Where other games may have allowed users to modify certain elements of game play (maps in rts games etc) Doom became one of the most modified and ported games in history (and probably still is). The reason for this can be traced to the design of the game itself and the way its consistent parts are structured. Doom stored its graphics, sound and maps separately to the main program. This meant that anyone who could decode the stored files could modify them, alternative WADs (Doom content files) soon started to circulate the net and keen coders started to write tools to manipulate this content. Map editors allowed players to become level designers who could also paint their own textures into the games content packs. Later the actual source code for the game became made available free to the public, this inevitably led to Doom being transformed and ported to a myriad of different end products.
Even from this stage it became easy to identify three different modes of game modification: Resource Hacking, Code editing and Map/Texture making. Resource hacking is the method closest to original hacking
, in this case the user modifies aspects of the program without the use of any publisher-provided tools or code. The second method involves the developers policy to release source code for the game (either for 'add ons' or total conversions, to make use of such code releases often requires substantial programming skills. The final method focuses on using official (and a few unofficial) tools to manipulate the game content and game play. The third area of practice involves much less technical prowess than the previous two and is increasing in popularity with both mod-makers and developers.
When producing a contemporary video games title, developers often invest considerable time and money into the construction of game design tools. These are the tools that the company itself will use to set out levels and organise audio-visual content. Some companies have taken the step of releasing these tools with their products (Half-Life,Unreal,Morrowind,Quake etc) in the hope that an amateur community of fans will grow the product with additional maps, scenarios and extensions. In most cases this approach has been incredibly successful. Counter Strike, itself one of the most popular multiplayer games ever began as a modification of the original Half Life. It is not uncommon for the originating company to headhunt mod makers from this amateur community because of their impressive mapmaking designs or graphics skills. Indeed, modification can provide an inroad to working within the games industry, without the need for expensive DevKits or modelling programs. Needless to say , modification is generally limited to the realm of PC gaming, as console based environments have much less in terms of flexibility and support when it comes to using the hardware for any sort of development.
Modifications seem mot prevalent in the genre of FPS games. This is most likely because of the simplicity of the genre. Every FPS has the same elements, map, player, weapons etc. It is therefore easy to see how such a structure could be modified to express many different unique aesthetics. Half-Life, Quake, and Unreal have all seen wild west versions, military settings, comic book heroes, gangster and manga interpretations. It could even be argues that commercially released games like Return to Castle Wolfenstein are simply high production modifications themselves.
Undoubtedly the process of modification allows the user to access a substantial technical toolset. The creation of a game engine/environment is something out of the reach of most independent developers and artists, modification provides a method in which to engage and utilise these technologies. As well as extending the realm of traditional gaming, some individuals/teams have chosen to use the tools available to experiment with more abstract or social artistic ideas.
Within this area of modification two main strands can be identified. The game environment as an experimental audiovisual medium, and the game environment as a performance space.
Acid Arena
http://acidarenaweb.free.fr
Acid Arena (Turbo) is an almost total conversion of Quake3. All resources from the original game have been overwritten with a huge library of psychedelic imagery. True to its title, this modification presents a garish, nightmarish version of the arena FPS. Compete with rabbit suits and giant fruit, this modification is a hyperactive fairytale gone wrong. Regardless of how it plays, the level and character design is childish and beautiful and the distortion of the players and the normally familiar FPS pickups is inspired (if not frightening).
PadMan
http://www.worldofpadman.com/
The PadMan project is an ongoing programme of modifications for Quake3. Unlike other map-making teams the PadMan developers have decided to recreate domestic surroundings for each arena, from the perspective of a mouse. In each area, Kitchen, Bathroom, Library, Shop etc. the players must negotiate an intricately designed landscape of cupboards, cups and magazines. With nostalgic reference to 'Tom and Jerry' rulers and mousetraps act as jump pads, and overflowing sinks become swimming pools.
The House of Osama bin Laden
http://www.langlandsandbell.demon.co.uk/obl01.html
One of many art projects which use game engines to represent a real space, Langlands and Bell's Quake3 Map was designed with onsite photography and measurements taken from the location of the actual house. Although the novelty value of creating real spaces within a virtual context has begun to fade, this piece seems to question the associations a place hold to its occupants. Its easy to sneak around the level, looking for hidden bomb factories and the absence of a virtual gun doesn't distract from the fact that you are playing with a system designed to simulate violence.
SOD
http://sod.jodi.org/
Probably one of the first formalistic artistic game modification, JODI's 'SOD' is a full resource hack of 'Castle Wolfenstein' one of the earliest 3D shooters and ID software's first major success. The game play and maps remain intact, but both the game objects and interface have been stripped down to primitive geometric designs. The environment becomes a disorientating series of sliding layers and interlocking shapes, almost flat again. With this alteration the game becomes unplayable, but the player is forced to remember the medium he/she is engaged with and how its internal symbolism and structures work. JODI have also produced several more interesting modifications such as UG (Untitled Game) and Jetset Willy Variations.
nostalG
http://www.retroyou.org/nostalg/index.htm
retroYou has produced several game modifications (notably the R/C racer series). This conversion is an overhaul of a open source flight simulator. In the game not only has the interface and graphics been corrupted, but the actual models of the planes have been distorted into impossible forms. Opposing the 'true simulation' that the original game proposes nostalG presents a confusion of interfaces, littered with pseudo political/psychological comments and references. The program seems to confuse the notion of computer and human error to a point where the two become inseparable.
QQQ
http://www.q-q-q.net
Another formalistic deconstruction of the medium, QQQ is a modified Quake3 engine. The sounds and textures distort and warp into abstract forms even though beneath the surface the game play and levels remains untouched. The game is presented in an installation setup and connected to the artists server, where people can join the ongoing deathmatch. Realtime online gamers become invisible performers, painting afterimage trails and motion smears. contextually shifted, their interactions are transformed into participatory live performance art.
NPR Quake
http://www.cs.wisc.edu/graphics/Gallery/NPRQuake/
In this project, ostensibly a student project, the developers have recoded the quake rendering engine to draw the game world using various NonPhotographicRendering techniques. The player can view and play in blueprint, sketch or brush mode. Although a small intervention it does point out that the representation of virtual space in video games is relatively similar across the spectrum of games available and that alternative artistic interpretations are few and far between.
Super Mario Clouds
http://www.beigerecords.com/cory/21c/21c.html
In this modification Cory Arcangel has hacked directly into the ROM of a Nintendo games cartridge removing all the aspects of the original super mario game, except for the clouds which drift endlessly across the screen. As well as a nostalgic reference and act of reducing the game to a futile screen saver Cory is mocking landscape painting by providing us with a cheap, never overcast window. Being a modification based on hardware, the piece also subverts the console itself, changing it from an interactive entertainment unit to a playback device for background graphics.
Velvet Strike
http://www.opensorcery.net/velvet-strike/
"Velvet-Strike is a collection of spray paints to use as graffiti on the walls, ceiling, and floor of the popular network shooter terrorism game "Counter-Strike". Velvet-Strike was conceptualised during the beginning of Bush’s "War on Terrorism." We invite others to submit their own "spray-paints" relating to this theme." This project uses the game environment as a performance space where players can protest using specially designed 'sprays'.The majority of the player additions were cynical comments or criticisms on the nature of 'terrorism' and created a great deal of reaction ( and hate mail) from the gaming community.
Quake Friends
http://www.unr.edu/art/delappe.html
Joseph Delappe has carried out several performances within virtual game spaces. This one 'Quake Friends' involved a group of friends logging into a networked deathmatch in Quake3 where they read out the script from an episode of the US comedy 'Friends'. The participants were inevitably killed many times by the other players, who found their behaviour equally confusing and frustrating. The inanity of both the game and the sitcom seemed to work well with each other in this context. Delappe has also performed other such interventions such as reading out classic war poetry texts while logged into 'Medal of Honour' game servers.
Waco Resurrection
http://waco.c-level.cc/
"Waco Resurrection re-examines the clash of worldviews inherent in the 1993 conflict by asking players to assume the role of a resurrected "cult" leader in order to do divine battle against a crusading government. While the voices of far-off decision-makers seem resolute and determined, the "grunts" who physically assault the compound appear conflicted and naive in their roles."
Waco resurrection is not strictly a modification as it was entirely developed using middleware game tools. However it merits its inclusion in this list as many of the contributors worked with in the field of modification beforehand and the project typifies the idea of a game world as a performance/protest space. The project is a final playable FPS game where the players become David Koresh, even donning a plastic mask of his face. They then have to fight out an inevitably doomed siege with the FBI. By offering the opportunity to 'remake' a moment of controversial history the project not only casts suspicion on the nature of its original representation but also on the questionable motivations that many contemporary video games imply.
Conclusion:
There are many other modifications and performances that are of interest but have not been covered in this article. http://www.selectparks.net is an excellent resource for further research in this field. Modification allows users to utilise the power and versatility of contemporary game technologies without requiring them to purchase expensive equipment or skills. Modification also allows gaming culture to be more self-reflexive and critical within its own development and progression. It allows people to realise unique environments and comment upon other spaces and communities, both real and virtual. Perhaps companies are just hoping to extend the shelf life of their products by encouraging modification but they are also empowering both their audience and the next generation of games designers and artists.
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