Modding - Adding Races

So, I understand that Starbound is going to support Modding (which is just awesome IMO), and I have an idea for something that will likely not end up in the Beta, and may not end up in the game, and I thought I'd take a crack at developing it. I'm proficient in Java, but haven't had a chance to play with LUA yet, which, if I understand correctly, will be the primary language of mods.

Since my mod idea requires AI (and I would like it to involve speech as well), it seems like it would make the most sense to implement it as a "Race", or maybe as a non-randomized Mob.

My question is: Will the modding API support the creation of Races/Monsters? Will we have access to the AI, or, more generically, custom behaviors for such a Race/Monster? If so, would a mod like this use LUA, or would we have to bust out some more robust, non-scripting language (You guys are writing this in...C#? Actually, come to think of it, I have no idea what language you are using to dev the client/server)?

Thanks for the info! I'm really excited to play this game...and, oddly, am extremely excited to tear into the modding API.

 

It will be possible to add races, and according to the news posts you'll only need notepad IIRC to mod their behaviour.

Edit:

 

Ah yes, I remember this post now. To be fair, I didn't look all that closely at what was defined before. At this point, it looks like if I can manage to build the art (the hard part IMO), then this might be enough to pull off what I want to do. I'm curious about the "humanoidTiming" JSON object, because, as far as I can tell, it's the only section that isn't obvious. "items" is clear (even the part about generation, which I probably wouldn't be using anyway), the "movementControllerSettings" is pretty clear (art definitions...probably on a spritemap(?), mass, and jump speed), and "statusParameters" is pretty straightforward too (although I would like to get a look at that "/damage/damageresponse/default.config" file, and would love to know what the alternatives to "organic" are for "bodyMaterialKind").

Anyway, thanks for the info. After really looking this over, I might actually be able to set up my mod! Yay!

 

Hee hee, I wonder if Chucklefish has thought about licencing their engine commercially, it sounds pretty flexible. I'd love to see what other companies could do with it.

Like Disney's Starwarsbound. Or MiddleEarthbound

 

For reference, they're using C++.