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I would like to learn game development via game modding. RPG/MMORPG is one of my favorite genres. Could someone recommend me a good and recent ( I would like to play the game as well) game to learn game modding. Something with the likes of Neverwinternights 2.

Thank you very much for the responses. Appreciate it.

Stucko
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    What's wrong with NWN2? – Tetrad Dec 06 '10 at 00:36
  • Nothing wrong with NWN2, I've tried it a while back (played it and modded a abit and its one of my favorite games). The thing is i'd like to learn level-design as well as programming and I prefer a game that still has lots of players so that I could get feedback from. Plus i'd like to play something new as well ;) – Stucko Dec 08 '10 at 13:23

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For RPGs, you might look at:

M&B is more recent than Oblivion, but both are still played (and worth playing). For MMOs, Edward83's recommendation of Lua is good, however - for World of Warcraft, you would only be using Lua to write add-ons, not full mods.

To clarify, when you make a mod for a game like Oblivion or Neverwinter Nights, you're actually changing the full game experience - you could make a science-fiction version of Oblivion, for instance. But with Warcraft/Lua, all you would be doing is making changes to the interface, not the game itself. You couldn't, say, add a new item to Warcraft, or change the skins to be Klingons.

You can do a lot of cool things in WoW addons (and you can learn programming with Lua), but if you're interested in eventually making a full game - it's not quite the same as developing a mod.

Kylotan
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Cyclops
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    +1 for the Oblivion Construction Pack, and also the Fallout 3 G.E.C.K (same thing, just the modkit is for Fallout 3 since Bethesda did both). They are really easy to get started on, and they definitely aren't lacking in what you can actually do. – PrettyPrincessKitty FS Dec 06 '10 at 18:55
  • Thank you very much, looks like a good place to start learning with wiki's,guide's n all. Will probably try it soon or should I wait for next Elder Scrolls to come out next year? mmmm – Stucko Dec 08 '10 at 14:12
  • @Stucko, depends, how soon did you want to start learning game development? :) If you have the time, start now - even if the next release has differences, the basic concepts should be similar. There's no time like the present... – Cyclops Dec 08 '10 at 14:17
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In addition to the games Cyclops mentioned, Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas use the Oblivion engine and are highly moddable.

Gregory Avery-Weir
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Elder Scrolls is a great start, but I found the best RPG engine to get people really started modding is the Neverwinter Nights Aurora engine, simply because they have the largest collection of public tools for modding, and you can really get a feel for what it feels like to work on a game with their tools.

http://nwn.bioware.com/developers/

Kenneth Noland
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    I have extensive experience modding and authoring for this engine and I can attest that is it very flexible and easy to work with. Do not underestimate the usefulness of the tile-based terrain: it makes everything from asset creation to content creation to scripting quite a bit easier. It has aged a bit though, it does not look as snazzy as the new kids on the block. I would stay away from the NWN2 engine: it's a mess. I have not checked out the Dragon Age toolset as of yet. It is probably your best bet right now. – drxzcl Dec 05 '10 at 22:44
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World of Warcraft supports scripting on Lua. Is it what you need?

Also check Mods for Games tutorials and engines;

Edward83
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  • I think he's looking to actually change the game; WoW allows you to customize your interface and to build little add-on programs to run within WoW, but you're not actually allowed to add anything or change how anything in the game works. – SpacePrez Dec 06 '10 at 01:38
  • Yes, I'm actually looking at building levels/quests/AI but thanks Edward83 for giving the link to http://www.moddb.com, very informative site. – Stucko Dec 08 '10 at 14:23
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Dragon Age: Origins includes the toolset for modding. Recently, Bioware released the Ultimate Edition with all of the DLC up to this point. I think this would satisfy your requirements of a good, modern game that can be modded.

acmshar
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The Garden of Eden creation kit for FallOut 3 is pretty cool.

http://fallout.bethsoft.com/eng/downloads/geck.html