raystuttgart
Civ4Col Modder
Hi guys,
We have been asked several times over the last years if we would take money / donations.
We have also been asked several times - and also discussed about - starting a game development studio.
And recently such questions have been asked more frequently as well.
Somebody over at Steam had even seemed to believe that we are a "commercial DLC" of Civ4Col.
----
See we do not want to take money from community for our mod because it leaves a stink on modders if they do.
And legally we would also get problems if we did.
But yes, there was some considerations to fully "professionalize" - which modder does not at least consider it at some point?
Not because we are greedy but because we could create this game full time.
To do so however we would and should start from scratch on 100% next generation technology.
We would have to rebuild WTP on newest graphical engine and the most suitable game development framework like Unity / Unreal / Godot / ...
----
See guys, we have between 50 to 100 great concepts we have just never told you about ...
Simply because we can not implement all of that at once ...
And we have spent incredible effort and time to design them in ways that AI will understand and to match the overall gameplay design of WTP.
The only realistic way to ever finish all those ideas is to start a full commercial game development studio.
But we are resistant to do that because we would not be modders anynmore. We would become paid game developers ...
I had already asked modding colleagues if they wanted to start a real commercial gaming development studio in the past.
I even have enough savings to finance the start of such an enterprise, so that is not the issue.
We have even been thinking about going independend on kick-starter.
And yes we could probably even take all our ideas of WTP and commercialize it.
The IP in it is ours and we could use it for a commercial game.
We would need to make big changes compared to WTP in Civ4Col though e.g. in UI, Screens, graphics, program structure, ... to avoid legal issues.
But that is what we want / wanted to do anyways ....
The core game design, game features, atmosphere ... we created in 13 years could and would however stay the same.
So basically it would simply become a "Next Generation WTP".
----
We might one day actually do that if we really feel that "Next Generation WTP " could earn us a living.
But again that is a heavy life changing decision ... and we will not make it hastily.
At the moment the team will stay a "just a passionate modding team" that works on this mod in its spare time.
And thus at the moment this mod is for free but simply no "next generation game".
This game might be built on an old engine but we have not yet reached the end of the possibilities for gameplay it offers ...
We might not have enough time to realize all the great ideas we have but we still try to go step by step ...
----
Summary:
At the moment nothing will change. WTP will stay to be for free mod.
For the future our options are open and depend on what team and community want.
----
Best regards
WTP team
We have been asked several times over the last years if we would take money / donations.
We have also been asked several times - and also discussed about - starting a game development studio.
And recently such questions have been asked more frequently as well.
Somebody over at Steam had even seemed to believe that we are a "commercial DLC" of Civ4Col.
----
See we do not want to take money from community for our mod because it leaves a stink on modders if they do.
And legally we would also get problems if we did.
But yes, there was some considerations to fully "professionalize" - which modder does not at least consider it at some point?
Not because we are greedy but because we could create this game full time.
To do so however we would and should start from scratch on 100% next generation technology.
We would have to rebuild WTP on newest graphical engine and the most suitable game development framework like Unity / Unreal / Godot / ...
----
See guys, we have between 50 to 100 great concepts we have just never told you about ...
Simply because we can not implement all of that at once ...
And we have spent incredible effort and time to design them in ways that AI will understand and to match the overall gameplay design of WTP.
- There is no lack in ideas ...
- There is no lack in money ...
- There is no lack in skills ...
- There is only lack in time ...
The only realistic way to ever finish all those ideas is to start a full commercial game development studio.
But we are resistant to do that because we would not be modders anynmore. We would become paid game developers ...
I had already asked modding colleagues if they wanted to start a real commercial gaming development studio in the past.
I even have enough savings to finance the start of such an enterprise, so that is not the issue.
We have even been thinking about going independend on kick-starter.
And yes we could probably even take all our ideas of WTP and commercialize it.
The IP in it is ours and we could use it for a commercial game.
We would need to make big changes compared to WTP in Civ4Col though e.g. in UI, Screens, graphics, program structure, ... to avoid legal issues.
But that is what we want / wanted to do anyways ....
The core game design, game features, atmosphere ... we created in 13 years could and would however stay the same.
So basically it would simply become a "Next Generation WTP".
----
We might one day actually do that if we really feel that "Next Generation WTP " could earn us a living.
But again that is a heavy life changing decision ... and we will not make it hastily.
At the moment the team will stay a "just a passionate modding team" that works on this mod in its spare time.
And thus at the moment this mod is for free but simply no "next generation game".
This game might be built on an old engine but we have not yet reached the end of the possibilities for gameplay it offers ...
We might not have enough time to realize all the great ideas we have but we still try to go step by step ...
----
Summary:
At the moment nothing will change. WTP will stay to be for free mod.
For the future our options are open and depend on what team and community want.
----
Best regards
WTP team
Last edited: