In Development takes place both in a linear, over-exaggerated shooter and thoughts and dreams of the developers himself. Confusing? Maybe. Intriguing? Utterly. How to mix yet-another-Nazi-shooter with the dreamscapes doesn't sound easy, so we had a chat with bluefire40 from IDMT.

GGTL: Give us your explanation of the mod
In Development is about a wanna-be game designer who gets kidnapped by a game developer's family. The game developer had fallen ill, so they needed a victim with a similar mindset of the developer in order for their machine to access the developer's mind. The machine itself could easily be compared to the Matrix, but think of it as a LAN connection rather than an Internet-like connection shown in the Matrix movies. Once inside, the protagonist finds out that the Dements are causing most of the problems for the developer, and so has to allow the Dements inside the developer's secured memories in order to create equilibrium between his secured and unprotected memories. The protagonist accomplishes this by "finishing" each memory of the game. Since the memory doesn't know how to handle the game being finished, the memory shuts down momentarily, allowing the Dements in. The games themselves are highly parodied versions of the genre they follow; anything that an official game of the genre will do will be joked about or be over-exaggerated.

GGTL: Where did you get the idea for this mod?
Just about every single game and mod I've ever played. I've played video games for a large part of my life, and after so many games you begin to pick up on some similarities between them, like "Push to Start" or every other NPC looking the same. There's also zombie behaviours, frequent explosions, dual wielding, NPCs' being there only to give you a quest, the list is infinite.

GGTL: How did you get in to modding?
Simple, I want a job. Near the end of my senior year of high school, I found out that I would have a higher chance of being hired if I worked on a mod. Since I'm a FPS fanatic, I downloaded the Source SDK, bought "C++ for Dummies" and just started going at it. Mind you, I had coding experience before, so it's not like I just starting coding out of the blue! During my last two years of high school I was taking a class called "Programming and Game Design", where I learned Visual Basic, Java, C# and XNA. We even had game design competitions at the end of the year for cash prizes, so there was a lot of effort put into what we made (we really wanted those 5 dollars).

GGTL: How many 'Chapters' are there?
We have 6 chapters planed for the mod, but we may have to trim or cut some out entirely if we take too long developing them. Some chapters are short though, like chapter 4, which is only the transition between the game and the thought areas. It has its own climatic boss fight however, so we have to give it its own chapter instead of tacking it onto chapter 3.

GGTL: What sort of moods will these 'thought' chapters convey? Will they have specific themes, with visual styles to go with?
The thought chapters are going to be more dramatic than the game chapters. In the games we're going to be parodying different parts of the genre, with only brief glimpses of what's going on in the developer's head. When you get to the thought chapters, we can really pull away the curtain and show you (the player) what happened to the developer and why his mind is so screwed up.

GGTL: Can you give us an example of a 'thought' sequence?
I feel like a kid right after Christmas, wanting to tell my closest friends about my brand new toys. I really want to talk all about what happens, but then I'll ruin the fun and mystery of the plot. The closest I can do is give a small description of the transition chapter, chapter 4. The protagonist will be wandering through small hallways until they reach what looks like a train. This is called the Stream of Consciousness, which will take you to the deeper parts of the developer's mind. This will be a perfect opportunity to try out a fight upon a moving vehicle, but this won't be a simple fight amongst other trains. Think something bigger. Like 4 to 5 stories big.

GGTL: What are the Debug weapons?
Debug weapons are ways to let the player fight with something other than bullets. Where's the fun in a game if you're given a choice between a gun that shoots 30 rounds per second or a gun that shoots at 50 rounds per minute, but is just slower to reload? The Debug weapons give us a way to allow the player to fight with different styles, rather than just point and fire. Have a single enemy that's very strong? Use the Step Over. Have an enemy that just won't hold still? Use the Breakpoint. Want to hit a enemy out of your range? Use the Pointer. Currently the Debug weapons are based off of tools used in Visual Studio, but we might extend this to cover all tech terminology. One team member came up with the idea of a Bookmark, which essentially is a Checkpoint and a 1-Up rolled into one. You would plant the Bookmark somewhere, do your business, and if you die you'd respawn right on the flag. We haven't decided to use it yet, but if a way to make it balanced can be found, and if we also find a practical use for it in every fight, then we might be able to use it.

GGTL: Is there an overarching story as to why you're in a developers mind?
Yes, but I'm afraid I can't comment on it much, since I don't want to ruin part of the fun of the mod. All I can say is that the Girl in White is a huge part of the plot. She may even make an appearance in the demo we're trying to release.

GGTL: When can we expect more footage/info?
Personally, I don't like releasing updates unless we have more than enough to "wow" the public. Right now we have quite a few things that could be revealed in a news post, but I'm waiting on a couple of people (myself included) to finish their work so everything can be revealed together. If things go well, expect a new update in 3 weeks.

GGTL: Will there be any Multiplayer component?
The thought has crossed my mind, but I can't really picture In Development as a multiplayer mod. How would the Debug weapons work when they're built to give you a huge advantage? Sure, we could have a wide variety of maps, but how could we connect them all to the theme of a Developer's mind? The only thing that groups our game chapters together is the plot; remove that and the mod will quickly become uninteresting.

GGTL: Are you pleased with community generated around the mod so far?
I think that we have a good community, but they need to be more responsive! I'm always asking for feedback and ideas for the mod since the mod is literally "In Development". I purposely left the design document vague so that team members and people from the community can contribute their own ideas into the mod. The current design issue we are working on is "What is the typical goal in a zombie game? What are you trying to do? Where are you going?" If I can get people from the community to come up with unique ideas for that situation, I'd be very happy.

GGTL: What other mods have you played/do you like?
My favourite mods are the ones that make you think in ways you as a player are not used to. Research & Development, GraviNull, and Dual Reality are the ones I like the most.

GGTL: Have you taken inspiration from any other mods?
All those Zombie and World War 2 mods. There are so many common aspects about them that I just had to parody them.

GGTL: What's the plan for the future? (DLC or a sequel, etc)
With the way the ending is planned, we could make a In Development 2 if we really wanted to. However, considering the size and motivation behind the project, I think it's highly unlikely that there will be a sequel.


If you'd like to follow all the news on the mod, click here. Stay tuned for another interview next week. Have fun!

If you'd like to contact Chris, stick this in your inbox.

Chris

Labels: Chris, Chris Hawke, Hammer and Joystick, Interview, Modding, PC

The town of Mortewood was chosen to be the test for Project H.O.P.E, an apparent cure for cancer. Couldn't be happier, right? Well, the cancer might be cured, but it does turn everyone else into a zombie. Oh, and for some reason, there are a lot of guns in Mortewood. Guns + Zombies = Fun. We spoke with the one-man team of Dec Doyle, aka dec1234.

GGTL: Give us your explanation of the mod.
Mortewood is basically my personal dream zombie game. It is planned to be nearly all zombie games and others crammed into one. It will feature so much stuff to basically keep the players interested and no server or game will ever be the same. I want it to be something that someone can play alone, with friends, on-line and always give them something new to do and try. Things included are a single-player story and Campaign, Multiplayer co-op, deathmatch and various other gamemodes you would expect from most other games, tonnes of weapons to try and play with. Loads of maps and areas to battle with on other gamemodes. Loads of gibs, blood, gore, hacking, slashing and unrealistic owning of the undead. MANY zombies including male, female, torso, child and a few other secret ones still in the works. And vehicles. The more I write this the more things I remember that I added too this mod!

GGTL: Where did you get the idea for this mod?
It's been my dream since I first played the game "Zombies Ate My Neighbours" as a child. An amazing game that made me dream of one day creating a zombie game that I could play. The ideas for this one specifically is from a selection of sources. Think up the best zombie movies and games in your head and my answer is yes, the ideas come from them. Obviously with my own included but they do give me the help and inspiration.

GGTL: How did you get in to modding?
I first started with Battlefield 1942, making a personal mod called Battlefield Infection. This little zombie mod was the basic of Mortewood. After that I moved onto working with Halo 2 on xbox until I eventually found my way to the amazing Source engine. I spent around half a year learning all the tools and just began work on my dream.

GGTL: Just how much gore will there be?
Plenty. Everything you have seen so far is so "Alpha" that it doesn't even count as a place-holder. The gore will be unrealistic, stupid and damn fun.

GGTL: Is it sandbox, or a linear story?
Both. Sandbox is a choice, something I feel all games should have. Just a place to practice, try weapons or just blow off steam.

GGTL: What's the best weapon?
Wait and see.

GGTL: Who is the 'Old man with the shotgun'?
He is an old dude with a shotgun, stricken with partial blindness and a hatred for "them skateboard-ning, rap-scalling teens", who snapped when his wife of 35 years was eaten and will stop at nothing to ensure revenge is dished out on the undead. Cheesy, I know - but I like it.

GGTL: What locations can we expect?
All the basics you would expect and then a few more unusual ones. Zombies on a space station, and so forth.

GGTL: Give us a few of the 8 types of zombies.
Male and female fast and slow zombies. Child zombies, Torso zombies. These are the obvious basics but the rest will be revealed later in time. I show all my weapons all the time so I want to keep something secret.

GGTL: Can you give a tentative release date?
End of 2010 early 2011 for the first playable demo or beta.

GGTL: Are you pleased with community generated around the mod so far?
Unbelievably. Nothing more to say.

GGTL: What other mods have you played/do you like?
ZPS, 1187, Orion, Outbreak Condemned, Raindrop, GE:S.

GGTL: Have you taken inspiration from any other mods?
ZPS as a choice of engine.

GGTL: What's the plan for the future? (ie. DLC or a sequel?)
Loads of DLC that I will add for around 1-2 years after the final release, until I hopefully get a job in the industry. Which - besides Mortewood - is my dream.

If you'd like to follow all the news on the mod, click here. Stay tuned for another interview next week. Have fun!

If you'd like to contact Chris, stick this in your inbox.

Labels: Chris, Chris Hawke, Columns, Hammer and Joystick, Interview, Modding

This week, we're taking a trip to Skira Island, the setting for Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising. James Dickinson, aka TemplarGFX, has managed to unlock the whole of the island for you to play with in Island War: Free Roam. The mod tweaks AI and other elements like pistol rate of fire, but also includes adjustable time of day, every vehicle and weapon in the game, spawn-your-own squads and randomized objectives to keep things exciting. The mod is in it's release candidate form, with full release due soon.


GGTL: Where did you get the idea for the mod?
James Dickinson: When the game first came out, one of the biggest gripes many players had was that the main campaign only used a small fraction of the map, and that you could not wander out past your mission area and find enemies there. The Skirmish DLC and its 'Island Tour' missions showed that it is indeed possible to use the entire island in one single mission, and so I thought I would see exactly what could be done, and it just built from there.

GGTL: What was the hardest thing to mod?
JD: Definitely the dynamic spawning system. When I first started out making Island War, I ran into many problems caused by the limitations of the engine; there was a time when it was looking like it was impossible to have the mission cover the entire Island. Eventually though I found a work around using recon points as spawn points. I planned from the get-go to have enemy units and vehicles spawn in realistic locations, rather than being totally random, by the time I had setup all the spawn points, there were over 3000 of them! This brought with it another issue, when it came to choosing an appropriate spawn point for an enemy fireteam or vehicle to spawn at, the game would slow down, or freeze entirely for a fraction of a second while the game figured out which one to use. To overcome this, I split the Island into 4 sections, and wrote a small piece of code that constantly loops through all the spawn points in the section the player occupies, at 15 spawn points at a time storing which of those 15 points is "ok" for spawning.

GGTL: What do you most love/hate about Operation Flashpoint?
JD: The thing I love most about Operation Flashpoint would have to be the immersion you get when you are in a big firefight - bullets whizzing past left and right, guys shouting out their displeasure at having said bullets whizz past, while you try and safely move to a better firing position. No other games gets it quite as close as Dragon Rising! What I hate most, well, I would have to say the lack of documentation. The documentation we got was incorrect or unfinished in areas, and there are commands, limits and restrictions that have been left out completely. finding these things out for yourself is extremely frustrating considering there is no built in debugger!

GGTL: Are you pleased with the community that have generated around the mod?
JD: Very pleased indeed! The people that play my mission are constantly giving me feedback and suggestions, showing me areas that need improving and what is working just right. With a mission that covers 220 square kilometers of land, its obviously nearly impossible to test everything out myself. The entire Dragon Rising community, as a whole, is a very close-knit and friendly community who jump at the chance to support anyone (not just myself) trying to make more out this game.


GGTL: Any chance of the mod coming to consoles?
JD: Ever since the first beta version of Island War, Codemasters have been interested in the idea of putting it into an official download. This of course would mean that console users would get it too. I have been talking with Codemasters about this for well over a month now, and have sent them many versions of the mission for them to test on there development console. As the popularity of this is so high, I have also started building a simpler version that still contains many of the most liked features of Island War, as a backup in case it comes to the point where the PC version is just too much for the more restricted console platforms. I am sure that one way or another, "Island War" will become available on consoles.

GGTL: What other mods have you played/do you like?
JD: When I want something a little less serious, and to vent my frustrations, I play the Zombie Mod by cesk. Otherwise when in a more serious mood I like to pick one of the missions listed in PaLL3's "community maps" list and give them a run through. There are many very talented people who are extremely good at making smaller more focused Fire Team Engagements.

GGTL: What's the plan for the future?
JD: Island War: Free Roam is almost complete; there is a bug in the game that is causing issues, but that should be fixed by patch 2. Once the final release of Island War: Free Roam is out, I will be digging my head deep into a new campaign, which will be more true to the expectations many people had before the game came out. You will be but a small part of a much larger force, where your actions alone will not decide the outcome of the war on Skira. I don't want to go into too much detail as currently everything is on paper only. The campaign will follow the basic story of the original, and have you completing objectives along side allies; or completing one objective, while allies complete others.

GGTL: What would you like to see in Dragon Rising 2?
JD: More than anything else, I would like to see a campaign which is one big mission like Island War, where the player is not alone and completing objectives, while others are completed by AI controlled squads. The Linearity of the campaign in Dragon Rising is what really kills the replayability. Although the AI are good at adapting, because they always start in the same place, holding the same area and patrolling the same path, it really confines the amount of adaptation they can do. Hopefully Codemasters will be able to get that working next time around.

GGTL: Codemasters just announced that they are cutting support for Dragon Rising. How do you feel about this?
JD: Disappointed, of course, but honestly it was not unexpected. What's most disappointing for me is that looking at the two patches there were, as the only patches, they really fixed nothing the community was clambering for, but CM finished their support without addressing them. But, at the end of the day (on PC at least) we have the mission editor, and a stable, very playable game that has a lot of potential as it stands right now. I have many ideas I still want to explore, and this news is not going to stop me.

If you'd like to download the release candidate of the mod, click here. Stay tuned for another interview next week. Have fun!

If you'd like to contact Chris, stick this in your inbox.

Chris

Labels: Chris, Chris Hawke, Hammer and Joystick, Modding

This week, Gamer's Guide To Life takes a dive into the unknown. In 2008, Stefan Köhler, aka 'projektariel' on Moddb, released 'SturmMod' to the public. A modification of the Far Cry game, this was more of an interactive experience; the player could essentially be in William Shakespeare's 'The Tempest'. While it wouldn't be a scene-by-scene reenactment of the play, players would piece together the story, based on their findings. The mod was used as a virtual stage for a live performance of 'The Tempest' by German theater/media arts group 'Projekt A.R.I.E.L'

GGTL: Where'd you get the idea for the mod?
Stefan Köhler: The basic idea of our students project was to research if and how modern digital media could establish new perspectives on a theater play from the 17th century. We worked mainly with the object-oriented programming language MAX / MSP which allowed us, among other things, to control spotlights with a Wiimote and to trigger sounds by motion-tracking via a video camera. One of our other ideas was to recreate the island from "The Tempest" in a virtual version, not merely as a video but as an environment which could be explored in realtime 3D. As avid gamers we knew this could be done best by using a FPS game, and that's where Far Cry came in.

GGTL: Why did you choose Far Cry as the game for this mod?
SK: Far Cry was a perfect fit because it's main environment is insular. With this, I could use most of it's assets in order to convert the descriptions given in the play into explorable places on the island. As I had no previous knowledge of mapping and programming before I started to work on the mod, the intuitive level editor and the simple yet powerful programming language LUA used for scripting saved time as well. Furthermore, the beginning of the story of Far Cry (when the hero Jack Carver survives an attack on his boat and strands on an unknown island) had an astounding parallel to Prospero's account in the play on how he shipwrecked at the island with his daughter Miranda.


GGTL: How did you get into modding?
SK: At first I only wanted to create a simple map but that changed when I came across tutorials on modding Far Cry and was excited about the possibilities. Instead of wondering how to adapt a certain event from the play into the mod I tried out all the different features of Far Cry and thereby got ideas on how to use them to let the player experience "The Tempest" in a whole new way. To give an example: The possibility to trigger an incremental change of the environment lighting when the player enters a certain area is used to illustrate Ariel's siren call "Come to these yellow sands". As the player approaches the origin of the sound the sand he or she walks upon slowly turns from white to yellow.

GGTL: Did you take inspiration from any other games or mods?
SK: I learned a lot about modding by playing and studying other Far Cry mods. A special source of inspiration was definitely AVA2006's recreation of Jules Verne's Mysterious Island in Far Cry.

GGTL: What was the hardest thing to mod?
SK: While working with the Far Cry Sandbox Editor became easier over time, I had more difficulties to learn how to edit scripts properly. There were documentations for some features already available at modding sites like Crymod Modding Portal, but most of the time it was a frustrating game of trial and error until I found out which variable had to be changed in order to get a certain outcome. Fortunately, one of the scripting gods from Crymod, Mixer, liked the first build of the SturmMOD and helped me a lot in developing the v1.1 version, among others by scripting a custom dialogue trigger which opened up exciting new possibilities.

GGTL: How did the live performance go? Were people freaked out?
SK: Although we had first planned to let the audience play with the mod, we had to abandon this idea as unfortunately the majority of our visitors were familiar with theater but not with games. So what did the performance look like? As the mod, played by one of the performers, was projected not onto a plane canvas but onto paper strips hanging shifted in different rows, another performer was able to 'go into' this virtual stage. Furthermore the gaming performer could take over the role of Caliban, demonstrating in First-Person-Perspective how this character from the play hid behind a bamboo tree at a lake, occasionally leaning to the side to get a glimpse of Miranda who was bathing naked.

To our surprise the response of our audience was mostly positive. Thereby we were encouraged to upload our mod to the internet to give everyone who was not able to visit our live performances the opportunity to 'play Shakespeare' instead of simply watching it.


GGTL: Are you pleased with the feedback on your mod so far?
SK: Feedback on our work was and is very important for us because we always strive to develop it further. Many gamers didn't like the first version of the SturmMOD because they missed traditional gameplay and objectives. One of them, for example, complained that there was a boar but no weapon on the island. The second I told him that there was indeed a hidden machete, he was off hunting! Responses like this led to the development of the v1.1 version which in addition to the exploration mode offered new parts of traditional gameplay like riddles and combat as the player was able to learn more about the background of Prospero, the magician and main character from the play.

All in all we are happy that we apparently managed to interest at least a few gamers for the work of William Shakespeare. As I learned it could come in handy unexpectedly: One gamer told me that he went to a local pub quiz and when the question was asked which play of Shakespeare started with a shipwrecking, he knew the answer from playing the mod and scored a point! =)

GGTL: What's the plan for the future? Any other of Shakespeare's plays?
SK: At the moment all members of "Projekt A.R.I.E.L." are busy with other projects, but we plan to return to games and modding in the near future. This time it most likely won't be about a play from Shakespeare, because we already have other ideas for an experimental FPS mod, so stay tuned!

GGTL: What other mods have you played/do you like?
SK: As I am writing my diploma thesis on the development of modding at the moment I have played a lot of mods lately. The ones I enjoyed most are mods which experiment with new form of gameplay and topics. Examples include 'Dear Esther', the 'Radiator' episodes, 'Decay' and 'Prometheus'. My favorite multiplayer mod is 'Pirates, Vikings and Knights II' which is fun, although I suck at playing it.

GGTL: What advice would you give to other modders wanting to start up?
SK: Don't want too much at once, enhance your mod step by step, show it to other people and try to use constructive criticism in order to develop your skills and content.

If you'd like to download the mod, click here. Stay tuned for another interview next week. Have fun!

If you'd like to contact Chris, stick this in your inbox.

Labels: Chris, Chris Hawke, Columns, Hammer and Joystick, Modding

Did you ever play S.T.A.L.K.E.R Complete 2009? The mod, developed by artistpavel, brought S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Shadow Of Chernobyl kicking and screaming into the modern day. Not only did it fix bugs, but it added new features, gameplay mechanics, freeplay mode, and to top it off, it looked incredible.

Now, artistpavel is working his magic on S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Clear Sky with 'S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Clear Sky Complete'. It's basically the same thing, but on a different game. Like to know more? We'll, stay tuned - in the coming weeks we'll be interviewing Mr. Pavel on his 'Complete 2009' mod and his future releases.

You can check out the mod, with screenshots, here.

Chris

Labels: Chris, Chris Hawke, Modding, News, STALKER

There are many advantages to PC gaming over it's console counterpart. Games are usually cheaper, graphics can be tinkered with, and, of course, there are mods. Wonderful, wonderful mods. For modding, you need to know your stuff and be creative, but have a grasp of what works and what doesn't. Which is exactly why there are a lot of rubbish, pretty broken mods out there. Thankfully, there are some who are excellent at the modding process and, as long as you own the game, you can easily get their missions, graphical updates, total world conversions or funny nude mods (of there are loads). Here's a list of our favorite 5; chosen for their brilliance, creativity, working order and the fact they're free. And free stuff rules.

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5. Extreme Graphics Enhancement

Game: Grand Theft Auto IV
Author: rinuextreme
Homepage

GTA IV was great on consoles. Unfortunately, the PC version had some problems. Weird graphical glitches were just one of them. Now, most bugs are long gone, but the game still looks a little rough around the (jagged) edges. Here's where the Extreme Graphics Enhancement mod comes in. It does what it says on the tin, basically making the world of GTA IV much more beautiful. It improves vehicles' handling, damage, physics and details; tweaks weapon damage; re-textures blood splatter, trees, and fences; smooths out reflections; makes explosions more beautiful; and even changes the population density to make the world feel more realistic. If you have GTA IV on PC and feel it looking lacklustre, you need this.

Installation Difficulty: Medium - while the downloading and installing is simple, the latest patch for GTA IV has caused some troubles with certain mods, including crashes, so you might want to wait for a new patch to fix that.

4. GreenWorld

Game: Fallout 3
Author: Khyrin
Homepage

With Fallout 3 set 200 years after the first bombs fell, you'd have thought that nature would have found a way. I mean, look at Avatar. You can so easily see that nature is the good thing, and will basically always triumph. So why is Fallout 3's world so grey, and bleak, and frankly, ugly? Never fear, for Khyrin has made the GreenWorld mod, turning the desolate landscape into a garden of lush green. Love Oblivion's wonderful vistas and stunning forests, but long for the guns and slow motion destruction of Fallout 3? You'll never have to make that choice again, as GreenWorld combines the best of the two games and hands it to you for free. It has some weird English in it, and makes sniping harder, but sniping was always boring in Fallout 3; close-up headshots usually work best.

Installation Difficulty: Easy - if you can follow instructions, you can install this.


3. Research And Development

Game: Half Life 2/The Source Engine
Author: M. Bortolino
Homepage

There are a lot a Source mods out there. Millions, possibly trillions (No, not quadrillions. Idiot.) of people are taking the Valve engine and doing what they please. However, none work so well as Research And Development. A single-player experience of around 6 hours, without any guns (execpt your trust grav-gun), it feels as if it could have been crafted by Valve themselves. Incredibly clever but non-frustrating puzzles (including one brilliant segment involving light), makeshift riot shields, deadly train rides and, amazingly, a build-your-own, working car. With rockets. It's got a coherent story, great puzzles, superb gameplay, and perfectly crafted levels that require thinking but never make you want to punch through your LCD monitor. Will suppress your want for Episode 3 for a while.

Installation Difficulty: Easy - follow the 'readme', and it should be simple. It also works perfectly when adding it as a 'non-Steam game' on Steam.


2. Island War - Ultimate Free Roam

Game: Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising
Author: TemplarGTX
Homepage

Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising was a mixed bag. There were sparks of pure brilliance: you've got your face buried in the dirt as helicopters fall around you, bullets smack dirt and artillery puts an end to everything within 300 feet - that kind of awesome. Then, there were times when the AI would glitch, or the unfriendly controls and poor vehicle handling would get you killed almost before you began. Multiplayer was essentially dead on arrival due to the lack of dedicated servers, but one brilliant feature was the 'mission editor'. Surprisingly in-depth, it allows you to quickly throw a mission together and have some insta-fun. But TemplarGTX wasn't content with a throwaway objective or two; instead, he took the 277km² island of Skira, made it fully playable with AI spawning randomly at towns and villages, changeable weapons, access to every vehicle in the game, every weapon in the game, up to 4 squads of USMC friendlies, activation-based objectives, AI re-haul, damage system overhaul, a chopper taxi-service and so much more. Visit the homepage and check for constant updates, constantly fixing bugs, adding new objective types and generally making the awesome happen. If you own the game, this is a must have.

Installation Difficulty: Easy - just find the Codemasters folder, open up dat_win, and copy all the files into the Mission Editor file. Couldn't be more simple.


1. S.T.A.L.K.E.R Complete 2009

Game: S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Shadow Of Chernobyl
Author: artistpavel
Homepage

We've already mentioned this mod before, but nothing quite comes close to describing the incredible amount of detail involved in this mod. Not only has artistpavel collaborated with other modders to remaster every single texture in the game to rival most '09 games, but he's tweaked the AI, added 'freeplay' mode, thrown in a sleeping bag (which, surprise surprise, developer GSC are now using in the next game, Call of Pripyat), overhauled the old weather system, put in new night vision goggles, textured and fiddled with all the weapons to make them more realistic, fixed nearly all the bugs in the game, replaced sounds, fixed the often broken English, added new scopes, a new HUD and a new repair system - and that's just a quarter of the total changes. Rightly, artistpavel and his mod have earned critical acclaim from the likes of PCFormat, Eurogamer, Kotaku, Rock Paper Shotgun, as well as easily topping the most downloaded mods on several mod sites. Oh, and add the that the fact that artistpavel is a really, really nice guy, and that S.T.A.L.K.E.R is around £3, there is no reason why you shouldn't own this.

Installation Difficulty: Medium - while installing the mod is usually easy, patching can be a bit of a struggle for those who don't know their computer lingo. Thankfully, those in the know should be able to easily help you out.

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Oh, what's that? We missed out your favourite mod? Well don't just stand there - put it in the comments section! Keep your eyes fixed to Gamer's Guide To Life for more greatness in 2010.

Chris

Labels: Chris, Chris Hawke, Feature, Modding, PC

Many PC games, particularly those with very large fan-bases, are well-known for their modding communities. These dedicated groups of fans work day and night, doing the sort of work that would usually be left to proper games developers - writing thousands of lines of code, doing some pretty darn pretty graphics work and generally making a good game better.

It's no surprise, then, that Bohemia Interactive have decided to release modding tools for their recent, ultra-realistic military simulator, ArmA II. The tools, which allow users to modify and create their own camo, vehicles, models and weapons, or even create whole environments, can be downloaded from the Bohemia Interactive Studios community site.

“Our engine is designed from the ground up to allow the community and fans to easily create and share additional content,” said Marek Spanel, Bohemia Interactive's CEO. "We really appreciate the work done by fans of our games and by officially releasing these sophisticated mod tools we want to renew our commitment to them.

"These tools will simplify the work of the community; allow them the freedom of creativity and expression and to ensure that ArmA II provides them with an almost never ending source of entertainment and value."

It'll be good to see an active mod community on such a powerful and realistic game. Time to realise those boyhood dreams of running through a ruined castle, machine gun in hand, killing un-dead knights of olde. Why? Just because, now, you can.

Linford

Labels: ArmA II, Bohemia Interactive, Linford Butler, Modding