
On the Usability of Editable Software - todsac
https://flak.tedunangst.com/post/on-the-usability-of-editable-software
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johnday
There is a large field in which this is practically a solved problem: computer
games.

To be sure there isn't a single pattern, and proprietary consoles do go out of
their way to make the process as difficult as possible. But the modding scene
in video games is huge, and some of the big hitters in the field (Cities:
Skylines, Minecraft[1], Garry's Mod) have flourished because they made
provided an exposed base and they, or the community, filled in the rest.

The real case study I would point to is Cities: Skylines. It adopted this
highly customizable model early on in development. Not only has this helped
them release content regularly through downloadable content (free and paid),
but the DLC predominantly uses the same integrations that are exposed to the
modding community, who can modify almost everything about the game.

[1] Minecraft did not actually make it easy to provide mods, but the sheer
bloody mindedness of the community got it done anyway. Mojang later created a
"hackable" version which employed Python.

~~~
sansnomme
You have to give Minecraft some credit for Mod Coder's Pack (which they
allowed to exist and currently hires the founding developer) without which
stuff like Forge would have been a lot more difficult to maintain. They also
didn't go out of the way to make modding impossible either.

