Video game development has changed a lot over the years. There's plenty of ways for aspiring developers to get their start these days. Quite a lot of games feature level editors or programming engines for players to mess around with and many have discovered their love for game development by modding their favorite games or levels.
Sometimes those modifications can get feet in the door themselves. Occasionally mods are sold as a full game, or serve as the blueprint or inspiration for one.
The Stanley Parable (Half-Life 2)
The Stanley Parable released on Steam in 2013, but it was a Half-Life 2 mod two years earlier. This game takes great shots at the way narrative is presented in video games. It barely has mechanics, but that's part of the point the game's trying to make.
Definitely the game's most famous element is its narrator. Voiced by Kevin Brighting, this character comments on every choice the player makes in the game and gets frustrated when the player picks things against the planned narrative. It's a very funny performance that has helped the game endure. The Ultra Deluxe edition of the game is set to release later this ear.
DayZ (ARMA 2)
This mod of ARMA 2 created a real thirst for player vs environment kind of games. It also boosted the recognition and career of its developer PlayerUnknown. This survival game modification filled the world with zombies. But the real draw was the game's cooperation focus.
The multiplayer survival and stealth mechanics, along with the expansive terrain for players to explore, made it a big hit. But the game was slow to update, leading to a slew of imitators, DayZ is still a great game, but the slow deluge of updates makes it more of a curiosity these days.
Chex Quest (DOOM)
Chex Quest is one of the most famous licensed games of all time. It's weirdly started as a promotion for Chex cereal and is known as the first-ever video game to be given away in a box of cereal. Using DOOM's engine, the game still endures as a nostalgic favorite, and even got a remake recently.
The game takes place on a distant planet called Bazoik. On it, the Chex Warrior must defeat several aliens called Flemoids who use mucus to attack. The warrior must use a weapon that "Zorches" them while moving around caverns in a way almost identical to DOOM. It's a cheesy bit of 90's nostalgia that's worth a look.
Chivalry: Medieval Warfare (Half-Life 2)
Chivalry: Medieval Warfare is a great medieval combat game available on most PC's that enjoys a healthy player vs player scene. The sequel released last year to good reviews, with more content on the way. The game technically doesn't take place in any actual medieval period, but simulates the style well. It has excellent VR and tons of weapons to use.
It might surprise one to learn that the game's genesis was in a mod for Half-Life 2. Yes, the game's alien-soaked apocalypse is much unlike the sunny peasant combat of Chivalry.
But surprisingly, this game started out as a mod for Half-Life 2, despite how different the original game's alien-soaked apocalypse is to the sunny peasant combat of Chivalry. Although the standalone version doesn't use Half-Life as a base, instead using the Unreal Engine, the game's origins are apparent from it's first person viewpoint.
The Forgotten City (Skyrim)
plenty of things mods can add to the Skyrim experience without breaking the original game's immersion. But exploring an ancient Roman city in the midst of a time loop isn't one of those things. The acclaimed adventure game The Forgotten City began as a Skyrim mod but outgrew its origin.
The game was likely not planned to become a full game, but then it won a Writer's Guild of America award. It received more accolades after its release as a proper title in 2021. Critics praised how the game utilized its time mechanics and for the moral questions it raised. Most games on this list were upgraded for their gameplay, so this game and Stanley Parable are unique in this regard.
Garry's Mod (Half-Life 2)
It's perhaps not incredibly surprising to learn that Garry's Mod was originally a mod. It originated as a mod for Half-Life 2 and the retail version even contains assets from that game. But the game is mostly a sandbox for the Source Engine that made HL2 special. The engine is still remarkable by today's standards in a lot of ways, even if it isn't being used anymore.
The mod allowed players to pose characters and place assets and hang out in all sorts of maps. This lead to plenty of silly videos of players messing around with the engine's features. But there were also plenty of great game modes like Trouble in Terrorist Town. The most famous is definitely Prop Hunt, which still sees play today and inspired similar Prop Hunt modes in other games.
Team Fortress Classic (Quake)
Overwatch. Its art style, class system, and game modes have been emulated by other games.
But this classic began life as a Quake mod. Valve then swiped up the rights to the mod, and the game was remade in Source. This version was called Team Fortress Classic. But it was meant as a mere appetizer to Valve's TF main event, Team Fortress 2.
Counter-Strike (Half-Life)
This arena shooter with excellent multiplayer has been the standard for shooter multiplayer for decades. But it was originally a modification for the very much single-player Half-Life. But Valve then acquired the dev team and IP and the rest is history.
Counter-Strike has become quite a lucrative series for Valve. The setup of terrorists and counter-terrorists skirmishing over maps and explosives has really blown up. The games received several sequels, including Counter-Strike: Condition Zero, Counter-Strike Source, and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. It even received two online entries.
PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (Arma 3)
This is another ARMA mod, this time from Arma 3, and its also created by PlayerUnknown. While it wasn't the first ever game to do the battle royale format, it did popularize it.
These days battle royale is an extremely popular game mode. One hundred players drop into a map and fight to be the last one standing. Fortnite owes a lot of its success to it. PUBG was an important step on the road for these games and changed the trajectory of modern multiplayer.
DOTA 2 (Warcraft III)
Warcraft III. That's why the game has such a colorful, fantasy art style among Valve's more sci-fi fare. That modification was one of the earliest games in the Multiplayer Online Battle Arena genre.
MOBA's, as they are commonly known, are one of the most popular game genres of all time. The extremely popular Heroes of the Storm. The genre also has roots in the Hero Shooter genre, but has most in common with real-time strategy games, as players must protect minions as one of many powerful classes. None of those games would exist without the original DOTA paving the way.
