How will modding work?

Wolfheart

One concern I have with the iPad version is how closed the platform is. How will we get access to the files in the installation? Will we have an override folder? Access to every file? Will it be mounted as a usb partition or do we need to use Itunes?

Renshtalis

Perhaps they will release an app through the app store?

Zandri

That wouldnt be possible. Seperate apps under iOS cannot interact with each others file systems. They are effectively sandboxed. The have limited inter-app communication via URL scheme.

Renshtalis

In app dlc maybe?

Zandri

It's going to be interesting to see how they implement this.

I'm an iOS developer so understand a lot of the limitations with the platform.

The app bundle and the resources within are read-only, you can move or unpack files to a writable area but then there would be multiple copies of things.

An overrides area could be possible via Document Sharing mechanism (user visibility to this folder structure via iTunes) for the app.

Maybe sync-able iCloud method somehow but would require Mac version. So probably not.

Official mods can easily be handed by In-App Purchase (IAP) for DLC. Custom mods are going to be tricky.

Think it's going to walk a fine line to stay within the App Store guidelines too having customers mod/script the game. Historically this has been problematic for apps.

Renshtalis

So what about a dlc outside of the app store?

Zandri

for custom mods? what have the game point to some arbitrary download location, sounds dodgy.
dropping files or a mod bundle into Document Sharing folder sounds like a more feasible approach.

Risingsun

They can accomplish a lot with that Document Sharing Folder. Some games on the app store, like Broken Sword 1 and 2, let you also mange your save files via the Document Sharing folder. Hopefully, they allow us access to saves in the same way so that we can move and easily backup our saves since iPads are so prone to loss or damage. It would also be a good place to add and remove mods, since i dont see another way of this happening short of tying to a mod website.

PhillipDaigle

We're still working on this one, but most likely it will involve the document sharing folder.

Chromatic5

Maybe this is a dumb question, but will mods developed for any platform work on any version of the game? I.e. will pc mods created be availiable to be used on my iPad?

And I plan on transferring my game back and forth between my iPad and pc, how will mod installtion affect this situation?

Thanks in advance! I'm looking forward to the game!