Modding API

The game exposes two surfaces: data definitions for entities, recipes, and parameters that the engine loads at startup, and a scripting runtime that registers handlers for game events and calls an API to read and change state. Factorio mods use modified Lua 5.2 and pass through settings, prototype (data), and runtime (control) stages in a fixed lifecycle, with the runtime stage event-driven. RimWorld loads XML definitions and C# assemblies; Crusader Kings III exposes event, trigger, and effect scripting; Minecraft's Java Edition relies largely on third-party loaders. A mod manager resolves load order and dependencies. Inputs: mod files. Outputs: changed content, rules, and UI.

Players reshape the game to their taste, from small fixes to total conversions, and the game keeps renewing years after release. Modders gain a creative outlet and an audience, and non-modders browse mod lists to assemble their own version of the game.

• surface breadth: data only, data plus scripting, or full code injection
• sandboxing and determinism requirements, such as lockstep multiplayer
• API stability and versioning policy
• load-order and dependency management
• distribution channel and discovery, such as an official mod portal or Steam Workshop

• Game updates break mods, and players delay updating or abandon saves.
• Large mod lists conflict and degrade performance in ways that are hard to diagnose.
• Unsandboxed code mods carry security risk to players' machines.

• Popular mods become de facto features, and developers later absorb them into the base game.
• Moddable games keep long active communities and sales tails.
• Mods expose and fix balance problems faster than official patches.

• Can coding models let non-programmers write working mods from natural-language descriptions against a documented API?
• What API design keeps generated mods sandboxed, deterministic, and compatible across updates?