Voxel sandboxes like Minecraft and Hytale have player creativity firmly in the spotlight from the jump—not just because you can make whatever you like out of cubes, but also because modding is such a prominent part of the scene. Modders have had a field day with Hytale so far to say the least, and developer Hypixel is stoking the flames of their creativity further with a modding contest.
That competition is no small thing either, as it will allow 65 winners to secure cash from a six-figure prize pool. The same day the contest was announced, Hypixel founder Simon Collins-Laflamme wrote a lengthy post on X explaining why modding is such a focus for the dev team.
“It’s not because we expect modders to carry the game for us,” he wrote. “It’s because I believe the modding community is going to be one of the foundations for where we take Hytale next.” He means that in a more straightforward way than you might expect, adding that they “hire from the community.”
He continued: “Over the last few months, most of the people we’ve brought onto the team (now over 70) have been people we already knew, respected, and saw building amazing things, especially in the modding community. We’re not trying to build some giant corporate machine with layers of people giving orders. We’re building a scrappy, agile team full of people who actually make things.”
It’s not all that uncommon for devs to hire community members and modders to work on a growing game. But it’s uncommon for a developer to come out and say that part of its mod support strategy is keeping an eye out for the best modders to bring them into the fold. Collins-Laflamme said that a work culture where everyone involved is hands-on with the game is important to him.
Naturally, that doesn’t mean every good mod will become part of the game, but Collins-Laflamme continued in his thread that “when someone in the community makes something exceptional, that creates a real bridge. Maybe we can collaborate. Maybe we can learn from it. Maybe we hire them.”
While building a game to be as mod-friendly as Hytale costs time “in the short term,” he said it keeps the studio “connected to the people who care the most,” which “pays off in a big way later.” Given the game’s modability and the level of interest it’s attracted already—there are already thousands of mods on CurseForge—it seems clear that vanilla Hytale will be worked into something beyond recognition by plenty of players before long.
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