IGF 2006 Announces Mod Category

Gamasutra has details on next year's IGF competetion, which will have several worthwhile prizes for "Visual Arts, Audio, Game Design, Technical Excellence, and Best Web Browser Game". They've also opened up a Best Mod Category, and you can vote on which four games will have their mods considered for the competition.

Half-Life?

[wuie]

Under the Mod category, most of the games are relatively recent... but then we come to Half-Life. Why is this still bundled in for the competition, especially for the 2006 version? I recall seeing Half-Life already win awards for being friendly to modders, and the same goes with Half-Life mods winning recognition (Counter-Strike comes to mind).

As much as I love Half-Life, it should be taken off the list to allow other games the chance to shine in the mod spotlight.

Americas Army?

[Idolminds]

Probably a bad idea to have this as a choice. There are no plans to release any mod tools. You cant even make custom maps for it.

let me guess...

[KillShill]

no consoles on that list? (what, me read TFA?)

yes sir, ladies and gentleman. one of the biggest benefits of pc software is that you don't have to get permission to write arbitrary programs or make your own modifications to existing ones.

eat that consoles, err DRM-crippled entertainment devices.

it's only slightly off-topic but it really needs to be said. do whatever you wish.

Re:let me guess...

[DingerX]

Hehe... that's what, another +5 Troll?

BTW, most of everything is garbage. The internet and science fiction writers even managed to cobble together a "law" to that effect.

Well, CS is still as far as I know the reigning champ of number of users online at any time, and by a great margin.

Generally, sure, if you want something simple that looks really good and has mass appeal, there's no reason to worry about mods anywhere, and yeah, the console market, with its lack of configuration issues (one vid card,

Re:let me guess...

[rohlfinator]

Hehe, maybe my previous comment did sound a little too troll-ish. I'm just trying to play the devil's advocate. ;)

"But I wouldn't give mods the short shrift. The major advantage PCs have over game machines is that they are more versatile and PC Gamers should have a streak of the hardcore in them. With a decent game platform, the internet, a vision, proper direction and development, a serious mod group can put out a product that may not be economically viable to the big guys, but that addresses a niche."

Missing Moddable Independent FPSes

[MiceHead]

The poll lists a number of the blockbuster first-person shooters we all know and love...

• America's Army
• Battlefield 1942
• Call of Duty
• Doom 3
• Far Cry
• Half Life and Half Life 2
• Unreal Tournament 2004

...but I think that the Independent Games Festival is missing out by not including independently-developed first-person shooters in the mix. I can think of three off the top of my head:

• Cube [cubeengine.com], which allows players to create their own maps.
• Nexuiz [nexuiz.com], under GPL, allowing everyone to download the source and modify