Overhauls: A Guide to Creating Your Own Awesome Project

[McJobless]

I've seen a lot of people attempt their own overhaul on various different games. Many fail. Therefore, I want to address how to go about the process of starting and finishing your very own overhaul, for any game.
 
This will be a multiple part series, so I will add a list of contents to this OP. Feel free to reply and add your own thoughts, comments and ideas.
 

---

Prologue: What is an 'Overhaul'?
In order to create an overhaul, we need to know a little bit about the Game Development process, and more importantly, we need to know what the difference between making a mod and a game is.

We won't go into the rich history of overhauling, but you've likely heard of "conversions", including the very famous Counter-Strike. Counter-Strike seems to be a game in its own right, as the gameplay appears to be completely different to the game it was based on (Half-Life). Realistically, the only thing they share is the engine and a few assets...so is it an overhaul, or an entirely new game?

Defining the word "Overhaul" is just like trying to define the word "Game" or "Art"; there's not really a set definition, but rather a bunch of that we can lean towards. One of the ways I like to define terms to assign them a group of properties, so let's try and list some properties of an overhaul:

• An overhaul runs on a previously built, compiled and released engine, preferably one that includes game assets. Alternately, an overhaul is a free expansion for another game.
• An overhaul uses at least a few assets from another game, usually config files, sounds and/or textures.
• An overhaul has at least one MAJOR change in the gameplay compared to default game.
• An overhaul always feels different to the original game.
• Unlike a normal mod, and overhaul is a substantial piece of work and requires a lot of time to develop properly.

---

Next Time: The Objective. What's the point of making your overhaul, and why does it matter if it gets made or not?