Finding It Hard To Mod SOMA...

[A.M Team]

Hello all, rant incoming,

As you may or may not know I have two unsuccessful mods for HPL2 under my belt. That being Harbour and Doctor Poo: Neo. Over the years HPL (the Cthulhu Engine as I like to call it) is still the most accessible game engine I have ever used. I can concentrate more on level design and art rather than coding as all I need to do was to copy and paste lines of code and to fill in the gaps with the right answers and names. HPL3 flips the metaphorical switch. At first it was dark, I had no idea how to code, make a level or anything, over the following months however my eyes adjusted and I could see some distance from me. I'm more confident with the engine but there is one thing that irks me about the HPL3 Modding Scene: The Steam Workshop.

I have seen at least the majority of mods don't even make an attempt to edit the game outside of the map, and it's getting better press than other peoples mods that I could see genuine effort being put into it. No constructive criticism is in the comments of these mods other than 'good mod'. When giving out critique on someones mod, I get called out, even if I list out the things I liked about the mod. I've been called 'snobbish', a 'jackass' and many other immature comments. Critique, as I see it, is shunned in the HPL3 Modding Community outside of these forums.

The straw that broke my back for me was the fact that these mods were being reported on big gaming websites including RPS (Rock, Paper, Shotgun)! I now come to my main point of this rant, I feel by the time genuine, fully modded campaigns are created the craze would have died and the modders will not get the credit they deserve. And this makes me angry and more importantly demotivated. Why should I spend a year of my life making two maps and some funny voices if it is all for nothing?

Sigh. I'm still going to chug along. Maybe doing something related to the project but not working with HPL3 would do me good.

TL;DR: The Steam Workshop is filled with unimaginative mods and sensitive cynics. It's making me demotivated that by the time I make my mod I won't get good critique or appreciation.

[SlackerinDeNile]

If you had trouble making mods and levels for HPL2 then you're inevitably going to have an even harder time making them for this engine, maybe you should do some more study into C++ programming and 3D modelling and animation if you can.

Also, regarding the gaming journalism you just mentioned, particularly rock paper shotgun, a lot of internet journalism in general has gone down the toilet these past few years. Many of the people involved are quite young, inexperienced and not particularly good writers or critics. I would recommend ignoring them and enjoying the attention and critique you can get off of a moddable game's cult following.

Another thing, forget about these first-time modders and mappers on steam right now, they're just practicing, getting a feel for the engine, even if the stuff they're producing right now is a bit rubbish. Remember when the Amnesia creative community started? It was pretty similar.

[A.M Team]

I appreciate the response but I am experienced with HPL, I'm just demotivated is all.

[Kreekakon]

Every single time you find yourself down in the pit like this, just remind yourself: Why is it that you mod?

If the answer back then was a burning passion to share your work with the world, then that should be reason enough to keep pushing forward. Not everyone is going to be appreciative of your work, but that doesn't mean there aren't people out there who will be. If you put your back into it and motivate yourself to create something that you put your heart and soul into, then it really will show. I will tear off my own head if it turns out that not a single person in the world fails to appreciate something that was genuinely (super keyword) filled to the brim with your wishes and love to make it the greatest thing you ever wanted it to be.

You still have a privilege that many artists do not have: You are doing this in your free time. It is not something that is going to decide where your next meal is coming from. It's just a hobby so your mod growing popular should not be something that will determine your life.

If your mod is something that you really just wanted to show the world because of your passion on wanting it shown...then you'll notice that if even just a small handful of people appreciate your work then it will be more than enough to feel like your time was not wasted.

Realize your passion. Realize that you should do mods not because you want to get popular. You should be doing them because you want to and showing them to friends, family and peers who WILL appreciate it.

[WALP]

SOMA needs more modders, but as you point out in particular it needs "good" modders, who have the skill or knowhow to delve deeper, and the experience/will to see a project through.

However we cant get back the veterans of the past, and hence we will need new blood.
I think that these noobish first attempt mods are very important in getting people invested in SOMA modding, and most importantly as learning experiences that give them perspective on what they can and could learn to do with HPL3.

But still even these mini mods seem to be very few, and I think that simply has to do with HPL3 Modding being harder to approach for modders, compared to how straightforward HPL2 was.

a couple ideas I have had,
1: being to do a simple up to an hour long video where I make a mod from start to finish, since a lot of the documentation right now seems to fragmented or incomplete.
2: maybe do something like a weekend marathon where we get as many as possible to participate and finish their first mod, kinda like an ice breaker. experienced members could also be great advicors if they participated as well.

But myself I too am alive outside Soma modding, and without going into any details life is quite shit for me right now, so we will have to see what I do.

TL:DR

Ye agree, maybe we should do something to help modding bloom, but motivation is a bitch.

---

Every single time you find yourself down in the pit like this, just remind yourself: Why is it that you mod?
If your mod is something that you really just wanted to show the world because of your passion on wanting it shown...then you'll notice that if even just a small handful of people appreciate your work then it will be more than enough to feel like your time was not wasted.

can definitely agree with this, even though my recent mod was just something fairly rushed that started with me fooling around in editor, I found myself counting the views when I uploaded it, and watching all the LP of it even if it was in German.

theres something special about people liking what you made, even if it's just one person.

[Abion47]

The thing about games that introduce completely new modding scenes is that it takes quite a bit of time to get the ball rolling on their communities. I can't say anything about HPL2 since I didn't have anything to do with it, but to be honest, the showing that I've seen come out of the Steam Workshop thus far is about what I would expect - a handful of rushed and feature-incomplete mods whose main goal was to either actively explore the engine or to just get something done. The game has only been out for 4 months, so thinking there to be any high-quality mods at this point would be expecting a lot.

I do feel for you when it comes to the general attitude regarding constructive criticism on Steam Workshop. the big thing that bothers me about people right now is that they think the terms "alpha" or "beta" can mean anything from "releasing tomorrow" to "just started working on it today". This creates a big issue when uploading v0.000001a versions of maps that are literally unplayable, but when people say so the creator hides behind the statement "it's just a beta" like that is supposed to explain everything. But I'll stop myself before I get on that particular soapbox.

The point is that you shouldn't stop handing out the constructive criticism just because the general reception of it has been less than brilliant. If the owner of the mod accepts the criticism, then both their mod and themselves as a modder will get better for it. If they don't, then they will learn very soon that the modding scene is not the kind of instant gratification environment they thought it would be. Neither of this is the fault of the reviewer, whose only task is to get his honest opinion down to share, no matter how positive or negative it might be. (Though I should also add that it's always possible to express an honest negative opinion without being a dick about it. )

The only other thing I can say is to give SOMA's modding scene some more time to mature. I can't speak for all the other modders, but so far I've been keeping myself to small isolated tasks whose only purpose is to learn the extents of the engine. Now that I have a more firm understanding of it, though, I'm ready to start working on my own mod that I hope will raise the bar for quality going forward as well as get SOMA mods the kind of exposure they need. All we need is for one (maybe two) quality mods to get played by a big Youtuber, and we should be back in business.

---

Also regarding the video game journalists, I wouldn't really give them a hard time. The fact that someone over there found a SOMA mod that they thought was worth writing an article about means that the interest for SOMA mods is there. It would be fine at this point for them to shine a spotlight on... mods of limited scope, let's say... because at this point, that's all there is. Not to mention that until we get more solid mods published these articles are what he have at this point to garner more interest in modding.

[WALP]

this is how I see it:


Pre Alpha: Earliest state of development, the mod is missing core features/aspects and is non representative of final state.

Alpha: The mod has the core features/aspects nailed down, and can be more or less played from start to end, but there are still major things missing and many things can change. However the mod does give a good idea of what it will be like when it's done.

Beta: The mod is to be considered representative of the final version. But there are still bugs, and based on testing changes may be made as long as they are not too big. also optimization needs to be done.

Release: The mod is to be considered final, and met with abselutely no mercy in reviews

[Abion47]

Well, the thing is that a lot of people seem to think that the phrase "it's just concept/pre-alpha/alpha/beta" is an adequate excuse for when something is genuinely bad. While, sure, reviews should be worded with the current state of the game/mod in mind, that does not mean that a certain amount of broken mechanics and terrible design choices should be given a free pass. If anything, the early phases are precisely when those kinds of things should be called out, because they aren't going to get any better and they are only going to be harder to change or remove as time goes on.

[Romulator]

Do what I do.

Don't go to the Steam Workshop (unless you've uploaded something and want to keep track of subscriptions and stuff - it's okay WALP, I did too).

You'll have to understand everyone's low quality mods are being deployed for the simple benefit of being "first". It's competitive; but given limited experiences with modding and understanding of the engine, code becomes copypasta'd, simplistic and repetitive. Also, monsters are used ridiculously out of context or too much. People forget how to make quality when they refuse or are unable to produce quality for many reasons.

Be glad that you are here Doctor Poo, since, at least here, you have a sense and resources to make your modifications have that slight difference in quality. Since we can criticize to a degree where we actually know what we are talking about.

Don't let what others do poorly, deter you from what you can do better.

[Myster Stranger]

You know, I worked my ass off on Surface, it has monsters from Soma's beta content as well as Penumbra reworked and added in, incorporates a wide variety of new encounter styles, features a fun sci-fi story, open level format, and a dynamic soundtrack that I spent an immense amount of time coding and it's sitting at three stars on Steam right now, and a 6 on ModDB. And yet, I'm somehow finding myself spending this weekend working on a new custom story. Why? Why should I waste the time, the cynic in me says.

Well, because every once in a while, I go onto Youtube, and there's somebody playing through Surface, and they're excited, and they're smiling and saying it's awesome and fun, and that they're excited about where Soma modding's going. There is a receptive audience out there, a lot of people that want to see new, interesting experiences in Soma's engine, and if one is bubbling in your mind, than there'll be plenty of people who will be more than willing to play it. To be frank, while I do respect Fuga, it was a little too up-its-own-ass for me (no offense intended, WALP, ), but the screenshots for your stories all have me quite excited, along with the goofy voices, it looks like the kind of irreverent fun that's right up my alley. Sure, it can be disheartening to see the laziest mods on the most subscribed list, but that's how it was with Amnesia's first years too, but eventually, passionate stories will rise to the top.

Kreekakon is absolutely on point with this. If you have something to say through the awesome medium that Frictional Games have provided us, then say it, and hundreds of people will listen with open ears. And worst case scenario, if you happen to get swamped by a flood of test maps and get shoved off the most recent list and out of view (like Surface did, ), then I'll be glad to throw a like and a favorite your way, because your input has been extremely valuable to me as a modder, and it would be the least I could do.