Unit Art DLC

[LakeTroll]

I've recently entered the world of Civ 5 modding. One of the first things I've noticed is that there is a lack of new unit art for modders to use. There are a handful of wonderful people working very hard to produce new art but they simply cannot keep up with the demand.

What I propose is for Fraxis to release unit art DLC packs. My thoughts would be to release 5-10 new unit skins all themed around a certain region or era. For example a European Dark Ages pack would include a mix of late Roman Germanic tribes and Celt raiders. Another example would be a sci-fi pack with flying saucers hover tanks robots and zombies.

I think these would be a big hit and spur on a lot of creativity in the community.

 

[DudewiththeFood]

Long story
There's a reason modding happens and it's to create things that Firaxis or whatever gaming company managed to leave out. Them then going back and creating the mod themselves defeats the whole point of a mod being fanmade rather than official content. They generally have nothing to do with mods other than say it's great because it supports the game and sometimes release tools so the game is moddable.

It would be good if they had the time to make their own mods but if they did this work for free, there wouldn't be a game to mod in the first place.


Short story
No

 

[LakeTroll]

I wasn't suggesting that Fraxis "make the mod for us". Most people creating mods have a decent amount of skill with XML or SQL but are not artistically talented. Creating unit skins is something that a very small percentage of the community has the ability to do. Thus we rarely see anything new. Almost all the custom art that has made it into Civ 5 mods is old stuff that was imported from Civ 4 mods.

The way I see it is like this. Is there a demand for something like this within the community? Absolutely, you only have to take a look at the unit request thread to see that. Is the community able to meet the demand for unit art? From my experience the answer is no. The half dozen kind souls who have the talent for this sort of thing are unable to meet the wants of all the eager Civ modders. Does Fraxis have the ability to address this demand? Yes, they have a talented staff of digital artists. Does Fraxis stand to profit from this? Yes, not only directly from the DLC sales but from the added value the ensuing mods will add to their game.