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Endless Legend gets modding tools in new add-on
The team at Amplitude Studios is having a busy week, having just launched Dungeon of the Endless in full on Steam a few days ago. Now, it's offering a "Shades of Alteration" add-on for another game in its strategy series, Endless Legend. The free DLC adds a Halloween-themed quest to the 4X fantasy-strategy game called "A Tale from the Dark Season," which rewards players with an undiscolsed prize. The update also introduces modding tools to the game, allowing players to create and tweak a number of game elements to their content. Players will be able to add new faction traits, items, skills, city improvements, technology and quests to Endless Legend, as well as adding or changing resources, text and 2D assets in the strategy game using the new mod tools. Endless Legend launched on Steam in September after its near five-month stay on Early Access. The game's Classic Pack is available on PC or Mac for $35, whereas the $45 Emperor Pack adds bonus in-game items. [Image: Iceberg Interactive]
Open-world fantasy RPG Balrum ventures to Kickstarter, shows off level editor
Developer Balcony Team recently pulled the curtains back on the "human friendly" world-building tool for its fantasy RPG, Balrum, in an update on its Kickstarter page. The developer won't guarantee mod support if the game is funded, but hopes to release a polished version of its tools after the game launches, providing funding goes well. Balrum is an open-world fantasy RPG that has players build their homes, tend to their farms, explore the world of Balrum, join a guild and complete quests. Players will have access to over 100 spells and abilities and can craft custom items for use in Balrum's turn-based combat. Balrum is currently sitting at $19,465 in funding with 14 days left in its campaign to reach its $50,000 goal. %Gallery-195136%
Rage Tool Kit on Steam today
The Rage Tool Kit arrives on Steam today, to help you with your primal scream therapy and/or create mods for iD Software's idTech 5 game. The mod tools were originally planned to launch alongside the game, but work on that fell to the wayside in favor of Doom 3 BFG.There'll still be some waiting involved after today's release, as the file is a "hefty 35+ GB." It'll be in the Tools section of Steam when it arrives. Prepare yourself before or during that long, long download by reading the FAQ.
Carmack: Rage mod tools hit 'real soon' despite a year of 'poor decisions'
Rage was supposed ship with modding tools when it launched in October 2011. It didn't, but a tweet from id Software founder John Carmack suggests he hasn't forgotten the promise he made to mod fans one year ago, nor the frustration of letting them down:"BFG work pushed the Rage tools, but Real Soon Now. I hope. Sigh. I think we have made poor decisions on this all year."Doom 3 BFG Edition launched on October 16 in the US, and now id is most likely focused on the development of Doom 4. If id is still serious about pushing Doom 4 onto the Oculus Rift, those mod tools better come out mighty soon, lest we never see them at all – when prioritizing development for either a crazy futuristic headset or modding tools for a year-old lukewarm game, the choice seems to jump right out at you.
The Witcher 2 REDkit modding tools go into beta
If you want to try to make your own even Witchier Witcher adventure, you need to familiarize yourself with the new REDkit modding tools. And to help you do that – and to help build a robust modding tool – CD Projekt Red has opened up a beta for the toolkit.Signups for the beta are being accepted here through September 30. The form has spaces for "Your website" and "Your mod samples," so you're probably more likely to make it to the top of the list if you have experience making your own levels or otherwise messing with your games.
The Witcher 2 getting mod tool 'REDkit' on PC
If witching is one of your favorite things, you'll be happy to hear that a whole bunch more content is headed to the game industry's favorite witching game, The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings. Developer CD Projekt Red announced late last week that its "REDkit" mod tools will be shown at this week's German game convention, Gamescom.Beyond the ability to make Geralt into a perfect facsimile of Laa-Laa from Teletubbies, the tools enable PC users to create "new, non-linear adventures," "great looking locations," and "much more." There's no word on when the tools will be available, but we'll be sure to ask CD Projekt later this week when we check out the mod kit. And yes, we'll ask about the possibility of turning Geralt into Po as well. Fine.
Go make some Octodad mods for us! Please!
There you were, playing your favorite game featuring a secret octopus father, thinking to yourself," Man, I like Octodad, but wouldn't it be better with secret octopus ghosts hidden randomly throughout the world?" Thankfully for you, crazy person, the team behind Octodad just released "OctodadEditor," which is apparently "the basis of the editor for Octodad: Dadliest Catch" (the Octodad sequel, obviously).Sure, the editor's a bit on the buggy side (indie development, folks!), and it's PC-only, but just think about all those secret octopus ghosts! Someone's gotta make that madness happen! Grab the editor right here, and head over to the Octodad blog for more thorough instructions on how it all works.
Battlefield 3 won't have any mod tools at launch
Don't expect any authoring tools for Battlefield 3 when it launches on October 25. During an interview, EA senior VP Patrick Soderlund explains that it's due to the complexity of the Frostbite engine. "Well, as of now, we're not going to make any modding tools, no. If you look at the Frostbite Engine and how complex it is, it's going to be very difficult to mod the game," he said. "Because of the nature of the setup of levels, the destruction and all those things, it's quite tricky. So we think it's going to be too big of a challenge for people to make a mod." Sounds like a dare to us! Of course, that's not to say DICE won't release mod tools down the line -- just that, as of launch, it looks like you'll have to simply settle for the game you bought.
Call of Duty: Black Ops PC patch released, Treyarch targeting end of month for mod tools
Though the rest of the planet has been entirely consumed by the fires of Modern Warfare 3 fever, the Call of Duty: Black Ops PC community is being rewarded for its dedication. Treyarch just launched a hefty patch on Steam for the shooter, fixing a number of issues that have long plagued its multiplayer component. Check out the full list of changes after the jump! One change included therein is the preparation for player-created mods -- a feature which, according to a recent Tweet from Treyarch community manager Josh Olin, is "still targeting an end-of-month release." We're quickly running out of month, but we'll make sure to let you know if it delivers on this promise!
Call of Duty: Black Ops mod tools launching in May
Tired of all that silly "paying" for new Call of Duty: Black Ops multiplayer maps? We know, we know -- money is so 2010. Good thing for you, then, that Treyarch announced plans this week (via Twitter) to officially release the promised mod tools for Black Ops sometime this May. The tools will, of course, only end up on the PC version of Blops, though considering that they never ended up in any version of Modern Warfare 2, we're looking at this as a pretty major improvement. Also, now we can finally live out that dream of recreating Super Mario Bros. stage 1-1 in Call of Duty. Wait ... what?!
Portal 2 getting user-created content 'on all platforms,' has two endings
Though mod tools for Portal 2 will only arrive on PC ("there's a bunch of dependencies that require the Windows platform"), Valve's Chet Faliszek confirmed during a recent interview that the fruits of those tools will make their way to "all platforms." Faliszek specifically noted that "the content that comes out is agnostic, and so we will be seeing that on all platforms." That said, the content may not be distributed the same way across all platforms. "Depending on the platform you're on, I should say, will depend on how we're delivering it," Faliszek said, also confirming that the PS3 version would get user-created content via Steam for PS3. In other Portal 2 news, speaking with VideoGamer, Faliszek revealed that each of the game's two campaign modes (single-player and co-op) will have their own individual surprise rewards for completion. "Both sets of credits [will feature something special], because we've got two credits," he explained. "So we had to do something twice as amazing." Presumably, Mr. Coulton has been hard at work on a hot new mix (mixes?) for GLaDOS. This time, we're holding out hope for a big dance number.
Black Ops PS3 multiplayer patched again
Are you a Black Ops player on PS3? Have you been experiencing unreliable parties? How about loud mouths in the lobby -- or worse: in your unreliable party? Well, this probably isn't the game for you. Nevertheless, Treyarch continues to make amends for those who are less thick-skinned. At approximately o-five-hundred hours ET this morning, the developer deployed another Black Ops multiplayer patch -- 1.05, for those keeping count -- through PlayStation Network. The update implements several fixes, including "improved party reliability" (when leaving with party), mute functionality in pre-game lobbies and kick functionality in party and private match lobbies. (The full patch notes are posted after the break.) Additionally, Treyarch is continuing its work to further improve party reliability, but in the interim we suggest you try making new friends. Future patches may also address the reported "infinite loading screen" issue (which definitely sounds like some shady MK-ULTRA side effect) and a rare game-freezing scenario that can be triggered by "explosions occurring simultaneously in a concentrated area" -- see? Didn't everyone say the authentic Cold War-era ice bombs would break the game? In other Black Ops news, mod tools are in development for the PC community. So, for real, someone make that ice bomb! [Thanks, Jason]
