UE2 - UT2kX How Far Is Taking a Mod Too Far from the origional game's concept?

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SolidDude

New Member
Feb 20, 2008
8
0
0
Hi there,

I'm making a mod from Unreal Tournament 2004 that will act as an application for Architecture students for my Honours course at University. I've been looking through quite alot of Unreal Script for Unreal Tournament 2004 and done a number of tutorials, and what worries me, is how specific it all relates to the way the original game was made. To me it almost seems mod development is for a mod in the truest sense of the word, in that it is not 100% all that adaptable simply from a 3D engine stand point.

Which isn't that surprising, except for the fact I had about 4 students before me, and low and behold, I find they really haven't achieved much with the engine and they have all tried as best as they can to expand the origional mod into an architectural application without relating that much to the origional ideas of the project.

What are your ideas on how far a mod can be pushed from the origional game's concept?

Thanks
 
Czin

Czin

Ron Paul 2008
Feb 4, 2008
6
0
0
40
Melbourne, FL
The only serious limitations on design that come to mind are the hard coded max connections and weak file-io.

As far as "achieving much" goes it is incredibly more difficult to do things that the game does not do already. This isn't a limitation of uscript or the engine. You're right when you say much of the stock uscript is very specific to the game. When you modifying a gametype or a weapon the majority of script running the object/actor was already written for you. You had a "free ride" with 70-90% of the code. Therefore when trying to do something completely unique you are looking at 4-5 times as much work. Even considering that; you're still going to be doing maybe a fifth the work of starting from scratch in C++ or C# and require much less knowledge.

I'm not trying to be discouraging mind you. Unique changes to the game are challenging and you should be honest with yourself about the work required. That makes success all the more admirable.
 
Payback

Payback

Ive got a big stick
Nov 21, 2002
94
0
0
ahl.action-web.net
Modding can be as varied as the developers imagination and thier coding skills.
When modding you go for the thing that already fits your concept the most.

So for a sandbox world with a plot - I'd have a go at modding GTA.
For a capture the points based war game, I'd probably go for Battlefield.
For a jungle warfare game - crysis
For a run-and-gun FPS - Unreal engine or Halflife 2 engine

The point Im trying it make is that when writing a mod you dont really go looking for how far can I distort the engine. You look for the closest match, how similar is this game to what I want to achieve.

As for how far you can push a mod engine. Like I said, the developers imagination/skill is the limit here. For some examples of dreamers dreaming in unrealscript check these out. Thats the same base game, but 8 very unique variations!

http://www.moddb.com/mods/10243/welcome-to-wilshire-heights
http://www.moddb.com/mods/9999/nobody-and-the-prisoner-of-boring-village
http://www.moddb.com/mods/10139/unzone-66
http://www.moddb.com/mods/9855/chroma
http://www.moddb.com/mods/6350/alien-swarm-the-telic-campaign
http://www.moddb.com/mods/7121/drawn-to-be-alive
http://www.moddb.com/mods/969/unwheel
http://www.moddb.com/mods/867/duffers-golf
 
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SolidDude

New Member
Feb 20, 2008
8
0
0
Wow, thanks for that, there are certaintly some quite impressive and diverse mods being created. I look forward to seeing what I can achieve, and feel a whole lot more optimistic about it.

I'll probably have to look at it from an iterative and incremental perspective, as I have only a year to do it, and the more ideas I implement, the better understanding I will have of how much I can achieve before the year finishes.
 
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