Modding ideal for aspiring devs, says DayZ creator

Modding existing games offers a steady learning curve for aspiring developers, says the creator of the hit ArmA II mod DayZ.

Speaking in an interview with Develop, Dean Hall said Modding allowed devs to learn about how seasoned professionals had created their game, and also how data structures and engines work.

He said that developing over an existing title could be better for aspiring industry professionals than diving straight into C++ programming, as it could teach you various techniques to implement when creating your own engine, or using another vendor’s tech from scratch.

“I think Modding is really good because you go along someone else’s footsteps and you can learn a lot about how someone else has done something,” said Hall.

“It’s kind of like reverse engineering things. You figure out what they’ve done, how their data structure works, how their engine works and all these other things.

“I think it is a really good place to start because you’re using someone else’s framework. If you want to cut your teeth straight in there with C++. I think that’s a lot to chew off and you can end up not getting exposure to all those issues that if you knew them would make a lot more sense when building your engine from scratch or using someone’s toolkit engine from scratch.”

You can read the full interview with DayZ creator Dean Hall here.