How solidified are the plans for the mod tools? Are they primarily aesthetic items & stats or is there a scripting component? Will they be released in a beta stage in tandem with the game beta or are they something not undergoing full development until the game is more finalized?
Forgive my many questions, I tend to geek out over user-generated content possibilities (hell, I am just wrapping up my design MFA thesis primarily on the subject). 
As a modder, you will have access to the same APIs we’re using to
write the game. We are literally writing the game as a collection of
first-party mods. So, with very few exceptions, if the game does it,
you can mod it!
That quote is taken from the About page. They said the game is made with Lua, so that’s probably what we can use to mod it.
Wow, so many questions in 1…
How solidified are the plans for the mod tools?
Pretty solid, but the proof is in the pudding. We want to have the mod tools and APIs available in the beta so people can try them out and let us know what’s missing.
Are they primarily aesthetic items & stats or is there a scripting component?
There’s definitely scripting. We’re trying to build as many gameplay systems as possible using our own modding tools. Ideally, anything you see in the game you can replicate and put your own twist on using the modding tools. So you can add your own item, give it a cool animation, and make it do something unique with scripts. Want a pair of magic boots that make your worker run 3x as fast? No problem!
Will they be released in a beta stage in tandem with the game beta or are they something not undergoing full development until the game is more finalized?
On the contrary. We can’t actually develop the game until the modding framework is in place, since we’re building most of the game as a collection of mods. We want the framework to be available in the beta.
Thanks for the great question! Let me know if you have more.
Thanks for the reply!
If it’s Lua I am soooooo game to start modding when this comes out. I’ve been scripting Lua for 5 years now and have been waiting for something new to use it for.
Most of this flew over my head… will I need a degree in computer science to make my own encounters, creatures, etc?
Subquestion: Will there be unique items in the game? For example: Excalibur or Muramasa?
You’d need a basic understanding of scripting, I don’t think a degree in computer science is exactly required.
Lua is honestly a rather easy scripting language, I’ve been doing it for 5+ years. If you want to learn Lua well, go to dev-hq and take the tutorial.
Huh… never heard of Lua before, I guess the things to beware of include:
Checking variable type
Making sure function/variable names don’t overlap due to global scope
Any other really big gotchas from someone coming from a C/Python background?
Honestly not much, I do HTML CSS Java C Lua and a few others, and honestly I think it’s easier than python, it’s the inbred redheaded step child of C and Java without all the semi colons.
Could we get the dimensions, or even a template :D, of a settler? And maybe other animals?
That way I and many others could create our own settlers already, without them being off in size :D.
Thanks for reading.
I’ll talk it over with the team to figure out the best timing for something like this. We don’t want to release anything that we know will be changing before release, which might invalidate a bunch of the communities work. For example, if we changed the offset of the arms a bit after we released the temp,ate to you guys, all your mods might have people who flail them around wildly want they ran. Not a good look…
This is also something we might want to try out with the beta backers before making them generally available. Thanks!
Ponder ; Will we be able to do everything required using the Qubicle Basic Edition?
Ok thanks 
I’ll work on some other models that aren’t as size-dependant then.
Looked on the next page and found the answer ! Derp 