Mod Developers. Why do you do what you do?

[iamknotsatisfied]

Hello All,

 

We it owe it all to mod developers who contribute their work for everyone to share. So I created a thread so they tell us why they do what they do.

 

Most of the people who work on community projects like SKYWIND or Beyond Skyrim say that they do it to build portfolio for jobs in gaming industry. But mods like Sexlab Framework or Sexlab Defeat are also very complicated but can't be used as portfolio work. I think even a nsfw mod deserves appreciation of the technical skill of developer. Some developers do it as a hobby or for their personal use. I really appreciate them. But it must be really tiring to write 1000s of lines of code  and I don't know how they keep themselves motivated for like 2 years or more. Also some of them have day jobs and do this part-time.

 

So yeah, if you are a modder please share with us why you do what you do. You can share some juicy stories too.

 

Thanks

[27X]

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Beyond Skyrim say that they do it to build portfolio for jobs in gaming industry

Cutting your platforms in half during mid development is a pretty awesome way to never get hired in the games industry.

 

As for modding, I add things I want.

 

In AvP2 the character animations and weapons were goofy and spammy, so I fixed it. The graphics were also super comic book, so I fixed that.

 

In JKII, I simply added animations and characters I wanted to see interacting in the SW universe. As for DooM ]I[, it need less boo monster closet and more dakka all the things, so that's what I did.

 

Dragon's Dogma needed more sexy and less easy roflstomp, so I took what other people did and expanded upon it, also better lighting.

 

In ME3, it simply adding better graphics, because the combat was finally great and no amount of modding could unfuck the story so there was no point in messing with it, and I feel sad for the people that tried.

 

In Skyrim, it's about making thing more organic, more people-ized and a living world and less cut and paste hero masturbation, and also seeing mods that were almost what I liked and making them exactly what I liked.

 

Up to Doom 3 I used to mod for "the community", after getting a bunch of stuff stolen and used without my permission, I literally just do it for myself now. Keeps me sharp as a games designer to get dirty in the trenches rather than just concentrating on the "player experience", because trying to reliably predict what people will like or hate is pretty much herding cats.
 

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juicy stories too.

 

 

Sure, because Bethesda modding isn't dramatic and completely fucking overblown as it is.

[MadMansGun]

i seek perfection, and Dragon porn.......mostly Dragon porn....and Werewolf porn.

[Teutonic]

I started doing it just out of curiosity. I had been watching youtube videos and done some reading how you make mods and then somone made a silly request on steam. I had no personal interest in it, but it was something that didn't exist and I just wanted to see if I could make it. I eventually succeeded, but of course it was a piece of shit and bugged as hell. I eventually fixed the bugs, but it was still a piece of shit. It has been almost 2 years now and so far it has been downloaded 56 times.  

 

I continued to work on mods, it was just fun to code and to figure out how to realize things. It's fun to talk to the users, answer their questions and make them happy by fulfilling their requests. At some point I started using Sexlab mods and I realized I was missing some things or wanted to improve others. I also felt like regular Skyrim already has pretty much everything and it was important to me to make something new or to make something different with what already exists. 

 

It is true that you won't necessarily be bragging about all the wicked sex mods you are making, but Skyrim modding has actually brought me into programming and when I applied to a job, I showed my boss some sample code, but didn't mention I was making a sex mod. I had also gone through a programming course to get some formal training, where I realized how much I had already learned just from making mods. 

 

So in short, I do what I do because it is fun to do.

[MrEsturk]

You know that's a good question. Truth is I have no idea why, I'm just fascinated by modding games. Certainly is a perk I can meddle with the aspects I don't like of a game, or other people's mods in my private version of my games. And so I've been modding since 1994 (shame I lost my original DOOM/Heretic/Hexen mods.)

 

I would like to try working on a professional game project sometime, even if it was just a ragtag indie project. I've already done work with a few fangame teams in the past.

[DoctaSax]

It's a hobby.

Or is it? Who the hell knows if you can still say that nowadays

 

If it weren't for modding, I'd probably just potter about, engage in all sorts of ever more complicated projects with no end in sight. The modding is really just a medium for doing what I'd do anyway.

[Darkpig]

Am I a modder? *looks at the hackjob of a mod I posted here*  I guess I technically am. Small things can be altered and tweaked in a game. I can't say for certain what makes people create big mods since I was never a part of any but I can say that they did it a little bit at a time. Anyway I'm going back to gluing together armor mods.

[Raynel Red]

I do it for fun. It's my passion & it was always my dream to create my own video games ever since I was a kid. I loved videos games & I started playing video games when I was for. It's not for jobs or anything, it's my hobby.

[KoolHndLuke]

I am not a mod author yet. But, I am trying to learn things at a pace (a very slow one). What I am learning, though, is that making a "good" mod is much tougher than I ever thought. I won't release very much until I feel I can make something new and original. I do and will do this because I am hopelessly addicted to video games and all the possibilities that come with them.....and want to share with others that feel the same way.

[MorePrinniesDood]

On 6/10/2018 at 1:23 AM, /bash boy said:

Most of the people who work on community projects like SKYWIND or Beyond Skyrim say that they do it to build portfolio for jobs in gaming industry. But mods like Sexlab Framework or Sexlab Defeat are also very complicated but can't be used as portfolio work. I think even a nsfw mod deserves appreciation of the technical skill of developer. Some developers do it as a hobby or for their personal use.

I've seen the game industry; the long crunch times, followed by layoffs. Not the kind of job security I want.

 

So I mod to add stuff I want into games, and share with folks of similar tastes in the community. Simple as that.

[EinarrTheRed]

No deep reason, I like making stuff, I like building stuff especially.  Its a creative outlet.  My only regret is I lacking the time and means to learn to do everything I wish I could do.

[Lozeak]

The reason I started was because noone made the mods I wanted or the way I wanted so I started modding. There are other things like I learnt to program and stuff and never used that talent and there is something nice about using a skill you know.

 

I enjoy problem solving and always wanted to create something and modding let's me do that and to be honest it is as fun as playing a video game because you do get a sense of achievement when you finally get something to work. There have been plenty of time I mod just to relax.

 

 

[Guest]

My main motivation is monei, but, so far, I have earned zero dollaroos since I forgot to make a Patreon ??

[Reginald_001]

I make mods because they are the ones I want to play and if no one else made them (in the way that I want) then I do it myself.

Then I release and if the reaction is good, I feel compelled to continue developing as courtesy to the players that chose to support me (mentally).

When interest dies out, I stop and do something else I'd like to see in the game.

 

For money, I have a day job as (forensic) data analyst and BI/business specialist.

[ralfetas]

To tell my motivation i have one nice example, Ashley in ME3, first time i saw their clothes/armor, i thought, she could have their legs out like a mini skirt, so i edit their textures and she was ready to fight the reapers in a much better sexy way I don't know were this mod goes, i see it around sometimes.

 

But the first time i really made something big was in FO4, because i don't see how skyrim ports could fit the world of FO4, and no one was doing new stuff for it, so i decided to give a try and made one armor, this armor become 5 sets and them a lot of other stuff...

[wokking56]

I'm not a modder persey but have done a few minor personal projects. Mostly homes and the occasional follower. Homes because while there are tons of them out there none quite suit my personal wants. So I will take ideas that I like from 3 or 4 existing mods and add my own touches to get what I truly want. I have been screwing around with this since Morrowind, hell that was the last time I felt anything I did was good enough to even bother publishing (got about 15 DLs). Now with Skyrim I seem to have some bizarre software problem, I can spend hours in the CK building something but the damn thing refuses to save the work.

[_SpaceHamster_]

I wanted certain animations in my game and never really found any that really fit what I searched for.
 

So I made it myself, and the fact I have previous experience in using a certain program I managed to get it done faster than I anticipated.
I figured others might want the same thing, so I shared my mod here  

[Lewd_Vampire]

Simple answer, because they like it and have fun working on it.

Im semiactive in the Rpg Maker community and most of the scripters there really love their work.

I would get a headache from looking on so many lines of code.^^

Myself tried modding Crusader Kings and it is just a great feeling if something actually works.

I think you could compare it to an artist, the artist use pixel etc, so lines of code could be seen as another form of art.

[RaTMan71]

My motivation is simple.

I like busty wench follower mods, I wanted busty wench follower mods, I found no busty wench follower mods.

So I thought, sod it, I might as well have a crack at it.

 

I got somewhat carried away, for now I have 10 on nexus.

[Lady Horus]

I don't know if converting armors from other games to Skyrim counts, but the reason I did it is pretty obvious I guess. I found some things I liked that I wanted to put into the game. Some folks told me they'd love a UUNP version so I learned how to do that... then I decided to try learning how to add HDT physics to the clothing (not just breast/butt bounce) which added just another layer. It's very interesting and fun for me, because while it is artistic it is also technical. If I was any good at making meshes from scratch I would love to make original work but, I suppose that's just something else I would have to work on some time. I think what I'd be most concerned about is making good textures/normal maps though. I don't have anything fancy like Zbrush. I have done modding for some older games (like late 90s to 2000s) but those were pretty simple since it didn't require normal maps, and modeling low-poly stuff is rather easy for me. Painting textures for it was also much simpler.

 

But anyway, yeah. I love character design and fashion in my games so I tend to focus a lot more on that than anything else, though I love to death all the gameplay mods I have taken to using over the years. Mods are what make these games last so long in my opinion and adds so much to the replayability. I just wish I'd been aware of this years ago in my youth, I'd always wanted to work in games to some degree. But it's just my hobby and honestly I like it that way.

[Gimped]

I am from RHDN "13 years as a successful Romhacker", joined Nexus about 2015, submitted a small perhaps stupid Mod and didn't really think anything of it and left. Came back on about 3 months or so later and noticed people actually had downloaded it, and enjoyed it, and thought I should make more mods.. Originally though I had already Modded PC games for myself and my brother who plays the same games as I do for years. Like since in the late 90s, but I lost all my Diablo Mods, tools, etc.. I have modded other games besides F03, NV, and FO4 that I mod nowadays. Like Age Of Empires I've made Maps, Campaigns, and Scenarios for AOE 1 & 2 and also for Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds "That used the AOE2 Engine", for Diablo I used to make Item Sets, Level Mods, Increase Difficultly Mods, and nearly Total Conversion Mods.. I just never got finished with mine unlike V & K.. I just don't have them anymore "Having your House Burn Down, Takes everything with it"..         

 

Now I have about 25 different Mods over there in 3 years, I just heard about this place and after reading some post thought it is pretty cool. XD

 

I mod for myself, mostly, and because I can.. It's more than a Hobby, it's like my Real Job, the one I enjoy..

[mkess]

Basicly, to anwswer your question, modders change games ONLY for themselves. And if you do that, you don't fucking care if your work fits in any portfolio.  The most kind of them even publish their work. Most do it for debugging purposes. It's a hobby. We do it, because it is fun, and we are able to do it.

 

I started modding games decades ago. If I saw a game does not work as intended, or was badly balanced, I modded it. With or without tools. I am pretty good in analysing and balancing games and systems.

 

The downside is, that I stopped publishing mods of my own, because after I was "detected" by a game company, for accidently publishing my ship balancing mod for "X-Tension" --- I gave a link to a friend only for testing purposes, and before I knew it, it had 50000 downloads -- I worked as hobby modder/script writer for EGOSOFT, developing the space flight sim X-series. Fun was transformed into hard work. I won't do that ever again, it ruined my health for basicly nothing in return. Now I only mod things for myself.  Did I mention, I never touched the X-Series games ever again?

 

I have no problems with modding itself, because I was a professional ex-developer, being in early retirement now. But I love playing Skyrim too much, to be work instead of fun.  Maybe I will start fixing scripting errors in my favorite mods. ....