Does the AOE 2 HD have Workshop systems integrated by Steam, is the AOE DE going to have a workshop or something like for mods, map sharing, campaigns and new graphics and effects made by the community?
I believe that using this method can give greater longevity to the game and more interaction with the community. What do you guys think about that?
I agree - we need a workshop. AoE2 HD is on Steam, so it does - DE will not be, so it probably won’t have one.
They could put modding support into the game and leave it to third party websites like Age of Empires Heaven to host them.
@Plasticcaz said:
They could put modding support into the game and leave it to third party websites like Age of Empires Heaven to host them.
It is not very practical but it can serve as we do not have an integrated workshop system like steam, but I believe that because it is not so practical, it does not generate a great return of the community.
I used to get campaigns for Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds (basically AOE2 in Star Wars) off of SWGBHeaven all the time. I don’t see how it’s not practical to let the community host mods and stuff.
Having said that, Consoles have recently been getting mods for some games (Skyrim for Xbox has a modding system), so maybe the infrastructure for modding exists in the Xbox Service, and they can tap into that.
@Plasticcaz said:
I used to get campaigns for Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds (basically AOE2 in Star Wars) off of SWGBHeaven all the time. I don’t see how it’s not practical to let the community host mods and stuff.Having said that, Consoles have recently been getting mods for some games (Skyrim for Xbox has a modding system), so maybe the infrastructure for modding exists in the Xbox Service, and they can tap into that.
The fact that you can add a mod in just one click is quite different from doing it manually, for some people this may be easy but for others it is not even worth trying for fear of doing something wrong with the files or installing another program to do this. Anyway, newbs feel more apprehensive about tinkering with some settings. What I’m trying to say is that there are more efficient methods of making the mods easier to access even for beginners or people who do not play that often. And as Microsoft is launching for Xbox now this service think it would be too soon to give an opinion on it.
Obs: Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds is a game that combined two universes that I like a lot, I have feelings of nostalgia about this game!
Yeah, I guess so. Hopefully they go the route of distributing mods through Xbox Live then
@Plasticcaz said:
Yeah, I guess so. Hopefully they go the route of distributing mods through Xbox Live then
I think it’s the best way :#
@Plasticcaz said:
They could put modding support into the game and leave it to third party websites like Age of Empires Heaven to host them.
While I love AoKH very much, these days a workshop is almost essential as it engages a larger portion of the community. HG also doesn’t have any plans for creating new forums. I also really hope they add mod support, and not a limiting mod support such as in AoE 2 HD, as mods increase the lifespan of games to a great extent.
There will still definitely the option of going over to AoEH for user created content such as scenarios.
They could create a dedicated client for AoE-DE, for example i think you could integrate the Nexus Client (from nexus mods) in your Fallout(i am not 100% it was Fallout) game and add and browse mods from with-in the game, so for example within AoE-De to have that dedicated tool , i can see this being a simple addition for when you want to create extra maps , but if you want to add data , such as custom units with their own assets , i can see this as being a problematic approach.
On a personal level i sometimes , not always, hate the steam approach, for example i have Darkest Dungeon(DD) on GoG and i can’t access the mods for DD on the Steam page. I know this will not be the case as i think the windows store will be the only source for AoE-DE , but in case they ever decide to move it to Steam (like they did with HALO wars) this could end up as a problem.
Also the steam approach has another problem, in that, it requires the game to have a dedicated “mods” file where things should, if added, override what ever is the main asset for the game at the time. I do not know how the genie engine was build so i do not know if this will be easy to achieve. When they said they will release the game in October this year, i think they put pressure on the dev team so i do not know how much of the features on the modding side that we ask for will be implemented, if any at all.
TL;DR Yes , workshop for the mods please ! There are plenty of examples out there, and as said, after people finish the campaign and playing a few single or multiplayer games, 80% of people (maybe more) will leave the game on a dusty corner for years unless a thriving modding community are able to breathe new life in the game every day with new things to explore.
I hope that those holding the purse strings (ie.MS) will have enough vision to understand that modding support greatly extends the life cycle of a game and therefore supports ongoing sales of DLC and other official content. The longevity of the original games (AOE and AOK) was greatly increased by the ease with which they could be modded, which led to a flourishing community and wealth of content.
Unfortunately the recent trend in PC gaming seems to be to treat modding as a threat to DLC sales and therefore omit any support for mods. Short sighted thinking, and I would argue actual harms the commercial outcome in the mid to long term.
We can only hope!
Hopefully they allow mods; the UPatch has a nice mod selector function, so they can build off of that!
@Plasticcaz said:
There will still definitely the option of going over to AoEH for user created content such as scenarios.
And boy do we have plenty of that. More than a possible workshop will ever have!
If I buy it from windows 10 store can it be played on other laptop/desktop like steam? Or it will be fixed for a specific device?
@BornPants34 said:
TL;DR Yes , workshop for the mods please ! There are plenty of examples out there, and as said, after people finish the campaign and playing a few single or multiplayer games, 80% of people (maybe more) will leave the game on a dusty corner for years unless a thriving modding community are able to breathe new life in the game every day with new things to explore.
i agreed with u 100% !!!
@SDBarman said:
If I buy it from windows 10 store can it be played on other laptop/desktop like steam? Or it will be fixed for a specific device?
I think u can download whatever pc u are, u have just to loggin in your account.
I agreed!!!
While AOE 2 HD technically has a mod manager, it doesn’t support .dat mods, which basically means that if a mod changes any game mechanics, you need install/uninstall it manually, which is annoying IMO.
The Steam Workshop is full of .dat mods anyway, you just have to use a 3rd party tool (or do it manually).
Here’s hoping FE doesn’t do that with AOE DE.
@“PhatFish AoEH” said:
@Plasticcaz said:
There will still definitely the option of going over to AoEH for user created content such as scenarios.
And boy do we have plenty of that. More than a possible workshop will ever have!
Good to see you here, PhatFish!
@Catbarf2012 said:
I hope that those holding the purse strings (ie.MS) will have enough vision to understand that modding support greatly extends the life cycle of a game and therefore supports ongoing sales of DLC and other official content. The longevity of the original games (AOE and AOK) was greatly increased by the ease with which they could be modded, which led to a flourishing community and wealth of content.Unfortunately the recent trend in PC gaming seems to be to treat modding as a threat to DLC sales and therefore omit any support for mods. Short sighted thinking, and I would argue actual harms the commercial outcome in the mid to long term.
We can only hope!
M$ has no vision for Pc gaming, its an xbox extension.
Oh hey PhatFish and Catbarf.
Actually its rumoured that PC gaming is actually the way Microsoft is going to go, these rumours included being that the next xbox being the last to be released, and this move to the windows store for some games may be a start. Some believe if MS can somehow get people to use their store more cough Windows 10 S cough, then it may become a free OS in the future with Home possibly following suit.