My artistic skills need improvement...

[MF0TY]

Hello I made a post like this a while back but never really got the answer I had hoped for and was not nearly as clear as I should have been so allow me to retry. I would like to eventually do a variety of modding on games such as the fallout series or elder scrolls. Everything from adding new features to the game like a more in depth weapon mod system to fully voice acted lip synched quest mods with new weapons weapon effects textures models ect and I don't want these to look like a four year old did them (lol). So can anyone give me some advice as to any college courses to take on art skills or any internet guides to writing script using the art programs I will need that kind of stuff, sorry I can't be more specific but I am still new to all of this I wont necessarily work on all these features but I'd like to have some hand in the ideas I come up with as oppose to handing them off to other people and making them do all or most the work.

[Vagrant0]

Kinda answered this in the last thread... In short...

 

No collage courses exist for modding because at best, modding is a hobby, at worst just a waste of time.

 

Collage courses related specifically to game design tend to only be found in game design schools which focus exclusively on game design, and generally have curriculum focused on a specific aspect.

 

Other college courses can be applied to game design, such as creative writing, graphic design, computer science, drama, but again, only focus on a single aspect and requires you to kinda connect the two.

 

Generally, most modders focus on one aspect to start and develop from there either focusing on mods mostly related to that aspect and just including some occasional glue, or leave that aspect as an unfinished example for use by other modders.

 

 

I short;

Go to college for college/career stuff since selling out your future to mod a game is just plain stupid.

If you have time to make mods between classes, don't try to do everything all at once, right away. For the most part, you don't need new resources made for any project unless you're doing something silly ambitious which is probably far outside the scope of what a single person could hope to accomplish in any real timeframe.

[BarefootWarrior]

Kinda answered this in the last thread... In short...

 

No collage courses exist for modding because at best, modding is a hobby, at worst just a waste of time.

 

Collage courses related specifically to game design tend to only be found in game design schools which focus exclusively on game design, and generally have curriculum focused on a specific aspect.

 

Other college courses can be applied to game design, such as creative writing, graphic design, computer science, drama, but again, only focus on a single aspect and requires you to kinda connect the two.

 

Generally, most modders focus on one aspect to start and develop from there either focusing on mods mostly related to that aspect and just including some occasional glue, or leave that aspect as an unfinished example for use by other modders.

 

 

I short;

Go to college for college/career stuff since selling out your future to mod a game is just plain stupid.

If you have time to make mods between classes, don't try to do everything all at once, right away. For the most part, you don't need new resources made for any project unless you're doing something silly ambitious which is probably far outside the scope of what a single person could hope to accomplish in any real timeframe.

 

I agree with this. The other side of this is, there are programs or private college's that teach game development where you learn the high end 3D applications, programming, etc, but they are very expensive. You can drop $40K or more for a four year program.

 

For myself, I have always been an artist, and eventually got into graphic design, web design although web design is not my forte. But I learned how to use Photoshop, Illustrator and other applications and use them almost on a daily basis. I would suggest that maybe you should look at this as a hobby, take your time and learn how to use an application such as Blender, which is free by the way and will give 3D max and Maya a run for the money. There are quite a few open source applications that are out there that could help you self learn and give you a chance to decide what you really want to do in the area of the graphic arts, or modeling.

 

But take it one step at a time and learn where your strengths or skills are and move on from there. :thumbsup:

[AncientSpaceAeon]

I think with enough effort, an interest, and determination, anyone can make a good mod. You could basically start from the absolute zero, and make a great mod two months after. Especially when there are sites like these. Being good at the technical aspect is what anyone can do, again, with enough effort.

http://cs.elderscrolls.com/constwiki/index.php/Main_Page

 

Quentin Tarantino once said, "When people ask me if I went to film school I tell them, "No, I went to films.'"

 

On the artistic/creative aspect however, there's no college or school for that. You want to be good at making mods (which basically mean adding/changing sometime to a game), you should play more games or game mods. You need to find what make those games/mods great, what makes it a great experience. Whether it's the pacing, difficulty, atmosphere, even it's soundtrack.

 

If you want to make a quest/story driven mod, you'd have to watch a lot of movies. The IMDb top 250 is a good reference for good movies, something absolutely vital if you want to make a story driven mod. But even if you don't, you probably still get some creative ideas.

http://www.imdb.com/chart/top

 

The Extra Credits series is a good reference about making a good game experience. But I can't seem to find their old videos with Escapist anywhere now. Too bad.

 

And tvtropes is a good site for, well, everything related to art. Check everything you ever watched (movies, live action television, animations) or played (video games). The ones that you liked of course. You should get interesting read.

http://tvtropes.org/

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RolePlayingGame