Some mods do a great job of keeping potential players interested and curious, others start off well promoting themselves but soon realize that it takes time and effort to do properly and others just work hard behind the scenes and then suddenly release.
Each way has its merits and drawbacks and the key to the first two is doing them properly.
Personally, I think people get more frustrated when mods don’t update for months, even if they ARE working hard behind the scenes.
I have heard modders say that they need the attention to keep working hard and to be honest, if that’s what you need to work hard you have the wrong hobby.
Sure, it’s nice to get encouragement but you should still work hard if you love what you are doing.
Anyway, what are your thoughts?
I come to this with two particular mods in mind. My own.
TWHL Tower was kept under wraps for most of its development, sticking to the community site alone until a week before it was released. It has gained a decent amount of attention, but nobody was excited about it as such.
The Core on the other hand… Well, the first three screenshots were posted back in 2008. On occasion we post new media in the mod page to keep the watchers happy, but also to get feedback. We like to know that what we’re doing is going to be accepted by the followers. We don’t NEED their approval to keep going because we love what we do, but it certainly is nice to be told you’re on the right track from time to time. Besides, The Core was never meant to be in development this long anyway…
I’d say medium is the best amount of time to spend promoting a mod. The best example I can think of would be Half Rats : A Fever Dream. I think he timed his releases perfectly.
None of the above options. I think the best method is working hard until you got something presentable (and preferably near-final), then announce it on the usual places, and then keep updates coming on a regular basis while you finish it off, then release it to the masses.
Starting months or, worse, years in advance runs the risk of people losing interest or setbacks pushing the release farther into the future, making people potentially feeling betrayed or disappointed. A sudden release, on the other hand, means that, unless you got a following already, you’ll have a smaller reach upon release, and since typically in mods sites the newer releases tend to push the others into the background, your reach will be fairly limited compared to what would happen had you kept them engaged for a while.
That’s just my opinion anyway, based in part on my own experience and mistakes with promoting my fan creations (some of which have been blown out of proportion, or even completely made up in some rare cases, but ultimately all giving me a bad rep as a self-promoter).
I’m going to echo Mythos, because I prefer to see mods when they’re ready – like any game. “Oh yay that guy whose maps I like is doing another one!” that’s terrific, but I don’t really need ANY form of “here is this week’s progress reports” because it’s honestly none of my business.
Unless I’m working on a playtest for them, I don’t need to see any hint that a mod is coming out, period, until it’s dropped. I like to see that people I enjoy are working on something, but I need no info about it specifically.
Not really into getting hype here. I’ve seen loads on loads of failed moddb projects, some of which looked like it was totally complete too. I’d prefer if a release just appears like BOOM surprise! You know. Remember transmission 120? I think that guy just posted his release on all the source-based websites and then everyone was all over it and he got a job offer from that. I think Half rats was not far from being done when he posted that on moddb, as he was seeking help on TWHL way before that post. So personally I’d prefer a release that just appears or that appears very soon after the post.
I’ve eagerly followed (Black Mesa) and have eagerly been following multiple upcoming releases, including The Core, The Closure and others.
I know and understand the time it takes to make a mod, since I know how long it takes to make other long term multimedia projects.
During those projects we would release updates every few months. And closer to release teasers and trailers.
It’s all based around managing expectations, and I think mods like The Core who have a much longer build time than a film (for the most part) are doing it just right.
Hmm, maybe a modder considers themselves as an artist, maybe like an actor..it’s only really an appreciative audience that keeps one doing it. Having said that, I really appreciate at least getting regular updates on any project I’m waiting for to be released.
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