Making mods

Steel Tide takes mods. A mod adds units, buildings and upgrade levels, described in one JSON file with sprite sheets beside it if you draw some, and gives them behaviour of their own: forms they turn into, units they spawn, buttons on their cards, weapons that look like nothing in the game. It can also bring a faction, new looks for terrain, sounds, music and a menu background. A mod cannot change the rules, the interface or the units the game ships with: it adds, and everything it adds is switched off with it. That is what keeps a mod safe to install and a save safe to load.

Mods are installed under Settings → Mods, from the official registry where everyone's mods are published, or from a folder, a file or a URL of your own. They work in multiplayer rooms too: everyone joining needs the room's mods, and the game offers to install the missing ones from the registry.

Making your own

The modding guide covers the whole format: your first mod in five minutes, testing it in the game, everything a unit or building, a weapon or its art can carry, and publishing to the registry. If you would rather hand the work to a coding agent, there is a skill for it.