Modding, the child of Game design

Modifying game content, and making your own game on the base of an existing game, that’s an easy introduction into game design. Especially a Total Conversion mod, that completely replaces all original game content by new one. But modding can start very small, changing the color of an imagine in a game is also called modding, but today I want to speak about creating new games on base of an existing game.

I started the real game design modding with 16.  At this time I tried myself with several other talented guys on a Startrek Mod for GalCiv 2. Aim was the total replacement of GalCiv 2 stuff through Startrek stuff. The project went into other hands some month later and just a couple of months later I started the X3 Mod for GalCiv 2.

Today i’m 19 and this Mod is nearly finish. Over the past 2 Years I replaced the content of GalCiv 2 with X3 stuff, some models, movies and text extracted of X3 and much selfmade content. When you see the mod now and compare it with the vanilla game, you would think it’s a new game. And that’s what I am aiming on, creating a new game. I have too less skills to make a game on my own, I can’t program, nor can I texture modells very well. But I have several skills in graphic design, text and I am very creative in creating new features and problem solving. GalCiv 2 gave me the chance, to use this skills and make my own game, through the huge modability.
Modding makes fun, as it doesn’t need that much skills as making complete new games from stock. I’m not playing any computergames anymore for fun, I might play them to get ideas for mods but thats all, you would call me sick now but I have more fun on modding then on playing. Getting new ideas makes me feel good, and creating new game stuff even better.

I Invite you all to start modding, it’s easy and can make fun, maybe you also like it sometimes that much as me. If you need help on modding or want to create a mod team, I-Mod Productions, the Modding Community I’m the head of can help you. It’s our job and will to take modding to the next level.

I think modding has so much potential, you have one basic game and with this game structure you can create uncountable new games on it. As far as companies allow you to use there stuff for modding it’s fun. I think modding is the future, and stardock prepared for it. Good game structures last, and mods can be made years after it, so they won’t be forget.

What are your experiences and oppinions about modding?

let me hear

X3GC2 - Rise of the Gerandor Republic Mod for Twilight of the Arnor

Hi everybody,

the Rise of the Gerandor Republic Mod for GC2 Twilight of the Arnor comes closer.

It is a Total conversion of the Game X3 Reunion, and is thought to let you play the X universe from another perspective, from a Leader of a race.

This Mod is what you really understand as a Total conversion, it completely replaces GalCiv 2 with X3, adding a lot of new features and story to the game.

After a long pause, we are very close to bring this mod out as a beta.

This will be a big Mod with lots of new ships, video material and the best, impressive Weapon effects you ever have seen in a Galciv2 Mod =o)

The whole X-Universe in GalCiv 2 !

Screens:

more Screens in the Gallery


www.i-mod-productions.com

The Manager: Current status

Hi all there!

I wanted to give you a little statement whats going on with the Manager: The Basic functions are implemented and fully working. I will implement some advanced and account specific functionality now and let Stefan have some fun with giving the Manager a specific Design, after that I will grab one or two of you guys and have a short (planning max 1 week) Beta, after that there will be the 1.0 release.

There won’t be too much functionality in the 1.0, if you need more just tell me, YOU decide what’s in the next Version. This is a tool the community shall be able to do good work with, so the Community decides what is needed.

For the ones who can not wait, here is the most important stuff to do before the 1.0:

  • Registration function for accounts
  • Registration function for teams
  • Some “forgot password” stuff
  • Change password/E-Mai etc.
  • Redesigning the interface
  • Multilanguage support

There will be offline-functionality in a later version (via XML), but this will be a bit later, when the first feature requests have been build in.

Oh, and be sure that your passwords won’t be hacked, even if they get into the database, the password is hashed with SHA512, so it is impossible to rebuild it. You enter your password, the program hashes it and compares the resulting hash with the one in the Database.

I’m waiting for your comments, hoping that there are some posts that can help me to make it a good tool for you :-)

Cronk aka Lukas

I-Mod /DevBlog Grand Reopening!

Hi Guys!

I am very happy to announce, that the DevBlog is dead, long lives the DevBlog!
As you see, we have a new theme and everyone can register and post from now on!
(If you just registered, you can only make Drafts, which will be checked by an Admin and if they are free of Spam or other annoying stuff, they will be unlocked and your account will be updated to “author” so you can make drafts AND publish them by yourself!)

Happy Blogging!

The Mod Metaverse

Many of you will I’m sure have heard of the GalCiv2 Metaverse. It is a web-based system that lets players upload games and compare and compete against others. Well, for a long time Mods were not allowed on the official Metaverse.

Not any more. The unofficial Mod Metaverse, which I will soon release into a public beta, allows players to manually upload games played with mods and have them scored. It utilises a new feature added in DA 1.8 that produces an XML file at the end of every game. This is the file that is uploaded to the MMV.

So long, and happy modding!

New Tool: I Mod Manager

Hi I Modders and developers out there!

A few days ago I started my work on a new tool: The I Mod Manager.

The manager is a tool for developers or modding team to easily manage their work even in uge teams. OK, let’s give you a short overview what it does: Firstly you log into your account. Then the manager will read out the teams you joined from the I Mod server and let you choose out of these teams which workplan you want to get. Now the interesting part starts: You get a whole ToDo-List for yourself and the Team displayed and can for example tell that you did a job or (as teamleader) assign jobs to other members of the team which will be displayed in their ToDo’s. Of course this is a very simple description and the ModMan will be able to do much more but this is the basic mainfeature.

Now I need you. Tell me what features you want to have implemented and I’ll see what I can do for you.

For interesteds:

The Programm is written in C++, currently containing 982 Lines of Code at a compiled size of 331.776 Bytes plus Accountdatabase (currently in development). It uses .NET-Framework 3.0 and is currently only tested under WinXP, Vista, which I hate, shouldn’t be a problem anyway. For questions just comment this.

P.S.: I get you some Screenshots soon ;-)

I-Mod Rising

Hi there, this week is another Checkpoint in the Life of I-Mod, the german PC magazine Gamestar has made an article about us, and in 2 weeks, invited us to a podcast.

As this is not enough, we also got a 2nd german PC magazine, PC Games, to make an interview about us, which will be published on sunday.

The next days will be very exciting, we will buy a server which heavily increases our Capacity. Then we will be able, to give each Mod Team a ftp directory up to 3 GB for free!

With Tension, we await the release of Twilight of the Arnor, the first Game we worked on as whole Team, its a great honor for us, and a huge jump into game industry!

I-Mod is Rising!

The Team - Yesterday and Tomorrow

If I look backward to the establishment of our Team and to the work we did at the beginning, compared with I-Mod today, I am proud of us and our development so far.

We started in autumn 2006 as the 3-man “X3->GC2 Modteam” (Stefan, our old Admin Christian and me) shortly after that, Stefan and me talked for the first time about founding a mod-team, shortly after that “I-Mod Productions” (for all who wanna know it: ‘I-Mod’ stands for “Intelligent Modding”) was born, with first only one admin and two directors, but it existed. :D I closed my own modding-team “Modfabrik” and integrated my former member Dennis aka. “Catman” (as creative-artist) into it. Isochronal, Stefan hired Torben (as programmer) and Marcel aka. “Crux” (as story-writer).
In december Lukas aka. “Cronk” joined us (as modeler).

On the 1st of january 2007 at 0:00h I-Mod Productions was officially founded with own domain as the modder- and modding-network it is known today.

We worked hard together and got very far with “Rise of the Gerandor Republic” the former X3GC2-Mod and then it happened…

Christian had to leave us, causing on a new job he found. So we hadn’t got a platform anymore. But like the phoenix out of the ashes, I-Mod rised, with help of Torben and his workplace “Globe-Network” to that what we are today.
Soon after our “rebirth”, we gained a pro programmer and a pro-texturer and modeler: Marcus aka “Mr.Korx” and Oleg aka. “Refar” joined us.

So we started faster and stronger as ever before and all our prayers became heared; Stardock engaged us for their next GC2-Addon.

After all that, I only can say that I am extraordinary proud of Stefan, Torben, Marcel, Dennis, Lukas, Marcus and Oleg and a little bit of myself too, that we came so far yet.

-Sven aka. Immo

Galactic Civilizations II : Twilight of the Arnor

Working on your favorite PC game … well thats many people dream.

For us, this dream become true and we will work on Stardocks new Addon for the Game Galactic Civilizations II.

Our Job is to create some stuff like new weapon-systems (also the Terrorstarbeam) , Events, Anomalies and several Models.

As skilled Galciv 2 Modders, we want to enhance the Addon by the Ideas and stuff we developed while modding it.

We also will create a Bonus stuff Mod which will add solutions for Carriers, Energy Reactors and much more!

After this Addon, we will continue our X3 Mod with many more Features based on the new possibilities of the Galciv 2 : TotA Addon!

This week, we started an unofficial advertising campaign in Germany to increase Stardock Games publicity.

I-Mod’s Career starts now!

Today’s Fight: Murphy’s Law vs. Modern World

Hi there!

The modern world is a coloured world, full of nice impressions and fast, very fast, sometimes too fast for the human brain. Computers made life easier and faster, so we became part for part more addicted to the technology we made.

But what can you do, when a Server e.g. this one from your webhoster is down?
Nothing but pray and wait.

Today I wanted to finish the rebuild of my Homepage, I started the PC, opened Firefox an what must I see? Murphy is back! The Server of my Webhoster was down…

So I sat in front of my monitor praying and cursing, hoping the Server is soon back online.

Is there a big plan behind? Post in the comments!

So i wish you a nice and murphyfree day!

-Sven