You know, I never knew much about modding, but what I do know is I think they allow you to modify the engine of the game enough to make it something else. Of course someone like me will never understand how to do those kind of things, but I wish I could. There have been a handful of editors that I have seen and tried. Ones like Warcraft III's, which I think is great because the coding for triggers isn't so complex and you can do a lot to create a totally new game in Warcraft III. On consoles, there have never been anything like that calibur. The closest the console has gotten too is Map Editors in games like Farcry and Timesplitters.

Well, I wish this idea would happen, but while I don't know much about coding or making games, I think the idea for this editor may be too far off for consoles, but hear me out and maybe you'll like it.

Alright, so the editor would be specific for shooters. You would be able to do a lot of things in it. Making maps, skins, modes, and maybe even models are some of the things I thought of.

The Map part of the editor would allow you to make the maps for the mode you create. You would be able to shape the terrain, put in things like weather, time of day, and so on. But instead of just only using the objects the editor/game provides for you. You would be able to "sculpt" your own in a sense. Let's say it's a statue. You would be given a generic figure depending on what you pick. Then you would be able to sort of sculpt what you want to see. With other objects like trees, you could really put a lot of effort to make trees stand out in the game. Basically, what I'm saying for the map part is that I would want it so I could create a unique map of my own with my unique objects to really set it apart from others.

The Model part for units would probably work for any other editor I guess. The model would work almost the same as the one in maps. You would select from a different number of generic models. Then you could add parts like claws, horns, antlers and so on. You could change the color of the skin, so if you want a green alien, you could make a green alien. Then there would be accesories like armor which you could modify to your liking.

The Models would also work for the weapons/items/powerups/vehicles. (Wow) Like Unit models, you pick from a generic list of guns like handgun, shotgun, rocket, sniper, alien, bug looking thing, sword, and so on. Then you would add parts, mold it to your liking, and maybe add some color or make it glow for that alien look. You could create a unique set of weapons for your maps and modes. Also, you could even set the projectile look of the weapons. If you want orange gooey shots, then you could get them. Or red lightning? Yeah that's no problem. Vehicles would have a generic list of cars, tanks, mechs, planes/jets, ships, boats, and alien stuff. Like the weapons, you could do a lot to make them look very unique.

Now for the "Mode" part. This would determine a lot and probably take the most time to do. Let's take the Warcraft III editor for example. The editor has triggers which makes that map stand out from all the others if done right. The same would go for this editor but only for the mode and it would have some extra stuff.

The Mode part would determine things like the amount of HP a unit would have, or the amount of damage a weapon would do. It would determine the speed of units/vehicles or how much a healing station heals you. Mode would also determine ammo count in a weapon or the accuracy/recoil of it. It would also determine things like cooldown/reload times for weapons and powers if the units in the game mode have them. Also, the editor could decide whether or not the game would be in 1st or 3rd person.

Now here' the true "trigger" part of the game. The editor would come with preloaded modes to help you on the way like CTF, Deathmatch, Team DM, and so on. Of course, the true fun part of this editor is too make your own. So why not make something interesting? You could make a game like Zombie Survival, where you and a few others must survive wave after wave. Or a futuric dodgeball game where you are in a complex level and your only weapon is glowing blue dodgeballs! Or a game where one team has to defend the VIP across a huge map and they have limited lives while the attacking team has larger amount of lives and a more assassin like arsenal.

The triggers would be there to do it. Like for a special CTF, the trigger would be like an If/Then function. (If a player of "Blue" team brings object " Red Flag" to location "Blue Flag Capture", then add 1 point to team "Blue" score.) Of course there would be other functions too, like for the VIP and zombie ones. The Zombie would probably require AI programming, but who knows, it could be pulled off.

Now unlike the Warcraft III editor where that mode is tied to the map its created on. This editor would allow you to save modes and load them onto different maps you want them to be on. This would allow you to sort of release your own mods but on Consoles.

Well, let's come back to reality. The fact is, this editor would probably be a game released with just the editor. Also, thinking about issues such as people creating inappropiate stuff would kill it. Then, there's the fact that something this large would need a lot of memory to store. One game mode along with the map attachments would probably take up a lot of space. Take the 360 right now, it has like a 20GB hardrive. I don't know computers or programming well, but judging by the scale of some modes people would make. One mode would take up a lot of space. Too much space for next gen consoles probably.

While this idea would probably not happen for a long time. Just think of how fun that would be. One game/editor that could result in thousands. Things like defenses, rip offs, open RPGS(from Warcraft), FPSs with RPG elements. I could see people making puzzle games, mini adventures, intense co op games, intense sports games that use the gernade function but you aim for the basket. If only I say to myself a lot. This would be a package I think any console gamer could appreciate. And I also thought of a name for it if it ever was a game. Maybe just something plain like, "Editor" or one that doesn't make sense like "Cut and Paste." I don't know.

That's it for this idea. I got more coming on the way. So until next time, I'm out.