Introducing Modding 101 and "Interactables"
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://www.cantata-game.com/posts/modding-101-interactables-and-aspects
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://www.cantata-game.com/posts/modding-101-interactables-and-aspects
I like the idea of being able to create mods using a web interface. I guess you could even embed that in-game and make creation super accessible. But given the level of complexity that mods can reach, would a good mod ever be able to be made using this interface (vs. getting into the behind the scenes stuff)
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What’s especially nice about Cantata is that it’s nearly all Data-driven. This means that just by tweaking numbers/flags/text/etc., you can introduce gameplay relevant changes, all with just simple data. There won’t be a web editor version of the built-in scenario editor, but you should be able to author intractables and terrains outside of the game, because all those are are .pngs and some JSON.
I’m also super open to how the community receives this aspect. Maybe people want to do it all in the game itself. Maybe they actually want a robust web editor? I’ll be happy to see where it goes.
A web or in game interface would be pretty cool, but .json & .png files are also very easy to understand and edit. Since any embedded editor would probably use the same format, seems like bare-metal testing is needed to iron out any issues with modding, but painting an editor on later would definitely increase usage.
My concern is where the files are located and loaded from – hopefully a mod could be self-contained in a single .zip folder, or other format, and all that’s required to load a mod is dragging it in or out of a mods folder, possibly even keeping them all there and being able to toggle them on/off in game.
I totally agree about been able to load mods from a single location. Modding back in the old days for games like Diablo, Skyrim, ArmA required files to be moved all over the place, it was rare that games loaded them from one location like Half-Life 2 and Doom WADs.
The rise of modding APIs like mod.io and Steam Workshop, which provide a consistent user experience, only really work when mods are loaded from a single folder or zip. It would be impossible to scale and support, if every game loaded mods differently.
Just made a thread here for us to discuss some of this more in depth. Interested to hear what you both think!