TaleWorlds Should Consider Paying Modders

[xdj1nn]

I wouldn't care for it. I have always modded for myself. You lot just got lucky


I'm happy that I got to join the company, meet and befriend various developers and contribute towards getting the game into players' hands. Don't think the company ever treated any modder's work as portfolio (unless you mean Warband DLCs?) - and I am not the only modder or community member that was hired over the years.

Regarding OP, I am personally not a fan of this kind of approach. In my opinion it can have a negative effect on community dynamics. If it is meant to cover large mods (overhauls etc.), it is also very subjective. One can turn it into a public popularity contest to make it more "fair", but that just drives the other point.

could be made so that it meets in the middle? It seems this strategy worked wonders for BI, I see no reason not to try that here. I'm fairly disappointed with the release, which's sort of obvious, and such a spark could light up the modding community faster and potentially expedite the whole modding scene evolution.
I really see no negatives, than again it's not like something I'd "demand" at all, I really don't care all that much...

 

[Bluko88]

Eh best thing thing TW could probably do is sell their main assets/engine to a Western Developer, who will like create an actual working game in probably 2 years.

Sadly no big studio comes to mind. Maybe there's a little indie studio, but can you trust them? Honestly I don't think anyone is really interested, the Mount & Blade audience is pretty niche. TW could have really made a name for themselves, especially in 2020 if they had reliably patched/created content like most devs so that Bannerlord wasn't Frankenstein's monster. Could have created a new genre, but now I'd say we'll be lucky to see a M&B 3.


I'm sure they'll just buy the most popular mods (that aren't IPs already like GoT/LotR), rebrand them as DLC. Just like Warbard. Was everyone really happy with that? Too much time has been wasted and they are still going to keep patching the game. Anything that isn't a complete overhaul mod is probably screwed. Can't expect mod authors to keep updating their mods for years jeesh. Maybe that's the whole plan all along. Break all the smaller QoL mods with never ending patches, buy out all the overhaul mods, sell them as DLC on PC/Console. Profit!


Let's not kid ourselves, studios/publishers do not care for mods. At best they are another way to sell the game, recruit some talent; at worst they are competition for your market. Bugthesda isn't stupid, they know mods sell their games, why they allow it. Heck they literally and still do try to sell mods. It always comes down to $$$, there are no saints, just fools who'll work too much and for too little to the benefit of would-be overlords.

 

[froggyluv]

The new "Swat 5" style game Ready or Not is now offering it:

Attention Officers, Modders, and Mappers!


We'd like to announce that we're going to be opening up another contest, however this one will be quite different in its' scale and prizing. Starting today we will be opening up submissions for our first mapping contest!

If your mod breaks any of the rules, it will be immediately deleted and you will be barred from re-entering or re-posting. After reading the rules you will have to react below and receive a role to have the ability to submit your mod.

Entries can be sent in as a team or by an individual.

Prizing:

1st place
: 5000$ USD, Inclusion of the mapping team in the game

2nd Place
: 2,500$ USD

3rd Place
: 1,500$ USD

..now these numbers are obviously much small then the aforementioned BI ones but this game is made almost literally on the dime of early access supporters (we dished out $120 for the Alpha). Bohemia and Taleworlds both have in the Many Millions of dollars and could easily beat this offer. But goes to show that this is not an outlandish idea at all and TW should to consider it.

And definitely reinforces against the people who think modders should just "offer up" their hardwork as free labor to the financial benefits of others

 

[Goyyyio]

What you guys mean is not "TW should hire modders" rather, Taleworlds should take more chances and try creative ideas that expand the gameplay possibilities, which is exactly why this game is so dull, because they just kept it simple and didn't risk anything, which is what modders are able to do, because they don't care about making a customer happy or unhappy, they can just experiment. Too sad TW doesn't.

 

[Alyss]

What you guys mean is not "TW should hire modders" rather, Taleworlds should take more chances and try creative ideas that expand the gameplay possibilities, which is exactly why this game is so dull, because they just kept it simple and didn't risk anything, which is what modders are able to do, because they don't care about making a customer happy or unhappy, they can just experiment. Too sad TW doesn't.

The fact that there is less content than native Warband in some parts of the game still baffles me

 

[RubbingMyAxe]

It sounds like they need more employees, in general.

MP login servers and TW game servers go down and no one is available to fix it, sometimes for days. Why is there not 24/7 monitoring software that pings an IT guy to restart these things? There is industry-standard software for this and it's not that expensive. I can't think of any other game where players have to beg the developers on Discord, Twitter, and forums for days to get servers restarted.

MP still doesn't even have basic admin functions like changing the map. A modder made an admin GUI with several functions in a single day, and TW hasn't done it in years.

Server crashes have been a huge issue since the MP beta. Players are patching TW code using harmony just to try to keep their servers stable.

Hire people for these things, it's been several years you obviously do not have the skills or manpower to fix them.

 

[froggyluv]

It sounds like they need more employees, in general.

MP login servers and TW game servers go down and no one is available to fix it, sometimes for days. Why is there not 24/7 monitoring software that pings an IT guy to restart these things? There is industry-standard software for this and it's not that expensive. I can't think of any other game where players have to beg the developers on Discord, Twitter, and forums for days to get servers restarted.

MP still doesn't even have basic admin functions like changing the map. A modder made an admin GUI with several functions in a single day, and TW hasn't done it in years.

Server crashes have been a huge issue since the MP beta. Players are patching TW code using harmony just to try to keep their servers stable.

Hire people for these things, it's been several years you obviously do not have the skills or manpower to fix them.

Brooks's law​

"Brooks' law is an observation about software project management according to which adding manpower to software project that is behind schedule delays it even longer"

Hiring more people to an unorganized, unfocused team can often backfire. Ive seen cases in which one supremely talented AI coder took over the position from a team of 4 guys and did a much better job.

 

[RubbingMyAxe]

Brooks's law​

"Brooks' law is an observation about software project management according to which adding manpower to software project that is behind schedule delays it even longer"

Hiring more people to an unorganized, unfocused team can often backfire. Ive seen cases in which one supremely talented AI coder took over the position from a team of 4 guys and did a much better job.

That can be true for a project with an upcoming deadline. It takes time to get people up to speed. But the things I listed have been ongoing issues for 3+ years with no end in sight. I think it's time to throw a few extra bodies at them.

A modder implemented an admin GUI with multiple functions in a single day. So it seems like at least some of the things should be doable by TW developers, they just haven't had the manpower to look at them in 3+ years.

 

[froggyluv]

A modder implemented an admin GUI with multiple functions in a single day. So it seems like at least some of the things should be doable by TW developers, they just haven't had the manpower to look at them in 3+ years.

That only further illustrates the point. 1 man, a modder did it in a single day. I know another indie project Tales of Glory (M&B on VR) in which a one man team is delivering Multiplayer to us in the next few months on his own. The whole point being -number of bodies thrown at a problem isnt always and is often NOT the solution.

 

[Liammorris1990]

Should sell their IP, Milked Warband showed us great videos of what the game was to be then haven't really achieved much since since we all had access, now release is here and it's a shell.

 

[pRaX]

They already did. That's where Viking Conquest came from for example. But I guess they got stingy with the budget because I still think the only thing impressive about VQ was the ship mechanics etc. while in everything else I deem Brytenwalda being superior.

 

[froggyluv]

They already did. That's where Viking Conquest came from for example. But I guess they got stingy with the budget because I still think the only thing impressive about VQ was the ship mechanics etc. while in everything else I deem Brytenwalda being superior.

The dlcs already been covered -this thread is about adding a contest as did the aforementioned devs

 

[Goyyyio]

It sounds like they need more employees, in general.

MP login servers and TW game servers go down and no one is available to fix it, sometimes for days. Why is there not 24/7 monitoring software that pings an IT guy to restart these things? There is industry-standard software for this and it's not that expensive. I can't think of any other game where players have to beg the developers on Discord, Twitter, and forums for days to get servers restarted.

MP still doesn't even have basic admin functions like changing the map. A modder made an admin GUI with several functions in a single day, and TW hasn't done it in years.

Server crashes have been a huge issue since the MP beta. Players are patching TW code using harmony just to try to keep their servers stable.

Hire people for these things, it's been several years you obviously do not have the skills or manpower to fix them.

Well, there is this problem with taleworlds, and it's that they're incredibly cheap.