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Speaking With the Devs Behind a 7-Year Game Mod Project

Gamasutra has an interview with members of Off Topic Productions, the team behind the recent completion of The Nameless Mod, a Deus Ex modification that was in development for seven years. They talk about how they stayed interested in such a lengthy, unpaid project, and also how their vision for the mod shifted over the years as a result of experience and feedback. "We estimate that we recreated everything we did during the first 2 or so years because we got better. The plot went through 4 revisions in the first year and was continually tweaked, expanded, and revised. Most of it also simply came about as we experimented with the game and the engine and grew familiar with what we could do — originally we were planning something even more open and free-form than we ended up with, but when we realized how fundamentally the game was built for a completely different type of structure, we reigned ourselves in and adjusted our design. ... Also, I don't know if you ever go back and read what you wrote 6-7 years ago, but in my experience that's a great way to embarrass yourself — I spent a lot of time rewriting old dialogue to be less embarrassing."

11 of 100 comments (clear)

  1. I've been working on a Duke Nukem Forever mod by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    I plan to release it seven years after it's been released, which will be in... Oh damn, Slashdot comments aren't long enough to fit in the year, but it'll be a while.

    1. Re:I've been working on a Duke Nukem Forever mod by Terminal+Saint · · Score: 4, Funny

      That's what scientific notation is for.

      --
      It's sad when choosing an installation directory on your own qualifies you as an "advanced user."
    2. Re:I've been working on a Duke Nukem Forever mod by adavies42 · · Score: 2, Funny

      how about knuth arrows?

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      Media that can be recorded and distributed can be recorded and distributed.
      -kfg
    3. Re:I've been working on a Duke Nukem Forever mod by aldo.gs · · Score: 4, Funny

      Oh boy, am I glad I didn't make that joke! :-P

  2. Maybe now that they're free... by sootman · · Score: 4, Funny

    ... they can move over to the DNF team. Though these guys might be a little fast-paced for that crew...

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  3. 7 years we've been on our own by BadAnalogyGuy · · Score: 5, Funny

    Moss grows fat on a rolling stone, but that's not how it used to be.

    Think about this. Demolition Man was released 16 years ago. As much as I liked the movie, and as much as it remains as topical and entertaining as ever, in the meantime so many other good movies were produced that to simply focus on one good movie over the years is to miss out on everything else.

    Bye bye, Miss American Pie.

  4. Re:Rein, not reign! by mrchaotica · · Score: 4, Funny

    And the rain in Spain falls mainly on the plane.

    I think you mean "plain ," unless you think Spain is covered in aircraft or woodworking tools. Hoisted by your own petard, eh?

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    "[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz

  5. Re:Rein, not reign! by Miseph · · Score: 4, Funny

    No, he just recognizes that Spain is part of a separate plane of existence from ours.

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    Try not to take me more seriously than I take myself.
  6. Re:Marathon Too by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    So it's not just a clever name?

  7. The three games I admire most by jonaskoelker · · Score: 4, Funny

    The vapor that I long for most
    The duke, the wolf*
    And the Starcraft: Ghost

    They saw their code build
    So they'd boast

    The day
    Their sche-----dule died.

    * http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/best-games-never-made1.htm - ""Werewolf: The Apocalypse" was going to be a PC game based on White Wolf's tabletop RPG [...]"

  8. Way to Go! by micromuncher · · Score: 3, Funny

    Sounds like an Agile success story.

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    /\/\icro/\/\uncher