Zoned in

November 2, 2007

Unleashing your inner artist through game modding
By Michael Lafferty

Using the right program can help would-be modders achieve amazing results

The tickle of the notion about getting into the whole modding scene has been dancing about for a while now. If you look at a site like www.moddb.com, you will notice some rather staggering stats, such as new games average 15-30 mods before release.

And to quote from that site: “Game mods are more than mere configuration changes, they are increasingly improving games beyond what was initially considered possible, delivering not only original lasting gaming concepts, but also driving game sales. Take for example, the 10 most popular online games as monitored by Gamespy. Of the 50 to 100 thousand people online at any moment, over 75% of these people are playing modifications.”

If one looks at the modding community for a game like The Sims 2, you will see a dedicated fan base that adds to the enjoyment of the game, and all with modifications that come in the form of new clothes, hair, makeup, houses, building components and even behavioral modifications.

The modding community is a huge one, comprised of creative people that enjoy taking a game and adding to it. BioWare recognized this years ago when it offered up the Aurora Toolset for Neverwinter Nights and then gave players the opportunity to share that. The modules created have been amazing and deep, adding to the game.

So where does one begin if wishing to explore that element of gaming. It is tough to just jump in and go, so obviously a bit of guidance helps. In the weeks to come, I will be taking a bit more of a look at the modding community, talking with software developers and even offering up some ideas on how to go about embarking on modding.

Today, let’s begin with environments. Modding does require dedicated tools, such as Photoshop and other software. Depending on the job, and the mod, some tools, like the aforementioned Aurora Toolset, might come with a game, but generally, for serious modders, the tools are independent programs, like Bryce, Poser, or MaPZone.

GameZone had the chance to talk to Dr. Sebastien Deguy, president and founder of Allegorithmic (www.allegorithmic.com) about this texturing tool.

(Before actually getting to the interview, though, perhaps a quick bit of the terminology used may be helpful. A procedural texture, which is what MaPZone does, is a computer-generated image, using algorithms that simulates real-world natural elements, such as marble or oak. MaPZone is the most advanced texturing tool on the market and is optimized for creating high-quality textures that can be used for a variety of design applications.)

Question: When a person first begins to embark on modding, what are the initial hurdles that they have to overcome? What do you think factors in to decisions made during a texturing process? How much of a learning curve is there and will people have to know computer languages to use the program?

Deguy: I’d say the real biggie is to make the mod fun, so it’s all about the game design and level design.

On the technical side, the new thing for modders is to take into account the specificities of a real-time engine: the models have to be really clean, the textures have to be at the proper resolution, etc. Optimization is the key here.

Tools like MaPZone are of great help for this as, among other nice features for real-time applications, you can change the resolution of the texture at any time without having to redo everything.

MaPZone is a tool dedicated to graphic artists, and there is no programming prereq at all, but as with any powerful tool, there is a learning curve.

Tell us about MaPZone and what it allows users to achieve? Is this a product that is for advanced users, or can anyone use it? Is this strictly for modding or could someone use it for graphic/electronic illustrative work?

Deguy: MaPZone is a texturing tool. As such, you can design all the maps you will need to produce high quality textures and materials: diffuse, normal, height, specular, alpha, etc.

MaPZone is dedicated to texturing and this is what it does best. We believe it can be used by anybody, although being advanced will help to get it to its max and produce amazing results very quickly. MaPZone started its life as a plugin for Photoshop, and has actually been widely used within the animation/vfx/graphic illustration fields.

For what games would people most likely use a texturing tool and would it be applicable only to environments or does its application extend well beyond that?

Deguy: It can be used to texture pretty much anything, any style: realistic, sci-fi, organic, cartoonish, ugly, etc. It has already been used for all these purposes. Environments is what MaPZone helps the most with, but characters could definitely be textured using the tool.

What do you think the most common mistakes people make when using tools like your product?

Deguy: The most common one is to think it’s limited to produce only math-looking textures, like old procedural tools are proposing… MaPZone is clearly a great leap forward and is based on a much stronger base code that allows it to have the most advance power of expression. Change your mind! MaPZone is a new generation of tools, and the textures you will produce are of the best breed.

How much detail is too much?

Deguy: When your system crashes! I strongly believe details are what makes the difference. Most people will look at a picture and say: ”there is something wrong with this image,” without knowing what it is exactly. Usually this is in the details, and most of the time in the lack of details.

MaPZone, by its procedural nature, allows the rapid production of high res details and organic elements that will give life to your creations.

What are the minimum specifications for machines using your tool?

Deguy: Depending on the level of detail you want; well, typically, we recommend the following machine:

  • PIII or equivalent  - 256 MB of RAM
  • Windows XP / Vista
  • And for the 3D viewer, a Shader Model 2.0 capable graphic card.

Technology is constantly evolving. How does the changing template of graphics rendering cards and such factor in when you create a new program?

Deguy: Working with GPUs is a little like getting back in time when programming on Atari ST or Amiga, getting close to the metal: trying to find the right way to code them and get the max out of them, so it’s a lot of fun, and the power you get is frankly amazing and opens new opportunities.

Now that said, when you have to deal with all the variants of cards, drivers and OS, you have a nice exponential right here, with quite a lot of problems to make your program work on the broader machine set.

But initiatives like DirectX 10 and what is called GPGPU should help going towards a more pragmatic and professional industry.

(MaPZone is freeware that can be downloaded at www.mapzoneeditor.com)