How Not to Start a Mod

by eihrul on 10/06/2007 17:12, 51 messages, last message: 07/25/2008 18:13, 36743 views, last view: 04/25/2024 09:33

Okay, since this is coming up a lot lately, here is how to fail spectacularly with any particular mod'ing idea:

Premises:
1) propose starry-eyed idea
2) ask for significant help to start the project

Conclusion:
3) always fail

The reality is of any volunteer project is: if the people you want to help are significantly more skilled than you, or just significantly skilled, they will be more likely to work on their own projects than bother at all helping you.

Why is this? IDEAS ARE CHEAP. EVERYONE HAS COOL IDEAS. But very few people have the skill to follow through with them. When they do, they're usually not very altruistic about using them for the good of someone else.

Leadership skills matter not for starting something. People won't take marching orders from someone they perceive as less skilled. Leadership only matters in the end game, when you have a lot of stuff to manage.

So what does this mean for someone wishing to start a mod or just volunteer project in general (one might say any non-commercial project, particularly open source ones)? It means: YOU MUST BE WILLING TO DO THE MAJORITY OF THE WORK BY YOURSELF.

And when the critical mass of your project makes coming across it by accident via word-of-mouth unavoidable, then you'll start to get... a few, but very limited number of somewhat skilled people proposing to help. Very rarely, you might even get one or two skilled people.

So the breakdown (keeping in mind most statistics are made up on the spot):

Of your users, a very small amount will express interest in helping.
Of those, a smaller amount will actually TRY to help you.
Of those, a much smaller amount will be CAPABLE of doing what they're trying.
Of those, a much smaller amount will be capable of doing what they're trying to do WELL.

Scale all these on something of a low exponential curve. The bigger and more prestigious your project is the more the ratios will grow.

Long story short: unless it is the Linux kernel, any given volunteer project will pretty much only be successful if it's the work of but one, or at most a handful of people.

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#12: Best way to start a project

by SanHolo on 10/08/2007 21:00

Best way is showing off an impressive beta-5 of a project and then ask people to come and help. ;-)

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#13: ..

by Julius on 10/08/2007 22:32

Just wait for my beta-5 ! (current status alpha 0.01 :p).

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#14: Re: ..

by SanHolo on 10/09/2007 00:09, refers to #13

Oh great, I wanna join!!

=D =D ;-D

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#15: ..

by Gilt on 10/09/2007 03:16

Mappers always seem to be able to complete projects that rely on textures, models, sounds, music, game mechanics; high quality assets that are created by talented individuals other then themselves.

Not really sure how they can manage to organize that, while would-be game designers can't.

Also not really sure why some people gravitate towards applying corporate-style monolithic development practices to homegrown hobby projects.

Anyway, my advice is to keep ones project focused. Understand what is important to your idea and what is not; be absolutely ruthless in cutting out things which are not important.

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#16: ..

by Acord on 10/09/2007 03:48

I'm writing a guide. Estimated finish date: Done when it's done. I'll start writing the sections in tandem with my own work.

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#17: Re: ..

by SheeEttin on 10/09/2007 21:00, refers to #16

On modding?

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#18: Re: yes

by Passa on 10/12/2007 13:37, refers to #8

Post of the century. That is some brilliant advice that I think applies to much more than just Sauerbraten mods.

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#19: Re: yes

by Drakas on 10/12/2007 16:18, refers to #18

It would in fact apply to anything :)

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#20: ..

by geartrooper^2 on 10/12/2007 18:18

everything except bad ideas.

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#21: Re: ..

by SanHolo on 10/13/2007 00:18, refers to #20

...and except for sex.

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#22: Re: ..

by SheeEttin on 10/13/2007 01:50, refers to #21

Be prepared to do all the work yourself? o_O

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#23: Re: ..

by Quin on 10/13/2007 03:11, refers to #22

Indeed, *all* of it.

Even if you do manage to attract help, people are often unreliable. Not only will this methodology keep you sane, it will make sure you have a grasp on everything to do with your project and stop false hope destroying your vision.

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#24: ..

by Acord on 10/13/2007 04:53

...And if your lucky enough to attract good help, then maybe you can add some of your wishlist back in and come up with some new stuff besides.

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#25: ..

by blikje bier on 10/13/2007 12:39

"Prepare yourself or prepare to be forgotten."

The first hurdle is to present your ideas, if you do that right than you might intrest others in participating in your mod/project.

My opinion is that it is not nessecary to do everything yourself, although it would help big time.

Furthermore, start acting a bit like a manager, when people want to participate, ask them about their work, do they have some kind of portfolio, this goes for all disciplines, design, art-work, programming, music, levelmaking.

Nothing is a frustating as people who are not up to job afterall, you could have wasted huge amounts of time when it finally comes out that you are on a dead-end, it could well kill the whole project.

Acting as a manager also means that you have to plan, make deadlines, make landmark points that have to be reached within a certain time, get your/the project into speed and keep up the momentum. A big project killer is if it takes to long to achieve a landmark point, that's why you need reasonable deadlines.

And acting as a manager means also that you could face some tough decisions, you might have to send people away from the project.

1. So yes, start a mod with doing a lot by youself. But this does not nessecarly mean programming as well, a good designer with a good presentation and a clear goal could well be enough.

2. Gather people who are intrested in the mod, and have shown their qualities.

3. Plan and manage from there on the project, set landmark points/deadlines.

4. Evaluate and re-evaluate all the time.

But then, this are just idea and my opinion, so feel free to disagree.

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#26: Re: ..

by Julius on 10/13/2007 13:11, refers to #25

Sort of disagree with that last post. There are plenty of talented people who might be very willing to add things to your project, but which you will scare away by organizing your project too much like it is actually work and not fun.
Most of the time these are the really skilled ones, that actually have a real job already and don't want to be bossed around in their free time also.

Sure these people will most likely not be major contributors to your project (since they don't have that much free time in most cases), but if you stay true to the original intent of making everything yourself and be happy about all quality help, these are the people you want to have in your team

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#27: Re: ..

by blikje bier on 10/13/2007 14:00, refers to #26

And you are right about it, people do have real live jobs.

But there is nothing wrong in setting a timeline, you want achieve something right? Letting drag on for a long time because of real live events, jobs and whatever isn't fun either.

Its a bit like a sportsclub, it won't be fun if people keep missing training sessions and games because of their jobs or whatever else. What's the point of such a club if you can't compete in order to win something.

A mod or a software project is not much different, where's the fun if never gets finished or reaches certain goals?

So yes, i think you should have some kind of management involved, it will help you setting the goals, the timeline, landmark points and it gives you and your team something to aim at. It will help you to guard the overal quality of the project, quality is more than just a group of talented people.

Do you think that the really talented people with little time on their hands can really help you with a mod?

Being CAPABLE is not only limited to talent, time is that other thing that people should be CAPABLE of.

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#28: Re: ..

by a_baby_rabbit on 10/13/2007 14:02, refers to #25

This thread is about 'starting' a mod - at the start there is one important person to manage - yourself!

The mod is your project so you're welcome to order people around - that might not work so well (in a free-time voluntary setting) unless you've earned peoples respect first, and imho, the best way to earn that respect is to do a lot of the work yourself ;-)

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#29: ..

by SheeEttin on 10/13/2007 15:39

Hey guys, how about editing the wiki page instead of ranting here? It's what it's there for. :) (Collective somethings, not ranting.)

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#30: ..

by Julius on 10/13/2007 17:50

Editing the wiki feels too much like work :p

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#31: Re: ..

by blikje bier on 10/13/2007 19:38, refers to #30

In need of a manager? :)

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