Design Paradigm

corey    Games    

With the approach of Half-Life 2′s release, November 16th, I’ve thought a lot about doing some kind of PvP mod for it. Whenever I’m in the “game designer” mood I tend to read a lot:

• GameDev.Net
• Gamasutra
• Game Matters [blog]
• GameDevBlog [blog]
• particleblog [blog]
• Terra Nova [blog]
• Game Architecture and Design [book]
• Designing Virtual Worlds [book]
• Mud-Dev [mailing list]

Plus other things I come across in my blog travels. There’s certainly a ton involved with any kind of mod, even though the game engine is ready to be used. Well, a ton if you want a good one. I was trying to think of a fun scenario/theme to play (Wizards and Ogres? Wizards and Warriors? Wizard vs Wizard? (yes, I was stuck)) when I realized I already had a PvP scenario sketched out for the elder game in Tajana (the MUD I never finished). All I’d have to do was refine it and remove the MMO parts! Now, if I can only find that silly design document somewhere ..

Of course, I might be able to create the best-est design document in the world for a HalfLife 2 Team vs Team mod/total conversion, but without some art assets and some help programming it’s going to be a game of flying Counter-Terrorists with guns that shoot slow.

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