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Open Source the game or rely on Mods?

2 points by CyberDroiD ↗ HN
What's the best way to engage other developers who would like to expand and extend a commercial game? Would open source be better, or rely on the mod community (and provide an extensible framework)? Curious, since I am running a project like this called "AC-10 The FPS Project". I would like other developers to make their own levels and perhaps items for use in the game.

3 comments

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alanchavez
I personally prefer working with Mods because when you're committing to an open source project because you're somehow limited with the owner of the projects goals.

They have a set of features that need to be implemented, and sometimes there's little room for innovations or ideas.

I find it more interesting when I'm allowed to mod a game because I can come up with my own version of the game using that engine, and if you provide an easy way to script my mods (LUA for example) even better.

For example, when I was a kid I always loved to recreate the american revolution in the starcraft universe.

dragonwriter
> What's the best way to engage other developers who would like to expand and extend a commercial game? Would open source be better, or rely on the mod community (and provide an extensible framework)?

Why is it either/or? Open source opens the whole engine to developers, a framework that supports mods permits less intrusive, safer changes. You can do both (see OpenTTD for an example.)