Reply to Re: What do people look for in a dmod?
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Hmm... a bit of a lengthy reply, maybe because I've been wondering the same thing a while ago...
Usually my main judgment is based on 'feel'. If the DMOD has a good 'flow' it gets points. This is a rather subjective thing but you can imagine if you're making a DMOD in which you are constantly stuck or if it has strange bumbs or inconsistencies in the story or pacing it loses points.
Next to such subjective criteria I would say the following is important:
Novelty:
To get a top score you must be doing something new, something that hasn't been done before. Especially if that results in different gameplay I'll give you points. This doesn't mean however that I'm a great fan of weird DMODs. If someone decides it is time to put Dink in a weird environment where people only speak netspeak this might be very new but it won't get you any points from me. It somehow must have an added value to the game experience. Novelty isn't a necessity for a high score though, it just helps.
Story
If you want your DMOD to stand out your story needs to have that little something extra. This extra is not a better general story though. It is a well worked out story. For example I think that Cloud Castle 2 has one of the best stories around. But I don't really care about the general story, it's the way that each NPC is made. They somehow feel in place in the gameworld they live in. This is the main challenge: Make the story/world feel real, or atleast coherent.
Secondly don't make the storyline feel like a line, make it feel like a natural flow of things. If it feels like 'another quest that'll keep me playing for a while' the story loses a lot of it's appeal. Even if a story feels like a stacking of quests you can still get points if there's a logical reasoning behind everything you need to do. And getting iron from the miner to the swordmaker to make a sword while executing a quest for both to get said item might be logical but it still feels a bit like the player can't handle anything important.
feeling of quality
Ok, feeling of quality maybe is a bad way to describe this, but I can't think of anything better to describe it. Let me try to describe it with an example:
You are trying to make a dungeon area with loads of different monsters. One way to do this is by erecting a few walls in a maze-like fashion which you stuff with monsters and a few goodies. Great for a starter, but if you want to see a proper dungeon check I Kara Gu. What makes the dungeon in that DMOD better? Well basically that they offer a well thought of challenge. Ofcourse this DMOD also scores well on novelty, but it was also worked out in a well thought out way. Another example would be the paintings coming to life in Initiation. Does this add anyting in terms of gameplay? Well, not really, but it gives it a special atmosphere. It breathes quality. Ofcourse someone else could easily pull of the same trick, but achieving that same level of quality throughout the DMOD makes it feel like quality, which is important.
Atmosphere:
Mainly related to the points already pointed out above, but I think sound is worth mentioning here.
Finishing/Presentation:
Also related to feeling of quality, but I want to specifically mention bugs and mapping here. This really is the easiest way for a DMOD author to surpass his own level, but so often it isn't done properly...
Fun Factor:
Something very special that has been finished well can still be boring. For example I can make a game of Baccarat in Dink that is very well finished, would it be good? Well it's new (sort of...) and it's well finished so would it get full points? Well if it's well integrated in the game, for example in a casino (See Initiation again) it will. But if that's the entire DMOD... Well, it doesn't really keep you playing, so I'd still be bored. Keep in mind what keeps the player pressing those buttons on his keyboard. (I actually made a game of Baccarat for my current project actually...
)
After such a lengthy reply, can I get free tacos?
Usually my main judgment is based on 'feel'. If the DMOD has a good 'flow' it gets points. This is a rather subjective thing but you can imagine if you're making a DMOD in which you are constantly stuck or if it has strange bumbs or inconsistencies in the story or pacing it loses points.
Next to such subjective criteria I would say the following is important:
Novelty:
To get a top score you must be doing something new, something that hasn't been done before. Especially if that results in different gameplay I'll give you points. This doesn't mean however that I'm a great fan of weird DMODs. If someone decides it is time to put Dink in a weird environment where people only speak netspeak this might be very new but it won't get you any points from me. It somehow must have an added value to the game experience. Novelty isn't a necessity for a high score though, it just helps.
Story
If you want your DMOD to stand out your story needs to have that little something extra. This extra is not a better general story though. It is a well worked out story. For example I think that Cloud Castle 2 has one of the best stories around. But I don't really care about the general story, it's the way that each NPC is made. They somehow feel in place in the gameworld they live in. This is the main challenge: Make the story/world feel real, or atleast coherent.
Secondly don't make the storyline feel like a line, make it feel like a natural flow of things. If it feels like 'another quest that'll keep me playing for a while' the story loses a lot of it's appeal. Even if a story feels like a stacking of quests you can still get points if there's a logical reasoning behind everything you need to do. And getting iron from the miner to the swordmaker to make a sword while executing a quest for both to get said item might be logical but it still feels a bit like the player can't handle anything important.
feeling of quality
Ok, feeling of quality maybe is a bad way to describe this, but I can't think of anything better to describe it. Let me try to describe it with an example:
You are trying to make a dungeon area with loads of different monsters. One way to do this is by erecting a few walls in a maze-like fashion which you stuff with monsters and a few goodies. Great for a starter, but if you want to see a proper dungeon check I Kara Gu. What makes the dungeon in that DMOD better? Well basically that they offer a well thought of challenge. Ofcourse this DMOD also scores well on novelty, but it was also worked out in a well thought out way. Another example would be the paintings coming to life in Initiation. Does this add anyting in terms of gameplay? Well, not really, but it gives it a special atmosphere. It breathes quality. Ofcourse someone else could easily pull of the same trick, but achieving that same level of quality throughout the DMOD makes it feel like quality, which is important.
Atmosphere:
Mainly related to the points already pointed out above, but I think sound is worth mentioning here.
Finishing/Presentation:
Also related to feeling of quality, but I want to specifically mention bugs and mapping here. This really is the easiest way for a DMOD author to surpass his own level, but so often it isn't done properly...
Fun Factor:
Something very special that has been finished well can still be boring. For example I can make a game of Baccarat in Dink that is very well finished, would it be good? Well it's new (sort of...) and it's well finished so would it get full points? Well if it's well integrated in the game, for example in a casino (See Initiation again) it will. But if that's the entire DMOD... Well, it doesn't really keep you playing, so I'd still be bored. Keep in mind what keeps the player pressing those buttons on his keyboard. (I actually made a game of Baccarat for my current project actually...
)After such a lengthy reply, can I get free tacos?
