Modding Games
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Modifications of Mods have their roots in hacking and reverse engineering game code, but now they’ve evolved to a point where mod support in games is almost a requirement. Any game release these days without a large editing component is frowned upon by reviewers. Games like Quake and Half-life were almost designed to serve as an software development kit for the community to build on.
A mod is essentially a new game you can play, using modified rules, weapons, or levels. Since the early days of Quake I, id software has generously allowed the community to create their own mods. Its these mods that have given Quake its longevity and fostered the great Quake community we have today. Capture the Flag and team Fortress turned out to be the driving points for the game itself. Some mods are so different from the original version of the game that they become “Total Conversions” (TC) and bear no resemblance to the original product. Half-life’s Counter Strike, Quake III’s Rocket Arena, Quake II’s Jailbreak and Quake III rally are some of the best examples of such work.
Almost every game these days allows you to create new extensions for it, there’s something out there for everyone. But the best pad to start off would be the big three—The Quake series, Unreal Tournament and Half-Life. All of them have seen huge popularity in the modding, mapping, and modeling, scene. Of late, Serious Sam has also emerged as a popular mod development platform.
Making a mod requires some level of programming knowledge; in fact, mods are good teaching tools to learn programming from. The language of choice for programmers is usually C or C++, so you will be able to find a wealth of resources and books for references. There are also a number of tutorials available on the web for learning C and C++ that can help you in supplementing what you learn from books.
Microsoft Visual C++ has a powerful development environment that will make things easier for you, there’s no other compiler better suited to developing Windows Applications.
There are a large number of compilers available, including many free ones. Bloodshed is an awesome IDE (Integrated Development Environment) for beginners. It can compile as quickly as Visual C++ or Borland, and is suitable for beginners.
When you begin writing a mod, you should start small. Don’t plan to write a TC from the very start. If you set goals that are hard to achieve, you’ll get frustrated in the process. It is much better to set a series of smaller goals and work towards them each one in turn. Start with a simple idea that could be expanded into a larger game. A simple gun or game play modification would be a great way to begin.
Mapping (level design) is probably a more popular way to modify a game. Games today ship with map editors and anyone can produce a playable map in a short time. Map making is fairly easy to learn. Though anyone can make a map, making a level that is playable and enjoyable is a totally different ball game. Level design is an art and a science that doesn't come easy. It requires an insight into how a person perceives a 3D environment and is a science in the way you manage the number of polygons on the screen. The best was to learn would be to observe how other game maps are made.
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