SUGGESTION: Official Mod Support

[Aerogems]

I understand wanting to focus on finishing the game first, but it would be great if something similar to SMAPI for Stardew Valley could be made for MTAS. Bonus points if you go back and add it to MTAP. The world map in MTAP had a bunch of areas empty except for some trees, which always felt to me like the devs had more plans for the game that they were forced to abandon for one reason or another.

Having an official way of creating mods for the game would make it easy for people to extend and expand upon the work already done by the core developers. Ideally we'd get something similar to Stardew Valley Expanded, but even little quality of life mods would be welcome. Like someone could create a mod similar in function to Stardew Valley's Automate that lets machines grab materials and then dump the output into a specific chest.

[Sharmon Nina]

Star dew valley isn't a Pathea game. Only MTAP and MTAS are.

[HoneyBee]

I understood all your references, but others might not since this isn't Stardew Valley. Stardew Valley was also never a EA game like MtaS is...
Nonetheless, the developers already spoke on this topic and said they would consider adding mod support once the game is complete. Mods can cause issues with EA games when you have people playing with mods and trying to file bug reports that were caused by the mods. I think the developers said something like 1/3rd of their bug report logs given to them had mods on them, which makes them almost useless...

[Aerogems]

Originally posted by SilentRPGamer:

I understood all your references, but others might not since this isn't Stardew Valley. Stardew Valley was also never a EA game like MtaS is...
Nonetheless, the developers already spoke on this topic and said they would consider adding mod support once the game is complete. Mods can cause issues with EA games when you have people playing with mods and trying to file bug reports that were caused by the mods. I think the developers said something like 1/3rd of their bug report logs given to them had mods on them, which makes them almost useless...

1: That's why I said I understand wanting to finish the game first.
2: I'm well aware that SDV isn't a Pathea game, that it wasn't ever EA because EA didn't exist when SDV was in its initial development, and all that. The point was that the SDV developer embraced the idea of mods for his game and it has resulted in a very active community of modders and kept interest in the game high among players. Trying to replicate that for MTAS (and maybe even going back to MTAP and adding an official modding API) would be great.

[Dimensional Traveler]

I think the suggestion should wait until after development is finished. At this point the things you would be getting mods for can still be suggestions to the developers for the game or might be things they are already planning to include.

[Acneman]

The idea is to wait until full release since there'll be big adjustments to the game during the Early Access period that could effect the functionality of the mods. The team is fully aware of the player feedback and will look into the possibility after the full release

[Aerogems]

Originally posted by Acneman:

The idea is to wait until full release since there'll be big adjustments to the game during the Early Access period that could effect the functionality of the mods. The team is fully aware of the player feedback and will look into the possibility after the full release

That's both understandable and practical and what I figured you would do anyway. Also, I assume all suggestions made by players like me are taken on a "if we feel like it" basis. I just think, in a lot of ways, MTAS has all the right elements to unseat Stardew Valley as "the" farming sim game. It's just missing one crucial element, which is a SMAPI-like system for altering game behavior and/or expanding upon what is already there, which has the full support of the devs behind the game. Not expecting you guys to support RandomSteamUser25's mods or anything like that, just give your blessing to people who want to mod the game. You could also consider using the Steam Worlshop to help make it easier for people to find and install mods, sort of like with Stellaris and other games.