Unity Modding Engine

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(Note that by modding, I mean adding content to a game after it’s already been released as a build, not adding new things to a unity project).

I am a software engineer who’s used Unity for about 2 years, and I have an idea for an asset, that would add real-time asset importing. This engine will also be very easy for developers to customize what can be modded, as well as having a simple user interface for users to add their content.

Game modding is a large community driven thing, it promotes new content to existing games, and allows players to even change the original intent of the game. A large portion of game companies do not add modding abilities due to:

1) Time restraints
2) DLC’s
3) Keeping original intent

https://m.reddit.com/r/Games/comments/333sm6/why_dont_companies_want_people_to_mod_their_games/
https://www.reddit.com/r/Unity3D/comments/2dsxqm/how_easy_is_it_to_allow_for_modding_in_a_unity/

Some other problems more specific to Unity, is Unity’s inability to import assets in real-time. This kind of feature would make modding nicer for users, so they could launch a game and modify from within there, instead of launching some other 3rd party application first. There exists a few things for Unity that provide some modding support, one is Unity Bundles. This needs a pro license, and can be hard on main memory. There is also UMod on the asset store, of which I would love to check out, if it’s price were less than $65. It does not have more than 1 review, suggesting that it is not popular or does not work well.

I am choosing not to reveal too much about how my asset will work, since I would like this to be the go-to solution for Unity game modding. However, here are some of the things that my engine will offer:

The engine I propose is a generic version of some specific modding applications, such as the Creation Kit for Skyrim. If you are unfamiliar with this kit, the Creation Kit works very nicely with their respective games, but not with any others. I’d like a more open engine that you can cater to your own game’s intent for mods. There will be some scripts provided that will handle injection of new object generation, and some ability to add custom functionality to the game (this is being researched). The real-time importing option will be added for ease of use, as well as this asset being able to be used without a Unity pro license. One last feature I plan to offer, will be having some of the modding UI interface designed for you. With a default mod interface, a large portion of the time constraint I mentioned earlier would be cut out.

But I am curious, for Unity Developers who want to add modding into their game, how interesting/useful is this concept to you? I am ready to start developing, but I’d like to get some people’s opinions. Features are welcome, pricing ideas as well, or general thoughts on the current state of modding ability for game users.

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Unity AssetBundles don’t require a pro license if you’re using Unity 5.0 or higher.

The fact that UMod only has 1 review may be a red flag that few developers are interested in a general-purpose modding system. (Which would be kind of surprising to me, too, but it’s hard to argue against the data.) Then again, UMod might just need more marketing, or maybe developers don’t want to force modders to use Unity to create mods as UMod does.

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Review counts can be misleading as well as useful, sales figures are more important but less readily available for newer assets and one of the best metrics I have noticed is the version history. Selling in the store can be very tricky so I would recommend making sure you have a use for your own assets - if you find them useful then others will do to.

Good luck :slight_smile:

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Hi, I really like the idea of such an asset (and I need it too). I’m working on a Unity based ShipSim. And I need a simple solution, to add new ships after the release of the Sim. I also want to allow users to create their own contents like DLC boats for the Sim.

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uMod = no source.
No source version = no buy.

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Thank you for your feedback! Are you talking about seeing how long this product has been out, and seeing when was the last time it has been updated? Or are you talking about how the listed version is 1.3.2, but the documentation provided is only for version 1.0? Could you explain what you mean by version history?

Thanks!

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Also thank you for your feedback! It’s good to hear that some developers are looking for a well polished asset such as this :slight_smile:

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Thank you for the information, these are things I did not consider actually. I need to look a little more into the need of such an asset.

I was thinking more along the lines of, this modding asset being for developers who prefer to use Unity over other game engines, if I didn’t make that clear in my statement. So, this asset would be exclusively for Unity games, as it would be exclusively a Unity Editor plugin.

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I think Unity makes a good modding environment. But I can imagine that some developers might want the modding tool to be a standalone binary distributed with their Unity game, or even integrated straight into the game itself, so modders wouldn’t have to also download Unity. Either way, best of luck if you decide to pursue it further!

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