I did a cursory search. But I'm not sure if this has come up before. (Probably has.)
Are there any plans to allow fans to mod Aurora sometime down the road? I mean, beyond changing the graphics files?
Many games have benefited enormously from allowing the community to write mods for their favorite games. To name just a few, I could mention Dwarf Fortress, X2: The Threat, X3: Reunion, Freedom Force, FFvT3R, Morrowind, Oblivion, and Skyrim. Games that allow a lot of modification often have the most loyal fanbase, even years after it falls out of publication.
In some cases it can allow fans to overcome game limitations or speed up development in weak areas. Among other mods, I remember how some VGA Planets fans created AI script files to replace the default AI. These drastically changed AI behavior, making it far more unpredictable and, usually, more of a challenge. The game itself was written in QuickBASIC, but (if memory serves) the AI script file was some sort of pseudocode.
Granted, allowing fans to write mods has it's downsides. The creator(s) loose a degree of control of how their game is played and, in a sense, the direction of development. More than that, there is a risk of someone creating offensive content or, depending on the implementation, outright malicious code. To prevent the latter, mods are often limited to pseudocode and the game executables are off limits.
The benefits can be enormous, though.
