Mod Support

[SkeletorBro]

Just curious if modding will be supported. Its my primary reason I am still hesitant to buy Medieval Dynasty due to the lack of official mod support. However, this game seems to be larger is overall scope compared to MD so I figured I would ask. Regardless, I am excited to see more of Sengoku Dynasty!

[Lunapathicmelody]

the mod question can be asked early because a dev usually does better developing either with or without mods in mind. they probably dodging the question because they are salty about there game being modded an want to put there own stubborn little minds first and act against any potential community like it was the case in medieval dynasty. the same mistake wich leads to a game with some bugs wich could be community fixed for a functional experience. this game is good and will work but sadly will loos a lot potential and in the long run harm the studio not only in terms of pr but also in terms of resources.

[Winter's Embers]

You're beating a dead horse. Literally.

[Ramscrasts]

It will be impossible for the developers to change certain aspects of the game so that everyone likes it. For example, if the developers decide to make the game more combative, this could upset people who want the exact opposite.
Mods have the great advantage of allowing players to customize their game to their playing style.

The best thing about mods is that they increase the replay value enormously.
Even if it makes no sense to mod the game so early in the development of the game, it would be very foresighted of the developers to develop the game in such a way that it is as easy to mod as possible.
After the game is finished, new content can be produced by modders even if the developers move on to other games in the distant future.

Mods are not only good for players but also for developers because mods keep games relevant for much longer.
Mods are great. That is my opinion on mods.

[Cheers Luv!]

Guys no one's denying that mods could be useful and keep games alive longer. But I don't think Skyrim is a good example here, cause yes it was developed with mods in mind, but it was developed with a team few times larger than that of Render Cube or Superkami so please let's just be kind to each other here and wait for what creators of MD and SGD have in minds for their titles :) There is definitely potential for mods in both games, again no one's denying that. It's just a matter of priorities that teams have to make happen first. If resources are limited you have to plan accordingly or you will waste time and burn yourself out. Personally I think with players talking about mod support it might happen in the future. The question is when.

[Winter's Embers]

and since the post is marked "Answered" you continue to beat the dead horse. If you wish to see mod support, make a post inside the "Suggestions" forum rather than necroing already answered posts.

[Kai]

For unreal engine games, modding involves unpacking the UE pak files and modifying the executables to run a mod loader or whatnot... Which is a lot of work on the modder's side to get it working.

The dev has to support and build the system to support modding in the first place in order for it to work. This is why Unity games are blatantly easy to mod, but also easy to cheat and reverse engineer... UE games uses basically a encryption setup to lock their stuff away.

Games like Palworld has client sided mods for the most part, because of model swapping and audio swapping and such... But no literal 'mods' that adds new content into the game.

So keep in mind that Japanese game industry looks down on 'modding' or changing the 'original content' in a sense too. They have a very stubborn mindset. Japanese culture has a firm belief in the 'purity' of the original concept, and that it shouldn't be messed with or changed.

[ragen311]

Publicado originalmente por Kai:

So keep in mind that Japanese game industry looks down on 'modding' or changing the 'original content' in a sense too. They have a very stubborn mindset. Japanese culture has a firm belief in the 'purity' of the original concept, and that it shouldn't be messed with or changed.

I wasn't aware of this, but it doesn't seem too far fetched. Is this pretty much an accepted reality or is it a controversial point? (Controversial meaning there is public disagreement; not toxicity level of those that take part in the debate). Have the devs ever indicated they believe in the purity of the original game...?

I think decent modding tools for a game like this is more of a positive because it can spawn a healthy community built on the foundations of the original game for extremely long periods of time. The endurance of some defy belief.

I think delaying development of modding tools (for this game) is also the right call, assuming mods are on their development roadmap. Consider the condition of game upon release. Many felt the game was too empty (reason I have yet to purchase, so i'm using second hand knowledge acquired on this forum). The devs anticipated this reaction or were caught off guard, but it looks like they have worked hard over the past year to improve the game. Since they were adding brand new content and overhauling a lot of existing content, I don't believe a strong modding community would have been created.

There would have been a lot of frustration for modders having to overhual or scrap their work as development continued. Other talented modders would have waited until they felt their efforts wouldn't go to waste (bannerlords good example of this). Failure to launch warning signs would have been flashing.

If the devs wait until close to version 1.0, or even after, then you have excitement for the brand new modding capabilities combined with an environment attracting good modders because it's likely their work would just need future maintenance instead of future overhauls/abandonment. Many people playing the game throughout EA would be itching for something new. I think this scenario would be the best chance for creating an enduring modding community.

Back to the "purity" viewpoint. Most people would have already experienced the vanilla version, so they played the unaltered game envisioned by the devs. Many mods are simple QoL mods that take some pressure off the devs as they transition from EA. There is no arguing the staying power of a game with a healthy modding community. What was the average hours per gamer spent on Medieval Dynasty? How would those numbers change if their were QoL and variation mods? How would those numbers change if there were overhaul, expansion, and total conversion mods? Could have been epic.

That being said, game development is a business. What were the chances a modder would have created something similar to Sengoku (setting and/or mechanics) given the right tools? Were they able to save any time developing Sengoku with experience or code from Medieval? So its feasible they felt a modder could have forced them to abandon their Sengoku plans and have to choose a different pitch to develop from scratch. You could see business meeting logic pushing against modding tools if they had been planning Sengoku for a long time.
****This line of thought may need major correction. I don't know how the developer/publisher dynamics work here. Medieval Dynasty was developed by Render Cube. Sengoku was developed by Superkami. Both games were published by Toplitz Productions. So, I am making some assumptions that Sengoku had the Medieval code and at least some of the talent...maybe just rebranding?****

Regardless, I don't feel this is a good argument against modding capability either. Factorio gave godlike powers to the the community. Yet, years later they felt comfortable creating a space expansion despite one of the most popular mods being a space overhaul. The mod and expansion do cater to different type of gamer, but the developer is still a great example a game development success, financial success, and modding community success.

I hope they add modding tools to Sengoku Dynasty. It will change this game from a possible purchase to a definite purchase for me.