Rock and a Hard Place
The game modification community of today exists at a nexus. Current games are becoming increasingly more complex and beautiful, and while the tools which are now being made available to modify them are also becoming more user-friendly, I think the complexity side of the equation is winning the race.
Despite all that the game developers can do to try and simplify the modding process, the bar is rising steadily on the technical aspects of modding, and the community, largely oblivious to this effect, seems to be struggling in ignorance. Half Life 2 / Source engine mods dominate the community frontier, yet of thousands upon thousands of projects, barely a handful appear to possess the creative drive and fundamental talent to succeed in any new, innovative direction.
New artistic technology, such as bump mapping, normal mapping, specular mapping, new shader technology, larger poly budgets and other elements are increasing the learning curve for artists.
Increased AI potency, larger and more complex class object structures, a host of new engine features, and a plethora of new commands and languages challenge programmers.
New lighting effects, more complex AI interaction, more complex physics, more level of detail resolution and a host of new issues daunt the level designers.
Game designers bear the brunt of the effect, as they need to become familiar with all of the above to stay on top of their game amd remain conversant with the other technical staff.
This increasing complexity is starting to drive a wedge in the middle of the community. Fewer people are able to "jump the chasm" from beginner to expert in their respective fields, and with limited amounts of free time, it is becoming progressively harder to stay current with modern game engines.
Things have not yet hit a flash-point where it becomes impossible for part-time hobbyists to maintain a competitive edge in the modding world, but I can see a day in the near future where that might become the reality. Perhaps the new paradigm proposed by games like Spore will inject some new life into the community, but in reality all such interesting user-editable content does is more stringently define the "haves" from the "have-nots".
Can the modding community adapt to the escalation in technology and still remain true to it's roots?
Time will tell.
Despite all that the game developers can do to try and simplify the modding process, the bar is rising steadily on the technical aspects of modding, and the community, largely oblivious to this effect, seems to be struggling in ignorance. Half Life 2 / Source engine mods dominate the community frontier, yet of thousands upon thousands of projects, barely a handful appear to possess the creative drive and fundamental talent to succeed in any new, innovative direction.
New artistic technology, such as bump mapping, normal mapping, specular mapping, new shader technology, larger poly budgets and other elements are increasing the learning curve for artists.
Increased AI potency, larger and more complex class object structures, a host of new engine features, and a plethora of new commands and languages challenge programmers.
New lighting effects, more complex AI interaction, more complex physics, more level of detail resolution and a host of new issues daunt the level designers.
Game designers bear the brunt of the effect, as they need to become familiar with all of the above to stay on top of their game amd remain conversant with the other technical staff.
This increasing complexity is starting to drive a wedge in the middle of the community. Fewer people are able to "jump the chasm" from beginner to expert in their respective fields, and with limited amounts of free time, it is becoming progressively harder to stay current with modern game engines.
Things have not yet hit a flash-point where it becomes impossible for part-time hobbyists to maintain a competitive edge in the modding world, but I can see a day in the near future where that might become the reality. Perhaps the new paradigm proposed by games like Spore will inject some new life into the community, but in reality all such interesting user-editable content does is more stringently define the "haves" from the "have-nots".
Can the modding community adapt to the escalation in technology and still remain true to it's roots?
Time will tell.
posted by Jim Tran at 7:06 PM
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