Id Software Creative Director Tim Willits has revealed the PC version of Rage will have a powerful modding tool.
This means players will be able to create their own levels, characters, tools, and other mods right out of the box as soon as the game ships.
The whole concept of “modding” has been around practically since the inception of PC games, and recently professional developers have embraced the idea of letting individual players create their own variations of retail games.
Most of the time, though, the modding tools come out months after the game, so as to let players experience it the way it was intended to first, then let them go crazy with their own creations.
Willits warned only hardcore armchair developers will be able to take advantage of the tools, however. “Building levels from scratch is more difficult because we have a layer system in some of the levels. I can foresee somebody modding up Wellspring (a town in-game) and adding different characters, giving them different voice-over,” he said.
Nevertheless, it’s cool to see a company so openly embrace its audience’s creativity. Id has always been a bit different than most game developers because its base is more technologically sophisticated and enthusiastic about PC games than most other developers.
Rage is due out later this year, and is expected to be a hot seller, just like all other Id creations.
