smjones23
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DA:2 won't be out until sometime spring 2011, so plenty of time to do a contest for DA:O and try to breathe some life into the modding community.
Also, I personally do not think Dragon Age 2 will have a toolset. This assumption is based on the type of game they are shooting for and the engine overhaul. I could be wrong, but I think with DA:2 they are more focused on providing an excellent narrative designed around immersion. DA:O is the game that had all the NWN and BG players in mind. It would also be silly to do any extra work to provide a toolset, when the one for this game has been out for such a short time. Some patches and improvements on this toolset would be more worthwhile if you ask me.
Just my two cents!
Also, I personally do not think Dragon Age 2 will have a toolset. This assumption is based on the type of game they are shooting for and the engine overhaul. I could be wrong, but I think with DA:2 they are more focused on providing an excellent narrative designed around immersion. DA:O is the game that had all the NWN and BG players in mind. It would also be silly to do any extra work to provide a toolset, when the one for this game has been out for such a short time. Some patches and improvements on this toolset would be more worthwhile if you ask me.
Just my two cents!
#7
Posté 19 juillet 2010 - 11:39
Mengtzu
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I'm not sure a desire for big campaigns and the idea of a two month leadtime is necessarily compatible 
As a data-point, classic Week took about two months, about three weeks of which was full-time. That's with totally re-used art assets and no V/O. It's 6 hours long. It's possible I'm much less efficient than an experienced mod-team, but I don't think you'd see anything long coming out of such a competition.
Still, if a bunch of cool short stuff sounded worthwhile (and it does to me), then this could be a good idea. I wouldn't enter, since I have no hope of getting my current project done that quickly, but good luck with it!
As a data-point, classic Week took about two months, about three weeks of which was full-time. That's with totally re-used art assets and no V/O. It's 6 hours long. It's possible I'm much less efficient than an experienced mod-team, but I don't think you'd see anything long coming out of such a competition.
Still, if a bunch of cool short stuff sounded worthwhile (and it does to me), then this could be a good idea. I wouldn't enter, since I have no hope of getting my current project done that quickly, but good luck with it!
#8
Posté 19 juillet 2010 - 11:41
ladydesire
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ITSSEXYTIME wrote...
Hell, if the modding community got organized we could run our own contest.
Agreed.
#10
Posté 20 juillet 2010 - 03:54
gtr201
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It's a good idea and I'd be tempted to enter, mainly because I want to go in to game development and an award from Bioware would be respected by a lot of places.
I think the reason that there haven't been any big stand alone campaigns released is because the editor is, in some ways, too powerful. With the NWN editor you could more or less teach yourself the basics and use it to tell a story pretty easily. All the resources were named and easy to find as well. It was realistic for a group of people or a solo developer putting in an hour a night to make something playable after a few months or really special after a year.
With the DA editor there's so much work involved in learning the different sub-editors, building levels, solving light mapper bugs, generating conversation gestures, navigating 2da bugs etc. etc. that for the effort and time investment you could have coded your own, commercial, indie RPG. Which, to be fair, is a lot easier to do now than back when the NWN editor came out.
I think the reason that there haven't been any big stand alone campaigns released is because the editor is, in some ways, too powerful. With the NWN editor you could more or less teach yourself the basics and use it to tell a story pretty easily. All the resources were named and easy to find as well. It was realistic for a group of people or a solo developer putting in an hour a night to make something playable after a few months or really special after a year.
With the DA editor there's so much work involved in learning the different sub-editors, building levels, solving light mapper bugs, generating conversation gestures, navigating 2da bugs etc. etc. that for the effort and time investment you could have coded your own, commercial, indie RPG. Which, to be fair, is a lot easier to do now than back when the NWN editor came out.
Modifié par gtr201, 20 juillet 2010 - 03:55 .
#11
Guest_werwulf222_*
Posté 20 juillet 2010 - 05:03
Guest_werwulf222_*
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What seems to work for me is reading the wiki CAREFULLY, and taking notes.
Almost every line has something important to know or understand or remember and I found that when I tried to skim through it just to get something going that I missed a lot of concepts, terms, definitions and such that are important to understand to use the toolset effectively.
It's almost like being back in school, except now I'm learning something interesting for my own pleasure instead of having to learn something just for the sake of passing a course.
Almost every line has something important to know or understand or remember and I found that when I tried to skim through it just to get something going that I missed a lot of concepts, terms, definitions and such that are important to understand to use the toolset effectively.
It's almost like being back in school, except now I'm learning something interesting for my own pleasure instead of having to learn something just for the sake of passing a course.
#12
Posté 20 juillet 2010 - 06:16
smjones23
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I think any prize would be good. Cash, merchandise, early release copy of DA:2 Collector's edition, etc. I would be happy with anything.
I'm not going to lie. I started working on a mod, finally, and it is a daunting task. I just try to focus on one level at a time. I feel like I am starting to move faster though and beginning to get a slightly better understanding of scripts. I am positive someone who has went through and made a mod could make a new one pretty quick. People just need to maybe work on collaboration. This would not only help on development time as tasks can be appointed based on skill or knowledge, but it can help on polish.
A contest would give modders an incentive to try and polish up their mods to a higher level. For example, I see a lot of mods that have no voice over, when there are numerous samples of voice actors to cast.
And, like I said before, a contest would provide an incentive to push through the learning curve. If you start trying to model all your own stuff it is going to take months, but using a lot of the resources available in the toolset and modifying them to fit your story makes things a lot easier.
I'm not going to lie. I started working on a mod, finally, and it is a daunting task. I just try to focus on one level at a time. I feel like I am starting to move faster though and beginning to get a slightly better understanding of scripts. I am positive someone who has went through and made a mod could make a new one pretty quick. People just need to maybe work on collaboration. This would not only help on development time as tasks can be appointed based on skill or knowledge, but it can help on polish.
A contest would give modders an incentive to try and polish up their mods to a higher level. For example, I see a lot of mods that have no voice over, when there are numerous samples of voice actors to cast.
And, like I said before, a contest would provide an incentive to push through the learning curve. If you start trying to model all your own stuff it is going to take months, but using a lot of the resources available in the toolset and modifying them to fit your story makes things a lot easier.
#13
Posté 20 juillet 2010 - 06:23
FollowTheGourd
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What ever became of this thread anyway? http://social.biowar...index/2435323/1
Modifié par FollowTheGourd, 20 juillet 2010 - 06:29 .
#14
Posté 20 juillet 2010 - 06:29
Arttis
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I think a free copy of DA2 would be good.
#15
Posté 20 juillet 2010 - 07:11
CID-78
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I think the community can do it's own contests and throw in their own prices. it doesn't have to be things that cost money, you can offer support for the winners next project. ie if a community artist is willing to support a contest, He/She can ship in a "win your own custom designed 3D model" and so on.
#16
Posté 20 juillet 2010 - 07:23
Arttis
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Hmmm.....Who shall be the one to organize this event?
#17
Posté 20 juillet 2010 - 08:33
smjones23
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FollowTheGourd wrote...
What ever became of this thread anyway? http://social.biowar...index/2435323/1
Good question. It was strange though, no details as to why or for what purpose. Just, whats a good complete module. It didn't exactly motivate anyone to work harder, just post links to the things they had already created.
A community lead event would be cool, but difficult to organize and the prize needs to really be worth it for people to put in extra work. Bioware should jump at the chance to breathe life into this community. They did it before with NWN. I'm not even talking anything huge, just a little extra encouragement.
#18
Posté 20 juillet 2010 - 08:55
CID-78
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Well who ever that wants to hold the torch. I think for one thing that the contest goal should also be to benefit the community over all.
for example contest could look something like this:
Community Contest #1
Level Contest #1
I hereby announce the first community contest in a row which goal is to enrich and reward the community spirit. Each contest will be a minor task regarding DA modding and all contribution to the contest will be available and free for use by anyone in the community. The first contest involves something almost all modules require a decent town.
Design a prospering town.
Requirements:
The Town shall have at least a dozen or so buildings
The Town shall have a noticeable visible function, ie fishing town, mining town, farm town and be design around that feature. If you go for farm town you should include features like miller, grocery market and bakery
The town shall have at least one main road going through the town. Ie “two exits” and have at least one extra street or alley spawning from it within the town, that has a function; so a space between two houses doesn’t count.
The town shall have at least one working transition into an interior area, unused doors shall remain static.
The interior shall match exterior but can differ in scale. Ie it can be bigger inside but if you go into a square house you should find a square interior.
The town doesn’t need to be populated in this contest. But it shall contain doors and other placeables required for the atmosphere of the setting.
The town shall look like someone can live there; you can pick to design around another race then human but it shouldn’t be “hostiles” so no zombie towns this time around, leave that for a Dungeon design contest.
The town must be complete and not only a section of a bigger one. You can however choose to divide it into several areas as long as all areas enter the contest. If you divide it make sure you have working area transitions.
And don’t forget the sky.
First Price
15 hours of Scripting Tutoring or work by CID-78
Second Price
10 hours of Scripting Tutoring or work by CID-78
Third Price
5 hours of Scripting Tutoring or work by CID-78
Prices could be spiced by other community members but the idea is to sponcer area's where the author might be lacking ie if it's a level contest the prices should be in other fields then level design so the author can gain either knowledge or work in fields he/she doesn't already master. ie if you win a level design it should mean that you already are good enough in that field.
for example contest could look something like this:
Community Contest #1
Level Contest #1
I hereby announce the first community contest in a row which goal is to enrich and reward the community spirit. Each contest will be a minor task regarding DA modding and all contribution to the contest will be available and free for use by anyone in the community. The first contest involves something almost all modules require a decent town.
Design a prospering town.
Requirements:
The Town shall have at least a dozen or so buildings
The Town shall have a noticeable visible function, ie fishing town, mining town, farm town and be design around that feature. If you go for farm town you should include features like miller, grocery market and bakery
The town shall have at least one main road going through the town. Ie “two exits” and have at least one extra street or alley spawning from it within the town, that has a function; so a space between two houses doesn’t count.
The town shall have at least one working transition into an interior area, unused doors shall remain static.
The interior shall match exterior but can differ in scale. Ie it can be bigger inside but if you go into a square house you should find a square interior.
The town doesn’t need to be populated in this contest. But it shall contain doors and other placeables required for the atmosphere of the setting.
The town shall look like someone can live there; you can pick to design around another race then human but it shouldn’t be “hostiles” so no zombie towns this time around, leave that for a Dungeon design contest.
The town must be complete and not only a section of a bigger one. You can however choose to divide it into several areas as long as all areas enter the contest. If you divide it make sure you have working area transitions.
And don’t forget the sky.
First Price
15 hours of Scripting Tutoring or work by CID-78
Second Price
10 hours of Scripting Tutoring or work by CID-78
Third Price
5 hours of Scripting Tutoring or work by CID-78
Prices could be spiced by other community members but the idea is to sponcer area's where the author might be lacking ie if it's a level contest the prices should be in other fields then level design so the author can gain either knowledge or work in fields he/she doesn't already master. ie if you win a level design it should mean that you already are good enough in that field.
#19
Posté 20 juillet 2010 - 09:05
CID-78
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that contest hopefully will at least a handfull of usefull towns for the whole community and aslong as not everyone pick the same feature, you can use several of them in the same module. so it will generate a small prefab section for the community.
#20
Posté 20 juillet 2010 - 09:36
Arttis
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Would but I have no toolset yet so lets say by the end of august would be the deadline...
#21
Posté 20 juillet 2010 - 10:06
CID-78
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well it's only up for discussion right now. but end of august is the earliest date you can have. the contest should be at least a month in duration. besides someone need to spice the price or there wouldn't be a point for me to take part. winning my own time isn't much of a deal. if everyone likes the idea we can go announce it properly in a few days when everyone had time to voice their opinion.
#22
Posté 20 juillet 2010 - 01:08
Arrtis
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SPammer.....again....I saved the DA2 FOrums I will save these....Bump...
