suggestion: mod support

[jaywalker]

I haven't seen this suggestion floating around, but it seems fairly obvious considering the type of game this is that real mod support would be absolutely amazing.

While I don't think "questing" per say fits into the main game, modders could have a lot of fun creating quests for people who want that.

custom maps for this game have the potential for absolute awesome.

Depending on the extent of modability some very talented people could create new creatures, new creature behaviors, new tools/buildings etc. This kind of thing would extend the games lifespan dramatically

This game has a great group of developers, and they are making an awesome content filled game for us, but there is a limit to what one team can do versus the power of random people on the internet to simply continue creating content ad infinitum.

And since there is no multiplayer planned for the game it would be great if there was just a way for people to share their maps with one another to show off what they built.

So guys what kind of mod support would you like to see? Do you think it is possible for don't starve to build a thriving mod community?

[Bogpad]

And since there is no multiplayer planned for the game it would be great if there was just a way for people to share their maps with one another to show off what they built.

as far as I know, this is already planned, kevin mentioned an "off sync" way to share stuff several times, so the ability to play on other peoples maps sounds just logical.

about the mods. While I never was a huge user of mods for other games, I do appreciate it when mods are available for certain types of games, and Don't Starve surely has potential for good mods.

Yet, I must say that I don't see a need for that feature any time Soon, I mean, this game is in early beta, steam is even labeled as alpha, I guess/hope the dev team will add another ton or two of content, specially to keep you motivated after the first struggle of surviving is over and you somewhat settled in your situation, with enough resources and food coming in to sustain you for an infinite time.

So atm, I would say no to mods. They sure can be a nice add to this game, but not in near future. Let the devs do their work before the internet takes over.

[jaywalker]

lol I didn't mean for them to add mod support in beta. I meant it for the final product. As far as when they add the support after (or during) release I would certainly never say it was too early. The earlier that kind of community gets started often the stronger it grows after all. Of course I wouldn't want to use mods on my initial playthroughs of the final product, but it would be awesome if some good ones were available at about the time I became fully familiar with the vanilla content.

as far as I know, this is already planned, kevin mentioned an "off sync" way to share stuff several times, so the ability to play on other peoples maps sounds just logical.

This is awesome. I hope it is true My current character is attempting to create pigland. I am gathering massive amounts of wood and building pig houses everywhere. I am hoping to fill a fair percentage of the landscape with pighomes. If this works like I think it will then my island is going to be a very dangerous place sometimes I would love to have visiters when I am done.

[Thebadvoodoo]

Mod support would depend heavily on how much Klei plans on continuing to support consoles. Up until now, their major releases (with the exception of Eets, which was ported later) have all been designed very much with the console arcade markets in mind - but that doesn't lend itself to a game that really embraces a modding community, the way a PC-centric game would.

If they decide to foster a PC community, I think it could really extend the life of the game. Super Meat Boy is a great example of this - the PC version includes a level editor and a way to share your levels on line, effectively allowing infinite content to a player after they've finished with the levels Edmund and Tommy put in to the game. Provided those mod/editor tools and support don't eat up too much developer bandwidth to create, I definitely could see it as a very positive addition.

[Artem]

Oh, Lord, please, let it be…

[Kevin]

Mod support is an interesting possibility that we have talked about in the office. All of the gameplay code is in lua, so it would be possible, theoretically.

But - the code is far to messy and brittle at the moment to open it up to the public. It also goes through massive changes every two weeks, so your mods wouldn't work for very long.

Our art pipeline is a bit... esoteric, so I would doubt we would open that up to the public. You need to make everything in flash, and you need to make it *just right* or it doesn't work. I spend enough time supporting the exporter within the studio already - I don't think I want to give exporter support to the world

If we add mod support, it will be post-launch, when things have settled down a bit and we've had a chance to clean it up. Modding chrome probably wouldn't work, logistically, but something like Steam workshop would be cool.

Some form of level sharing will probably show up waaay before full-on mod support (if either actually show up at all).

[bbill.net]

Our art pipeline is a bit... esoteric, so I would doubt we would open that up to the public. You need to make everything in flash, and you need to make it *just right* or it doesn't work. I spend enough time supporting the exporter within the studio already - I don't think I want to give exporter support to the world

Come on man new user created creatures, player skins... That would be cool!

Edited December 22, 2012 by bbill.net

[R__Man]

I would send you a gift basket of kittens if Don't Starve gets steam workshop when it is officially finished.