Modding as a buissnes model

1. MODDING AS A BUISSNES MODEL

DEV. ON SQUAD GAME SDK

2. INTRO

3. WHERE DO I START ?

Buy the game on steam
Start the EPIC launcher
In the modding section you will find the squad tab on the left

4. so what should i do now?

No matter if you are new to the modding scene or and experienced dev.
You should join the modding community on Discord.
https://discordapp.com/invite/0jXt1Y2dpl79B4qV
Discord is a very easy to use app that gives you the opportunity to
connect with people from all over the world that share your interests. In
this case modding in Squad.

5. Quick history

OWI or off world industries is a computer dev company that
consists of developers that are retired members of the core
Project Reality: BF2 development team.
At some point they decided that the next step is to make
their own game featuring the core aspects of the original
mod and featuring new ways to play that where not possible
to implement with the Refractor 2 engine.
After looking at the Unity and Crytec engines they settled on
Epic ue4.

6. Mod support

One of the founders of OWI said from the start that as a
modder him self, one of the main priorities in game
development schedule will be mod support.
The idea was to give other modders the tools needed to
express their own vision and even create their own games
using the dev. Platform saving time and money on R&D.

7. Why SQUAD sdk?

As many of you know this days any game has a vast variety of features to be
relevant in today's standard. Each game genre has it’s own set of standard
features that the game owner will expect to find in game. For each of this
features you must invest time and money on development. This expanses can
rise to an enormous amount of money that most of the startup dev. Teams do not
have.
Most of the time to get to a point of having a ready product you will have to work
with a wide variety of people specializing in different game dev. fields. This will
required assembling a big team for a long period of time and managing it .
A good way to tackle this problem is by looking for pre made tools or assets that
can quicken the production time tables. Although this is a reasonable approach it
will still take a big chunk of time assembling all the pieces together and testing
the system for a bug free user friendly experience for the art teams and the rest
of the devs. In many cases while developing on a third party engine the teams will
be forced to make alterations to the engine and this will require the help from the
source devs. And this will lead to stalls in production until such issues can be
resolved.
Squad sdk. Comes with all this issues solved after a four year development in
collaboration with EPIC team on some aspects.

8. What features SQUAD has?

80 player multiplayer system (100 coming in near future)
ballistics system and bullet penetration
In game building system (item menu coming the future)
Wheeled and tracked vehicle physics
Air vehicle physics support coming in the future
Local or team voice activation system
Optics and healing
Fully working minimap with multiple player positions
All blueprints designed to be fully customisable
Hundreds of static and modular meshes for building a map.
Option to receive source code access while developing
Workshop support

9. Development: mapping

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There are a couple of ways to use SQUAD sdk to start making money in the game dev business.
MAP CREATION: One of the existing options for a modder that works as a one man crew to make a
buck is by creating playable maps for a game. This is a good way to start learning Epic’s UE4 also .
While creating a map the artist will have to create a landscape. Setup lighting. Learn the use of landscape
materials and the way the blueprint is build.
there will be the optimization issue that will demand addressing . Each game has it’s own draw call and tris.
budget . This is a good way to learn how to use what you are given to the maximum extend .
Before making a map for a specific game you should first play it and learn what others feel about the existing
maps in game. This is the only way to learn what other players feel and want.
While making the map the artist should use social tools that the Squad community provides. One of such tools
is a monthly posting on THE WRENCH that is a news update on what the community modders are working on
and so are the devs. In many cases Youtubers that make content on the game follow this articles and show
case them in their videos also for the world to see.
Once your map is build you can decide where to showcase your map first. There are a couple of communty
projects that will help you with this task at hand. The two most popular in my opinion at this time are
community Clan Fight Night (CCFN). And Squad ops.

10. Development: mapping

Once you feel confident that you have an awesome map that did great on the
community show case you can upload your baby on STEAM WORKSHOP and let
the rest of the world experience . Within any given time the players will speak out
and if the popularity of the game will be great your map will have the option to
be monetised and integrated into the vanilla game. There are already a couple of
presidents on the issue. There are already two map in the vanilla made by a
modder that were bought for 10-12 k us. Each. eventually the said modder also
received a job offer and currently working as a full time employee at OWI.
$

11. Development:mapping

Couple of things to keep in mind before starting work on
your awesome map. If you want to be considered for the
vanilla game all the used assets such as
meshes,mats,blueprints and any thing that makes the
map tick must be OWI owned or self created. You may not
use any assets from the asset store at all. OWI policy is to
own all rights to all in game assets.
At this time the only way to let others play on your map is
by uploading it to Seam workshop and by doing so you
release all rights to Valve and its associates whom ever
they might be. So before you make this next step see if
maybe you have more options on the table.
Next we will go over another modding option that requires
a modding team.

12. Development : larger game based mods.

One of the options in modding is assembling a team that will mod the vanilla
game to some extent relying on the full specter of features that Squad SDK.
Provides.
This team can vary from 4 to 40 people. Most of the recruiting is made in the
modding hub server on Discord. There you can find people that have experience
with UE4 and with a portfolio of their work.
A good example is the French mod team consisting of 30 active members
working in all aspects to produce the French faction into the game. There is a
project lead and a coordinator. Lead prog. and his team. Creative director and a
lead level designer with his team. Lead 3d artist and his team. Character design
team. Sound team. Military advisor that actually served in the French Legion at
the Northern Mali Conflict in 2014.

13. Development : larger game based mods.

approaching this type of modding gives the team
advantage in many aspects . First of all this is a good
way to learn how to work on a team with people from
different countries and time zones.
The overall results are much greater then making it on
your own.
With a final product there is an option to have it
introduced into vanilla. The more stuff you have in
your mod the better chances.
At this point the money question is for your
negotiating skills.
This kind of team building will give you a chance to
have a go at making a total conversion mod.

14. Total conversion

This should be the main goal for any modding team that seeks making
some good earnings in the long run.
This is a total remake of the game to a point that it looks like a different
game all together.OWI considers this the best way to go for any team . If
the team proves that they are serious by making good progress and
showing high quality work then they will be given access to the source
code.
It should be mentioned that all previous approaches to modding can be
made with the use of blueprints only. No code integration can be made.
Once the team achieved the final product and shown that all is working
well they can apply to OWI and receive rights to sell their mod as a stand
alone game retaining their rights on all their work.
OWI will ask for 20-25% after Steam taxes depending on their
involvement in helping the dev team through the time of development.
Having a client base of more then 450k copies of the game purchased it
should be one more important point to remember while making earning
predictions .

15. Total conversion mod

There are two more teams in the advanced
stages of development at this time that have
a playable in game footage
Postscriptum: WW2 squad based game play

16. Total conversion mod

Escalation 1985 set in the cold war era.

17. conclusion

At this time one man crew modders can rely only on
mapping as this is the most in demand .
Consider joining a modding team to get a chance to
reach a bigger and more fan based product to bank on
later.
Learn to network and gather a bigger data base of
concurrent teams working on stand alone projects. Try
joining one of them on royalty bases . You never know
where it will lead.
No mater what, you should at all time practice and go
forward all the time learning new skills and growing
your portfolio if you want to make it in the industry as
a freelancer or a part of a company.