The Wide World of Video Game Modding

The video game industry has grown over the last decade into a powerful force in electronic sales. Gaming stores have proliferated across the globe as young people pick up controllers and keyboards more than any other activity. Undoubtedly, many of the millions of video gamers have dreamed of creating their very own video game, with their ideas, plots, characters, environments, and weapons. Now, for many talented amateur developers, that dream is becoming virtual reality through the creation of video game mods.

Modding, as the process is called, is quite simple. First, a major game development studio releases a game, such as Call of Duty 3 for PC. Modders then form collective teams over the internet, incorporating international artists and programmers from many countries. Then, they modify the retail game to transform it into an entirely new and original game. These mods, as they are called, are released for free download to anyone who has purchased the original game. After installation, gamers all over the world can delight in these homebrewed incarnations of their favorite shooters and RPGs, created by average gamers who utilize their technical skills for the good of players everywhere.

Game developers have realized the vitality of the modding community as a source of success for retail games. Games that are made easier to mod (and thus have more mods released for them) are lucrative in that mods keep the game fresh. Some mods are so successful that consumers are actually driven to purchase a retail game in order to download and play a mod for that game engine. Thus, the economic incentive has inspired many companies to release tool kits for modding their games as well as releasing support information to train modders to develop for their systems. Since video game mods are created and distributed for free, mods are crucial parts of any successful game release.

Mod History
Mods have been shown to historically provide a powerful sales drive for video games and are at times the causation for a game's popularity. Half-Life, the legendary game from Valve, was created by a team of former modders. When Valve developed the game, they ensured that mod support was available for consumers who could then add extra functionality to the original Half-Life through mods. The tactic was incredibly successful. Mods were released that have acclaim in their own rights, within the video game community, like CounterStrike and Team Fortress. Valve eventually acquired the rights to CounterStrike, which has become one of the most well-known and widely played multiplayer games ever. Few gamers know about its mod past.

The same is true for the Battlefield franchise. When Battlefield 1942 was released, it was instantly successful for its massive conflicts and flag-capturing play modes. However, its most popular mod helped catapult it to meteoric sales success and lofty online play rates. Desert Combat, the aforementioned mod, was a modern total conversion for Battlefield that turned the World War II shooter into a Gulf War game in the Iraqi theater. The mod was so successful that the developer of Battlefield, Digital Illusions CE, bought out the developers of Desert Combat and integrated them into their company. Before this purchase, DICE hired outside firms to create expansion packs, that were essentially commercially-produced mods, to continue to drive sales.

Mod Production
Mods are produced very much like professional games. A team must be assembled with technically-versed artists, animators, and programmers.

A mod leader is the executive of the mod, who often founds the mod and makes most of the decisions, though team effort is key to success. Team members usually communicate via online forums, IRC chats, and instant messaging.

A group of modelers create the 3D visualization (or model) of the weapons, characters, vehicles, and props that will be utilized in the mod. These are the actually 3D shapes that you see in the game.

Skinners or texture artists are the artists that give the models their proper color and patterning. These artists are usually very skilled at digital painting to create realistic "skins" for the models.

A coder is a programmer that integrates the 3D files and the "skin" files into the game, while also coding in the weapon or character to function with the programming of the game.

An animator makes the movements of a video game's characters and weapons take place when gamers hit the various buttons. Without animators, characters wouldn't run or jump or do any of the things they do in mods or games.

A mapper is the person who creates the levels or environments of the game, an arduous process that gives a mod much of its character.

Besides these basic developing positions, there are usually marketing people who advertise the mod to garner interest before its release. It is customary for mods to show screenshots of the development of the mod to keep people interested and ensure that a fan base will want to play the mod when it is released for download.

Also, web designers work to create an informational website for the mod that functions in the same capacity as the PR people.

How to find mods
Besides being a rigorous process that has to involve a team of skilled team members, mods are fun to play. If you want to form a mod team, join a mod team, or download mods to try out, you want to go to a video game community site. For joining a mod or reading news about mods for your favorite game, your best bet is to search for gaming sites that cater specifically to that game (i.e. a Call of Duty-oriented web site). If you want to download a released game, just head over to established major game download sites like Fileplanet, Fileshack, etc. Best of luck, and let the mod frenzy begin!