Empire of the Fading Suns has comparable support from Holistic Design. They've given out parts of the source code to the fans in order to allow better modifications. They even gave one guy permission to create a completely new display window that shows "EFS Version 1.5 Nova Version 2.6" Where Nova is the fan mod Version number displayed in the game. They also shared the sub routine they used to create the game maps, and are still patching the game even though it's three years old.
Blizzard also did an above average job of patching StarCraft and BroodWars to tweak playbalance between the races. Even going so far as to get input from the top tournament players about what needed fixing and how much to tweak things to get them fixed.
Now, to give credit where it's due, Aaron is much better about feedback and replying to e-mail than any other game designer I'm aware of, and he puts out patches way faster than anyone else. But there are a few companies that care enough to try.
I think more of them would be willing to if they could only get permission to engage in what their bosses will consider a non-profit activity.
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Re: Raising The Bar...
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