Oswald Rant: What Makes Urban Terror

As Silicon Ice Development approaches its second year anniversary with its Quake 3 mod, Urban Terror, we will take a look at what makes this mod successful. Often times, it is easier to criticize and complain, than to complement a project like Urban Terror. While the mod was not the first to be released for Quake 3, it was the first realism based project to be released into the Quake 3 community in August, 2000.

Three years is quite a long time, especially for a mod to continue to see success. I know I have purchased games in the past that have held my attention for a few weeks, maybe months, before beginning to collect dust. Before becoming involved in this project, Action Quake was all the rage, so much so, that I began this site before being asked to take the reins at the Action Quake Map Depot.

Recently, there was a post on the Urban Terror Forums asking, “What’s your favorite thing about Urban Terror?” Many of the answers centered around game play, or level, the graphics and the community as the most popular. Then there is the was the answer, “the development team.” While it’s the gamers that make the community, this is not without the development team putting in many hours of time and effort in a free project such as Urban Terror.

From the early days of Urban Terror to the upcoming Beta 2.6 release, the development team has played a very important role not only in the development of the mod, but supporting their product. If you ask me, the support from the development team has been the tangible factor that has made the mod successful. From my previous experience, I rarely recall seeing a development team so involved in their community.

Silicon Ice prides itself being interactive in the community, not only playing on the pubs, but answering e-mail, making themselves available on ICQ and being involved in IRC conversations. I hesitate to think what sort of success or lack thereof, Urban Terror would of had if the development team not taken an interest in the mod.

Unlike hiding behind the dark veil of secrecy, Silicon Ice is very open to those who supported the mod. Early on, it was probably simpler, due to the fact that the community was smaller. Since the release of Beta 2.0, there was a increase in the number of gamers, so much so it vaulted the mod to the top of the chart in terms of the number of players and popularity. This was something that brought a smile to those of us on the development team, looking at the online stats and seeing Urban Terror is the number one mod for Quake 3.

To some degree we spoil our community. We involve them in the development. If there is something that does not work or is causing problems, we will take the suggestions into consideration and change it. Many of the changes post Beta 2.0 involved the community to a degree. But sometimes, this involvement has caused a wave that had a ripple effect throughout the community.

While it is impossible to include every feature brought to us, we are pretty quick to put an end to ideas that will never see the light of day. Some would see this as “no listening” or “not being open for suggestions.” That is not the case at all. Our plans have been set and we are attempting not to diverge too from what we want included in Urban Terror.

So, to all those who are playing and supporting the mod, we want to give you a big thanks! The community support and interaction is just amazing! Hopefully, this is what makes many of you hang around and play Urban Terror. We enjoy working on the project and the community that has rallied around it.