Roadmap

Where Side Hustle is and where it is going. Items below “Planned” are intentions, not promises.

Shipped - 2.4.0

Your mods can wait for a lobby instead of loading at startup, so joining somebody’s session stops meaning quit first. Switch it on with DeferModsUntilLobby, and name what has to be there regardless - a bridge, an overlay, a profiler - with AlwaysLoadMods.
Joining a synced lobby skips the restart. The host’s mods load out of the package cache while you stay on the screen you were on. A mod already running at a different version than the session wants still costs one restart, and the log names the mod and both versions.
The gamemode list shows installed gamemodes that have not loaded yet, with the name, version and author their own file declares. One click loads and starts it.

A Lobby app on your phone changes what used to need a new session: name, join password, public or friends only, seats, mod requirement, publishing. Host only, and it applies to the next person who joins.
Chat before you join. Lobby cards get a Chat button next to Join, and the join screens carry that conversation down the right, so a mod you cannot download becomes a question instead of a dead end. Switch yours off with AcceptStrangerMessages, mute one person from the app, or hide the column with JoinChatPanel.
A status column in the main menu: sessions listed, how many take players, the mod profile you booted into, and whether anyone messaged you. Switch it off with MenuStatePanel.
Lobby cards say which branch the host plays on, IL2CPP in green or Mono in red. The two cannot play together, and nothing on the card used to tell you before you tried.

The messenger left home. Lobby chat was a phone app Side Hustle carried itself; it is a separate mod now, and 1270 lines of transport, store, contacts and screens left with it.

Join a gamemode you do not have installed. A public gamemode lobby advertises the exact mod files a joiner needs, and Side Hustle fetches them from Thunderstore’s official CDN or the mod’s own GitHub releases. For anything that still needs a browser (Nexus), the checklist opens the mod’s own page and picks the file up from your downloads folder.
Mod Profiles - an in-game mod manager. Keep separate mod sets and switch between them from the main menu, without touching what your real mod manager sees.
Vanilla co-op with mod sync. Host your normal savegame as a public lobby and everyone who joins gets your mod set. Optionally your mod settings as well, per mod, your choice.
Gamemode sessions list themselves on the public lobby list, and a gamemode can declare a DownloadUrl for players who do not have it.

Discover what’s being played. The menu also lists gamemodes you don’t have installed that have live public lobbies right now, with a “Download Mod” button (opened in the Steam overlay). Toggleable, and gamemode authors can opt out (Advertise = false) so a work-in-progress mode stays hidden.

Custom display name. Each gamemode’s Host / Join screen has a “Your name” field. Set one and other players see that name (nametag, scoreboard, server browser) instead of your Steam name, for that session only. Stored per gamemode and never saved.

Bigger lobbies, built in. Side Hustle raises the co-op player cap past the vanilla 4 on its own (default up to 32), with the host player-count slider opening to match - no separate lobby mod needed.

Conflict-free mod sets. A gamemode can declare which other mods it works with (ModPolicy with AllowedMods / RequiredMods). Side Hustle launches it in a temporary, isolated profile that loads only those mods - after a confirmation listing exactly what changes - and switches back to your full set when you leave. Your installed mods are never disabled, renamed or moved, so your mod manager stays in sync and a normal launch always loads everything. The relaunch, in and out, is automatic.

Multiplayer launch. Multiplayer and Hybrid gamemodes show a Singleplayer / Host / Join choice, rendered in the native menu style. Hosting opens a public lobby with a player-count picker.
Public server browser. Find and join open sessions, filtered by gamemode id so each gamemode only lists its own lobbies. Bigger lobbies (past the vanilla 4) are built in as of 1.6.0.
World gamemodes. For GamemodeSurface.World gamemodes, Side Hustle boots a throwaway session outside your save slots so a gamemode can use the actual game world without touching a real save.
Richer launch context. Gamemodes receive the host/client role, lobby id, player count, host name and the host’s settings.
List polish. A Singleplayer / Multiplayer / SP + MP badge per gamemode, optional per-gamemode icons, and a recently-played ordering.

Main-menu hub. A single “Side Hustle” entry lists every installed gamemode mod (name, description, author) and launches the selected one.
No savegame. Gamemodes run in their own self-contained session and never load or alter your saves.
Singleplayer launch + clean return. OnLaunchSingleplayer starts a mode; LaunchContext.ReturnToHub brings the player back to the menu.
Public, load-order-independent API. SideHustle.API.Register(GamemodeDescriptor) works whether your mod loads before or after the hub.
Hide toggle. Turn the menu entry off without uninstalling.

Got a request? 🛟 support.doodesch.de.