Well all this is rather disappointing to someone like me just trying to find a way to be able to enjoy this game but can’t. I came here today to see if the mobile version had any texture packs to change one single mob: spiders. Thats it. Nothing else in the game bothers me enough to cause me to avoid playing the game for years - like it already has because of the spiders. I really liked Terraria but haven’t been able to play in over 3-4 years because of the impact it had on me when I unknowingly fell into a nest before I even knew spiders were a part of the game. I’ll never forget that experience as long as I live, and truthfully it worsened my fear, not helped it. I never touched the game again until last week when I needed something fun to occupy me on my phone, and I like playing so long as I don’t go very deep. But as you all know that makes for a serious handicap in play and a boring experience. I don’t mind being scared and surprised in caves, or facing fierce bosses, so long as they aren’t realistic looking spiders.
It’s a lot different than the silly/cute spiders in Minecraft, which were easy to overcome due to their lack of realism and Minecraft’s commitment to keeping the game fun for all. It is impossible to overcome one’s fear in Terraria given the way the developers designed them.
I agree with many here about “mods”, and how most really do unfairly impact the balance of the game and the progression, but I deeply disagree with 505Games stance on “texture packs,” which are harmless and only affect the user side, not even other players. It’s sort of like giving someone who is handicapped a fair way to participate equally alongside their peers. What is so wrong with letting your players modify a sprite/a texture to avoid a deep fear that they have so that they can actually enjoy and experience the whole game? It is not the developer’s job to help me overcome such a serious phobia. I come to gaming to unwind and enjoy myself. And yes, being challenged is fun when it pertains to skill, but not when it pertains to a very real and serious fear millions of us have.
We were told we could discuss whether or not we would like mods and textures for mobile, but just couldn’t give details for how to do it. I also agree with this policy. And so I’m posting to say loud and clear that there are other, more innocent reasons to want to be able to load different textures to the game, and it isn’t all for reasons that need to be so stringently blocked. I read that someone created a texture pack for the PC version just for the spider sprites only, to help other gamers with serious fears. And I read the many deep, heart-felt thank yous received and saw how many players are finally enjoying this game equally alongside their family or friends. So a simple harmless texture change made a world of difference for thousands of players, if not more. Did 505Games ever consider that?? I can’t play very far into the game every time I try to, but I sure would like to. But I will never have that freedom to enjoy this game so long as that kind of need is lumped in with the “big bad mod”. I also can only play on mobile (phone or iPad).
505Games needs to separate “mods” from “texture packs” and start realizing that texture packs aren’t abusive, they are only visual changes for the player themselves and no one else. And they should have a separate policy for that.