Modding Overview
WARNING
Modding is evolving fast. This section documents the very basics available today. More of the game is being exposed as a proper, stable modding API with every update: more hooks, more data, more of the systems opened up. Expect full mod support at the Early Access release. Treat these pages as a moving snapshot, not a final contract, and check back often.
BBox: Kingpin is built to be modded. Most content is flat JSON with automatic data binding and hot reload, so a basic mod takes minutes and needs no code. Deeper systems open up in C# when you want them.
This is the one section of the wiki where you will see code, because this is where code is the point.
The three tiers
| Tier | Who | Effort | What you can make |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. JSON only | Most modders | Minutes to an hour | New entities, factions, items, traders, scenarios, tuning |
| 2. Simple C# | Comfortable with C# | An hour or two | Custom services and mechanics reusing built-in behaviors |
| 3. Advanced C# | Systems programmers | Days | Whole new subsystems (warfare, diplomacy, markets) |
You can go a very long way in Tier 1 alone, because entities, goals, and actions are all data.
What you get for free
Every mod inherits the framework's infrastructure without writing any of it:
| Built-in | What it does |
|---|---|
| GOAP planner | Your entities plan and act automatically from the goals you give them |
| Sensors | Distance, detection, and resource awareness |
| Movement | Pathfinding and target locking |
| Events | Hooks on goal and action completion |
| State and save | Your entity state is stored and saved with the world |
| Hot reload | Edit JSON, reload, see the change, no compile |
How a mod is loaded
A mod is a folder with a mod.json manifest and content files. At launch the game discovers mods, reads their manifests, and merges their entities, goals, actions, and config into the world. See Mod Structure & mod.json.
Where to start
| Goal | Page |
|---|---|
| Make something in 15 minutes | Quickstart |
| Understand the folder layout | Mod Structure & mod.json |
| Give an entity goals and actions | GOAP: Goals & Actions |
| Add a new entity type or faction | Entities & Identities |
| Rebalance prices, heat, the Director | Economy Config |
| Write custom C# logic | Services & C# API |
| Add portraits, weapons, audio | Asset Studio |
| Scaffold a mod from a template | Create-Mod Scripts |
TIP
Grab a ready-made template from Downloads & Starter Kits and edit it, rather than starting from an empty folder.
A note on scope
This section documents the modding surface: the data formats and public hooks you build against. It is designed to let you make deep, original content. It is not a teardown of the engine internals, and you do not need those internals to build great mods.