MagicasquirrelTMT
Official Terrarian
Disclaimer: the following post is not a suggestion on how to make mobile/console mods possible, or how to bypass the system. It has been stated numerous times that the chances of these platforms getting actual mods are pretty much non-existent. This thread is meant as a way to create something similar to mods for mobile and console, without it causing any conflicts (hopefully).
So, Terraria has come to an end, and it was quite a wild journey! PC has already reached it's peak, mobile is enjoying 1.4, and the console version is about to catch up as well. All seems well... Except PC isn't done quite yet. With the steam workshop support and 1.4 Tmodloader, PC terraria will be able to live for as long as the community wants to invest it's time into it... But what about mobile and console? Are they just destined to die off once 1.4 gets boring to their players? Well, the current answer is yes. Mobile and console have an extremely strict policy about mods, and that policy goes as following: "No, no and no. Never in the history of ever. No."
As I am an uneducated couch potato, I cannot really explain the exact reasoning for such strictness in a way that would make sense, but the simple explanation is as follows: mods are essentially just other people adding and changing the code of the game, which in itself brings lots of issues concerning security. (I would be very glad if someone could explain this to me more clearly so I can change this paragraph if needed, as I have no intent to spread false information). For this reason, mods for mobile and console will most likely will never be a reality.
But what if... There could be a way to make new things from within the game, without touching the code? I am talking about object editors. Essentially, an object editor is something that is usually built into the game, and allows the player to edit or create things without the use of third party apps. The reason this could work is because neither console nor mobile seem to have any issues with official editors that are built into the game, because if they did, games like Geometry dash would've been taken down long ago (and the comparison to geometry dash isn't that far-fetched, either - while the level editor itself doesn't seem that similar to mods, it has an option to combine objects in a group and even save them in a unique tab for you to use in later projects, which means that, in a way, you can create your own objects from the tools the game gives you).
So, on paper, this seems like a fairly decent idea - by having an in-built system that allows you to modify or create certain parts of the game such as world generation or enemies, you could get an experience similar to mods, without the users getting unwanted access to the game's code. This might not be as strong as Tmodloader, as you will most likely be limited in what you can do with the tools you'd be given, but it would at least open mobile and console a path to an experience similar to mods and texture packs. So, where's the problem? Well, there is one, and it's actually pretty big...
Because we'd have to nicely convince the developers to make this a reality. And by that I mean: this idea would need to be actually deemed rationally doable. The first reason it probably wouldn't be - Terraria is considered finished, so it is unlikely the developers would want to put in more work into it (and we can't really judge them - insane amounts of work went into the game we know and love). Even if they did, it is work, and they want to get paid for it - simply put, if it doesn't make a profit, why bother making it? An editor system isn't something simple, especially considering most games with editors are usually built around said system, not the other way around. There's also the fact that there would have to be an in-game online catalog for users to share their content packs and check out the work of others - I mean, sure, mobile could just share these packs through the forums, but what about console?
I know this isn't perfect, and I know that this might not even be a great idea, but there has to be something to at least give mobile and console some sort of experience similar to mods. I just don't believe there is nothing that can be done. It is depressing to just think that PC will get to live on through it's community, but mobile and console will just die off in inferiority once everyone gets bored of vanilla 1.4. Perhaps an option similar to this could be considered the mobile/console equivalent to steam workshop support, but we'll see... One can only dream...
So, Terraria has come to an end, and it was quite a wild journey! PC has already reached it's peak, mobile is enjoying 1.4, and the console version is about to catch up as well. All seems well... Except PC isn't done quite yet. With the steam workshop support and 1.4 Tmodloader, PC terraria will be able to live for as long as the community wants to invest it's time into it... But what about mobile and console? Are they just destined to die off once 1.4 gets boring to their players? Well, the current answer is yes. Mobile and console have an extremely strict policy about mods, and that policy goes as following: "No, no and no. Never in the history of ever. No."
As I am an uneducated couch potato, I cannot really explain the exact reasoning for such strictness in a way that would make sense, but the simple explanation is as follows: mods are essentially just other people adding and changing the code of the game, which in itself brings lots of issues concerning security. (I would be very glad if someone could explain this to me more clearly so I can change this paragraph if needed, as I have no intent to spread false information). For this reason, mods for mobile and console will most likely will never be a reality.
But what if... There could be a way to make new things from within the game, without touching the code? I am talking about object editors. Essentially, an object editor is something that is usually built into the game, and allows the player to edit or create things without the use of third party apps. The reason this could work is because neither console nor mobile seem to have any issues with official editors that are built into the game, because if they did, games like Geometry dash would've been taken down long ago (and the comparison to geometry dash isn't that far-fetched, either - while the level editor itself doesn't seem that similar to mods, it has an option to combine objects in a group and even save them in a unique tab for you to use in later projects, which means that, in a way, you can create your own objects from the tools the game gives you).
So, on paper, this seems like a fairly decent idea - by having an in-built system that allows you to modify or create certain parts of the game such as world generation or enemies, you could get an experience similar to mods, without the users getting unwanted access to the game's code. This might not be as strong as Tmodloader, as you will most likely be limited in what you can do with the tools you'd be given, but it would at least open mobile and console a path to an experience similar to mods and texture packs. So, where's the problem? Well, there is one, and it's actually pretty big...
Because we'd have to nicely convince the developers to make this a reality. And by that I mean: this idea would need to be actually deemed rationally doable. The first reason it probably wouldn't be - Terraria is considered finished, so it is unlikely the developers would want to put in more work into it (and we can't really judge them - insane amounts of work went into the game we know and love). Even if they did, it is work, and they want to get paid for it - simply put, if it doesn't make a profit, why bother making it? An editor system isn't something simple, especially considering most games with editors are usually built around said system, not the other way around. There's also the fact that there would have to be an in-game online catalog for users to share their content packs and check out the work of others - I mean, sure, mobile could just share these packs through the forums, but what about console?
I know this isn't perfect, and I know that this might not even be a great idea, but there has to be something to at least give mobile and console some sort of experience similar to mods. I just don't believe there is nothing that can be done. It is depressing to just think that PC will get to live on through it's community, but mobile and console will just die off in inferiority once everyone gets bored of vanilla 1.4. Perhaps an option similar to this could be considered the mobile/console equivalent to steam workshop support, but we'll see... One can only dream...