Hobby to Obsession: Devrous' Shout-Out to the People that Made FS2 Modding Possible
To answer the email of how fast development has been on FS2H as compared with other mods...
I attend college and have a full-time job, so my free time is almost nil. Since I started really cranking out content, I've emphasized speed. I may only have an hour or so between school and work, so in that time I try to accomplish something, even if it's just writing down an idea for a new plasma trail or a memo to check on how I can change the sun flares.
On average, it takes me just one hour to go from having an idea for a ship in my head, modelling it, texturing it, placing weapons, thrusters, etc, converting it, and writing the table entry, to watching it fly in game. I try to be as efficient as possible. More complex ships, or ones I'm not satisfied with, take a bit longer. You may also note that my ships aren't nearly as detailed with lots of "greebles" and such.
Also, my speed is largely due to the fact that FS2H is done by a "one-man-army." Typical developments have a staff of several to many people, all working on different content. All of those people have to talk to one another, approve changes, and tranfer files to one another. Big decisions could take a while to implement. And most of the projects rely on the FS2 community for solutions (and I do, of course, but I pretty much just make do with what I have and find a way to make what I want to happen, happen). As for me? If I don't like it, it goes, if I like it, it stays!
The drawback to this is that my mod will never look nearly as good as, let's say, the Babylon Project or BSG:BtRL. Also, they have access to a wide array of media and online content with which to get textures, models, etc. AND most of their ships already exist in the universe they are modding in. Halo is the exact opposite! I've modelled 63 ships, and only 14 (6 human, 6 Covenant, and 2 Forerunner) exist within the official Haloverse.
Now to the Thanks...
All in all, I think to myself that FS2H will only be remembered because 1) I did it alone, 2) it's about Halo, and 3) I'll eventually release the whole thing to the community and say "take it, it's yours now." Everyone who takes on Freespace 2 modding would like to think that theirs will be the next best mod, but I don't have a team of people working on it, making it look great and perform like new. BUT, that isn't the point for me; I just want to have fun and do something unique for the benefit of Halo and Freespace fans.
The point is that I've had a lot of fun making this. Modding Freespace 2 in general has allowed me to keep my sanity through two girlfriend break-ups; several arduous years of Engineering school; friends coming and going; getting older and having to take on more responsibility (both social and financial); and the deaths of six family members. It has been my passion, and I look forward to sharing it with everyone who will take it. Of course I'd never have been able to do any of this if it wasn't for the awesome people at SCP, Hard-Light, Sectorgame and Volition.
Thanks to everyone!
Devrous <3 Freespace
