Suggestion: Modding Subforum

I'd like to see a subforum for modding under the "create and share" section of the forum. So far, there are just a few scattered threads on Dota 2 modding scattered around various sites. It is little known that you can skin heroes and rename them (ex. replace wraith king with skeleton king) and replace item icons, and that you can even create maps for Dota using the alien swarm sdk with a few community created tools. Also, it is almost completely unknown that you can create entire gamemodes complete with new skills and items using Lua adddons (both wraith night and year beast were made entirely with lua, check out the dota/addons folder). Valve is almost certainly going to release an sdk for Dota sometime soon. What I propose is that there should be a modding subforum where people can come for help with modding, post tutorials, and release content.

Interesting, I'll take this into consideration, if you want to, tell me more about this !

Are players currently creating maps ?

Oh, the good old lua scripting language. I used to make MTA: San Andreas (the multiplayer version of GTA:SA) scripts for my own server using lua when I didn't know about Steam; I still remember something. And I'm curious about modded maps, too.

There really aren't that many players making maps as far as I know, mostly because most people don't realize that its already possible. The only place i've seen someone post images of the maps they've made was at the dota mod index thread at facepunch. I've also seen a pudge war map, but not much else. Here's a guide to get the alien swarm hammer working with dota: https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Dota_2_Maps. I've been able to get hammer working, but I haven't finished anything yet. Also, I've screwed around with making an addon gamemode, and was able to successfully create a new item using lua from the wraith night and year beast addons as examples. It is interesting to note that in the addoninfo.txt file for all the addons there is a variable called addonContent_Campaign that has the comment "This addon provides muliple connected maps with a finale", which strongly suggests that valve is planning on adding singleplayer campaigns. As for skinning heroes, the dota 2 mod index has quite a few early and late beta skins. A good steam guide on how to use skins, custom screen backgrounds, and on how to make custom item icons can be found here http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=150826626

Something along the lines of modding / creating stuff for the steam workshop would make a great forum. :)