Everything You Should Know About Game Mods
There’s always a few months in a year when you’ve ground through every achievement, unlocked all the hidden maps, forged all the legendary-grade weapons, and have nothing else left to do — and no new games to play. Sometimes, waiting for game developers to release new content can feel like an eternity over and over again. Couple that boredom with a dedicated, hardcore fanbase with programming skills, and you have the perfect scenario for modders to take center stage.
Whether you’re a budding Sims 4 architect or a diamond-hoarding Minecraft enthusiast, there’s always a mod to help enhance your gameplay and change things up a bit so that an old game always feels new. Modding is, quite literally, a game-changing ability — and this is everything you need to know about how it works and what it can do.
A Brief Overview on Modding
Mods are edits to the existing game code, allowing you to make small changes like increasing the quality of textures to overhauling the entire game,, and creating a new one out of it. Some of the most popular games in the Esports scene, DOTA, and Counter-Strike, were mods derived from Warcraft III and Half-Life, respectively. But not all mods have to be super-fancy — creating a reskin of an existing T-shirt counts as a mod, too!
It’s hard to deny that mods do wonders in enhancing the gaming experience by solving issues, such as messy UI, that developers aren’t prioritizing, and adding in custom content for unlimited playtime. Skyrim has retained an active player base for the past decade because it has been so open to mods. It’s hard to find an aspect of the game that hasn’t been modded — and that’s what keeps it fresh and exciting!
Historically, mods are common among the PC gaming community for a few reasons. One is that the design and coding platforms are accessible through PC, so it’s more likely for PC gamers to have the resources to explore possibilities. The second is that most moddable games are those without an “ending,” a common genre released through PC. After all, open-world games open bigger doors to creativity and custom content compared to those locked with seven endings. While there have been efforts to mod console games like Pokemon and Mario, they have to be ported to a computer to work.
Between Developers and Developers-To-Be
While custom changes to the game software are exciting to players, not all developers have warmed up to game modding. Traditional companies like Nintendo are completely against the idea of tampering with their IPs, actively taking legal action against people who change aspects of their consoles and software. But nothing will stop persistent, aspiring game developers, so they turn to forums like ModRetro and other underground groups that bring together a community of like-minded modders.
On the bright side, not all developers are as uptight as Nintendo. Valve is particularly supportive of the modding community, especially as their innovations brought the Esports genre to life. One of its most famous titles, DOTA, dominated the early days of Esports, but it had humble beginnings as a multiplayer PvP mod made by a gamer with big ideas.
Modding is crucial in keeping games relevant over the years — and that’s evident through some of today’s biggest titles, including Minecraft and Roblox, which have been around for over a decade. Their success lies in huge modding communities dedicated to making the gaming experience a lot more fun and personalized, so developers are now thinking twice about saying no to player involvement in the game code.
From Fixing Glitches to Conducting Digital Plastic Surgery, Game Mods Do it All
There have been hundreds and thousands of mods in gaming history, from meme mods to cosmetic enhancements, balance patches, and more. Some modders go as far as collaborating to create conversion packages, which edit almost everything about a game, turning it into an entirely new experience.
Modding opens doors for limitless possibilities — as long as you can use programs like Blender and mod engines. There are usually four categories of common mod types that you’ll find on almost any game that supports it:
- Graphics — who doesn’t love pretty characters, HD textures, and perhaps even new colorways for existing items? Graphics mods define the modding landscape as they offer a personalized aesthetic experience. Developers are also warmer to graphics mods as they don’t change major aspects of the gameplay — apart from making things look a little different.
- Content — these are new files directly added into the game, so there are minimal changes made to the existing files. It can include new characters, quests, items, clothing, and more.
- Gameplay — any change in the gameplay is going to require high-level programming skills. Programmers need to understand how the game was written to make bug-free changes successfully. Modders who delve into gameplay mechanics can change abilities, stats, and achievements or create new game modes.
- Bug fixes — it’s not rare for even the most well-made games to have a plethora of bugs and glitches, and it’s even more common for developers to ignore them for a long time. Some players get fed up with the waiting time and take things into their own hands by fixing the bugs and glitches themselves.
How Game Modding Turned into a Career
Valve, a key player in the moddable games niche, has revolutionized the custom content community by giving opportunities to talented modders. They offer contract work through Steam Workshop, where anyone can go in, learn how to mod, and make money through their mods.
ESPA is also taking the modding community to new heights by offering a fully integrated earning opportunity for everyone involved in game development, from developers to modders, designers, and Esport athletes. Today’s independent game development scene offers more incentives than ever, financially supporting the community as they transform their hobbies from dreams to reality.
Mods are crucial in helping games remain relevant over time as they involve player-driven changes that fully understand what the majority would enjoy. They have become a catalyst for training a new generation of developers — and they’re expected to continue to do so as the gaming industry turns over a new era of ideas.