I've been working on a sequel to my previously released side mod (click here for that if you wish), and I really wanted to make an improvement. I think the best way to do that is to ask the community of the best modders of one of the best games what they like in a (side) mod.
So, what do you look for in a mod? What makes it stand out?
Do you like a lot of variance in artwork (thousands of clone legions)?
Or do you like a simple, pandemic-like approach?
Do you like unique units with very different attributes, or a lot of troopers armed to the teeth with grenades, rifles and rockets?
What kind of classes do you like to see in addition to the the standard four?
Do you get rid of those pesky engineers?
I'm really just looking for your guy's thoughts on the matter.

P.S. I know there's been "what do you like in a mod" topics before, I'm looking for a more specific answer regarding side mods, I thought it was different enough to warrant a new topic.

What do I look for?
-Quality sound design; making sure there are NO missing sounds, adding in a bunch of your own custom sounds, creating sound spaces and environmental sound streams if new maps are to be included in the mod, that kind of thing.
-Differences in side setups; by this, I mean not having the same ol' "trooper, rocketeer, marksman, engineer, officer, special" setup for every single freakin side, but having a lot of variance between all of the sides and classes.
-Non-Clone War sides; seriously, I think most of us are pretty sick of these at this point. Just because it's a Star Wars game doesn't mean it has to have Star Wars sides, though Galactic Civil War sides are sometimes pretty fun if pulled off correctly (see Dark Times). Create your own IP, be creative.
-Don't use lots of stock models or other assets unless you change them up enough to the point where it's pretty freakin difficult to tell they're stock; learning to model is especially essential for this.
-New animations are almost ALWAYS a nice touch, and they're not even very difficult to produce; if anything, the difficult part is exporting them, heh.

Not really a modder but things I look for in a sides mod include
-Having New Effects that look good
-Sounds need to be pretty well attributed to the right weapons.
-New Weapons and character models.
-Custom skins
-A new map or two helps
-Doing something that no other mod has done before. The scope of that really doesn't matter, its just nice to have something new.
-Improving stuff
-Balance, make sure one side will not completely destroy the other with out a fight.

In my opinion a good side mod needs:

- new skins
-new guns (or new models)
-cool sounds
-CREATIVITY (in my opinion, one of the most important)
-new heroes
-new force attacks
-but perhaps the most important, REPLAY VALUE

That's about it for me

This is an interesting question that took some thought for me.

When we set out to make a mod, do we not want it to be good? So I figured I'd just say what I try to do in mods my team makes.

We strive for high quality sound design, in all aspects.
We strive for high quality textures and models, which includes material values like specular and bumpmapping.
We strive to do want no modder has done before, often with out-of-the-box thinking.
"I like staying in the box, the box is there for a reason."
"Shut up Griff."
We strive for replayability, often with the use of layers of random things. Like random sides, heroes, weather, units, etc.
We strive to not repeat what others have done, and if we do repeat what others have done we try to do it with a new twist or just better.
Sometimes we like to make our own IP like Marth said, which I have done with Shattered Mirror. A mod that not a lot of people actually know what it contains, but it is an era mod of my invention. In other words, it's not just another Clone Wars, Galactic Civil War, or Old Republic mod.

Bottom line, here is the most important part; you need to have fun. A lot of fun. So if you aren't enjoying your own mod, then others likely won't either. You need to be able to enjoy it after playing it for a 100 hours, which you should be testing your mod for about that long.

Balance.

In my opinion, everything really boils down to polish. Perfecting all the small details really adds up.

It shouldn't feel like other side mods. Gameplay should be fresh, exciting, and different for each unit.

As long as its not a clone side mod, (which is why I have never dl'd a side mod because they are almost all about some random legion from the tv series and whatnot that nobody has ever heard about or cares about), and it doesn't replace an era (I always like to have the option to play the stock eras) and it has a lot of effects and cool weapons and if it has replay value like zap attack said.
Pretty sure this was the worst block of suggestions in the thread. But I still hope it helps

Personally, i enjoy:
1. new effects, or use of the stock ones that weren't used
2. completly new sides or unit structure (maybe mixes of different stock units in one or a completly new idea)
3. new forms of gameplay other than just conquest or deathmatch
4. weapons that are different than the stock ones in at least some noticeable way
5. Ideas that are "out there... way out there" sometimes including novelty weapons (smoke grenade for example)
6. a feeling different than that of other mods or the stock game
7. balance is also a good thing, it doesn't have to be the same weapons for each team though, one team could have machine guns with weak damage and the other could have rifles with high damage but slow reload or short range.

after all of that i like seeing good localization, maybe edits to the f5-12 commands, good use of what is available. for example, if you can't model then use what you have in a good way, if you can't get custom sounds then at least set up weapons to have correct sounds, for example a pistol shouldn't have a sound like a rocket going off when it fires. I also like seeing good use of AI (for example seting the engineer/support trooper up to have the ai type for that set up) and i dislike seeing game breaking or easy to fix glitches.



Simply i like seeing new content and i like it when a mod just has a feeling different than the game.

EDIT: remote control objects or dispensables other than the simple auto turret are pretty good ideas too. I never see the RC det pack as much as I wish I would.

I would like to thank everyone for there well though out, direct and clear replies, I think it's really going to help with both the next version of Rising Conflict, as well as any other future projects.
Some issues I noticed came up multiple times:
1. Sound design: Really all I can ask on this is does anyone know a great resource for free to download sound effects (for weapons, voice overs and the like)? I completely agree with you all that sound work is a very important aspect of a mod that is often overlooked.
2. Non-clone wars: This one was a bummer, albeit an expected one. Unfortunately for Rising Conflict, which is a clone war-exclusive mod, this isn't an option (but will certainly be considered all other future projects). So I guess what I must ask on this is: what makes these mods all feel the same? I know why people despise these mods, the whole "Hey look, I re-skinned the clones and added a commander unit and ignored the CIS, download my mod" attitude (this is of course hyperbole). What would it take for you to even consider a Clone Wars mod worthy of recognition? Surely if a mod is made well enough it would be great regardless of topic/ip. For instance I think Dark Times would be a fantastic mod whether it was about the clone wars, the galactic civil war, or modern day warfare.
3. Balance: not much to say here, I agree with both that the sides should be well matched while simultaneously not being carbon copies of one another.
4. Out of the box ideas/creativity: Well, this one's up to me.
5. Fun, it's the most important thing of all.

thanks for all of your input, and hopefully I can put all of your advice to good use.

Dreadnot9 wrote:1. Sound design: Really all I can ask on this is does anyone know a great resource for free to download sound effects (for weapons, voice overs and the like)? I completely agree with you all that sound work is a very important aspect of a mod that is often overlooked.

THANK you! As for a great sound resource, FreeSound.org; you need an account to download one, but it's completely free. Another great alternative is creating your own sounds; just go around your house and bang random crap together and see what it sounds like, especially metal stuff (like iPads!); one can produce really amazing sounds with metal junk. As for voice over, sometimes it's just best to record your own; all of the Systems Alliance voice overs in my mod are recorded and post-processed by me. If you don't like the way your voice sounds, work on it and put it under heavy post-processing if needed.

Dreadnot9 wrote:2. Non-clone wars: This one was a bummer, albeit an expected one. Unfortunately for Rising Conflict, which is a clone war-exclusive mod, this isn't an option (but will certainly be considered all other future projects). So I guess what I must ask on this is: what makes these mods all feel the same? I know why people despise these mods, the whole "Hey look, I re-skinned the clones and added a commander unit and ignored the CIS, download my mod" attitude (this is of course hyperbole). What would it take for you to even consider a Clone Wars mod worthy of recognition? Surely if a mod is made well enough it would be great regardless of topic/ip. For instance I think Dark Times would be a fantastic mod whether it was about the clone wars, the galactic civil war, or modern day warfare.

Nothing's really wrong with a Clone Wars mod as long as it doesn't feel exactly the same as all the other millions out there.

I personally enjoy new ways weapons are used. I really don't enjoy tons of clone legions because to me they're all the same. I like new and exciting characteristics about units and sides to give them a twist on gameplay and add to the overall fun factor. To me, the sides of a mod/map is one of the biggest aspects of it. You may have a great map, but without great sides it will lack a valuable factor that it would've had otherwise.

i would have said this yesterday but i didn't have the time to type it up:

I actually enjoy lots of clone wars mods. I just dislike ones that are a simple reskin and so never download them. I like clone wars mods only if both sides are modified to be different.

story time

Also, love for vehicles. I really enjoy seeing new weapons for vehicles like hovertanks and walkers.