Where are they now? mod projects of past & present

[Drift]

I suddenly remembered TheGreatScottCiv(?) and his 'revolutionary' mod that was going to put all other epic game expansions to shame. It was supposed to be basically done and lacked only gametesting. Where did he go? Where's the mod that was going to be released in the near future? I would've wanted to see if he could live up to his boasts.

Fantasy Empires II is another mod that turned out to be vaporware in practice. I don't doubt that Balrog still has the project somewhere in his harddrive, but it never materialized for us. It seemed to be very close to being completed so the loss is even bigger.

Medieval European Mod's future is in good hands with embryodead, but will he ever find the time to finish it among his other things-to-do?

Will the Lord of the Mods crew ever get their project done?

Mrtn's Magnamund seems to have died down or then he just keeps quiet about it.

BeBro said he is working on X-Com's Conquest version, but he hasn't been online since Nov.10.

Master of Myrror's promised expansion almost turned into vaporware, but I did manage to get a grip of myself. I guess that's why the whole subject came to my mind.


Any other ones that I've missed (I know there are plenty of 'em, these were just the ones I could think up right away)?

Naturally mods in development are very uncertain by their nature. People work on them as their hobbies and often real life forces you to rearrange your priorities or your interests simply shift away. This thread is in no way accusing by its nature. Quite the contrary, I thought it would be fun to reminisce some projects that seemed so good in the previews but were never finished.

 

[mrtn]

...Will the Lord of the Mods crew ever get their project done?

Mrtn's Magnamund seems to have died down or then he just keeps quiet about it.
...

Lotm will get done.

Magnamund will maybe get done, actually I fidgeted a bit with it last week. I will add a semi-barbarian civ with a city on a mountain, and flag mountains as allowing cities, but being completely impassable, and set terrain with no road bonus around it, thus making it impossible to invade. This is what I hope will happen anyways, gotta try it out...

 

[Mr. Do]

Heh, I'd really like to see what happened with TheGreatScott's mod too, after he sold it like it was the most inventive modpack EVAIRE (And when someone finally got him to reveal a single never-seen-before feature, it turned out that, uhh, most mods actually use that trick).

Someone also supposedly mentioned a mod that used a tonne of units from the Age of Mythology, but considering the poster couldn't work out how to PM Thunderfall to upload it, I hold little hope that he even made such a mod, let alone that we'll ever see it.

I'm such a cynic!

 

[El Justo]

preview threads for mods and scenarios generally suggest that they will never get completed.

why is this?

 

[tjedge1]

Well I have 2 preview threads on 2 forums, and my mod will be finished one day. It is just time consuming. My mod is more complex in design than many (except maybe TETurkhan's new one) and is huge. I'm talking 800mb uncompressed. Of course mine wasn't mentioned here except by me, so I guess that's a good sign?

 

[El Justo]

Well I have 2 preview threads on 2 forums, and my mod will be finished one day. It is just time consuming. My mod is more complex in design than many (except maybe TETurkhan's new one) and is huge. I'm talking 800mb uncompressed. Of course mine wasn't mentioned here except by me, so I guess that's a good sign?

preview threads for mods and scenarios generally suggest that they will never get completed.

@tjedge1
of course this isn't the case in every instance but for the most part, cfc'ers who start preview threads rarely complete their projects.

my hat is off to those that actually finish their projects.

 

[tjedge1]

Of course, sir, you are correct in that. I've been dissappointed a few times like with the missing Balrog and his FE II. When he vanished the first time, I started my new project the Mystara mod, and then he returned and vanished again after having a baby. I almost made FE II myself. Who knows, I might still someday. It was an awesome idea. Actually it wouldn't take much to do from FE I. But no, 1 project at a time for me. FE II will be added tomy list of possible future projects.

 

[Drift]

People are sometimes just a little too anxious to post a preview of their mods and make a preview thread when they have some of the groundwork done, but still miles to go for a finished product. There's no harm in it, but the uncertain nature of mods results in many of those preview threads resulting in empty promises. I've posted a preview when I've basically known that I'm going to release something (beta or finished mod) in the near future. That way the preview acts as an advertisement and is actually an accurate look at the finished mod.

One additional mod that I now remembered is the other Master of Magic mod that was supposed to stay as true as possible to the original.

And tjedge1, I didn't mention you on purpose. You have kept going strong with that mammoth project of yours.

 

[Rocoteh]

@tjedge1
of course this isn't the case in every instance but for the most part, cfc'ers who start preview threads rarely complete their projects.

my hat is off to those that actually finish their projects.

El Justo,

You have a point there.

However when one consider that 174 scenarios (so far) have been
launched this year in "Completed Scenarios", most of them probably
would have been better with more time invested.

Rocoteh

 

[The Last Conformist]

Did the animal mod (called Pet Wars if memory serves?) ever get released?

While it might be true that most mods that have a preview never get released, I also think that most great mods and scens that do get released had some sort of preview thread.

 

[Goldflash]

Here's one for you: The Goldflash Euro-Africa Mod, or GEAM. I never actually made a thread about this but I talked about it alot. It was going to have a whole new tech tree and like, a ton of new civs but. .somethign in it broke, crashing the game without giving me an error. I later learne dwhat I think was the solution but at that point I had started on the 40K mod and no longer gave a flying **** about the GEAM.

Speaking of the 40K Mod, Don't any of you DARE say that that ***** won't get completed. I'll finish it if I have to use my teeth.

Another one that mysteriously dissapeared: Unscratched Foot's Vietnam. And Forthat Matter, Unscratched Foot. Did he get permabanned? Whatever, he did diserve it.

 

[mrtn]

Did Noah's Ark disappear, or just move to CDG?

And I think that the preview policies of Drift and embryodead are the best; only post when you know you'll be finished in a couple of days.

 

[El Justo]

Another one that mysteriously dissapeared: Unscratched Foot's Vietnam. And Forthat Matter, Unscratched Foot. Did he get permabanned? Whatever, he did diserve it.

heh...that's funny that you say that.

i saw a post of his where he went ape-sheeyat and haven't seen the dude since. i believe he publiclly mocked one of the mods.

another problem that i have w/ preview threads is that the more cfc'ers that get invlovled, the more dilluted the project becomes.

it's very difficult for more than 1 to work on a scenario/mod. granted, it's not impossible but it's very hard to do; although it's a testament to those scenarios/mods that actually have a team working together and they reach conclusion.

 

[El Justo]

And I think that the preview policies of Drift and embryodead are the best; only post when you know you'll be finished in a couple of days.

this is a good point mrtn.

 

[Plotinus]

another problem that i have w/ preview threads is that the more cfc'ers that get invlovled, the more dilluted the project becomes.

I agree. I recall reading in a Dragonlance game manual (obscure reference here, stick with me) that, when calculating how long a gnomish invention will take to build, it makes no difference how many gnomes you have, and "if you have ever worked with gnomes, you will know why".

I think that applies to any labour of love, especially potentially nerdy ones like modding. I suspect that it may be most efficient for just one, possibly two, people to make a mod, and perhaps a few people try out the beta version. I've been on enough committees in my life to know that it is *not* an efficient way of doing things. For example, Lord of the Mods has been in existence for almost as long as Tolkien's novels, and whilst they will undoubtedly produce a wonderful mod, I wonder if it would really have taken one or two people longer to produce the same thing. Compare quasidemo's extremely good and imaginative Lord of the Rings scenario. Obviously that is a mod-lite, featuring no custom graphics and a limited set-up, but it's a great scenario nevertheless (the "unplugged" to LotM's "stadium rock", perhaps?).

But the thing is, of course, that making these things, and arguing about them, is surely half the fun. Perhaps a couple of people by themselves could have produced something very similar to what the Lord of the Mods guys will create, but they wouldn't have had half the fun along the way. You don't do a crossword simply to have a completed crossword at the end of it, and similarly you don't have a long period of mod gestation purely to get a good mod at the end of it.

 

[dugfromthearth]

Well I released a preview for my mod a few months back and I am just trying to tidy it up now. I'm putting in civilopedia entries and I have to consider if I am going to bother with new leaderheads, etc.

I also have no place to host it, which is my biggest problem.

 

[Plotinus]

You just need to send a PM to Thunderfall once it's done and he'll tell you how to upload it to the CFC server.

 

[Yoda Power]

Well MEM would probably still exist, if it wasn't for my computer that decided after more than a months entensive work. I simply lost the willpower to continue. If work on a new MEM really ever starts I guess it will be finished someday.

Though everyone will be playing civ4 at the time

 

[El Justo]

I agree. I recall reading in a Dragonlance game manual (obscure reference here, stick with me) that, when calculating how long a gnomish invention will take to build, it makes no difference how many gnomes you have, and "if you have ever worked with gnomes, you will know why".

I think that applies to any labour of love, especially potentially nerdy ones like modding. I suspect that it may be most efficient for just one, possibly two, people to make a mod, and perhaps a few people try out the beta version. I've been on enough committees in my life to know that it is *not* an efficient way of doing things. For example, Lord of the Mods has been in existence for almost as long as Tolkien's novels, and whilst they will undoubtedly produce a wonderful mod, I wonder if it would really have taken one or two people longer to produce the same thing. Compare quasidemo's extremely good and imaginative Lord of the Rings scenario. Obviously that is a mod-lite, featuring no custom graphics and a limited set-up, but it's a great scenario nevertheless (the "unplugged" to LotM's "stadium rock", perhaps?).

But the thing is, of course, that making these things, and arguing about them, is surely half the fun. Perhaps a couple of people by themselves could have produced something very similar to what the Lord of the Mods guys will create, but they wouldn't have had half the fun along the way. You don't do a crossword simply to have a completed crossword at the end of it, and similarly you don't have a long period of mod gestation purely to get a good mod at the end of it.

you've hit the nail on the head my friend

 

[Sword_Of_Geddon]

Well, theres my projects, Myths and Legends, the Colony Wars, and Battlefield Asia.

You bring an interesting point though drift....what ever happened to Stragagize anyway?