"Jurassic World Evolution will not support mods. We don't have anything against modding and have seen incredible designs from our modding community for our previous games. But it would be quite difficult for individual mods to reach the level of detail and visual quality that we strive for. We are very happy to work together with Universal Studios and to have gotten access to great assets so that we can create a world which stays true to the visuals and feeling of the movies. In the end we focus on delivering our players the best Jurassic World Evolution experience that we can while staying true to the franchise universe." -
Even after being translated from Frontier's Gamestar interview, this statement is still as confusing to comprehend as if I were reading it in German.
User-created game content can be an outlandish skew from the visual style than the game originally intended. When you have Godzillas or Hydras running around in a zoo you made in Zoo Tycoon 2, it's pretty obvious to see what was made by Blue Fang and what was made by the game's community. What leaves me scratching my head is that there are mods that can not only match the style of the game but even improve it that the above comment ignores.
Frontier already has extremely talented people apart of their community that have either replicated or enhanced the visual style Jurassic World Evolution totes around as its crowning achievement. You have people like u/Roboticide matching ingame elements like the viewing gallery or viewing platform with the restaurant/viewing gallery concept he threw together. Seriously, how can Frontier argue they achieved a feel closer to the movies when they have Velociraptor skins like this meanwhile you have u/steamblust on the game's subreddit creating beautiful mock-ups of the TLW or JP3 raptors?
Modding for this game doesn't even have to be limited to visual elements like 3D models or textures for them. Some of the most popular threads on this forum are requests for Italian or Korean language support. Do you mean to tell me Frontier would rather A. Hire a paid translator for these languages or B. Ignore the requests and thus lose the ability to market their game to multiple groups of people rather than just have some dedicated fan team lead a translation effort of the game's UI? When Monster Hunter Double Cross wasn't slated for a Western release, you had people going out of their way to make an English patch for the game. The patch translated ingame elements to the point you have people who won't purchase Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate (Western release for Double Cross) because the third-party translation was enough to satisfy their craving to play the game. What about a mod that simply enabled for objects to clip? Doesn't add any new visual assets but it enables for people to build in places despite obstructions or terrain constraints, something that plagues anyone trying to build a park.
I know a lot of people view this comment as a PR move that covers up ulterior motives Frontier may or may not have for not allowing modding. I'd like to address the motive that mods might add dinosaurs or content that otherwise would have been sold as DLC for Frontier. Zoo Tycoon 2 is an example of a game that sells DLC while also allowing modding. The entirety of Zoo Tycoon 2 modding can be summed up into new animals, new fences, or new decorations. While these mods were visually impressive and allowed you to make completely unique exhibits, they were never really anything more than reskins of content that was added through the expansions. In the expansions, you had stuff like sky trams, elevated path ways, safari tours, marine exhibits, and fossil hunting; all of this stuff that could never have been replicated by mods and changed how people would design their zoo. As of today, Jurassic World Evolution's extra content includes the Deluxe Dinosaur pack and the Fallen Kingdom Dinosaur pack which arguably does nothing to add to the experience of the base game. What does Crichtonsaurus do that an Ankylosaurus doesn't? Nothing. Indoraptor? Its animations are stunning but it's just an extra exhibit to throw in your park. Ironically, they're the same quality as the mods from Zoo Tycoon 2 except you just slapped a price tag on one of them. There are expansions Frontier could develop that provide a substantial way to how people design their parks (marine lagoons, pterosaur aviaries, new attractions, etc.) but if they're just going to add $10.99 dinosaur packs that come with 5 reskins and some new animations (if we're lucky), they're digging their own grave.
Frontier you really need to reconsider your policy on not allowing mods or at the very least give us a damn reason that isn't an insult to the people who want to see this game succeed.
Even after being translated from Frontier's Gamestar interview, this statement is still as confusing to comprehend as if I were reading it in German.
User-created game content can be an outlandish skew from the visual style than the game originally intended. When you have Godzillas or Hydras running around in a zoo you made in Zoo Tycoon 2, it's pretty obvious to see what was made by Blue Fang and what was made by the game's community. What leaves me scratching my head is that there are mods that can not only match the style of the game but even improve it that the above comment ignores.
Frontier already has extremely talented people apart of their community that have either replicated or enhanced the visual style Jurassic World Evolution totes around as its crowning achievement. You have people like u/Roboticide matching ingame elements like the viewing gallery or viewing platform with the restaurant/viewing gallery concept he threw together. Seriously, how can Frontier argue they achieved a feel closer to the movies when they have Velociraptor skins like this meanwhile you have u/steamblust on the game's subreddit creating beautiful mock-ups of the TLW or JP3 raptors?
Modding for this game doesn't even have to be limited to visual elements like 3D models or textures for them. Some of the most popular threads on this forum are requests for Italian or Korean language support. Do you mean to tell me Frontier would rather A. Hire a paid translator for these languages or B. Ignore the requests and thus lose the ability to market their game to multiple groups of people rather than just have some dedicated fan team lead a translation effort of the game's UI? When Monster Hunter Double Cross wasn't slated for a Western release, you had people going out of their way to make an English patch for the game. The patch translated ingame elements to the point you have people who won't purchase Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate (Western release for Double Cross) because the third-party translation was enough to satisfy their craving to play the game. What about a mod that simply enabled for objects to clip? Doesn't add any new visual assets but it enables for people to build in places despite obstructions or terrain constraints, something that plagues anyone trying to build a park.
I know a lot of people view this comment as a PR move that covers up ulterior motives Frontier may or may not have for not allowing modding. I'd like to address the motive that mods might add dinosaurs or content that otherwise would have been sold as DLC for Frontier. Zoo Tycoon 2 is an example of a game that sells DLC while also allowing modding. The entirety of Zoo Tycoon 2 modding can be summed up into new animals, new fences, or new decorations. While these mods were visually impressive and allowed you to make completely unique exhibits, they were never really anything more than reskins of content that was added through the expansions. In the expansions, you had stuff like sky trams, elevated path ways, safari tours, marine exhibits, and fossil hunting; all of this stuff that could never have been replicated by mods and changed how people would design their zoo. As of today, Jurassic World Evolution's extra content includes the Deluxe Dinosaur pack and the Fallen Kingdom Dinosaur pack which arguably does nothing to add to the experience of the base game. What does Crichtonsaurus do that an Ankylosaurus doesn't? Nothing. Indoraptor? Its animations are stunning but it's just an extra exhibit to throw in your park. Ironically, they're the same quality as the mods from Zoo Tycoon 2 except you just slapped a price tag on one of them. There are expansions Frontier could develop that provide a substantial way to how people design their parks (marine lagoons, pterosaur aviaries, new attractions, etc.) but if they're just going to add $10.99 dinosaur packs that come with 5 reskins and some new animations (if we're lucky), they're digging their own grave.
Frontier you really need to reconsider your policy on not allowing mods or at the very least give us a damn reason that isn't an insult to the people who want to see this game succeed.
