Here. Nothing really new, but nice read.
On modding:
Jon Shafer: ...Modding in particular, we have a stand alone Map Editor that's really powerful. We had a guy working on it for about a year, and it's in really good shape, really awesome, people who enjoy that sort of game will be really happy with it I think.
We have the in-game mod browser which is a way for people to download mods into the game from our central upload service. So there were some opportunities in different places where we could expand, and other areas like combat, diplomacy, economics where we really had to think whether something was really going to add to the game or not. A lot of people are paying attention so we want to make sure that everything we do is worth while.
Strategy Informer: Touching quickly on modding: will the Map Editor be shipped at launch?
Jon Shafer: I'm not certain. It will be around launch, but I'm not sure exactly when.
Strategy Informer: Civilization V is shipping with Steamworks, how have you integrated modding with regards to that system?
Jon Shafer: The mod service itself is actually separate from steam, so that's all handled externally. The game itself is able to load and read mod-packs using this special tool. So if somebody wanted to make a mod they run it through this special tool and it creates a package that the game can then read and load. It's something where, instead of like in Civ IV where you have to take the files and change things manually and figure out what to do, the whole process has been streamlined now, and it works with Steam a lot better than other games.
Strategy Informer: Modpacks and officially supported mod-tools are all well and good, but basic modding is 100% flexible because you literally have all the files at your disposal. With these mod-tools and mod-packs, is there anything modders can't do? Any limitations?
Jon Shafer: Good question... the game can pretty much do anything Civ IV could, there are no added restrictions. Things will be a little bit different, but if you want to directly modify the files you can do that, if you want to load packages to your website instead of the central service you can do that as well, we don't restrict that. We're even going to set up feeds so that people just want to latch onto the service that way can. We tried to make sure that anyway we tried to streamline or improve didn't take away power.
On modding:
Jon Shafer: ...Modding in particular, we have a stand alone Map Editor that's really powerful. We had a guy working on it for about a year, and it's in really good shape, really awesome, people who enjoy that sort of game will be really happy with it I think.
We have the in-game mod browser which is a way for people to download mods into the game from our central upload service. So there were some opportunities in different places where we could expand, and other areas like combat, diplomacy, economics where we really had to think whether something was really going to add to the game or not. A lot of people are paying attention so we want to make sure that everything we do is worth while.
Strategy Informer: Touching quickly on modding: will the Map Editor be shipped at launch?
Jon Shafer: I'm not certain. It will be around launch, but I'm not sure exactly when.
Strategy Informer: Civilization V is shipping with Steamworks, how have you integrated modding with regards to that system?
Jon Shafer: The mod service itself is actually separate from steam, so that's all handled externally. The game itself is able to load and read mod-packs using this special tool. So if somebody wanted to make a mod they run it through this special tool and it creates a package that the game can then read and load. It's something where, instead of like in Civ IV where you have to take the files and change things manually and figure out what to do, the whole process has been streamlined now, and it works with Steam a lot better than other games.
Strategy Informer: Modpacks and officially supported mod-tools are all well and good, but basic modding is 100% flexible because you literally have all the files at your disposal. With these mod-tools and mod-packs, is there anything modders can't do? Any limitations?
Jon Shafer: Good question... the game can pretty much do anything Civ IV could, there are no added restrictions. Things will be a little bit different, but if you want to directly modify the files you can do that, if you want to load packages to your website instead of the central service you can do that as well, we don't restrict that. We're even going to set up feeds so that people just want to latch onto the service that way can. We tried to make sure that anyway we tried to streamline or improve didn't take away power.
