Do we cover UDK stuff? It’s been a big question since the Unreal tech went free for non-commercial use. The answer’s been a bit elusive so far, but we can probably safely say that, if it’s Planetstorm, yes we do.
And there’s a demo!
Former UserCreated writer-guy-extraordinaire Matt Boatright harped on a while back about how awesome Planetstorm is. That was the UT3 version, but it’s not on its way to a UDK standalone version, of which two levels can now be played. Grab it, along with showcase demos of a bunch of other UDK stuff, from the UDK website.
And here’s a trailer.
Videos & Audio – Angels Fall First: Planetstorm Mod for Unreal Tournament 3 – Mod DB
Concerning the “Should we cover it” I think the free UDK games should definitely be covered, since working with the UDK is alot like making a mod, since you already get a mostly working game with 3(!) gamemodes.(well actually more or less 4, or 2 depending on how you count).
As for the paid games… well, in my opinion then it’s no longer user created. It’s some fancy wanna make money developers creation.(while some may be not all that money hungry, the UDK mods going into paid games seem to mostly if not all mods from the MSUC, money money money involved in every step of the way it seems to me)
Or you can just throw the name of the site in the wind and be like ModDB and have Indies covered as well.
Money hungry? What exactly is wrong with wanting to make a living?
I suppose money hungry is a bit of a harsh statement, if I could I’d withdraw it, but my emotions are against this sort of approach even if I can’t make out the logic as to why exactly.
Modding for me is something people should do as a hobby, to have fun and learn new things.
These mods from MSUC seem to put making a living out on front so they’re really users modding a game, they’re aspiring developers attempting to make a game to sell in the long run.
At which point “UserCreated” doesn’t really count anymore. But then again, photo sites let you upload video’s, ModDB contains lots of indie games as well, the name of a site is just that, the name.
I’d like a clear decision from UserCreated staff though what exactly they’ll be covering from now on, just mods or more?
Cause I’ve been seeing it as a site for reading up on mods to play, only to find a demo for a now commercial game? I’m not sure if Planetstorm is, but what if The Ball would get covered when it releases it’s commercial version, that’s not what I’m here for am I?
Ah well, apologies for the harsh statement concerning “money hungry” and make naggy comments.
Are you kidding?
The games are still in essence UT3 mods, even if the developers decide to charge for them. So what you’re saying is you’re not interested in reading about it unless you can get it for free?
Whatever, man.
Also, people ‘should’ do modding however they like. You do it as a hobby if you like, but resenting others for doing it differently is… weird.
Actually I won’t mind reading it, but it’s not really what the site is here for and it may confuse others. Oh here’s a site for free mods and stuff, oh wait here’s something cool looking. But wait! It’s not free.
It’s a difference that’s hard to tell on ModDB as well, sometimes you see good looking games free, others paid but with no clear indication of this up front it’s not much of a big deal, but still confusing.
I don’t resent them at all, I just have a different vision on how I view them. Do I see them as fellow modders, or commercially aimed developers.
The former I could possibly bond and communicate with, the latter I’d feel automatically more distanced from and representing something like a “company” instead of a group of individuals.
A good example is Fatshark, the creators of a sweet western shooter called Lead&Gold, they’re active guys with the community. But I think of them as “Fatshark” instead of Bob, Pete, etc like I would with a group of modders.
It’s a tricky one, and you’re right that we need to be clear about our stance towards it. I suspect this is something of a transitional period, in that many games we’ve been covering as mods are going standalone, and as such it seems odd to suddenly stop covering them. Once UDK games are all being designed from the ground up as UDK games, it’ll probably be a different matter.
Yeah tricky times eh?
I just remembered, that Starcraft 2 was apparently gonna have mods that you had to pay for. Will those be covered as well?