Advice for aspiring mod creators

Aug 22, 2011, 10:24pm, admin wrote:I'm going to throw this in, because its something I thought I said but I didn't and let's be honest I keep seeing this pop up everywhere so may as well say it:

If you're a mod dev, never ask for testers early on in the mod. Everyone will apply to be testers but never apply for the other positions. That means your mod runs on 10 testers and 3-4 other staff members. If you want them to be testers, force them to work on other things. If they can't multitask, they aren't worth it.

Likewise, any staff member must test, regardless of position. That means if you have 6 staff members, you have 6 testers instantly.

They can test the lack of content...

Aug 23, 2011, 12:43am, marbleduck wrote:
Aug 22, 2011, 10:24pm, admin wrote:I'm going to throw this in, because its something I thought I said but I didn't and let's be honest I keep seeing this pop up everywhere so may as well say it:

If you're a mod dev, never ask for testers early on in the mod. Everyone will apply to be testers but never apply for the other positions. That means your mod runs on 10 testers and 3-4 other staff members. If you want them to be testers, force them to work on other things. If they can't multitask, they aren't worth it.

Likewise, any staff member must test, regardless of position. That means if you have 6 staff members, you have 6 testers instantly.

They can test the lack of content...

Dude, we might not have much content in this mod yet.

Are you sure?

Dunno, let's get some testers.

Hey testers, does this mod have enough content?

NO.

Lmfao very well said Pablo, and yes Matan, its about time that someone finally mentioned this!
Hence why PQ has testers that are a handful, they can do more things that just test, like make levels, graphics etc. I dare say it but, most experienced staff members make great testers, I mean, chances are, if you first got into level making for instance, its best you know HOW to play the game, and are decent at it, which thankfully everyone is (i think).

One tip for aspiring mod creators... MODS are different from LEVEL PACKS. George's example of a mini mod is more of a level pack, which was actually good as it is. If you just want a series of levels, by all means, go ahead, but you should be able to judge whether it should remain a series or be turned into a mod.