Please don’t vote until you have read the whole of this post. The reason is that the question itself needs some clarification.
Would you prefer a new game or a new mod for you favorite game to be released every month?
First of all I need to clarifiy exactly what you are getting each month. If it was a mod then it was a mod of substantial quality. Something like Coastline to Atmosphere for Half-Life 2. It would always be a single player mod and be for your favorite game, not just Half-Life 2.
Now for the game. It certainly wouldn’t be a triple A blockbuster like Bioshock or Half-Life 2. To ensure a certain standard let’s say that it would be as a good as most SP FPS games released in the last few years. Each game would introduce a completely new storyline, weapons, enemies and environments.
Well now that’s been cleared up, I suppose I can answer.
No, I would not like that to happen.
I feel that what makes mods, mods is that they appear at any given time, and that the quality of them varies, until you find one little gem that is exceptional.
I like the fact that mods could be released at any time, but a decent one might not be created for 2 years after the previous decent one.
You take away the vary in quality and the timeframe in which each is released, it becomes boring, along with the game they were created from.
That’s what makes proffesionally marketed games fun. If every one was made different but had the same quality, the ideas would run dry, and you wouldn’t have extremely well made games such as (examples in the question description) Bioshock or Half-life 2 stick in your mind.
So really, I can’t vote as I’d rather not have this scenario done to either.
This I have to agree with. It’s like going through a huge pile of old stuff, until you finally dig up something you really like and thats also something I tend to enjoy when browsing through maps/mods, especially for HL1.
Well, preferably a new mod because it is free and is of equal quality of many regular FPS shooters. See School: Source, Ravenholm and Nightmare house for example.
The poll picture looks interesting, but nothing like the later mentioned Coastline to Atmosphere mod or anything half-life 2 at all to me.
Perhaps anyone recognizes it and could tell me the name of the game?
Operation Matriarchy.
I still have to post some images that were sent to me regarding this game. I chose the image for the post and poll background because the game has been under discussion this week and seemed a perfect example of a new game.
I had to vote mod because 1 it’s free and 2 the good ones like CtoA take just as long to play as the game ie:episode 1(which I really consider a mod but had to pay for it)
From the very first time I played Half Life back in 1998 it was obvious that the HL Universe was somewhere special. Over the last 9 years, the community that has grown up around the games has expanded the story and filled out the lives of all the characters and created something immense. The HL series are far and away my favourite games and I love it when a new map or mod is released so I can dive back into the world of Gordon.
I would much rather there was a high quality mod released every month so you could find out what Barney got up to while the G-Man had you in stasis or how the Vorts teamed up with the humans than a brand new game where you had to develop a whole new relationship with a new bunch of characters. I don’t think I would be willing to invest my time in such an endeavour every month. (And the cost would be prohibitive too)
That doesn’t sound like a mod, but more like, Half-life 1.5 : What Happened Next?
I know what you mean though, I would like to see what happened in between the games.
The time is right for an FPS type game in the mould of “World of Warcraft’, no? An FPS universe would be fun, no?
I’m fine just playing decent quality mods every week. I’ve only owned Half Life and Orange box for about a year now and I’m catching up on the past 10 years of modding.
Also, how did I not hear about Coastlines to Atmospherea already? Maybe I did but was too busy with other mods to pursue it.