[Development] Looking for people who are interested in Dota 2 Mod Development [Lua]

[Jicyphex]

Hey HV,
I'm Jicyphex, founder of M.O.D. and creator of Fight or Flight, the first Dota 2 mod of its caliber that served as inspiration and motivation for this community which is still in its infancy.
With other custom games being released after Fight or Flight, we are currently at 15 members in M.O.D. , working on remakes of old WC3 classics (Enfo's, Tower Defense, Line Wars, Uther Party) as well as new IP's.
Valve's latest backend strings as well as the internal progress indicate a fast movement in the workshop modding sector, showing that Dota's "SDK" is very close.
My goal is not to simply make mods, it's to develop sophisticated mods. Coming from the game industry, I prefer to aim for a higher standard which includes custom composed music, art, models, trailers [SFM] and other resources. I don't want to develop a game just to have a game with default assets. It allows me to do more than World Editor or Galaxy Editor ever did (I modded in both WC3 and SC2).

TL;DR: Familiar with Jass, scripting languages or Lua?
If the answer is yes and you want to help us shape the future of this upcoming community, feel free to contact me.
Please understand that my goal is not to simply fill my network with people, it's finding and working with motivated, proactive and ambitious talents that are interested in game development. Source as the engine, Dota as the platform and the workshop as the distribution opens up new ways to be an "indie developer" (with a few limitations that I can live with).

Let me know if you're interested.

 

[Eagle XI]

Sadly i know next to zero about Dota2 modding capabilities and would like to see first how far they will(or already did ?) allow players to modify the game, as in possibility of a total conversion into RTS genre would happen or not.

 

[Rui]

I am familiar with JASS, Java (very basic) and a bit of some other stuff: some C, some Haskell, some Assembly, and then basic Web-related HTML and CSS (though I still have trouble building <div>s properly).

I know nothing of Lua or DotA 2 modding either. Somehow, I am still interested =) I'm afraid stuff big enough for with money involved is too big a truck for me, depends on how serious an endeavor it is (I'm not sure how high the expectations are).

 

[Jicyphex]

Sadly i know next to zero about Dota2 modding capabilities and would like to see first how far they will(or already did ?) allow players to modify the game, as in possibility of a total conversion into RTS genre would happen or not.

As a matter of fact, we are currently working on an RTS game. Already have the map, resource collection, buildings etc.
Capabilities of modding: Interactive Flash UI, Custom models, Custom particles, Music and much more. Check out some gameplay footage of Fight or Flight, the most sophisticated/detailed Dota 2 mod so far. A good demo for most possibilities (even if we're not done yet, currently working on cutscenes with SFM for upcoming RPG's)

I am familiar with JASS, Java (very basic) and a bit of some other stuff: some C, some Haskell, some Assembly, and then basic Web-related HTML and CSS (though I still have trouble building <div>s properly).

I know nothing of Lua or DotA 2 modding either. Somehow, I am still interested =) I'm afraid stuff big enough for with money involved is too big a truck for me, depends on how serious an endeavor it is (I'm not sure how high the expectations are).

Well, as I stated before, I do have "some" expectations. If you have experience with JASS, Lua shouldn't be too hard to learn. Right now, I got 2 new coders who are new to Lua but since they have experience with Python, they are getting along just fine. A realistic ETA to get familiar with the stuff is a week. I'm not a coder (I'm a Game Designer) but I learned Lua in less than a week since it's quite common for Designers. The ability to script things without going too deep into things like C++.

 

[Ezekiel12]

Hey, I'm interested in the monetisation of the upcoming custom maps for DotA 2. On the one side how do you pay your staff (if you do) and more important, what exactly are Valves plans? It would be great if you as one of the leading persons could elaborate on this.

As for my person, I have tried a little bit of everything, really familiar just with Java and JASS. Been into DotA for many years and games. I got quite a huge knowledge of DotA 1 and Wc3 mechanics (so how things like abilities and trigger related issues work and interact), dont know if this is useful for you though.
For DotA 2 I just played some hundred games and used console commands playing a cat-and-mouse game with Valves patches against useful chicken hotkeys. Currently I still got a well working one = ).
Not applying right now, just wanted to know if you might need someone like me.

 

[Jicyphex]

Hey, I'm interested in the monetisation of the upcoming custom maps for DotA 2. On the one side how do you pay your staff (if you do) and more important, what exactly are Valves plans? It would be great if you as one of the leading persons could elaborate on this.

If you are familiar with JASS, you should be okay with Lua. Generally, I'm interested in sophisticated people, people that want to create quality games.
As for monetization; Pay 2 Host, micro transactions, maybe subscription points. Lots of ways to do it.

 

[neo_sluf]

i want to join... i can help on anything.. but not in 2D,3D art works and encoding.

I can help in idea making, perhaps terrain designing, skill designing, i mood also in warcraft.. i love making hero arena maps actually i have 2 recommended maps..

You can count me in!.. please let me join.. if your not satisfied with my work you can kick me out..

 

[Nestharus]

I'm extremely interested. Know Lua. Know nothing about DotA 2.

 

[Jicyphex]

Haven't been here for a while and I noticed that I got some PMs and your latest posts.
So, in these recent months we've picked up new projects and about ~10 new members.
Our fields vary from mappers to coders to modelers, artists, animators, voice actors, cinematic animators (SFM), composers, particle creators and more.
We're still rather... "shy" about being public about our projects but you can take a look at some of our assets here.

Thought I should update this post so people can still apply if they are interested. You can also add me on Steam if you want (since you will need Steam anyway).

 

[Ezekiel12]

Most of these assets look great, also really DotA 2 stylish..
I think you are going the right way. If you get a good team creating complex mods is much easier. If custom mods take off, it's the maps with new original content (art, sound, gameplay) that people will be most eager for.

If there ever should be money or some other kinds of compensation involved, just make sure you are not a slave driver to your people. That's in no way an accusation, I don't know you and just mentioned it because I think it's important.

 

[Jicyphex]

If there ever should be money or some other kinds of compensation involved, just make sure you are not a slave driver to your people. That's in no way an accusation, I don't know you and just mentioned it because I think it's important.

Not quite sure where that came from but alright. Everyone chooses what they are working on and if they are in the group and I am certain that there is no one in the group that puts in more effort than me (as it should be).

And yes, I do believe that original content is the way to go. As nostalgic as most of us might be, WC3 is old and so are its ideas. There are a few exceptions and that doesn't go for everything but the vast majority has no place (due to several reasons) anymore.

 

[Rui]

Assets looking good =)

 

[Arhowk]

Still looking for people? apart from my school schedule, my R&D job, and robotics I don't have the time to lead any project but I'm familliar with LUA and some of the DotA 2 editor.