y do u do it????

[IskatuMesk]

There are some people here who were at one point involved in custom content. My question is - why?

Don't tell me it's because it was a hobby. I won't believe that for a second. You don't try to make a story just for a hobby. There's a reason. I've told you all my reasons. Now I'm curious to hear yours.

Where did it all begin? What kept you going?

[Church]

I first played StarCraft back when I was nine, and I failed so bad I had to cheat on the third Terran mission. Regardless, I loved the game. So of course, when I delved into the map editor, I wanted to create something amazing.

I found CC a while ago, and playing FFG, LoaM, LotC, and other fan favourite campaigns, I reilized I wanted to be amongst them- them as in Desler, Auspex, Oracle and the others. Yes, I wanted to create a famous campaign.

So basically, I want to create something that people love, to keep StarCraft alive. It seems like a pipe dream, you know. But, it can't hurt to try

[Falchion]

It was almost the same thing with Jim_Raynor here, but somewhat more complicated.

On visiting the old Starcraft sites like SC.org, Infoceptor and such, for playing strats, I've found the first custom at 10 years old. It was the HK-112, that Hydralisk/Goliath hybrid I was pretty sure RCX used for his VotF Zeji saga. By then, I gathered some interest in customs, but not until I visited CC and found all these rare jewels. Problem was I didn't have BW at the time, so I waited.

When I finally had, played some of it and had some fun. But it was on old Star Alliance mods (Samods, today.) that I found something that made me fully interest me on custom content and working on it. Mesk's mod, Heidomus Kaladonmus.

The rest, as you can guess, is history.

[Lavarinth]

I've yet to release something. And administrate CC. But I suppose it's for the better. I found this place by playing Space Hulk by Rudder. I wish we still had that here.

[DrumsofWar]

The whores.

[Eredalis]

Because I can!

All jesting aside, my real answer to this question comes from the bottom of my heart:
Because of love to the game(s). It doesn't matter whether StarCraft or Brood War or WarCraft III: Reign of Chaos or The Frozen Throne or Diablo and Diablo II, my love for these games are endless. I don't play (or create custom content for) other games, either. (WoW is the only franchise from Blizz that I haven't touched yet. Nor will I...)

Creating custom content (except for Diablo) nowadays is for me a pure hobby (:P), probably more than a hobby. To tell a PLAYABLE story is a fantastic thing. Find and cross your own borders and show people what is possible from one single idea... For me, the reactions to such kind of work is much more worthy than money.

I have played around with the editor back in the day when SC had his prime. Just for fun. Nothing serious was built at that time. Then, many years later the rumor emerged that SC II might come... After it was official, I began to play with the editor again (StarEdit, yay!) to bridge the waiting time. Ideas changed into projects, projects awoke to life. The rest is friggin' history...

[IskatuMesk]

The whores.

I would like to know more.

[arkane]

Well.. My Dad introduced me to StarCraft. Ever since he gave it to me, I became somewhat attached to it. Years passed I had forgotten about StarCraft.

Scavenging through my old CD stock, I managed to find a familiar looking CD. It was surprisingly scratchless. I decided to see what was inside of it. Lo and behold! Nostalgia coursed through my veins. I had forgotten how many years yadda yadda yadda.. tl;dr, I played starcraft, decided to venture deep into it until I was able to make sh!tty maps.

I got on the intarwebs and tried to look for sources that would help me in making a good SC UMS styled maps. I stumbled first at StarCraft.org, then to StarEdit.net then here. It was only here that I found out about how epic can a map be if there was a bit more detail to it. So I decided to copy maps from other authors [Kinda like reverse engineering].

One campaign made me wanna strive moar. It was the LotC campaign. everytime I play it, I always say to myself: "GodD4mm!t! Why cant I make this kinds of maps?!"

[Pr0nogo]

I go by the same rule that many video-game-heavy colleges use to pull in applicants: If no one has created the perfect campaign, make it yourself.

[AngelSpirit]

At first, my mapping started as "oh hey cool I can do this in starcraft!", but at the encouragement of my friends(who were the type of people that were impressed really, really easily), I went ahead and applied my then extremely limited mapping capabilities to make a remake of Cat N Mouse: Ore Wars. Surprisingly enough, the remake was played a fair amount back in its day; although it could never compete with the mainstream maps.

Soon, however, I tried to do something (I forget what) that wasn't possible via mapping, and that led me into modding. But because I was 13 years old at the time, I couldn't make heads or tails of Arsenal III, and I didn't mod again for a long time.

From there, my mapping skills slowly grew via a multitude of projects, most of which fizzled and died past the idea stage; but they did serve a purpose in improving my mapping abilities and soon enough I was as competent as the next mapper. Eventually I got back into modding, learned some stuff, and ended up where I am now.

But that's just history. What's actually kept me motivated to produce custom content is that spark you get when you suddenly have an awesome new idea. That thing where an idea just explodes in your head such that you don't just work on it, you spend 11 hours straight on it. Only to find the next day you're already bored of it and a new idea is surfacing, consigning the old one to the trashpile. This probably explains why I've never released anything, or when I do, it's really badly rushed and whatnot.

Well, that's me and custom content in a nutshell.

[IskatuMesk]

One campaign made me wanna strive moar. It was the LotC campaign. everytime I play it, I always say to myself: "GodD4mm!t! Why cant I make this kinds of maps?!"

All you need is aspirations and devotion. Most people don't have that.