(2013-06-22, 11:34 PM)Holy Diver link Wrote: [quote author=HwitVlf link=topic=689.msg9130#msg9130 date=1371892056]Modding has been around since I was a kid. I just haven't followed its development. I disagree though that modding negatively impacted "game making" software. It's just speculation. But modding was there before and was still there after. I think "game making" stopped because it was not commercially viable.
coincided with it becoming standard practice for companies to release level editors
[/quote]
I didn't claim mods had a negative effect on game making. I said standard issue mod-making kits have reduced peoples focus on making freestanding homebrew type games. I actually have a significant amount of evidence to support what I'm saying, but I won't take the time to explain. It's not that I am busy. I just have other things to attend to.
As far as the question in your topic: SoM is a mod. The only difference is the label people may slap on it. Plenty of "mods" created totally unique games. And in spite of what you have posted in several places, SoM's user agreement specifically prohibits distribution or reverse engineering of SoM or its components. I'm the one who sent you the ULA text where it said so, so I'm surprised you missed that. The exe's also have built in copy protection and it violates US federal law to bypass that.
Official mod kits often let you remove the entire original game and make something completely new just like SoM. So SoM is a mod and many mod-kits are game making engines if you want to call them that. Such distinctions are just meaningless labels to me. It's like discussing what to call the type of brush you used to paint a picture.