From mods to indies to AAA games

Each year the walls separating modders, indie game developers and commercial developers continue to crumble as you and others explore the challenge that is game development. For many, modding and indie game development is done purely for fun - a hobby to express your creativity and challenge the mind. For others, modding is a way to gain firsthand experience on a proven commercial game engine. Some have a plan, an ambition, and are using the mod as their ticket into the games industry, while others begin not knowing where they will end up or what their aim is.


More and more however, are now creating mods as a way to road-test ideas - to create a prototype before they take the leap of faith and explore the world that is commercial game development via Torque and other game engines offered to such developers. With this in mind, in 2008 ModDB ran its Mod of the Year awards in partnership with Garage Games, offering 5 licences of their Torque Game Engine Advanced + tools ($1000 value each) to the winning teams across a number of categories. Because of this the 2008 awards were hotly contested and I would like to present a number of the winners here. Each one of these MOTY award recipients are all now exploring the possibility of taking their idea onto the Torque engine and entering the world of indie game development.

Project Reality for Battlefield 2

2008 Mod of the Year

The focus of this mod is to rework the original game engine developed by Digital Illusions of Sweden (Dice) to create a more realistic combat environment for the gaming community. This includes adjusting various game play elements including physics, visual effects and overall game play formats. Along with changes to how the game handles, the Project Reality team has been introducing British and Insurgent factions, plus a number of community assisted factions are currently in the works to introduce Canadian, Russian and IDF forces to the virtual battlefields. This Mod is not for the masses, due to the fact that it has a much higher learning curve then your classic arcade game. This is the real deal.

Zombie Panic: Source for Half-Life 2

2008 Runner Up Mod of the Year

Zombie Panic: Source is a co-op oriented Survivor Vs Zombie multi-player survival horror modification for HL2. While the main priority is to make the mod as fun to play as possible, ZP:S plans to greatly expand on the core features of "Zombie panic" For HL1, with the obvious new features, impressive visuals, and of course atmospheric maps. More importantly ZP:S will not force players to fend against dumb and predictable AI, but instead keep the same intense thrill of surviving against intelligent and persistent player controlled zombies as the original.

Neotokyo for Half-Life 2 Half-Life 2

2008 Runner Up Best Upcoming Mod

Neotokyo takes place in and around a fictionalized Tokyo approximately 30 years in the future. Mankind has begun to fuse with technology. Government and corporate corruption have transformed Tokyo into a deadly dystopian nightmare. After a near-successful military coup by ranking members of Jinrai, the National Security Force (NSF) is formed - answering directly to the Prime Minister, it's mission is to investigate and eliminate all threats to Japan, both abroad and at home. The initial core of the NSF is made from an exodus from within the intelligence branch of the military. With this betrayal begins the war in the shadows between the NSF and Jinrai. Neotokyo is a first person shooter that aims to provide a visceral & realistic combat experience in a rich futuristic setting.

The Ball for Unreal Tournament 3

Editors Choice 2008 Best Mod

The Ball offers an adventure that puts you in the boots of a geologist who gets stuck in a cavern and bumps onto an ancient and Toltec complex holding a mysterious ball. While making your way through the internal workings of ancient ziggurats, golden cities, and huge caverns, your only companion is a giant gold and metal-shelled ball, a mysterious artifact in its own right, that you use to make your way through a series of rooms and caverns, and to crush enemies with. As you progress through the mod, slowly the real purpose of this gigantic Toltec complex becomes clear, and you are sucked into a thousands of years old story of betrayal and secrecy.


We expect to continue working with Garage Games, so please stop by ModDB to explore some of the many great mods in development. Also all Garage Gamers are welcome to list their game projects on ModDB.com. Creating your own profile, whether it is for an independent project or a new AAA commercial title, is quick and easy. ModDB allows you to maintain a direct connection with a large audience and issue updates, media and downloads to a community that goes beyond the limits of your already established fan base.