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id Software: User-created Content 'Not a Huge Consideration' for Rage
by Aaron Linde, Jun 25, 2008 2:31pm PDTAmidst an industry-wide focus on user-created content in gaming, id Software lead designer Matt Hooper stated that the company's upcoming open world shooter Rage will focus on visual and gameplay fidelity over community and content-sharing services.
"As a game player, I love [user-created content]," Hooper told Next-Gen. "But that doesn't mean at the same time I can't love a BioShock or a Call of Duty 4. You can have a focused game, and do that really well."
Hooper added that games centered around user-generated content such as modifications or maps represents a different focus, likening it to a different movie genre, while reiterating that the "important thing [is] doing something really well."
"For us personally, our biggest goal is—you can see it right now—we're pushing on the fidelity, visually. We're also pushing on the gameplay fidelity... As far as user-generated content, it's not a huge consideration for us right now."
When asked whether Rage would see built-in community sharing features similar to EA Maxis' Spore and Media Molecule's LittleBigPlanet, Hooper said that the company has given such features some consideration.
"Yeah, we thought about all of that, but I can't say we've specifically implemented it right now. Again, we're concentrating more on just making a great game with [id Tech 5]. But those conversations happen all the time."
In development for PC, Mac, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, Rage is expected to launch sometime in 2009.
Comments
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If iD had a recent history of good games, perhaps I could forgive such a closeminded attitude, but.. Well, Quake IV wasn't only dull, it was ugly and broken o.o
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then again i've always played games for the stories, not for any social/modding aspects of any game.
"For us personally, our biggest goal is – you can see it right now – we’re pushing on the fidelity, visually. We’re also pushing on the gameplay fidelity. Those two things are huge. For us, we’re doing things that we’ve never done before. That’s already a lot of eggs in the basket. As far as user-generated content, it’s not a huge consideration for us right now. "
It's all about time, money and resources. The people needed to make a good SDK and editor, the document stuff and implement a mod system in the game, is people who could be used to make an overall better game.
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Still... :(
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Unless you're *VERY* talented, committed and extremely focused, complex mods for multimillion budget DX9/10 games suck or never see the light at the end of the tunnel. Not much of a loss.
This doesn't mean more things are hardcoded and inaccessible to users, id engines have always been very elegant, and their small group of coders can't be arsed to code explicit minutiae the artists/designers want, script systems should still be in place intact. I don't expect the flexibility to go down, but unless you know your shit, and some months have gone by for good third-party auxiliary tools to be released, well, don't expect to achieve much.
Mod community support is, strangely enough, not as important as you might think when it comes to spurring up interest in a platform. Best selling, fun games with properly coded engines do.
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In any case, I am done with modding id's games. Modding has become so complex, you might as well work on an indie title if you have the team. If you're not making your own title, you're just helping to sell the title you are modding.
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