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Job-seeking 19-year-old produces incredible Skyrim mod
This week marks the release of one of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim's most ambitious user-created mods to date, adding over 20 hours of unique content to Bethesda's lengthy quest. Alexander J. Velicky's "Falskaar" mod, available for download from Skyrim Nexus, adds a neighboring continent to Skyrim's map. Approximately one-third the size of Skyrim's existing world, Falskaar features 9 new storyline quests and 17 sidequests, and includes recorded dialogue from a cast of more than 30 volunteer voice actors. PC Gamer reports that Velicky produced the mod in the hopes of landing a job at Skyrim developer Bethesda, and spent more than 2,000 hours working on the project over the last year. "The best way to show Bethesda Game Studios that I want a job there and should be hired is to create content that meets the standards of their incredible development team," Velicky said.
Mod-heavy shooter Rekoil deploys to PC, XBLA later this year
505 Games has signed on to publish SoCal indie outfit Plastic Piranha's modular FPS, Rekoil. In development since early 2011, Rekoil is a team-based shooter targeting eSports and core gaming aficionados on PC and Xbox Live Arcade later this year. It was also one of the first Steam Greenlight games, though it failed to gain any traction. Players will be able to customize much of Rekoil's gameplay, five different classes and ten game modes. Rekoil will support dedicated servers and provide access to public server files when it launches, along with replays and a spectator mode. Rekoil will launch with 10 maps and over 40 different weapons later this year. 505 Games has not announced a price for Rekoil.
The Nexus Telegraph: WildStar's addons
Whether you agree with World of Warcraft's approach to interface design or not, it's hard to deny that it's a fascinating case study. It's a game that was released with a broken interface, one that was very decidedly not the optimal way to experience the game... with the expectation that players would develop a better one (which could then be pinched by the developers to improve the core experience). This is pretty unusual now, and it was almost unheard of back in the day. But WildStar is going down the same road of having UI mods and addons in from day one, and it's one of the places that I think taking lessons from World of Warcraft would not only be prudent but downright smart. Including UI modding from launch means that WildStar will have the opportunity to tread down familiar paths. But some of those paths are familiarly awful, and so perhaps the developers could learn some lessons from those who have made these mistakes before. So let's look at the good, the bad, and how we can perhaps get more of the former than the latter.
Second Life developer snaps up indie game distribution service
Linden Lab, developer of the 3D virtual world Second Life, announced today that it has acquired the indie-focused PC game distribution service Desura. Desura, notable for offering a publishing platform with a lower barrier for entry than its competitor Steam, is a DRM-agnostic service employed by the Humble Indie Bundle and Indie Royale, among other organizations. The service was created by the PC modding hub Mod DB, and currently serves as a high-profile distributor of user-created PC game mods. The Desura purchase is Linden Lab's second major acquisition this year, following up on the company's recent purchase of Blocksworld, an upcoming iPad game. "Desura's talented team, thriving business, and impressive technology are a great fit for Linden Lab," said Linden Lab's CEO Rod Humble. "Our aim is to invest and support the Desura team in making it the most open and developer-friendly platform in the world."
WildStar Wednesday details player-created addons and mods
You may remember that earlier this year, our very own Bree Royce had the opportunity to attend a WildStar press event where she got a nice, tasty scoop on Carbine's hopes of fostering the creation of user-developed UI mods within WildStar's community. Well in today's WildStar Wednesday, Jon "Bitwise" Wiesman takes a closer look at the addon development tools players will have at their disposal and also highlights the first-ever WildStar mods to come out of the game's closed beta. Players will have access to a development tool known as Houston, which allows players to "easily create [their] own addons to extend WildStar's UI," as well as providing "full access to all of the Carbine-authored source code." A player by the name of PacketDancer has already put Houston through its paces, and she has the honor of being the developer of WildStar's first UI mods, which range from a group-finding tool to a roleplaying mod library. The WildStar devs are obviously thrilled to see the community embracing the addon tools this early in beta, and we have to admit we're looking forward to seeing what other craziness WildStar players dream up. In the meantime, though, check out all the addon development details over at the game's official site.
Left 4 Dead 2 mutates past Linux beta, adds more mod tools
Left 4 Dead 2 is the latest game in Valve's catalog to clamber out of the Steam for Linux beta. Unlike last week's Half-Life 2 news however, the extra something coming along for the ride isn't VR headset support -- it's a powerful suite of customization tools. The Extended Mutation System (EMS) gives the already robust modding community additional options for crafting one-off episodes and game type variants. For a glimpse of what EMS enables, play a round of "Holdout." This new multi-map mode introduces buildable items and the concept of resources to the co-op zombie-slaying calamity. What's more, Valve said it will add the most popular EMS creations to the official servers. Maybe with this, the world can finally witness our vision of the zombie apocalypse. Yeah, it involves marmosets.
Volition working with modders, will release official Saints Row tools
Up until now, Saints Row: The Third modders have had to rely on community-created tools to make Volition's game even more lively. Jeff Thompson, Volition's studio director of programming, is currently preparing official engine tools to share with the mod community, prominent modder IdolNinja explains in a blog post. In addition to Saints Row: The Third documentation, Thompson is preparing official Saints Row 2 tools – something IdolNinja explains is a "test run" for Saints Row 4. "In simple terms, the modding community will finally be able to create and offer new clothing, new vehicles, new guns, new NPCs, new missions, and even new world geometry which will greatly extend the life of the series and enhance the Saints Row games in ways we never even dared to dream of," IdolNinja explains. IdolNinja concludes that Thompson is expected to send something along this week, though there's no indication if that'll be the Volition mod tools or just the first steps in making that happen.
Hall considering PS4 version of DayZ
How would a PlayStation 4 version of DayZ grab you? Mod creator Dean Hall is apparently considering it according to a blurb at Eurogamer. Hall outlines the differences between publishing on Sony's console vs. Microsoft's, the latter of which requires a hefty fee for each update as well as a pre-existing publisher relationship. Hall tells Eurogamer that he's definitely interested in both platforms but his focus is currently on the standalone PC version of his celebrated Arma 2 mod. "That's definitely something we'd look at, but we have to do the PC version first. Once we get the alpha out, that's a good time for us to run it up on a [PS4] dev kit and see what happens," he explained.
Unicorn poop, beer cans, and housing dungeons: WildStar's Jeremy Gaffney preps us for closed beta 2
"This is going to be the best game most of us have built in our lives," Carbine Studios Executive Producer Jeremy Gaffney said bluntly. The game in question, of course, is WildStar, and it represents Gaffney's 10th or so trip through the beta development chute on the way to release. There's an undeniable note of pride and calm confidence in his voice as he talks about the baby that's growing inside Carbine's womb right now, and he was definitely not shy in opening up about all of the decisions and work the team's made as WildStar heads into its second trimester... er, closed beta test. Before that, however, Gaffney provided a recap of the first closed beta test. He said that it was pretty limited, with only 2,000 players testing out the lowbie Exile zones. The team moved some of the elder game content down in level so that people could test it out, and developers spent some time doing impromptu Q&A sessions with players in the field. As a result, Carbine is ready to shift over to the Dominion side and greatly expand the beta in size and content. Read on for the full scoop on what the next step will entail.
The Witcher 2 official mod tools released
CD Projekt RED has released REDkit, an official set of tools that allows amateur modders to make The Witcher 2 even witchier than ever before. REDkit, originally launched as a private beta back in August, is a robust toolkit that lets users create new characters and quests within The Witcher 2. If you want to further tweak your mod's fantasy setting, REDkit also allows modders to edit terrain and plant virtual forests using the SpeedTree system. User-created content can be shared with fellow Witcher series enthusiasts at CD Projkt RED's website. Would-be modders might want to check out REDkit's wiki before delving too deeply into the REDkit's world of character creation and tree-planting.
This backlit Mega Man 25th anniversary NES has style
Who could possibly want a statue to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Mega Man when you know that somewhere out there a Blue Bomber-adorned NES exists? Ryan Fitzpatrick (aka Platinumfungi) created this one-of-a-kind blue NES, which features a backlit Mega Man on top of the case with a rather slick paint job. Fitzpatrick has a bunch of photos of the system on his Facebook page. One issue we have is that it just wouldn't feel right to play any NES game on it that isn't the best Mega Man game ever, Mega Man 2.
The Daily Grind: Do you like moddable MMORPGs?
WildStar's announcement this week that closed beta players have already started modding the game's UI to their personal preferences got me wondering once again about whether MMO gamers have been influenced by games like World of Warcraft and Star Wars: The Old Republic when it comes to acceptance of modding. As recently as last November, when SOE outlawed all mods in PlanetSide 2 -- including benign mods that enhanced graphics and FPS -- our commenters seemed split over whether mods were a good thing. One, who specifically singled out Diablo III and Guild Wars 2 as key offenders, argued that developers' "play it how we made it because we know best" attitude stifles player freedom. Another wrote that on the contrary, Guild Wars 2's anti-mod approach was the right one; he liked that everyone is made to play with the same interface because "the fact [that] you almost need different UIs and addons for endgame in WoW" is a turn off. So let's take this topic's current temperature: Do you like moddable MMORPGs? Why or why not? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Torchlight 2 in-house dev tool 'GUTS' released
Runic Games has released a consumer version of the internal development tools it used to build Torchlight 2. Dubbed "GUTS," the suite of tools allows the user to change everything "from item and skill balance, to level layouts, animations, quests, and much more," according to the game's official blog.Mods created with GUTS can be shared online and also support multiplayer, sessions for which can be found in a separate "modded games lobby." The tool also includes a utility to help convert pre-existing mods into the new GUTS format.As part of the GUTS addition, Torchlight 2 now features full Steam Workshop integration, allowing users to subscribe to (and subsequently receive automatic updates for) the mods they're particularly fond of. The full GUTS wiki can be found here, along with instructions for its installation.
Laying the groundwork for Galcon 2
Developer Phil Hassey kicked off our meeting at last week's GDC by showing me a necklace and a fridge magnet set both based on his oft-remade game Galcon, just two of the different rewards in the Kickstarter that recently raised him over $25,000 for development. Hassey has remade Galcon quite a few times during his years of development (including for a few popular iOS versions), but Galcon 2 promises to be his biggest work yet. Not only will it bring multiplayer to the title, but Hassey has a whole bunch of wild ideas about how far the gameplay can go. The basic idea of Galcon is that you have a series of planets on your screen, and you can drag your finger from one to another to send ships to attack. Make sure you control more ships on that planet than anyone else, and you own it, with the eventual goal being to take over the whole screen. But that simple gameplay has spun off into dozens of variations for Hassey. Armed with his Kickstarter money (not to mention the extremely dedicated fanbase that comes along with a successful Kickstarter), Hassey has turned Galcon into an engine, essentially. He's created a mod system that allows anyone with the tools to dive in and tweak the Galcon ruleset as they see fit, and this has brought about lots and lots of interesting new twists on the old Galcon gameplay. For one thing, Hassey was able to remake all of the previous Galcon modes with his mod tools as mods, so all of the different modes from Galcon Fusion (including Stealth, where ships can be invisible, and Assassin, where a round of different players each needs to take out just one other target at a time) are already ready to go for Galcon 2. Plus, he's passed off the mod tools to his alpha testers, and they've made some really incredible stuff already, including a map of Earth you can play Galcon on (by sending ships around to different cities), and other ideas like dual Galcon (where two players can play on the same screen), and a turn-based variant. All of these mods are already up and running, and while Hassey hasn't optomized any of it, he and his community have basically built an infinite Galcon machine. When the game finally does come out on iOS, Hassey will be able to take the best of both his and users' mods, and update the game with them as he sees fit, which means he'll have an endlessly replayable, ever-evolving Galcon title. Currently, the graphics on the game are fairly basic, with simple shapes for ships and planets alike. But Hassey's also working on making those look better -- the fridge magnets, in fact, are the first colorful signs that planets will each have their own colors, renders and flavors. Hassey says he plans to work more on getting the world of the game to look just as impressive as the mechanics running behind it already are. And then, says Hassey, he has even bigger plans. He told me that he envisions not just a multiplayer game, but essentially a Galcon universe, with a galaxy of stars in various clusters, each of which makes up a multiplayer Galcon map. Guild functionality is already something he's working on, so the idea is that players could form up in clans, and then battle across this virtual map, earning victory points to conquer stars in each constellation. In this game, players could have different classes (with different abilities like invisible ships or faster moves), and would have to work together to try and take over the whole galaxy together. It's a wild idea, but Hassey says he's never been more excited about development. Working with the Kickstarter community has given him no shortage of excitement and creativity, and the sky is the limit on what this game could eventually become. It's hard to say when we'll see the "final" version of Galcon 2, but maybe there doesn't need to be one. Hassey says he's released seven different beta builds since January, and that's the current plan for the game going forward: just to keep feeding his Kickstarter backers new game content and see what they do with it. Whenever the game does officially arrive, it's sure to be very impressive indeed.
Modding tools released for Torchlight II
If you're a Torchlight II fan, you've got GUTS now. As does the rest of the community. The game's latest patch doesn't just add new armor sets, pets, and tilesets, it also adds the game's primary modding tool known as GUTS. And this isn't just a halfhearted implementation, as the modding functionality extends through the game to the very core. Playing the game through Steam? It's integrated through Steam Workshop. Want to play a multiplayer game with your favorite mod? There's full multiplayer support and the ability to see which mods are enabled in a given game. Want to start modding but have no idea where to start? There's a whole wiki filled with documentation on how to get started. Don't own the game but love the idea of modding a multiplayer game? That's cool, too. The game is on sale until April 8th for $9.99 to celebrate the release of the modding tools. So if this sort of thing tickles your fancy, you've got almost no reason not to check it out.
Six cool upgrades for an old iPod
If you have an old iPod kicking around, TechHive has some ideas that'll help you breathe some new life into these vintage devices. Each upgrade mentioned in the post are warranty-voiders, but that doesn't matter anymore because the devices are so old. The lists of mods include changing the backlit LED, swapping out the drive and installing the Rockbox firmware. You can check out the full list on TechHive's website. If you have some mods of your own, please share them in the comments.
DayZ's zombies are getting smarter -- and hungrier
Let us ask you a serious question: Do you like to read your dev blogs or watch them? Thanks to the Bohemia Interactive team, you can do both today! The devs have posted an article covering DayZ standalone's progress as well as a 21-minute video highlighting game footage. The team's been focusing on the inventory system, a non-traditional crafting system, zombie pathfinding, security improvements, a more complex health system, map expansion, and more sensible loot. Lead Developer Rocket urges patience as the team works to complete the standalone version: "We know that you want it released, and we know you want to know when this will be -- but we're 100% committed to making this a great game, and that means we are making sure to do things properly." You can watch the full dev diary video after the jump.
Get your mod on by watching Defiance's weapons trailer
Normally the emphasis on customization in MMOs is on the characters. However, Defiance may tempt you to focus more on that high-powered weapon you're toting around. Trion Worlds has just released a new video spotlighting the weapon modification system in its upcoming MMO shooter. While the trailer is more flash than detailed substance, you can see how weapons change in both form and function with the aids of mods. Trion boasts "thousands of options" in Defiance's arsenal. Watch the video after the jump, check out our hands-on with the title, and let us know if this looks to be up your alley!
DayZ now on Steam, Hall goes behind the scenes for new mocap
It's time for another DayZ dev blog, and this time the camera follows mod guru Dean "Rocket" Hall as he goes behind the scenes at Bohemia Interactive's motion capture facility. The occasion is an excuse to talk up the new zombie animations in store for the mod, and Hall himself even gets into act, donning a mocap suit and stutter-stepping across a greenscreen stage environment. DayZ is now available directly through Steam, provided you have Arma 2: Combined Operations installed already. Click past the cut for the full video blog.
DayZ mod for Arma 2 comes to Steam
Getting your DayZ on just got a little bit easier, as the popular zombie mod for Arma 2 is now available directly through Steam, making installation much easier. So long as you have Arma 2: Combine Operations installed, you can install the mod from within Steam itself, without the need for an extra program like DayZ Commander or the official installer.Be warned, the simple install will be the last part of DayZ that you will ever be able to consider "easy."[Thanks, Chris]
