I don’t consider myself a venerable expert on modding, but I’ve been involved with various mods for about 5 years and am currently developing Dawn of Victory, for Sins of a Solar Empire. Making any sort of mod, let alone a total conversion, takes a lot of work, but it seems to me that many people forget that when trying to start one. With this in mind I’ve wrote some points which I think could help get your mod a team, and hopefully, released.

Have more than just an idea.

Ideas are like assholes, everybody has one. Far too many people will post a topic trying to get a team together for a mod, with nothing but an idea, list of units, or some TV Show, Movie, Game, or Book, that would “make a great mod”.

Chances are, unless your idea is “Star Wars”, “Halo”, or some other IP with millions of fans, it will be hard to find anyone willing to work with you. Furthermore, if you’re unable to model, skin, code, or anything else related to modding, your idea will probably be made without you, if at all.

I myself can’t model or skin, my idea for a Dawn of Victory was something of my own creation, and I had little experience leading a mod team. Getting Dawn of Victory a team took more than a couple paragraphs, only by writing a wealth of back-story, producing various concepts and maps in photoshop could I hope to interest other people. Even then, it was an uphill battle.

Of course, if you can model or skin, getting people interested will be a lot easier.

Be Realistic

Know your limits, and the limits of what your team can hope to accomplish. One of the things people forget when posting their unit lists, factions, and new features, is that they actually have to get done. It’s very easy to promise 5 factions with 100 units per side, it gets much harder when you have to model and skin each one.

Be Professional

Releasing updates is of course the best way to promote your mod, but it’s always a good idea to make sure the updates you release look professional, and not hurried. The most annoying things I’ve seen is where people released unskinned versions of units, “temp textures” or other incomplete work. You may get your updates out quicker, but they’ll look a little amateurish. Lastly, always include your logo or website on your screenshots or renders so people know who’s behind it.

Differentiate

Back when Dawn of Victory was for Star Wars: Empire of War, it seemed that every other mod for that game was the same. There were dozens of Clone War mods, and several others that seemed to add the same sides, same units, and same heroes. If you want your mod to stand out, change more than just the aesthetics. After all, changing the gameplay does far more to make a mod stand out than the look of the units.

Know It Will Take Time

I first had the idea for Dawn of Victory in 2003, and it took 3 years before anybody decided to help me out, and another before I had a small team. You can’t just post your idea and hope that someone will do it for you. Becoming active in the community, fleshing out your ideas, and getting to know people is the best way to get your mod made, whether you have the skills or not.

Well, that seems like all the advice I have.