Now that's how you make an impression

Baron Flame

Edit: I know that it's rather common knowledge that making mods is a good way to be noticed. My interest in this news is purely based on how the mentioned person approached the overall project and paid attention to some of the things that are mostly ignored or paid less attention to.

It's definitely not the first of it's kind and I don't know if has been shared already but I reckon it deserves a mention here.

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/196520/The_Skyrim_mod_thats_also_a_job_application.php

Bibendum

This isn't that rare, Bethesda has hired modders before. It used to be one of the better ways to get into the industry when there weren't free game engines and the easiest way to get hands on experience with game development was to make a mod.

Baron Flame

Bibendum wrote: »

This isn't that rare, Bethesda has hired modders before. It used to be one of the better ways to get into the industry when there weren't free game engines and the easiest way to get hands on experience with game development was to make a mod.

I know that it's not uncommon. What stood out for me was that way he handled other aspects of the project, specially the score and the voice acting.

Bibendum

Sure, managing any large project and actually delivering it is always an impressive feat, especially on a mod where people aren't being paid to deliver.

My response was to your "why didn't I think of that" comment

Baron Flame

Bibendum wrote: »

My response was to your "why didn't I think of that" comment

That was just me being me. xD

almighty_gir

there are some mods which ended up being pretty high profile games in the end, enemy territory - wolfenstein, counter strike, natural selection etc.

Baron Flame

almighty_gir wrote: »

there are some mods which ended up being pretty high profile games in the end, enemy territory - wolfenstein, counter strike, natural selection etc.

What, really ? 0_o

almighty_gir

i could be mistaken, but Splash Damage started out as a mod team that made a map for Return to Castle Wolfenstein, it was so good ID asked them to make 3 more maps for the GOTY edition. and went on to develop it further into Enemy Territory: Wolfenstein?

Counter Strike started out as a mod, and by version 3 or 4 Valve started assisting in the development of it, and eventually took over/bought it.

nowadays it's more difficult for stories like this to happen, because EULA's more often than not state that any modification of the software becomes the property of the developer/publisher, quite probably due to these earlier successes. kind of a dick move... the other reason why it happens less is because of kit boxes like UDK and Unity, with teams being able to just make their own stuff without modding an original title.

[HP]

Well I did the exact same thing when I was a teen, and I would bet many of us here did the same and lots of our co-workers too.
This is not as breaking news as gamasutra makes it to be and that really shows how it lacks general awareness on how this industry works.

igi

Mod to successful games are not a new thing but looks like it's now a more rare case nowadays.In the past some people could be hired by just for making maps for some fps games.Can't say it can be happen in same frequency today.
Standalone development tools urges people to develop their own 'title' and somewhat giving most of them a delusional being pro attitude.This decreases the success rates comparing to total conversions era imo. Also new games lacking modding tools that could be another reason.

almighty_gir

igi wrote: »

Mod to successful games are not a new thing but looks like it's now a more rare case nowadays.In the past some people could be hired by just for making maps for some fps games.

can't think of many FPS games where you can actually make maps now.

Baron Flame

[HP] wrote: »

Well I did the exact same thing when I was a teen, and I would bet many of us here did the same and lots of our co-workers too.
This is not as breaking news as gamasutra makes it to be and that really shows how it lacks general awareness on how this industry works.

I know that it's rather common knowledge that making mods is a good way to be noticed. My interest in this news is purely based on how the mentioned person approached the overall project and paid attention to some of the things that are mostly ignored or paid less attention to. He was rather resourceful in the way he did it and that pretty much was what impressed me.

Brygelsmack

[HP] wrote: »

Well I did the exact same thing when I was a teen, and I would bet many of us here did the same and lots of our co-workers too.
This is not as breaking news as gamasutra makes it to be and that really shows how it lacks general awareness on how this industry works.

Yeah, wasn't Vulcano part of your job application for Crytek? Or am I mixing things up?

Anyway, what this kid has accomplished is pretty nice, but this quote stands out to me:

although he hasn't yet heard anything as-of-yet regarding a possible job following Falskaar development wrap-up

Is he really that self-righteous to wait for Bethesda to contact him? Kind of a red flag if you ask me. It's like he expects to get a job just because he made a mod and because he's being praised by gamers who have no idea what it takes to be in the industry.

IchII3D

Brygelsmack wrote: »

Is he really that self-righteous to wait for Bethesda to contact him? Kind of a red flag if you ask me. It's like he expects to get a job just because he made a mod and because he's being praised by gamers who have no idea what it takes to be in the industry.

It does say 'he' instead of 'I' and I'm assuming that was in response to a question.

chrisradsby

The Falskaar world-map looks funky. ^^ Especially when gamers say that it's visually on-par with Official DLC.

But yeah, managing a big project like this is impressive indeed. Now if he had all new custom content THEN I would be super-impressed. Maybe he should join an indie team or a total conversion mod-team instead. They're are usually more impressive in my eyes =P

passerby

i wish i had rent, and food covered so i could just work on portfolio and code all day every day

TheWildHunt

World map reminds me of a mod project I did some models for back in 2008 or so, "Sheogoraths Otherworld" for TES:Iv Oblivion. It was a huge mod with a wonderful backstory, unfortunately, the graphical fidelity of the mod suffered greatly due to its author being more or less strictly a programmer.