Rock, Paper, Shotgun

06/01/2009 at 18:22 Heliocentric says:

I never account single player mods because they are so quickly finished, was Minerva last year?

My most anticipated mod is a UT3 stealth action thingy.
http://community.projectstealthgame.com/

I promise if I’m ever involved in a mod i wont put “project” in the title.

06/01/2009 at 19:25 JonFitt says:

Age of Chivalry and Zombie Panic were the only mods I played last year. Don’t know if they count as I think they’re well established, it was just that Steam started hosting them.

I think the golden age of the mod may be behind us. The complexities of modern shooters in just in the mapping alone means that a total conversion is a mammoth project and I don’t think we’ll see many mods getting to half-polished states.

06/01/2009 at 19:28 Tei says:

list of indies on moddb

06/01/2009 at 19:32 Vision says:

Guys, vote for NS http://www.moddb.com/mods/natural-selection

I’ve been playing this since version 1.04, and it’s still the only online fps worth playing. After you touch ns, all other games will feel like rubbish.

06/01/2009 at 19:39 caramelcarrot says:

As fantastic as NS is (been playing since the start), it seems a bit odd to vote for a mod that hasn’t been updated since 2007 (I think?).

06/01/2009 at 20:06 Ryan says:

There seems to be some confusion with mods/indies that can be nominated. Here’s a snippet from the rules:

“Any mod / indie game can make the top 100 except
for mods / indie games released in previous years which
have not released a significant update in 2008.”

06/01/2009 at 20:18 Henley says:

Hey Jim thanks for the article on our awards, this years players choice has had record numbers and editors choice will be even bigger and better! So keep watching ModDB for more info on the awards. Thanks again RPS!

06/01/2009 at 21:23 Dreamhacker says:

Oh man, I really, passionately, deeply HATE moddb’s site. Damn, that site is badly designed!

Oh, and the MOTY-2008 awards aren’t done yet…

06/01/2009 at 21:30 porc-épic says:

http://www.hamandjam.org/

Not currently released, although I think they have an award for best unreleased mod, it isnt very well know but it certainly deserves to get into the top 100 mods at least,

06/01/2009 at 22:04 Lewis says:

Time for a plug, methinks:

http://www.moddb.com/mods/neptune

Half-Life 2 single-player TC, with shades of System Shock 2 and BioShock. Set on a cruise ship. At night. At the end of the war.

06/01/2009 at 23:45 Bema says:

I’m fairly sure Black Mesa can’t win the Upcoming Mod award this year, because they won it last year. ModDB have a “Can’t win the same category two years in a row” rule. Don’t belive there is another category they can enter.

07/01/2009 at 01:16 Ryan says:

For those who are looking, there’s some nice spotlight videos we offer that showcase the bulk of worthwhile releases each month: http://tinyurl.com/9suxnm

07/01/2009 at 02:41 Pete says:

Oh and just in case I managed to inspre anyone to give Warsow a go, please bear in mind that the gameplay varies a lot depending on gametype: you probably won’t have much fun jumping straight into a Duel, while CA or DA would probably be the best introduction as you don’t have to worry about armour and weapon pickups (or Instagib, if that’s your cup of tea).

07/01/2009 at 05:24 Trithemius says:

Heliocentric says: I never account single player mods because they are so quickly finished, was Minerva last year?

What about things like Europa Barbarorum for RTW? It’s been around for a while now, but this sort of modding for a strategy game can be quite comprehensive and provide a lot of playing-time.

07/01/2009 at 13:09 The Hammer says:

Good point about the amount of time you can get out of strategy game mods, Trithemius.

I was a huge fan of the Lord of the Rings: Total War mod, which I used to play even before the patch that included a proper playable campaign, too. Presentation-wise, it wasn’t the best, but it was an enormous and ambitious feat, considering it was a total conversion of a game with notoriously bad mod support, and the amount of models, skins and other aesthetic changes it made was quite something to see. There were a few things that were implemented that didn’t fit at all (Flying units, such as the Nazgul, Frodo and Sam’s appearance on the campaign map…), and a few things that were fatally missing (No custom buildings meant that Helm’s Deep was a Gaul City), but for field battles with the backbone units of LOTR armies, it was lovely. Not boxed-copy quality, but getting there.

It’s just a shame it hasn’t been updated since 2007…

07/01/2009 at 16:16 Bema says:

Rook: I thought the fairly obvious winner would be Fallout 3

lol?!

07/01/2009 at 22:44 Pete says:

@Smeghammer

Unfortunately (in the context of Warsow, that is) I’m in Australia, so if I ever do see you in-game one of us will probably have about 500 ping to contend with :)

(Since I first started playing, the Australian Warsow community has always seemed to be one step away from dying, as people move on to other shooters (Quake Live, for one) or simply disappear. The fact that there are effectively three ‘tiers’ of gametype, often with very little player overlap — we have duelers, DA/CA players, and instagibbers — doesn’t help. But somehow it’s stayed popular enough that while the servers are often empty, it’s usually possible to attract a few opponents just by joining one.)

And I agree with you up to a point on the learning curve, though I do think people overstate it sometimes. It’s true that any new player without Quake (/UT/etc.) experience will get absolutely destroyed in their first few games, and that someone who is used to CS-style shooters will be overwhelmed at first. But I really don’t think it’s that hard to get the hang of, for people who are interested enough that they don’t mind practicing a bit.

I’m not sure that I would have coped had I started before New Movement was introduced, or if each jump had to be precisely timed, but given that a newcomer can gain speed just by holding down the forward key and pressing and holding jump while in the air — only later worrying about strafe-jumping, rocketjumps, etc. — I reckon it can actually be a pretty gradual learning curve if tackled one step at a time.

My deathmatch background was some enthusiastic but highly nooby Quake III and UT2kx (in both cases, almost exclusively against bots and equally nooby friends, and using no advanced movement), and a bit of mostly low-grav HL2DM, so I’m certainly not some sort of skilful old-schooler. Warsow did take me a while to pick up, and I’m still terrible compared to the really good players, but I found the learning process pretty enjoyable and I’m now good enough to hold my own (and have a huge amount of fun) playing DA and CA. Still get destroyed by decent Duelers, but I prefer the “pure combat” feel of the item-free gametypes anyway.

Anyway, apologies to anyone who tried to read that rambling wall-o’-text! Basically what I’m saying is that I really like Warsow, and I reckon it’s actually pretty accessible — especially if there are a few friendly players in your region to set you off in the right direction.

08/01/2009 at 14:19 Smeghammer says:

@Pete

The North American warsow scene sounds pretty much identical to the Aussie one. There’s only one CA server that is consistantly populated. The rest of the gametypes are mostly a crapshoot as to whether the server will populate or not.

As far as the new/old movement debate goes. I use both, but think that old movement is easier once you know both systems. For new people joining the game, I usually ask them if they’ve played Quake 3 or Painkiller. For the quake players, I tell them to use Old movement, and for the painkiller folks, new. New movement has superior air control and forward bunny acel, good for constant speed, and quick corners. Old movement is far easier to gain speed with because of its superior strafing acceleration. There’s only one reason to ever let go of your forward button in old movement, and that’s for the quick 180 degree dash turns. When new movement was introduced, I had alot of difficulty trying to rocket jump until I realized that you had to actually let go of that forward button. Now that I have that down, I can easily switch between the two, and I do depending on the gametype i’m playing.

What warsow really needs (and judging from the .5 beta we won’t get anytime soon) is one unified movement system. As it stands, old movement is better for CA/DA/Race, and new movement is better for DM/DUEL. I can only imagine the bitching on the forums if one or the other was removed.

But, enough talk, give warsow a go.