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I tried to look up total conversion and other mods as examples (Counter-Strike, Defense of the Ancients, Gunman Chronicles, Dear Esther, Natural Selection) but it is a bit difficult to find out if they (and other total conversion mods) required a little or a lot of programming.

I ask this out of pure curiosity, as I have heard some people claim you can make a total conversion with absolutely no programming skills. However, this is not easy to research as google does not bring up articles mentioning how total conversion mods do/don't require programming skills.

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closed as too broad by Anko, bummzack, Trevor Powell, Josh Petrie♦ Aug 11 '14 at 15:08

There are either too many possible answers, or good answers would be too long for this format. Please add details to narrow the answer set or to isolate an issue that can be answered in a few paragraphs. If this question can be reworded to fit the rules in the help center, please edit the question.
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Whether or not total conversion mods require scripting depends on the tools used to do the conversion and this differs from project to project. I'm afraid your question can't be given a single general answer, so it's not exactly fit for this website. –  Alex M. Aug 8 '14 at 7:59

1 Answer 1

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A "total conversion" mod usually means that you are not just going to replace assets, but that you are going to change game mechanics and actor behaviors. This usually requires programming skills. What kind of skills depends on the engine.

Some engines have amazingly powerful map editors which can really do a lot (Defense of the Ancients was originally a Warcraft III custom map), but when a tool gets that powerful, using it to its full extend practically becomes programming.

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