14 DAY TRIAL // The development team at Treyarch and Activision has revealed some major changes that the coming Black Ops 3 is making to the traditional Call of Duty formula, and now the studio is ready to confirm that it plans to support both modding and map making for the PC version of the first-person shooter.
On the official community site, Cesar Stastny, a director of development working on the project, says that the decision to add the two features has been made because of the constant requests coming from the fan base.
He explains that his team is currently working on both ideas and that only a rough plan can be revealed about the way modding will be integrated into Call of Duty: Black Ops 3.
Treyarch is planning to allow gamers to create both new environments and new game modes, and the 2016 release will also give gamers tools and unranked dedicated server files that will allow gamers to use their own content for multiplayer action.
An unranked server browser will also be offered for Call of Duty: Black Ops 3.
An alpha testing phase for modding is at the moment planned for March of next year, although it is unclear whom it will be open for.
Stastny adds, "Please remember that this is software development, so things don’t always work out exactly as planned. Sometimes features slip or drop off altogether; sometimes they get replaced with other, more awesome features as we hit into limitations of our original plans."
Despite the warning, it's interesting to see that Treyarch is embracing modding and map creation on the PC, and the community will appreciate the extra options that they will be able to use.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 still has most of its fan base on home consoles
One potential long-term effect of the announcement is that more gamers might be tempted to pick up the PC version of the shooter because of the extra variety of experiences that it can deliver.
Some teams have announced that mods can also be delivered on home consoles, as Bethesda did for Fallout 4, and it will be interesting to see whether Treyarch will also aim for something similar once the tools arrive for the PC.
The modding and map making are designed to expand the experiences that Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 offers to an unprecedented level for the franchise.
Gamers can take part in a single-player campaign set in the near future, which is designed to be played cooperatively for the first time.
Those who are zombie fans can enjoy Shadows of Evil, set in a noir version of the '40s that features four characters voiced by Hollywood talents.
The multiplayer of the game introduces both an entirely new movement system and the Specialist characters that each player can try and master.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 will be out on the PC, the Xbox One, the PlayStation 4 and older home consoles, without the campaign, on November 6.