ATTENTION: ALL MOD-MAKERS

As you all know, making an Arcanum Module can be a pretty long and difficult task. The only reward being that smile on your face when people tell you that "Your module r0xs!" :smile: We also know that a full Arcanum Module with End Game Slides, Movies and Town Maps can weigh in at well over 20 megabytes. A size that makes them quite formidable to download for those of us with slower internet connections. :sad: Well... Fear not, for there is now a small speck of hope at the end of the long dark tunnel. I, DarkUnderlord, "God of all things WorldEd" (I was given that title...), contacted someone at Sierra with the following proposal:

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Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura
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I hope you can help me. I'm a big fan of Arcanum and some other people and myself would be interested in using the Arcanum editing tools to make some of our own Arcanum modules for commercial release. Basically, we were kind of hoping that we could make the mods, and then Sierra would compile them onto a CD and commercially release them in local computer stores. We were kind of hoping to do it this way so that we could get a share of the profits made from the sale of the add-on CD. That way, we kind of get a small reward for all our spare time spent making the modules.

Do you know anyone at Sierra who could help us, or even if Sierra would be interested in doing something like this?

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(Yes I know, I think I over did it with the "kind of" and "hoping" comments....)

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RE: Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura (Replied in UNDER a day... Pretty darned impressive I think...)
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Thanks for your interest in Arcanum! This is not an unheard of proposition, though it is very, very rare. It is certainly possible that Sierra would do such a thing, but again, it's not something we do very much. In general, MODs are released free as added value for our games, it's what drives the community and leads to a longer life for the game.

If, however, your MOD is of sufficient quality, it's something we would consider. You should create the MOD, then send it to us for evaluation. We would not, however, consider such proposals unless we are given a final MOD.

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My rather lame thank you in return....
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Thank you very much for your help! It gives us modders a bit of bright light at the end of a long dark tunnel! When we get our final MODs made, I will (hopefully) contact you again. Until then, thank you!

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Okay, so that's pretty much it. Here's the big idea though, all of us mod makers make our mods. Basically, whatever mods are finished by say, near the end of this year (2002), we then make a list and I e-mail the contact again, asking what we should do with them, in terms of sending them to him, or if Sierra is even interested. I'd have to point out that the mods could weigh a fair bit... (If there are a total of about 20 mods, at about 20 meg each... That's a bit... 400 meg...) Now, the response could be:

1) No not interested. Just release them on the net.
2) Yes, interested, DON'T release them on the net at all, just send them to us.
3) Yes, interested and feel free to release them for free download on the net as well.

From there, things like payment etc... Would have to be worked out.. (Don't even ask me how much that'd be or how that'd work.. I've got NO idea...) But with any luck, everyone's mods are put onto a CD and released in local computer stores for about half the price of a new computer game. My favourite idea for the mod-pack at this stage is "Arcanum Worlds" :smile:

So that's it. This is just something to keep in mind as you make your mods. Basically, there are no guarantees and the whole thing could fall in a heap. But, for now, just soldier on, make your mods and we'll see what happens....

If you need to talk to me about this, contact me on either:
darkunderlord@hotmail.com (I may lose your e-mail here, I get about 40 junk mails a day, and it's hard to sift through them all)
darkunderlord@email.com (A new address I've set up. It's spam free at the moment...)

DarkUnderlord
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Moo... Moo... I'm a Troika cow.