DarthVader is no more. The tremendously popular DarthMod modification for the Total War series, having now been present in Medieval II, Empire, Napoleon and Shogun 2 will not be returning for future iterations. A tremendous figure in the modding community, he has once again gone into retirement, this time seemingly for good.
I appreciate DarthMod like ballet and opera. I didn't always get it, or even enjoy it for that matter but I was glad it existed. It felt like it added something to the world, and others took immense pleasure from it. He was doing something nobody else seemingly could - complex AI scripting, unit rebalancing, and campaign AI that was not built from bricks and dog droppings.
Now, after a not so subtle slight from a Creative Assembly official he is calling it quits again.
"There are some mods out there that claim to do things that are impossible to do within the limitations that exist at the moment, for example."
Not exactly subtle. But I've long been under the impression that Darth is a one man band - likely this is why he was passed over during a previous interview for a programming position within the company.
But I can't help but feel Darth's passing also marks the end of an era in TotalWar games. Empire began the trend of DLC over mod support and Shogun 2 has again shown the company's intentions of continuing to downplay the community's role in the development of the games. I can only surmise Rome 2 will follow this trend, insisting on the purchase of company made content over player creativity. One need only to look at the success of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim to see how a lively and energetic community can add value to existing works and attract new audiencs.
Source:
http://www.pcgamesn.com/totalwar/total-war-mod-darthmod-empire-v80-platinum-released-developer-retires-total-war-modding
And for popular press release:
http://www.pcgamer.com/2012/09/21/darthmod-creator-retires/
No comments:
Post a Comment