what is modding?

BigDragon

BigDragon
heatherg23 said:
i see questions about modding...what is that?

thanks
Heather
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Modding is the process of altering a game to suit a particular set of interests, or inserting additional content not created by the game developer.

Some examples of mods:
  • Sins of a Solar Empire -- Custom factions with their own ships. New planet types. New user interface graphics.
  • Unreal Tournament 2004 -- New weapons, characters, maps, game mode logic (e.g. freeze tag), vehicles, and more. Also includes total conversions to turn UT into completely new games (e.g. Red Orchestra).
  • Team Fortress 2 -- Custom maps, cosmetic accessories, and new game modes (e.g. prop hunt)
  • Battlefield 2 -- Custom maps, vehicles, weapons, and character models. New game logic to enable more than 64 players, or to unlock all progression rewards for all players.
  • Roller Coaster Tycoon 3 -- New rides, scenery elements, coaster trains, and animals. Also the removal of building restrictions such as height or collision.
  • Elder Scrolls Skyrim -- New quests, character models, enemy types, and regions to explore. Improved enemy AI. New dragon animations and types. Alterations to make the game lewd. Altered weapon balance. Photo-realistic graphics patches.
Modding, in the context of Planet Coaster, could mean relaxing or removing coaster building restrictions, inserting new biomes, creating new rides, altering guest behavior, inserting new entertainers, creating new scenery sets, creating ground-level railroad crossings, creating a multiplayer build tool, altering what parts are available to each coaster type, overriding money or time of day, and more. It's all about making the game appeal to your interests rather than the developer's more general, mass market intention. Of course, with great power comes great responsibility, and sometimes mods are used to cheat.

Developers tend to have an adversarial relationship with mods these days because they see it as competitionn, corrupting their creation, or a vector for cheating. I argue that UT, Team Fortress, and Quake proved that mods could coexist with paid content, improve the ability of the game to reach people, drive sales, and have zero impact on cheats (which exist in mod-free games). I think a lot of "toxicity" in gaming today is the direct result of developers trying to get in the way of modding.
 

Joël

Volunteer Moderator
Joël
BigDragon said:
Developers tend to have an adversarial relationship with mods these days because they see it as competitionn, corrupting their creation, or a vector for cheating. I argue that UT, Team Fortress, and Quake proved that mods could coexist with paid content, improve the ability of the game to reach people, drive sales, and have zero impact on cheats (which exist in mod-free games). I think a lot of "toxicity" in gaming today is the direct result of developers trying to get in the way of modding.
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Some community members have talked with Planet Coaster developers during Frontier Expo, and those talks have shed some light on this matter. To summarise, the developers are looking forward to see mods for Planet Coaster and they won't get in the way of modding.
 
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