Mod me up! Isaac: Afterbirth+ and Antibirth future plans

The first of the promised official mod packs for the new The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth+ [official site] expansion should arrive in March. The developers have blig-blogged about how they'll go about rolling player-made mods into official updates and yup, we can expect them to arrive by the end of each month from March onwards.

In other mod news, the makers of the amazing mod Antibirth [official site] for plain ole Isaac: Rebirth are still fixing bugs and have smashing plans to expand and renovate bits they didn't have time to finish properly.

First, Afterbirth+. Tyrone Rodriguez of Nicalis explained last night that mod "booster packs" will take a while to start rolling, as he broke the process down. So! Tyrone, Edmund McMillen, and the rest of the gang will look over the new mods uploaded to the Isaac Steam Workshop each month as they roll in. That takes them to the end of the month. Then, it'll take maybe two weeks to settle on what they'll accept. After that, they have to actually implement mods, then test them, then... basically, mods released in January will arrive by the end of March, and that two-month lead time will continue.

Nicalis are working on improving the mod tools too, making them deeper. I've not tried any mods yet, still working on my unlocks, but I am impressed by some of the cool-looking things players have already made.

As for Antibirth, a new dev blog post explains plans for the near and distant future.

A new update is expected at the end of this week, packing bug fixes, balance tweaks, and an auto-updater. After that, lead developer '_Kilburn' explains:

"Once most of the major issues are addressed, we will be doing some more content updates, mainly featuring the five missing challenges, a few items we had to cut due to time constraints, some cut enemies and who knows… maybe an extra boss? I also consider the final area largely unfinished and in dire need of rebalancing, so expect some major revamping there within the next few months."

They're also thinking about giving Antibirth official mod support. Bringing Antibirth from Isaac: Rebirth to Isaac: Afterbirth+ is still planned too, letting Antibirth play with all the new toys and tricks added with Afterbirth and Afterbirth+. I'm quite excited for that myself, as playing both Antibirth and Afterbirth+ can get confusing. I still expect to get transformations that don't exist, count on item combos not yet added, plan for items and bosses I'll never see... my brain divides this information poorly.

If you've not played Antibirth yet, I do hugely recommend it. It doesn't mesh perfectly with Isaac for me, definitely made by different designers, but it is cracking in itself and a huge accomplishment. It feels far bigger and more transformative than any official Isaac expansion. It's free and all. Go on, then.