itch.io

Hey Stodd, for making mods you don't need Visual Studio. Mods are written in Lua, so you don't need to compile or build your mod. You only need a text editor like Sublime, Notepad++ or ATOM. First of all you have to learn something how mods are working, the following links are useful:

1. Learn the structure of the Minetest engine
http://dev.minetest.net/Main_Page

2. Learn the Lua programming language
https://www.lua.org/pil/contents.html

3. Learn the Mod Lua API
http://rubenwardy.com/minetest_modding_book/

Please understand that I can't support you directly. I wish you much success making your mod.