Quake MOD - In The Shadows

[Baker]

[LordHavoc]

Did you post on the Steam game hub for Quake?

[sock]

*Stupid idea* deleted.

[sock]

[scar3crow]

Part of it is a disconnect of PC usage culture - Quake has a very simplistic structure (amendments), which is very fluid, but only if you are comfortable with command line input. For a shortcut system it is terribly clunky and weird (the only Quake shortcut I've ever had was QWCL, and even then, GameSpy launched that). Contemporary users aren't familiar with anything command line, I have coworkers who freeze up if they are asked what their IP is, or to do a tracert to Google, or to perform a release renew. None of them know the command line (some have never seen it), so when a mod asks them to install it, they are asked to either go through a very clunky interface, or wade into uncharted and mysterious waters. The path to experiencing Quake as we enjoy it is one with many trials and tribulations - ones that we often don't notice as we reflexively handle them. I do think something like Quaddicted's Quake Injector could in theory be suped up for mod support as well, so it simply turns into a general Quake front end. Its UI would still be daunting to some, but less so than hopping into Run.

[qbism]

It's really the "DIY hobbyist" attitude of our subculture, not something inherent in Quake mods or engines. Sometimes it is hard to see around that. But the assumptions we typically make about user ability are so far removed from most game players' ability that they can't even install it. Frankly it's hard for even die-hard fans to get many of our mods or engines to run as intended.

Some ideas, maybe I should actually follow them myself....

During development:
1. Make it really easy for a Quake newb to get through 1st level or two, and make the levels small. "Training levels?" Herd them through. Pop-up messages. Just like that "if Quake were made today spoof". If it's an engine, include a cfg or cvar defaults to make it work out-of-the-box with some decent settings. Find somebody to playtest it... beyond the I3D/func crowd. Interested newbs are gold.

Packaging:
Any mod could be packaged in an msi installer with a preset config, a nice desktop icon shortcut, shortcuts in the menu, etc. and the EXACT engine exe it works on. Name it "ITS_MarkV.exe" for example to avoid conflict. Who cares if there are multiple versions of the same engine in the quake dir (actually it would be nice if the exe could be in the mod directory somehow). The exe files are small, and we're talking about users who will never open a directory, much less go to a command prompt or create a shortcut from scratch.

Selling:
Focus on the mod/engine first, mention that it's Quake in the second paragraph. Many will see "Quake" and say, "Oh, I have Quake installed, must not have made it to that level yet."

[leileilol]

[sock]

[LordHavoc]

[LordHavoc]

[frag.machine]

[sock]

[sock]

[Spike]

check where steam is installed and make it the default -basedir
that's what fte does.
you just can't do it via batch files.

[ceriux]

Half-life uses sub folders at least since iv played. half-life/modname. i assume i could even use darkplaces with steam id just have to replace my quake.exe or what ever. steams version of quake works the same as any other quake client. it just finds the quake.exe and launches for you. same as using non-steam version of quake through steam.