Announcing plans for downloadable content seems to be an obligatory part of the pre-release information cycle on most new games these days, and Evolve–the cooperative, monster-hunting shooter from the makers of Left 4 Dead–is no exception. Rather than unveiling specific plans for DLC that we’ll see down the line, however, developer Turtle Rock is instead talking about how the game has been designed to allow it to, well, evolve through DLC.

Speaking with Official Xbox Magazine, Turtle Rock co-founder Chris Ashton discussed the restrictions the studio was faced with when looking to add new content to Left 4 Dead. “You know, in Left 4 Dead we could make new environments, but we really didn’t have a structure there to make new characters or zombie types, so we were pretty limited on what we could do, DLC-wise,” he explained.

Turtle Rock won’t be in that position with its next game, which has been designed to allow for all sorts of new content to be released. “But with Evolve… we made these modular pieces–the way the whole game fits together means we can make new maps, new environment types, new wildlife, new monsters and hunters, and all of that stuff just plugs into the game,” he continued.

While, for many gamers, DLC has become an undesirable thing to hear about–especially before the game in question has even been released–Ashton says the community will play a role in determining how Evolve DLC is handled. “We’re definitely looking to see how the community reacts… It’s designed to have a long life–hopefully that works and we get to try a bunch of crazy things with the community after release,” he said. “As long as people are into it and the DLC does reasonably well, then we’d like to keep making more.

“At the end of the day, it’s a business and it has to make sense, but we believe that we’ve built a game that does support that really well–more so than any game ever before.”

We had already heard that one of the preorder bonuses for Evolve is an as-of-yet unannounced monster character, but now we know that Turtle Rock’s plans for DLC go far beyond that. As noted above, some gamers will likely scoff at the prospect, but, provided the pricing and schedule is right, I’m cautiously optimistic about the game expanding over time.

Evolve recently won the top prize from the E3 Game Critics Awards, and publisher 2K has promised it will prove to be the “defining” game of the year on Xbox One and PS4. It’s slated for release on both of those platforms in addition to PC (where alpha test sign-ups recently began) on October 21. When DLC does begin to arrive, it’ll be available first on Xbox One.

Does this DLC news have any effect on your interest in the game? Let us know in the comments.