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Caves of Qud Expanded

Please read at least this bit

Some of you have probably seen this coming for some time, but it’s time for me to step away from Caves of Qud Expanded. For now, I ask that the main CoQE mod not be taken over or forked publicly by someone else as it is very special to me (more on this near the bottom), however I don’t mind if others use it as a reference to make their own mods or making personal edits for themselves. The mod's last update was for 1.0, some people have asked if I would update the workshop mod if they fixed it. I have no problem with doing this, just please don't expect additional content for the mod down the road. The rest of my mods are fair game, including the sub-mods, however if someone wants to pick up Rise of the ATU, please get in contact with the original mod author.

If you have any questions, feel free to message me on Discord (@mura_raven). If you don't use Discord, you can reach me on Steam as well, but Discord is preferable. Life keeps me busy, so I can't promise an immediate response, but I will do my best to reply in a reasonable time frame. Thank you all again, I can’t express how much you all mean to me. Live and drink, friends.

I'd also like to extend a special thanks to Noble Lark. They came to me with new sprites a long while back for the various subtypes of psionic adepts that they had made on their own. I really enjoy the sprites and think they add great flavor, so they've been added to the mod with this update, I hope you all enjoy them as much as I do.

Welcome to the single largest mod there is for Caves of Qud! The mod does...well it does a lot of stuff, including filling out the equipment tiers that have missing items, creating new weapon types like katanas and rapiers, adding more types of bows and guns, new types of armor like greatshields, rebalancing armor and weapon stats across tiers, adding new artifacts, adding a genotype and subtypes, adding, modifying, and merging some cybernetics, adding new pieces of equipment that can grant mutation-like powers to other genotypes, rebalancing the values of many items, and a whole lot of other stuff in an effort to just expand Caves of Qud in every way possible.

I hope you have fun with all the new gear and goodies! I did my best to keep this mod as compatible with other mods as possible, HOWEVER I do not have the knowledge or experience to guarantee seamless compatibility. I understand wanting to have lots of mods to expand the game, however there is only so much I was able to do with the knowledge I have. Please understand that I never expected this mod to get so popular, the fact that it even reached the first page of Top Rated All Time, let alone hit 1st, blew my mind. Thank you guys for your unending support, I cannot begin to express how much it means to me. If you like my work, leave a thumbs up, it means more to me than you might think. I'd also like to thank Scrolldier (a.k.a. Parzival) in specific for the time and patience they had for me, to teach me how to mod the game and for all the help, encouragement, and support. Thanks to everyone who supported me, it's because of you that the mod is now THE Top Rated All Time! I seriously couldn't have done it without you all.

There are a number of reasons, but only a few main ones I’ll talk about here. It took talking to a very close friend about it to followed by plenty of self-reflection to come to a decision.

The first and most obvious reason is a general lack of time and energy. I’ve been in school full-time through my workplace for almost two years, and I only get a few weeks off each year. This is where I plan to make a career as, for the first time in my life, I actually love what I do and where I work. I’m going to be continuing towards at least my Bachelor’s degree as well. Along with my own personal studies that are more specific to my field of work, this takes up most of my time and energy.

The second reason took more time to accept. Frankly, I haven't felt invested in CoQE like I used to for a long time. I mostly update it out of a sense of commitment or obligation to the people who have continued to use it and support me, rather than any personal desire. That, and my own overall personal investment in it. It feels like I’m guilt-tripping myself into doing it, if that makes any sense, and I just feel tired.

The final reason goes back to the events after the review by SsethTzeentach. There was this sudden, vitriolic implosion to the point of blatant overreaction, which was actively encouraged and fueled by the developer. Many people were cast out of the community without real reason, and it never got better. I had held a high opinion of the dev prior to this, who had personally answered some of my questions, and helped when I was struggling. It was a mix of baffling and shocking, watching everything go down, and I can’t justify or agree with any part of how the situation was handled. I don’t even feel particularly angry, I’m just kind of sad and disappointed. I don't believe the dev is a bad person, but rather someone who just made some bad decisions in the heat of the moment, and unfortunately those decisions had very lasting repercussions for the community as a whole.

There are other reasons, but they’re smaller pieces of the puzzle. I won’t lie, making the decision to step away hurts, CoQE is my baby and means so much to me, but I also know that it’s the right decision for me at this point in my life.

I’ve had many great interactions over the course of working on CoQE, and I will always be grateful for the love and support I’ve received along the way. To this day I still think back fondly on many of those interactions, which helped me through a very dark spot in my life. While there are far, far too many people I’d like to thank to make a list, I would like to thank Scrolldier in particular for teaching me to mod Caves of Qud, as well as having the patience to deal with my constant stream of questions.

To be frank, it's complicated, and I'm not upset that people have asked me to let others take it over. For starters, the mod still works, but if it breaks seriously I may change my mind. I know it's probably hard to understand my reasoning, but it isn't such a simple thing to do, handing off something that I put literally years of effort into. That very fact only makes it harder, not easier, to want to hand it off to someone else. The best way I can put it into words is like this:

An author finishes their well-received fantasy novel series. However, despite appeal and an established following, they realize that their heart isn't in it anymore, that they don't get enjoyment out of it like they used to, so they decide not to write a sequel. No cliffhanger, but also no follow-up; just a story that has reached its conclusion. Could you blame them for not allowing another author to take over the series, or even someone they know nothing about? Would you expect them to? At the very least, I think it's fair to assume there would be a lot of consideration before making such a decision. Their name, and the series' legacy, are irrevocably tied to it.

This isn't such an easy decision as many people make it out to be, especially when I have so much emotional investment in it. It's not easy to hand off something so special to me to anyone, who could do anything with it, and have my name and the mod's legacy be irrevocably attached to it by extension. I also don't feel it's a matter of it being the "right" or "wrong" thing to do, or about who it benefits. I didn't make the mod because it would benefit me, I made it because it was fun to make. As I said, I may change my mind in the future, especially if the mod breaks, but I'll cross that bridge if and when we get there.