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Login: greenmarine Name: Brandon Reinhart
32 minutes 16 seconds idle
Mail forwarded to brandon@epicgames.com
Project:
Unreal Tournament
Plan:
January 27, 2000
Enough silly plan updates, lets talk games.
1] Age of Wonders
Even though Epic produced this, try to believe me as unbiased. I really
didn't see this game much until just recently. While Age of Wonders
was going through its final development, I was busy with UT. So I stole
a copy of Age of Wonders from Mark Rein's office two days ago and decided
to try it out. Its very cool!
I'm not a big fan of Heroes of Might and Magic. I think it relies too
much on the heroes and the magic items. Age of Wonders is more like
Master of Magic. Master of Magic rocked quite a bit with a focus on
actual military movement and magic research.
If you are into strategy, you should probably give Age of Wonders a look.
I got into about mission five of the keepers and got my ass kicked.
Erik showed me a strategy guide in the March 2000 issue of
"Computer Games Magazine." Its very helpful. (There's also a 5/5 star
review of UT in there! Cool!)
2] Unreal Tournament
UT won the Computer Gaming World "Game of the Year" award. Last year
this award was won by Half-Life. Lemme tell you, NOBODY at Epic expected
this kind of reaction to UT. Thanks alot for playing the game and
showing us you like it :)
3] Infiltration
Check out www.gamespy.com/stats. Notice that Half-Life has about
ten thousand players online at any one time (during peak afternoon/evening).
That's more than Quake 3 and UT combined. If you click on Half-Life,
it'll break the players down by mod. Counterstrike is always on top
with approximately 60 to 70% of all Half-Life players (online) playing.
Minh Le, the author of Counterstrike, has effectively more people playing
his game online at any one point in time than either Quake3 or UT.
Consider this very closely if you work in the 3D industry. This is
important.
I recently spoke on the Unreal Technology Page of a "renaissance" in
garage game development. This is no more better demonstrated than by
what Minh Le has achieved. His mod, a free product he's designed because
he loves games, loves Half-Life, and loves the community, is selling
tens (if not hundreds) of thousands of copies of Half-Life. (I know
people who have purchased the game just to play Counterstrike!)
Valve is a smart and fast company. They've got quite a few kick ass
mod authors under exclusive contract. (I won't argue this point, its
definitely in Valve's favor, but I think that highly successful mod
authors like Minh Le could demand a very high price.) If you look at
the December 1999 PC Data, you'll see that Half-Life is still selling
strong (as is Op For, the recent awesome addon by Gearbox). The sales
numbers for that month are nearly the same. Now, we know that a bunch
of people already own Half-Life, so I would expect Half-Life core sales
to be somewhat lower than the addon. Clearly Half-Life is still drawing
in players.
I would argue that a large part of this continued success in sales is
due to Valve brilliant and unrelenting support of the mod community.
This is NOTHING NEW to Valve, but quite new to the rest of the industry.
Valve bought up Team Fortress and gave them their dream: Team Fortress
with full support, a new look, and Team Fortress 2 a completely new game.
Valve is supporting Counterstrike too.
id Software did Extremities, but I would argue that the compensation they
gave the mod authors was quite a bit less than they deserved. Obviously,
as professional game developers, we know there is a big difference between
"deserved" and "financially feasible." A company goes with what it can
get.
Here's what I want to say to the companies: Mod authors sell copies of your
game. Supporting the mod community, making your game fully extensible,
releasing programming tool kits, sells copies of your game. It has the
_potential_ to sell a LOT of copies of your game. If you find a kid
on the net who kicks ass with game content, watch him. Talk to him.
Hire him, if you think he's worthwhile.
Epic is built on developers and designers who had the initiative to
approach the company. I believe strongly that this has contributed
to Epic's success as a company. Make no mistake, we are a very liberal
company, our hiring process may not be appropriate for all companies.
That having been said, I feel that the liberal, group driven design
model is superior to the centrally driven model. Valve, a relatively
large company, does it through the Cabal process (rotating teams of
design groups, everyone participates at least once). Epic has a smaller
team, so everyone is effectively on the Cabal. Cliff, our lead designer,
focuses the teams creative energies and drives the process. He's
the "shit filter." I have a strong believe that game development teams
that are closely controlled by a single source (whether it be a developer,
a publisher, or an investor) suffer IF that team consists of mature
people.
Here's what I want to say to the mod authors: Remember what I said about
companies taking what they can get? They do and they will. If a company
offers you some money or a contract, get a lawyer. Do it right. Don't
be afraid to ask what you think you are worth. You damn well know that if
a company is seeking you out, you are worth something to them.
The garage mod authoring scene is driven both by groups and individuals.
Individuals are more likely to find jobs at game companies through their
work on notable mods. I think that what Valve has done with Team Fortress
is probably an exception. I don't know any of the TF team, what their
positions are at Valve, or even if all of them are actually working there.
I do know, however, multiple individual mod authors who have found jobs
in the industry because of their skill and initiative. Mods prove to
game companies that a person has talent and the ability to complete a
project.
Alright! So what does this have to do with Infiltration?
Infiltration is a mod for Unreal Tournament. There was a version of
Infiltration for Unreal, but I never played it. Infiltration 2.7 for
UT has been released and it really kicks ass.
It's a Counterstrike/Rainbow Six style mod. Realistic weaponry and
realistic damage. The current release is in MUTATOR format. That is,
it can be played with any gametype. They add Benelli shotguns, M-16s,
all the classics. They also add a "Stand Off" game mode where every
player has 3 lives. When you lose all your lives, you are out until
the game restarts. With the lowered rate of movement, its pretty intense.
I'm going to be pushing these guys to look into developing a hostage-rescue
scenario. Counterstrike is popular for a reason: its fun as hell and
very intense.
Strike Force is another UT mod under development that's persuing the realistic
anti-terrorism route. They've been releasing screen shots and demo
content.
I want to make a point here as a developer. This isn't entirely fair to
the Strike Force team, because they are working hard on putting together
content. Infiltration is more than just screenshots. That means A LOT.
Here is a mod that I can actually play with and see where its going.
This is very important to developers and to gamers. You need to pace
your development so that people can see what you are doing.
A hard lesson I learned from Skaarj Corps, which was an Unreal mod I never
released. Andrew Scheidecker and I wrote a hell of a lot of code for
Skaarj Corps. Grenades, gametypes, player code, weapons, tons of freaky
alien player classes. None of it was released. I wanted everything to be
perfect and as a result, damned the project.
Infiltration is the exact opposite. They still have a lot of plans for
the project, but are pacing their releases so that players get to see
something working each stage of the game. This is invigorating for
the project (the members can see their hard work actually go somewhere)
and exciting for the community (they can play with the current mod,
contribute ideas, and understand where th project is headed).
This is an important lesson for mod authors! You are a microcosm of the
real gaming industry. You need to work in a similar fashion. Develop
a schedule and a sense of direction. Don't overhype, but make sure people
know you exist. Take Blue's News for example. He doesn't post news
about mods that aren't finshed. He does, however, post about mods that
have been released. Blue's is a key media node for big mods.
Mod authors with a hot release under their belt are in a unique position.
They aren't like the guys who sit in their garages, developing a game
no one ever sees, showing it at E3 and private publisher meetings. That
ain't the way to go. A mod author already has an established user base,
is already forming a relationship with an established game, and is already
proving their knowledge of the development process. Its an incomplete
knowledge, but an incomplete knowledge making money for someone. Someone
who might notice.
When it comes down to it, only a handful of all the mod authors will get
jobs and only a couple of released mods will become commercial products.
At the core, its about having fun working with a game you love, not
trying to get a job or a deal. I firmly believe that only the mods that
truly are acts of love will be good enough to make it to that top
percentile. I think that both Counterstrike and Team Fortress are proof
of this. The hundreds of mimic mods stand as a sort of monument to the
successes of those who have gone before.
Anyway, I hope that this inspires both mod authors AND game companies
to new levels of kick-ass-ed-ness. The mod community is nothing new,
but it has never been directly and completely recognized by the industry
for what it really is: a training ground.
Here's the link to Infiltration 2.7: http://www.planetunreal.com/infiltration/
Give it a try.
Oh, one other thing for the game company types reading this: when you
download and play a mod, don't expect a finished game. Don't expect
professional quality work. If that's how you approach it, you are doing
it wrong. Enjoy it for what it is (and if you do find professional
level work, snatch it up before someone smarter does). Remember that
mod authors aren't making their mods because they want your money or
your praise, they are doing it because they think your game is cool.
(For the most part, hehehehe...)
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