The relatively new DOTA 2 Workshop tools Alpha offers game designers, modders, and map makers the ability to create a game mod inside of DOTA 2. If you are familiar with Valve’s Hammer that is used to create maps across several Valve games such as Counter-Strike then you are in luck because DOTA 2 Workshop tools comes with the new version of Hammer that lets its users design maps in a more intuitive way than before. There are also other tools in the package such as a tool for 3D modeling of characters.
The modding community is mostly impressed by the new Hammer and its new capabilities such as improved object properties, displacement surfaces that can be sculpted into different shapes and connected to one another to create terrain, and other great capabilities. You may read them all here: https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Hammer_What%27s_New
New Hammer
Old hammer
With these new modding tools we are now able to create great mods for DOTA 2 such as Pudge Wars, Angel Arena, and Omni Party. All of those three mods and many others were available in Warcraft 3 and are now being recreated in DOTA 2. It is funny to think about since the original DotA also started off as a mod for Warcraft 3.
Valve has been allowing its content creators to sell their user generated content (UGC) such as character customizations, game backgrounds, chat emoticons, new character voices, etc… so will Valve also allow modders to sell their mods once the Workshop tools gets out of its alpha and beta stages? I personally think that they should because it is also UGC no different from anything else that is being sold on their market currently.
With the new Workshop tools we are going to see some great content that will be generated over the years. I am personally very excited for the next game-changing genre to emerge once a game designer creates a new mod that will be better than DOTA 2 itself just like how DotA was a more fun game than Warcraft 3 itself (at least I think so).
Nic,
The best place to look at these days for almost anything is Reddit. I started following the tutorials in the wiki at the subreddit /r/dota2modding. Once I did this tutorial: http://www.reddit.com/r/Dota2Modding/comments/2dfusk/tutorial_complete_stepbystep_video_walkthrough_on/ I was able to identify the most crucial tools that are used in Hammer. Once that was done I came up with the idea for my tower defense game and decided to implement it. I logged into the IRC for that subreddit: Server -irc.gamesurge.net:6667 Channel – #dota2modhelpdesk where I found some very helpful folks that would respond to my questions in less than a minute. The whole process took me about 10 to 20 hours. You should probably give it another try because I had a lot of fun discovering Hammer and all of its capabilities. Good luck!
Hayder,
I was wondering how long it took you to put this mod together? I took a look at the toolset last week and wasn’t confident that I could make something that would work. What kind of resources did you look at to learn how to develop the map? The tutorials I was finding seemed to be pretty complicated compared to what I’ve seen with other map editors, so I ended up not pursuing it any further.
Do you have any tips for someone who’s trying to get started? I’m definitely interested if there are good gateways to enter!
So I decided to dig in and actually create a mod. You can check it out here: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=380588458 . Name might be funny but it is a mod that actually runs. Is it an actual playable game? No, not really at least not yet. While I was creating the mod I was asked by Valve to agree to the following two agreements: http://store.steampowered.com/subscriber_agreement/ and http://pastebin.com/pPy29jg9 before I could publish. I have no law experience so I found it very difficult to read that text but I could not find anything about who actually owns the UGC.
I agree, I think it’s great that Valve made this tool available to the public. I am always interested in seeing what people can do with these types of tools. Although I personally haven’t designed anything worthwhile, the stuff I seen in something like Little Big Planet or in Skyrim are impressive. I also like the way creators are able to make money off of their UGC as it gives people more incentive to join in the creation. However, there is always a danger to charging money for custom creations such as maps. If a player buys enough bad maps that player could get mad and ultimately quit the game which could hurt Valve. Of course this risk comes in with any UGC and so far Valve and their games have been fine, so I don’t believe it will become too much of a problem at the end of the day. The best part about these tools being made public is it allows for people to show off their hidden talent. This talent may get them a job at a company making the next game we all love and want to play.
Even with giving up ownership or IP, if a mod ‘takes off’, the folks behind that mod almost have a guaranteed job in the industry. Studios don’t turn away talent like that. Looking more closely at the URL posted in the comment, this appears to be tied to designs that will go into some sort of physical print/merch stuff (posters, shirts, etc), made by a company valve is working with. My guess is that Valve does not claim IP ownership of it’s DOTA2 mods (I don’t think they ever did with TF2 or HL mods).
I do know that some of the top DOTA2 community 3D modelers (folks making armor suits/skins for heroes, couriers, etc) are making upwards of 80-90k a year. I’m not sure how ownership works there, but that’s still a pretty nice penny to make, especially for folks that are doing this *on the side*.
Even with giving up ownership or IP, if a mod ‘takes off’, the folks behind that mod almost have a guaranteed job in the industry. Studios don’t turn away talent like that. Looking more closely at the URL posted in the comment, this appears to be tied to designs that will go into some sort of physical print/merch stuff (posters, shirts, etc), made by a company valve is working with. My guess is that Valve does not claim IP ownership of it’s DOTA2 mods (I don’t think they ever did with TF2 or HL mods).
I do know that some of the top DOTA2 community 3D modelers (folks making armor suits/skins for heroes, couriers, etc) are making upwards of 80-90k a year. I’m not sure how ownership works there, but that’s still a pretty nice penny to make, especially for folks that are doing this *on the side*.
Well according to this page: http://www.dota2.com/workshop/requirements/merchandise (That’s the best I could find.) It seems like Valve will either claim ownership of what you create or give the ownership to a 3rd party then they would pay you depending on how much what you created makes.
I think you bring up an interesting discussion point – what’s the future when mods are created? One of Valve’s current strongest IPs was only made possible because these tools exist, but what happens if or when these tools allow the next best game to be created?
One of the things I wish I knew more about when it comes to mods is the terms of use available to the developers. I’m not a modder or developer on any of Valve’s platforms, so I’m not sure, but what happens when these tools are utilized – does Valve gain the rights to those game maps and types? Does the developer have the ability to charge for use of their custom game type? I think that mods are one of the most powerful concepts in 21st-century gaming because they allow us, the players, to reinvent and create worlds when developers don’t have the funds or manpower to do so. Provided the terms are still reasonable, I’m really happy to see that this tool has been deployed for DoTA 2, and I hope that other developers (Blizzard, Riot, etc.) will follow in those footsteps and create great tools of their own for their respective fanbases.