I've recently joined a mod team who are developing a mod for the PC game Doom 3. Unfortunately, the mod isn't public knowledge yet, so I can't show what I've done so far (but I can say it looks awesome). Although, soon enough I will be able to post info on it, but I can't say how soon, of course.
Right now, the game that I'm most excited about was only just announced. It's id software's Rage game, and the game has been revealed to have a story-line in a post-apocalyptic time-line. They said it's not going to be the usual id software type of single-player game, and by that they mean it's not going to be just run and gun corridor shooter.
The game is also supposed to focus on driving buggy-like vehicles, as well as shooting. You will even have a garage which you can fill up with cars. And throughout your experience, you can accumulate money and build up your car, customize it. And this is a direction completely different than id software has ever taken. Just take a look at their Quake and Doom series, very simple games, pretty much just running around and shooting evil things.
There's probably more to be said about the story, but that's as far as I really feel I need to know. Really quick, here's a video of the QuakeCon 2007 trailer:
You can also view the High Definition version here: http://www.gametrailers.com/player/23174.html?type=mov
(You might notice that the game may really remind you of a movie called Mad Max, and I think they drew major influence from those films.)
What interests me is the new engine id software has created to power their new game. It's called id tech 5, and it's going to be the baddest thing around.
id software always releases the best technology, they're well known for that. But they're also well known for releasing crappy tools to make use of that technology.
This is what they have set out to change this time around. They actually have dedicated tools programmers now, when before they were a much smaller team, so they could not take the time out to work on tools like they really should have. And while I was at QuakeCon 2007, we got a first hand look at the tools that will come with the PC version of the game (you will be able to drop the console and type in 'idstudio', and the tools will launch).
One of the most difficult things that modders had with Doom 3 was crappy tools, and I can agree to that. Artists shouldn't have to spend half of their time trying to figure out how to write a text file to edit their in-game character, and even more time trying to fix the problems that the text file is having, when they should be spending 99% of their time making awesome art! (Writing those text files was very easy to mess up.) With id tech 5, they look to eliminate this problem, doing their best to prevent any artist from ever having to write a text file. Thank you, is all I have to say.
Here's what we saw of the tools at Quakecon 2007: http://www.quakeunity.com/file=2514
This Rage title will definitely be a lot of fun to mod. And since it's coming from John Carmack, we already know it's going to be a clean, smooth-running engine. The only thing I am concerned with is the MegaTexture. Now while the MegaTexture technology is amazing and it brings nothing but quality to final game products, it may cause problems for modders. The reason being, modders rely pretty much entirely on distributing their mods over the internet. John Carmack mentioned something like, they have 2 wastelands in their game, both 64kx64k texture files (Diffuse and Normal maps, not sure about Specular maps or anything else) and it takes up a few gigabytes worth of space; that, plus all the game files means that they are going to have to release the game on 2 DVDs for the PC and the 360, and one Blue-Ray disc for the PS3.
This might mean that modders will be forced to make maps low-detail, or in a much smaller size, or in a bunch of segmented pieces in order to keep the files light enough for internet distribution. Or who knows, maybe this will be one of the pushes towards faster broadband connections.
Even so, Rage is the number one title I can't wait until it's release. (But that may be quite a while.)
id software always releases the best technology, they're well known for that. But they're also well known for releasing crappy tools to make use of that technology.
This is what they have set out to change this time around. They actually have dedicated tools programmers now, when before they were a much smaller team, so they could not take the time out to work on tools like they really should have. And while I was at QuakeCon 2007, we got a first hand look at the tools that will come with the PC version of the game (you will be able to drop the console and type in 'idstudio', and the tools will launch).
One of the most difficult things that modders had with Doom 3 was crappy tools, and I can agree to that. Artists shouldn't have to spend half of their time trying to figure out how to write a text file to edit their in-game character, and even more time trying to fix the problems that the text file is having, when they should be spending 99% of their time making awesome art! (Writing those text files was very easy to mess up.) With id tech 5, they look to eliminate this problem, doing their best to prevent any artist from ever having to write a text file. Thank you, is all I have to say.
Here's what we saw of the tools at Quakecon 2007: http://www.quakeunity.com/file=2514
This Rage title will definitely be a lot of fun to mod. And since it's coming from John Carmack, we already know it's going to be a clean, smooth-running engine. The only thing I am concerned with is the MegaTexture. Now while the MegaTexture technology is amazing and it brings nothing but quality to final game products, it may cause problems for modders. The reason being, modders rely pretty much entirely on distributing their mods over the internet. John Carmack mentioned something like, they have 2 wastelands in their game, both 64kx64k texture files (Diffuse and Normal maps, not sure about Specular maps or anything else) and it takes up a few gigabytes worth of space; that, plus all the game files means that they are going to have to release the game on 2 DVDs for the PC and the 360, and one Blue-Ray disc for the PS3.
This might mean that modders will be forced to make maps low-detail, or in a much smaller size, or in a bunch of segmented pieces in order to keep the files light enough for internet distribution. Or who knows, maybe this will be one of the pushes towards faster broadband connections.
Even so, Rage is the number one title I can't wait until it's release. (But that may be quite a while.)
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