Modding and scenario/campaign creation

[Sourdust]

So obviously the modding community for PC has been a big part of its longevity and popularity.

Personally, I have no interest nor aptitude in "modding" a game, but I have a lot of interest in creating new campaigns and scenarios.

I would urge the devs to think about two distinct groups of users - the modders (who are willing to invest hundreds of hours into tinkering with base game parameters, editing lots of files, creating new units, etc.) and the scenario creators, who want to build new campaigns and scenarios, but need a relatively polished editor and a decent unit library to work with.

Ideally the game should be designed with both groups in mind. Making the game mod-friendly is great, fully supportive. But the community for this game would really thrive with a great campaign/scenario creation tool as an integrated part of the game. That means a good library of terrain tiles, units, heroes, etc., all easy to adjust in the editor without having to mess around with base game files.

I won't ever in my life mod a game, I don't think, but I can and will create new scenarios and campaigns, and have done so in games like Unity of Command and the old SSG Battlefront series. (Showing my age there, I know!)

[JimmyC]

Also, please allow mods to be accessed on Steam Workshop.

[hs1611]

An ingame MOD Manager would be nice.

No more GME please...

[Kerensky]

Also, please allow mods to be accessed on Steam Workshop.

I have mixed feelings about Steam. Steam requires so much extra effort to appease the extremely fickle and vindictive players that can be found there. It's also affected me, because I practically expect games on Steam to have Steam achievements and start to wonder 'what's wrong with this game' when they don't have them.

If it were up to me, Panzer Corps 1.0 would not get a simultaneous release on all platforms. Flashback can release the game where they want to, probably right here on Slitherine first, and then the 'Steam' version can be worked on in earnest. Full effort going into everything to make a solid Steam release, including achievements, workshop, trading cards, guides, not to mention all the backend stuff I'm probably not even aware of. That's a lot of extra work, and to do it right deserves dedicated time and effort. Is it a good idea to delay 1.0 release to fully accommodate Steam integration and support? Is it worth just having it on Steam sooner and then make promises to 'patch in' features like workshop support later, like Civ VI promised to do and finally came some 5 or 6 months after release.

Original Panzer Corps started out that way, didn't hit Steam until many months after initial release. Though circumstances have changed since then, that's probably not a luxury they have anymore...

[Cerberus51]

I'm not a great fan of Steam but use it for the only two games I regularly play, Civ V and PzC. I would be quite unhappy if PzC 2 was delayed on Steam.

Actually, not having achievements would not be a bad thing because of the type of players who would not bother with a game without achievements. Also, I've yet to find a game with achievements without at least some broken.

I would not know where to begin creating a full mod but a good scenario/campaign creator is near the top of my wish list.

[Rudankort]

I would urge the devs to think about two distinct groups of users - the modders (who are willing to invest hundreds of hours into tinkering with base game parameters, editing lots of files, creating new units, etc.) and the scenario creators, who want to build new campaigns and scenarios, but need a relatively polished editor and a decent unit library to work with.

This is exactly our approach.

Content creation will be supported by a set of tools bundled with the game, including a full-blown scenario editor. This part will likely be even easier, compared to Panzer Corps 1.

Deeper mods will require a different approach. We still need to figure out the details, but most likely you will need to download Unreal Engine and use it to modify various tables and assets of the game.

[Rudankort]

On Steam workshop, we have not really looked into it yet. Most likely, some integration will be done, because this is what many people seem to expect these days. But no idea if we can do it in 1.0.

As for the timing of standalone and Steam releases, this is mostly up to the publisher.

[Yrfin]

I think from a financial standpoint, there is in fact every reason for the developers to actively engage and support the modding community. The reason is that PzC is ultimately still a wargame, and even though it is easier to get started with as far as wargames go, the number of people interested in this genre is not that large. That said, there is potential for the developers to cement themselves as the leaders of wargaming and capture that market share and ensure a steady stream of profit for many years. The thing about supporting modding is that you potentially get a lot more content for a relatively small investment of time.

The most important thing would be that installing and playing a mod doesnt cost any more effort then to throw it into MyGames/Mods and go.

[Firefox440]

Just a opinion from a modder. I do not like Steam workshop. It is a bad intent from to pay by mods. It breaks the essence from all mods.

I do not like Steam too much for a game modded, it adds several troubles because you need use the launcher, be online and more. I like a lot the simple and normal games from Slitherine where you use a normal installer.

[Kerensky]

Just a opinion from a modder. I do not like Steam workshop. It is a bad intent from to pay by mods. It breaks the essence from all mods.

I do not like Steam too much for a game modded, it adds several troubles because you need use the launcher, be online and more. I like a lot the simple and normal games from Slitherine where you use a normal installer.

Steam Workshop is not a paid service, in fact paying for any mods is a minority and experiment they are doing, not the standard for the Workshop, so I wouldn't be worried about that.

Personally, I'm neutral on paid mods. I think stellar work should be rewarded, but I don't think paid mods is the answer. A good mod gets your foot in the door, then earn the privilege and permission to make a real piece of paid content designed to be a piece of paid content.

What I really want to see is proper curatorship of public mods. If any goofball can upload some infinite resource mode that took 2 minutes to 'mod' and it takes up as much advertising real estate as a huge Total Conversion pack, that's a problem. Public voting certainly helps, but it shouldn't be the sole arbitrator.

[Firefox440]

Stellar work can be paid but.........the 99,9% from the mods uses stuff made by other people, most of the people forget the words "a third party work" and many times people take for their own credit the work from others. Most of the times without ask permission. There is a complete lack of civilization around the mods where some people which they are bad in all the possible ways, they say how if you upload a mod, you make it free and everybody can steal you.

Yes these are the true infamous things from mods and Steam Workshop does not help. By this reason, I prefer stay at a place where bad things can be controllated easier. Steam is a non-controlled place.

I know these things because I have been modding for more 16 years, many times for Slitherine games making full conversions from some of their games. Mods from eight hours per day or more developed some of them very fast as the Star Wars Polaris Sector or at periods from 4 years as the Close Combat LSA Battle of Ebro. But I am not a fool. I use many times third party work and I credit everybody.

[Omnius]

I would like to see the ability to add leaders or unit citations to scenarios created by us, or even canned ones we might want to modify. It would be nice to see them in regular canned scenarios so we can enjoy these cool features without having to play campaign games. Plus both sides should be able to have them to add more variety and flavor to regular canned scenarios.

I hope the defense is made better, it's just too simple to whip the Artificial Ignorance. So far the most ignorant defensive scam has been in the Basra battle of the Afrika Korps campaign. What a stupid waste to see 10 paratroop units fly into battle without proper fighter cover, incredibly stupid! I shot them up quickly because I had total air supremacy by the turn they flew in as well as I was already near their first turn movement positions. It would have been far smarter to set them up along the river line, or truck them in as reinforcements. Very few of those 10 paras actually survived to land and defend on the ground.

I also think the best way to improve the Artificial Ignorance's defense is to have it build regular infantry units in every minor objective city and have them sit tight. Always start with the minor objective cities closest to the front line and work back to the rear. It's really lame to be able to take control of minor objective cities without a fight, too easy to pick up those prestige points. Also stop the lame practice of giving a big prestige award to the defense when the second to last major objective is taken. I now clear the last two major objectives of enemy units before simultaneously taking control of them to end a scenario. Better to increase the prestige earned per turn or the starting prestige to give the defense a better chance of stopping the attacker from gaining the prestige points available. I do this when playing a defensive side like the Germans in the Normandy scenario. I had so much fun laughing at how many times the clueless AI kept trucking units into ambushes in minor objective cities that I had occupied with regular infantry defenders.

I'm not interested in seeing this fine game on Steam. I'm tired of the Steam big brother act of clocking playing time or backing up game files to their cloud without permission.

Omnius

[PeteMitchell]

Also on this topic, i.e. in light of some of the big and really great MODs available for PzC 1, any official updates e.g. as part of a future Dev Diary would be really great, if possible, please? Thanks a lot!