Emon Posted August 5, 2003 Share Posted August 5, 2003 I posted this at HalfLife2.net, but the responses I get are going to be at least some what biased, so I wanted to post here for more opinions. Basically, editing JA means I can do the Star Wars projects I've always wanted to, but means more limitations. On the other hand, it will be much easier to persue some of the singleplayer sci-fi ideas I've always had. The size of the HL community is very large, and consequently, HL2's will be very large. For some modders like myself, this is a big problem. I've been doing work for the Jedi Knight series of games, which has always had a moderately sized community, where small, independant mods and levels thrive. However, with HL2, you've got huge projects like CS, DoD or whatever else gets ported from HL. How are smaller mods and levels going to survive? I've got plans for a small singleplayer campaign for Jedi Academy (currently working with Jedi Outcast), and I'm rather tired of the Quake III engine. But there's a problem. I edit not only for myself, but for others. I get a lot of joy from seeing others take pleasure in my work. What's the point in bothering with HL2 if everything I make is only going to be overshadowed by large projects? I'm not on a huge mod team, the most I do is work with a few other people, and it's never an official group. So what I'm wondering is, why should I edit HL2? The things I can create with it are things I've only dreamed of before, but why should I bother if it's going to sit on some file server and never be played? I don't care and probably don't want fifty thousand people to be going after my stuff... I don't care about fame or anything, I'm just afraid I'm going to work hard and nothing will happen. Input would be much appreciated... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
razorace Posted August 5, 2003 Share Posted August 5, 2003 I'd say wait and see. While we're hearing a lot about the features of the HL2 engine. We have yet to see the actual goods. And remember that implimentation is like 90% of the issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wudan Posted August 5, 2003 Share Posted August 5, 2003 Well, HL2 is extremely tempting, tbh, and the community will undoubtedly consist of some very heavyweight modders. The modding atmosphere will be more competitive, unlike JK2, and likely JA, but competition often brings out the best work, which some have said is why the JK2 modding community was not more prosperous. JK2 sold 'like crazy' and JA should, by all measures, out-do it's predecessor, both in terms of economic stability, and developer support. However, the support pipeline from Raven did seem to abruptly shut off after JK2's release, for reasons that aren't really worth speculating about. JA however, well, Raven seems to have been given more free-range, hopefully we'll have SP source (for those of you who are in to that) and I've certainly heard that the MP is quite the magical beast itself. However, JA aside, the fact remains that HL2 has been reviewed and raved over. It is no secret that HL2 does certainly appear to out-perform the Quake3 engine, it's SDK source is in mighty-mighty-C++, which many people are more comfortable with than just 'C' (or, as I like to call it, the only 'C' you'll ever need.) However, the fact is that it remains to be seen. I'd rather not see a string of strict Star Wars mods, but then again we've been told that MP is more dynamic and capable. I don't really know anything about HL2 MP, which is my personal concern. I am tired of killing 100s of witless AI opponents, my only joy is the honor of glorious MP battles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emon Posted August 5, 2003 Author Share Posted August 5, 2003 HL2 AI isn't so witless, by the way HL2 MP will likely be vanilla, with the exception of all sorts of physics. So it'll be standard game types with really dynamic worlds, which allow for so many possibilities. I think they are keeping major stuff to other mods like DoD and what not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Commodus Posted August 5, 2003 Share Posted August 5, 2003 How do you know it will sit on a file server and never be played? The fact is, a Star Wars or Sci-Fi mod would distinguish itself from the dozens of CS clones, WW2 mods and stupid alien horror TCs that seem abundant. While there are people who play and like CS, you can go to the other end of the spectrum, where there are people who hate and don't play CS. The situation you described where the bigger mods like DOD and CS shadow the small ones could have happened with the original Half-Life, except it hasn't. Natural Selection was only released what, maybe a year ago at most? And the CS team was formed in 1999, so CS has been around for much longer than NS. NS still managed to break out onto the mod scene even when there were mods like CS and DOD and it has hundreds of servers on the net. My point is: do not be discouraged. If the Battlegrounds Mod or Natural Selection can grow and become popular mods even with CS and DOD around, then so can any mod you make. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
razorace Posted August 6, 2003 Share Posted August 6, 2003 Originally posted by Emon HL2 AI isn't so witless, by the way HL2 MP will likely be vanilla, with the exception of all sorts of physics. So it'll be standard game types with really dynamic worlds, which allow for so many possibilities. I think they are keeping major stuff to other mods like DoD and what not. Not nessicarily. Complex physics take up a lot of bandwidth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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