Many games still thrive only thanks to fan creativity. Numerous modifications for Skyrim, S.T.A.L.K.E.R., and so on change some mechanics, tighten up the picture and bring unprecedented variety to the already familiar gameplay. But sometimes, the prank gets out of hand, and the mod turns into a stand-alone title. The most famous examples are DotA and Counter-Strike. But besides these eSports disciplines, many other games were born from ready-made titles. And sometimes it happens that they also become a cult and even gain a huge fan base. About 10 of these we will talk about.
Team Fortress
In some ways, Team Fortress has repeated the path of Counter-Strike. In 1996 came out the eponymous competitive mod for Quake, where the two teams confronted each other in different modes. But the project was so much liked by gamers that the developers decided to continue it. The success of John Cook and Robin Walker did not go unnoticed. Valve not only purchased the studio but also allowed the duo to bring the project to completion. Thanks to this support, the idea gradually transformed into an independent game. But at first, the authors, still having great influence, did not want to tie their creation to Half-Life. But in 1998, Gabe Newell’s company posted a better version of the modification to this universe, renaming it Team Fortress Classic. The development of the multiplayer shooter itself dragged on for many nine years. But the result was worth it because Team Fortress 2 not only entertained us but had a great influence on the whole genre of team shooters. Also, because of it, there were such popular games as Overwatch and Valorant.
Red Orchestra: Combined Arms
Epic Games has a tradition – of holding Make Something Unreal modder contests, where enthusiasts show their best Unreal Engine mods. As a reward, the winner receives a license to use the engine commercially and an impressive cash prize. Red Orchestra: Combined Arms mod participated in one of such events and received a standing ovation, thus making it one of the overall winners. Having invested all the prize money in the newly formed Tripwire Interactive studio, the authors immediately began to turn their work into a game. The development itself lasted until 2006. The result was a tactical first-person shooter; the events unfolded on the Eastern Front of World War II. Combined Arms differed from other similar games by increased complexity and detailed terrain based on satellite images.
Killing Floor
A commercial license of the Unreal engine further served Tripwire Interactive well. Developers looked at other interesting modifications for Unreal Tournament. As a result, their attention was drawn to Killing Floor Mod. His creator is also not denied and invited to the team. The essence of Killing Floor is the constant scuffles with zombies. The player just rushes around the location and destroys everything that gives the slightest sign of life. This is helped by an extensive arsenal of firearms and upgrades, as well as a special mechanic for slowing down time. It occurs randomly, which makes the battle a pleasant (it is pleasant!) confusion. All the elements of the original modification were completely updated, and the simple thing turned into the cooperative horror shooter with the original name Killing Floor. Tripwire Interactive decided not to stop and immediately embarked on a sequel. They made it simple: they added dynamics and improved all the elements that the audience liked. The sequel is densely packed with content; there are new locations, enemies, and weapons.
DayZ
What happens when you send a New Zealand Army officer on a 20-day wilderness survival course? Just a couple of conditions: he occasionally dabbles in programming, and he also writes scripts for battles in Arma 2. That’s right! A game about survival in harsh environments and with zombies, which will have a huge impact on several popular genres at once. The DayZ modification created by Dean Hall attracted a million players in just one month. All of them were taken by the concept of having something constantly stressing you out. Somewhere you see a zombie, not enough resources left, some kind of “Friendly” going on as well.
Conclusion
Every year there are more and more new games, and many appear from the best mods because they become popular and on them create separate interesting games. The games were very successful and immediately attracted the attention of fans of cooperative games and fans of the genre.
