Modding is a huge part of PC gaming. While I myself have always been a console gamer, mods are one of the enticing things about playing on a computer. Imagination is the upper limit when it comes to creativity in the gaming space; this can be seen by hit games like Super Mario Maker, and while less ubiquitous, Dreams on PlayStation 4.
Recently Resident Evil 2 had Mr. X’s entrance accompanied by DMX’s “X Gonna Give it to Ya”. Frictional Games is opening up that ability even further with the announcement that the first 2 Amnesia games are now open source.
For the record, that includes both Amnesia: The Dark Descent and Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs. While I haven’t played them myself (even though I have them– with October around the corner, now might be the time) they both have good reviews.
Why now? Frictional is celebrating the 10-year anniversary of the Amnesia series. If you want to look into the codes, here is Amnesia: The Dark Descent, and here is Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs.
Learn to (Alter) Code
The games will be released under the GNU General Public License. This means that players can fool around both the game code and editor code. They can even release it commercially! However, it stipulates that to do so, the creator must make the creation open source as well. “Modding has been a huge part of Amnesia,” says Thomas Grip, Frictional Games creative director.
He states they have “accumulated over 1000 mods and addons [sic]”, and this will surely multiply those numbers greatly. “It is time we give something back,” he says. Frictional Games will continue to own and sell the games themselves.
On top of all that, the third game in the series, Amnesia: Rebirth, will be arriving on October 20th on PC and PlayStation 4. This game will take players to the Algerian desert in the shoes of an amnesiac. So for anyone who might be interested in experimenting with mods, the first 2 Amnesia games are now open source.
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