Portal mod development advice

Recently, I’ve noticed a lot of people here on r/Portal are eager to try their hand at making a mod. That’s great and all, but it’s important to remember that the majority of mods which start being developed never get released. If you want to avoid that happening to you, you’ll need to be well-prepared before you even begin. I have some tips for you if you're serious about making a mod, and I'm gonna be as broad as I can so that in the future I can be lazy and copy this over and over.

* **Know where your feet are before jumping.** This is not to say "don't aim for greatness" or "don't try to leap high". What this means is get acquainted with mod\-making. YouTube tutorials can barely scratch the surface of what you need, *even* if you find the world's most complete tutorial series ever. Why? Because personal experience and learning curves are far more important than other people telling you what to do. YouTube cannot possibly cover every type of mod, every type of learning. *Practice* will get you there. I've been there before, making big plans before ever touching the tools. Never worked for me, ever. So, for a start, get some Hammer maps out for Portal 2, tinker a bit with custom assets, try to experiment around. Once you feel you've gathered enough experience to take it to modding level, you’re ready for the second tip;
* **Know your scope.** You have to *realistically* assess how big your mod is gonna be. Is it gonna be a small, relatively simple mappack\-like mod, such as Rexaura? Or is it gonna be full of new songs, animations, models and characters, like Portal Stories: Mel? It's easy to dream big \- trust me, everyone's been there before \- but if you don't realistically determine how much you can *reasonably* accomplish, I'm sorry to say you're setting yourself up for disappointment. How much time are you willing to put into the project? How much money? How many people are you planning on involving? These all have to be weighed in if you’re going to take it seriously. If it's a pet project you do in your free time, it is absolutely fine \- you can always involve people later or increase the scope of the project throughout its development, but if you don't know your scope, you run the risk of overestimating or underestimating work, which in the long run will massively increase the amount of time and effort it takes to finish your mod, and will significantly diminish the mod’s quality. *Consistency is key to a successful mod*;
* **Know your plans.** Want to tell a story? Write the story before telling it. Want to explore new visual styles? Draw them out before exploring them. Want some mind\-bending puzzles? Craft and test them out before they're included. New puzzle elements? Conceptualize every interaction and every flaw they might have before you pump out puzzles. *Planning is fundamental to a successful mod*. I can *guarantee* you that your mod will be *mediocre at best* if there's no planning involved. I mean actually sit down and write boring documentation. If you want to make a mod that seems like a professional game, you need to plan it like a professional game developer. Not everything about development is having fun or brainstorming. Most of what it takes to make a good mod is good planning, good planning, and a hint of good planning. Use your passion for the project as a drive to craft it, rather than the enthusiasm of a new idea. *Enthusiasm dies quickly, but passion does not*. If you have a fully fledged blueprint of your mod, from story to styles, from puzzles to characters, from music to scope, then you're a fraction of the way through it. And you'll most likely have to redo most of that work, because the first iteration of an idea is rarely very good. Reiterate, rewrite, and remake. Perfect your craft whenever you see fit. Think you're satisfied with your work? Get playtesters, beta readers, friends, family and acquaintances to take a look at your work. *Gather their criticism with open arms*. I can't stress enough how important criticism is. You're not *obliged* to take their word as gospel and do everything they say, but do realize that their opinion represents only a fraction of what you'd get from the general public;
* **Work hard, play hard.** Once development officially starts, you'll probably not have as much fun as you'd expect. But trust me, if your idea is good and well\-crafted, the effort *will* pay off. One of the most rewarding things I've found in life is recognition for a good work, and you can't get that with a half\-assed rushed "experimental" mod. Am I telling you *not* to make experimental mods? Not at all, go for it. But keep your expectations realistic. Don't expect Portal 3 levels of praise for making a small mappack with default assets and a rushed script. While developing your mod, and I need to be very clear here: *playtest, playtest, playtest*. Once you've playtested, *playtest some more*. Tired of playtesting? Good, now *get other people to playtest*. Players can often forgive a small visual or audio issue. They can even forget a couple cheesy lines of dialogue. But do you know what players *won't* forgive *or* forget? Untested maps. *They won't forgive or forget sloppy work*. You can make a very compelling mod with a thrilling story and stunning visuals, but skip testing a couple maps and your mod will become a contest for people to see how hard they can break it.

Got it all? Got what it takes? Sorry, but none of the above will matter if the following traits fall flat:

* **Originality.** For the love of god, we don't need another Portal 1 or Portal 2. If I wanted to play either game, *I would play them instead of your mod*. If your mod is a crossover with another franchise, you're almost certainly guaranteed to fail, *especially* if the combined concepts clash. Do you want your mod to stand out among the crowd of hundreds of mods? *Make it stand out*. Don't expect people to automagically recognize your hard work and efforts if your mod is as dull as "escape the facility while *evil GLaDOS* tries to kill you". What makes your mod unique? Is it the focus on some puzzle elements? Make your mod around it! Rexaura did very well with simple aesthetics and no plot. How? Original use of pellets, and some incredibly clever puzzle design. Is it about a new puzzle mechanic? Despite the mixed reviews it garnered, Tag did very well with its paint gun premise. Want a new plot? Mel did it very well. Every popular mod has something unique and special that distinguishes them from the others. They all have something to make them stand from the crowd. Yours should be no different. **Be new, be creative, be original.**
* **Target audience.** Do you know your audience? Who do you want to play your mod? Do you want a new player, completely oblivious to Portal 1 and 2's plot \(somehow\) to be able to understand your mod? Then rely as little as possible on whatever either game established. Do you want your mod to be focused on experienced players seeking challenging puzzles? Focus on the puzzles then, leave plot and visuals second. You *have* to know who you're making this mod for, and you have to know what they like. I'm not saying "please everyone" \(spoiler alert: you can't\). I'm saying you should make what you like with passion, but always remember who it is that’s going to play your mod. If you care about what they experience or what they have to say, then you'll want to make sure you understand what they expect from a mod.
* **Balance and curve.** Do your players want challenging puzzles? Give 'em just enough to satisfy their needs. Don't make your mod consist of 50 super tough puzzles, that’s just tedious for even the most avid puzzle solvers. Balance is about knowing how much water you need to make your liquor less bitter \- I don't drink, so god knows if this analogy works. Sprinkle some slightly easier puzzles into the mix, not just to ease the player and give them some breathing space, but also to make the tough puzzles stand out. It's easier to see that a puzzle is tough if you just played an easier puzzle. The same goes for any other focus you want for your mod. Plot? Give the player a bit of quiet time between plot points. Let them gather the influx of the plot and sort it out in their head. Don't overflow them with plot. New puzzle element? Why not have a couple puzzles that have their focus on a base puzzle element for a change? *Uniformity is not consistency, consistency is not uniformity*. You need your highs and lows to keep it interesting. But you also need a curve. A steadily steepening curve. For puzzles, it's a difficulty curve \- from simpler puzzles to tougher. For plot, a curve of conflicts that increase in stakes. For new elements, new and more complex interactions and iterations of the newly\-learned mechanic. You don't want to drop a boulder on the player's shoulder right as they enter and expect them to run a marathon with it. For more on difficulty curves and highs\-and\-lows, I *highly* recommend watching [this GDC talk on the subject](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xBJwrm9C8w).
* **Cutting corners.** You can't have your cake and eat it too. That'd be a lie, and we don't like the association of cakes with lies now, do we? You know those dozens of ideas you had with hundreds of ramifications and thousands of possible venues? Yeah, about that... sorry. They'll all go. You'll use a couple of them, sure, but the rest? Drop it. Seriously, it hurts, but you have to. You can't use every idea you have, that's not only unrealistic but also uninteresting. Not all ideas are amazing, and not all amazing ideas are fun or engaging. Some fun and engaging amazing ideas are just not pleasant for some people. And sometimes, even when they are, you just don't have enough space in your previously\-assessed scope to fit it in. You have no other choice but to cut it out. Does it make you feel like your work is incomplete? Congratulations, such is art in every other medium. They say art is never finished, only abandoned. That is actually true. You could always spend eternity perfecting a project, adding more and more ideas, but at some point, I'm sure you want to actually *get it out into the public*. That can only happen when you decide that what you have is good enough.
* **Learn from experience.** How have other mods done? Where have they failed? You can learn from what they did right *as well* as what they did wrong. Likewise, your mod will get the same treatment. You'll get some praise, you'll get some harsh words. Take it all in, it's all useful feedback. What can you learn from it? What have you overlooked? What can you change about your approach to avoid certain problems in the future? A good artist learns until they're good enough. A great artist never stops learning at all. The world of art is a perpetual school where you're the teacher and the student. Learn from old books. Learn from new concepts. Learn about something nobody ever talked about before. You can always learn new things and implement them into your craft. The moment you stop learning and improving is the moment you cease to be an artist.

And perhaps the most important lesson: [Try, Try Again.](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Try,_Try_Again)

    It's a lesson you should heed,
    Try, try again.

    If at first you don't succeed,
    Try, try again.

Good luck in your future endeavors, and please do not be afraid: for the road is tortuous, but the rewards great. Thanks to [Demon Arisen](https://www.reddit.com/user/Demonarisen) for proofreading and tidying up this post!

Some further reading/watching:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xBJwrm9C8w](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xBJwrm9C8w)

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsjC6fa\_YBg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsjC6fa_YBg)

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivyseNMVt\-4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivyseNMVt-4)

[https://store.steampowered.com/app/104600/Portal\_2\_\_The\_Final\_Hours/](https://store.steampowered.com/app/104600/Portal_2__The_Final_Hours/)

[https://www.reddit.com/r/pcmasterrace/comments/3bbb2m/were\_the\_developers\_of\_portal\_storiesmel\_ask\_us/](https://www.reddit.com/r/pcmasterrace/comments/3bbb2m/were_the_developers_of_portal_storiesmel_ask_us/)

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfNnCuyuVgU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfNnCuyuVgU)

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9zKxxnoNBs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9zKxxnoNBs)