Donut Mod: General Information

I can't wait! Especially for Homer- Springshield

Alright, it's 3AM right now, but I'm not going to get to sleep until I post this. Sorry if this ends up being difficult to understand in some places because typing when I'm tired is hard.

If I'm honest, I'm a bit unsure of whether Donut Mod will have enough time spent on some equally important aspects of modding, like the missions and other similar things, because at the moment most effort seems to be going solely towards the map. Which is somewhat understandable because without a map, you can't really make missions. From what I've pieces together from the little information we have, the missions are just sort of in a 'concept' stage, they've not really been put into action yet. And when Donut Mod has already been in development for over 3 years (I think? Around 3 at least) it leaves me uncertain whether enough time will actually be spent on the missions.

Being a mod developer myself, mission quality is one of, if not the most important part of making a mod. Missions are Hit & Run's primary focus and without missions it would be little more than a pointless drive around Springfield. But it's no use having missions if they're not fun missions. I know all too well that some of Donut Team's earlier mods have suffered from rushed missions, Road Rage Returns being a prime example. A lot of the missions in RRR suffer from bad difficulty balancing (looking at you L2M7) and a general lack of variety between missions. It feels like there just wasn't enough time spent on it as there probably should have been, and it feels like this might be happening again.

Making a SHAR mission is a long and daunting task. Missions will need to go through countless revisions, taking in feedback from beta testers constantly, before they're ready for release. It's very rare for a mission to be completed 'first try', and beta testing is a vital part of any mission. It's not just a case of going through a mission once, it needs to be done countless times by multiple people, and each time they'll come up with new ideas and improvements, until eventually you get to a point where you're all happy with it. While making SOS, even just days before the release, I was still making tweaks and changes to missions until, when it came to release I was happy with how each one turned out. It was a long and arduous process that took around 5 months. It's not something that gets done overnight, and with the current schedule for DM4, it sounds like almost all the development time is going towards the custom map. A good mod needs more than just a custom map, it needs time and effort put into everything.

Donut Mod, from what I currently know, looks like a pretty cool mod. But does it look like a fun and enjoyable experience all around? I'm not sure. There's a number of issues I have at present with the mod aside from the missions issue, music being a particular sticking point. I like SHAR mods to represent the original game well, and music is a huge part of that. Marc Baril's music is a very unique sound that is immediately recognisable, and pleasing to listen to. DM4 has been seen to try and cut down on stuff that doesn't fit in with the Simpsons vibe, like the unfitting costumes and bonus cars. And I fail to see how unfitting music is an exception to this. I, and many others, have problems with how unfitting the music is, and in a mod that acts as an 'extended' version of the vanilla game, having music that is completely different to anything the normal game has doesn't sit right with me. What makes it worse is that the new music is mixed in with all the vanilla game's music as well. So you might have some nice Marc Baril music one mission, and the next you have f****** Skinner's theme from Yellow Shift, which is the same second long loop repeated again and again and does an excellent job of making want to eliminate mankind. If a mod is going to have music, stick to one style or the other, and I'd be much tempted to go for the vanilla music here.

Jesus Christ, it's 4AM now and I've been writing this post for an hour. Well, I'd better get to sleep now, so in the morning I might edit this some more once I'm feeling a little bit more awake. Night everyone.

As far as I know, Loren is the only person who works on the map, and Kenny focuses on missions. He has been shown to be a very adept mission designer in his work on Donut Mod Level 3 and Late Night at the Kwik-E-Mart, at least in my opinion, and he's been working hard at polishing up previously developed missions, revamping them, and creating new ones for Donut Mod 4. As far as Road Rage Returns is concerned, I agree that the mission design in it is shaky, but that mod is more of a side project and a way to get the Road Rage maps ported into SHAR. Top tier mission design isn't exactly necessary, but I can understand the complaints. Donut Mod 4's missions will be a league above, or Kenny will be hearing from me at 2 AM on the morning after.

Beta testing for the mod has been delegated to a few individuals and will begin once the developers feel the mod is in a state where its ready to be fully tested. This may not be the way most community mods are developed, but it's not as if there's going to be no outside testing whatsoever. I understand your point about the original music in Donut Mod 4 feeling alien and I'm not exactly sure how to feel about it myself, but I trust that the team will at least be able to differentiate the immersive from the "wanting to blow your brains out" songs that you mentioned.

We know that there's been a lot of uncertainty and doubt about the current state of the mod, so we appreciate your post for voicing these concerns. Now please, get some sleep man.

Guys, I'm super sorry to say this, but I seriously want to know how is everything in the mod going. You know, the trailer, the Industrial Zone map, the next status update, and that future road map you've talked about in Colou's Motivational Issues With Modding thread. Just like Sammy, I basically feel that everything's been very secret for the last few months.

Also, Loren himself had said in the September Status Update that you guys didn't try to mislead us, and that the trailer could not come out soon since the new map wasn't ready enough. I trust the fact that you guys want to make sure that DM4 can be something you want to play more than once, but it must have been very irritating to read unfiltered and unedited comments about the mod's release that were downvote-worthy, such as David44's, in the original general information thread.

So, good luck, Donut Team. :)

I actually can understand why they say "It's not ready" and don't release it until they feel it is. It's a sign they take great pride in their work, and want to make sure it is close to perfect as possible before saying it is ready. I'm the same way. The hobby shop I work for, I recently restored some antique passenger coaches for the owner (I have never called him boss, we've been good friends for so long, it don't sound right) and he was wondering why they took almost a month to restore. He got his answer when I finally brought them back. Full hand made interiors inside, LED lights, passengers in the seats. I could have brought them back earlier, said "They're ready" and it would have been sub par work (By my standards) but no, they took longer, but the results were awesome.

I'd bet DM4 is going to be much the same, it will be more than worth the wait.

Okay guys, just how is the mod doing? It's going to be a month after the last status update. Not that I'm rushing you, but the trailer still hasn't even been released. I know you're probably busy, but still.

Judging by the info that I've seen so far, someone (possibly Loren) doesn't think that what they have is ready to be shown in a trailer yet.

We've been hard at work on it and still intend to have something special for you by the end of this month. Stay tuned!

Apologies for the wait, it's been a crazy week for several of us on the team.

Following the gameplay trailer, I want to post some new screenshots of the areas featured. I also included some fun facts with each one.

I can do a beta test