
Fallout: The Frontier Rewrite Announcement
#1
Posted 25 April 2021 - 07:51 AM

#2
Posted 26 April 2021 - 04:46 PM

Maybe it's off topic, maybe it's not. I guess I could make a new topic but I'm really curious about OP's input.
Is there any peculiar reason why The Frontier is/was/has been developed so secretly? I guess (especially quest) mod makers usually try to make the release version as close to their vision as possible and then they only fix bugs but is there any advantage to this way of development in the case of a large project like The Frontier? Wouldn't it make more sense to let the potential contributors see what exacly the project involves before joining it? The one reason I can think of is pumping up hype which is easier when the details are spoonfed, but [...] .
Circa 2016 Frontier developers contributed via Filezilla, design documents were in a limited access Google Docs folder and comms were on Skype, I don't know how much of this is the same nowadays, it's probably Discord now instead of Skype but it still seems like a lot of hussle just to see the first glimpse.
Maybe you aren't interested in newbies, (and here's where I get a bit off topic for a second) but there's an advantage I see for open sourcing (or its equivalent term in this context) a mod project, and that is letting new modders dabble in the GECK without first having to acquire all the skills needed to make complete mod that more than 50 people download while still getting feedback. Take for example arcoolka's ambitious mod meant to bring Fallout 1 into NV, they worked on it for years, and ended up abandoning it. I imagine if they had provided a platform for new modders and contributor, like for example having TODO lists of things the mod needs, for instance a list of interior cells, and if somebody wanted to start modding they'd just pick Necropolis Watershed Sewers off the list, make a child .esp for the mod of the work they did and send it in, maybe the project would have had got further and more people could get into modding if there were a few project that did this. Of course, the Frontier luckily managed to ship without all this.
Edited by daliawithoutanh, 26 April 2021 - 04:47 PM.
Also tagged with one or more of these keywords: frontier, the frontier, rewrite, ncr, help wanted
