Yesterday I talked about how I added some additional resources into the game.  Today I’m going to talk about modding the tech tree.

But first, I want to answer some questions I got from yesterday’s article.

First, the age old issue of multiplayer came up. If I mod what is on my machine, how does that affect multiplayer? The answer is, it doesn’t.  Our solution to this age old issue is, in hindsight, so obvious that I feel shame for our industry (and myself in particular but that’s just my default stance anyway…) for not having done this sooner: When you play multiplayer,the data all sides use is server-side – the data you have locally is irrelevant. So you can mod your game all you want without worrying about multiplayer.

Second, there is, at this stage, a significant issue with hard coding still that will need to get zapped as we go along.  Kingdom, Fallen, etc. should not be hard coded into the game.

Third, gameplay itself will slowly migrate to Python 2.x  But it will be a gradual process. Early on, our modding will focus on adding and modifying Elemental. Later, I’ll walk you guys through how someone could use Elemental with Python to make a new game.  My goal (and this isn’t a promise because it depends on how long it takes to do) is to make a Temple of Apshai mod (a classic RPG) using Elemental and give out to people complete with source so people could see what I did.

Next…

The tech tree…