Off Topic Productions

Since our last update, quite a few TNM-related things have happened. In the “new stuff” category, we’ve released the final patch, version 1.0.4, for The Nameless Mod. After quite a bit of testing, we’re confident that TNM is now free of major bugs and glitches, and we’re satisfied enough with its current state to declare that this will indeed be the last official update for the game.

Download patch 1.0.4 at the TNM website:

Meanwhile, wrapping up the final patch has allowed us to release all our development files as a sort of SDK (Software Development Kit). We hope that this will allow some of our more enterprising fans to make their own tweaks to the mod, and that fellow modders will be able to use our code and our assets to augment their own projects.

You may download the SDK here.

Finally, this week we published our official soundtrack! It’s been a long time in development as we’ve carefully remastered and edited all the tracks from the game and lovingly designed the lavish 2-disc package to make it a worthwhile purchase. You can order the disc set from CreateSpace for the modest price of $11.65 plus shipping, all of which simply covers the cost of printing – as with the DVD version of TNM, we make no money from the sale of the soundtrack.

If you would rather not buy a physical copy of the soundtrack, the whole thing is available as downloadable disc images from ModDB including the artwork to print. Simply mount the images in a virtual drive or burn them to a couple of CD’s and enjoy excellent free music!

The Nameless Mod Official Soundtrack

That’s all the new stuff for now. In the “other people’s opinions” department, we’ve been honoured with two pieces of coverage from highly respected British PC games blog Rock Paper Shotgun. First, travelling games journalist Quintin Smith praised The Nameless Mod after playing through the new version 1.0.4. A few days later he followed up his article with an interview with me about the process of developing the game and our design philosophy.

That’s all for now, but keep an eye on this blog and our ModDB profile throughout the next month, as we’ll be gearing up to the MOTY awards by releasing several entertaining promotional videos as well as the final videos in our developer commentary series.

The Nameless Mod Interview, Patch, Rock Paper Shotgun, SDK, Soundtrack

Australian games magazine PC PowerPlay has reviewed The Nameless Mod in their June 2009 issue. The review takes up 2 full pages and ends with ratings of 10/10 for Gameplay, 9/10 for Innovation, 7/10 for Polish, and 9/10 overall. There are also numerous TNM references throughout the magazine, including a mention on the cover and a review editorial explaining why the magazine chose to review TNM as a game rather than a mod. You can check out a few scans on Jonas’ Blog. The Nameless Mod can also be located on the magazine’s cover disc.

A good taste in games is something the Australians share with the Germans: GameStar, perhaps the best-selling computer gaming magazine in Europe, has given TNM a full-page review in their June 2009 issue, giving it a perfect score of 5/5 in Design, Scope, and Fun.

In addition to these impressive reviews, a couple of interviews have also been published with members of Off Topic Productions: GameSetWatch and Gamasutra have interviewed Jonas and Lawrence as part of a series of articles looking at alternative games, indie titles, and mods. Among other things, the interview deals with how it was possible to keep the team interested for so long and how the game’s design has changed during development. You can check that out here.

PCPowerPlay, not content with all the coverage they’d given us in their magazine, has published a 3-page interview with Lawrence, Jonas, and Shane on their website. The interview touches such topics as post-release support and why non-linear games are so interesting. Read the full interview here.

The Nameless Mod GamaSutra, GameSetWatch, GameStar, Interview, PC PowerPlay, Press, Review

For a bit of a peek behind the scenes of the development of The Nameless Mod, ModDB has just published their Developer Banter segment featuring Lawrence Laxdal, Jonas Wæver, and Shane Tapp of Off Topic Productions. Recorded a month before the game was released, it offers a pre-mortem look at the design principles behind the game and the process of developing TNM.

Developer Banter – The Nameless Mod

The informal interview deals with the role of feature creep in mod development, keeping the story in check, designing an open-ended yet narrative-driven game, balancing the wish to trust the player with the need to impart the necessary information, the team’s plans for the future, incorporating community engine enhancements, the advantages of modding to game developers, the health of the Deus Ex community, our favourite moments in the mod (including funny bugs during development), and advice for other modders.

The Nameless Mod Behind-the-scenes, Interview, ModDB