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10777082 No.10777082 [Reply] [Original]

Why did Half Life 1 have so many sovlful mods?

>> No.10777114

>>10777082
it was hard to make games back then. small devs had a much easier time making mods for certain games than making their own game. now if anybody has talent and is willing to go through all the work they can just make their own game. which is why steam has trillions of titles and there are so many unique games now. a mod 25 years ago is an indie release today.

>> No.10777256

If it's so good why codex hates it.
Checkmate.

>> No.10777293

Back then, people made shit for fun. Now everyone just tries to make money.

>> No.10777294

>>10777293
>free games don't exist anymore
oh wait there are millions

>> No.10777307

>>10777256
RPGcodex? I didn't know they hated it. They're usually pretty based over there. Better then modern day /v/

>> No.10777715

>>10777082
To give you a run down, HL1 is way easier to mod than HL2. The physics, graphics and AI of HL2 is so much harder to really make reasonable small changes to compared to that, and especially so using the tools of the time, so tons of people made tons of HL1 mods. HL1 is a game where you're giving a lot of things "by default" and yet where it's also fairly doable to make significant changes to things and make a whole new subtype game.

>>10777307
The Codex is weird. The way they regard Zelda games mostly as just another overhyped 'Japanese thing' that's inferior to most any decent RPG is crazy. It's a culture I have some sympathy for but ultimately can't understand.

>> No.10777718

>>10777294
Free as in freedrom

>> No.10777720

>>10777082
>why was vanilla WoW so good
>why was Morrowind modding so soulful
>why was
The people.
You, suck.

>> No.10777873

>>10777082
I think HL1 mods were so good because goldsrc engine was in that perfect sweet spot where it was complex enough to allow you to portray pretty much anything you wanted, but simple enough to make implementing those things extremely accessible.

Anything more simple (Like Doom) is too restrictive to cut loose, resulting in everything just feeling like doom levels with a new aesthetic.

Anything more complex (like source) requires modeling and texturing knowledge just to make anything passable (that isn't just re-using the base game's assets).

But with Half-Life, just a couple jpegs and patience and you can make pretty much anything you could ever want, without looking like complete ass (relative to HL itself)

>> No.10777902

>>10777873
Except new enemies with new models and new AI in goldsource usually don't look or feel very great besides the obvious original enemies and models

>> No.10777907

>>10777902
I mean you're not wrong, but making enemies in goldsrc is about as easy as you can expect from a true 3D engine. Though I think if you ask the average modder to choose between being able to easily make new enemies, and being able to easily make new maps, they'll pick maps more often than not.

>> No.10777916

>>10777907
Well one thing that bothers me about some "total conversions" is how they just reskin/remodel the weapons from the original game but not recode them. Like for example certain WW2 mods will replace the crossbow with a WW2 style rifle but you can still tell its the crossbow because of the projectile velocity and the bolt. That shit is so jarring. Granted some of the best mods do this and they do it effectively but others it comes across as weird.

>> No.10777960

>>10777916
That's fair. At the end of the day, a mod is a mod, and pretty much all of them are basically just gonna be the base game with lotsa tweaking (with rare exceptions like Black Mesa and the like). I guess most modders figure if you're gonna remake everything from scratch, then why bother with a mod at all, eh?

>> No.10778084

>>10777720
>why was vanilla WoW so good
WoW didn't get good until tbc

>> No.10778234

>>10777960
Yeah I don't mean to shit on people who put a lot of work into free content. They clearly do it out of a labor of love for the game.

>> No.10778523

>>10777114
it actually goes beyond even this. nowadays it's actually HARDER to mod a game than to make a new game from scratch. gamedev tools are incredibly good now and modding games is an arcane mess. if you want to do something simple like add anime jpgs then modding is easier but if you have some dream of what you are trying to do and deviate from core gameplay then you are better off just making your own title and having actual control and not being at the mercy of ridiculous apis and random patches and bugs you can never do anything about.