Daemonion

Thanks for the responses, everybody. It was helpful for me to read all of that. I'm going to start working on what I can while I'm waiting for the writer to get back to me.

Ah, that makes sense. New talent would need to see some work/progress before signing on. So far, everyone who has (though they are quite talented) are friends of mine from my personal life, so they just take my word for it since we have an established relationship. This would be my first forray into an online community to gather talent, and thus that history is not there. Makes sense. I will be sure to get a ModDB page up and running when I have more content so I can link to it for you and other talent :) Would you like me to keep you in the loop, Ghogiel? [EDIT] About being project lead ...I agree with the sentiment of dedication, and have every intention of fulfilling that role. However, I interpret "willing to do all aspects required to complete by themselves" as taking on say, some of the texture or animation work if needed. I don't agree with that principle, if that is what you meant. To elaborate, I feel it would be a waste of my time (and to the detriment of the overall quality of the mod) if I decided to pick up, say, texturing an item myself. I don't have the software, technical skill, or vocabulary to complete or even ask for help on a task in that realm. I feel it would be best for me to spend my energy instead on what I know and am good at, as well as searching for and bringing people on board who could lend their expertise when needed. If everyone was totally stumped, I would do what I could to find a solution, even if that comes in the form of bringing on a specialist with more experience.

Appreciate the responses and the advice. I have success with planning what I can in advance, and this early post is my attempt to honor that process. I'm hoping to collect a roster of talent to contribute as needed, and to get going right when the SDK is released. Is this not normal methodology in the modding world? I can't really create anything until a strong draft of the script and story are in place, as this will be the foundation for the mod. The script will dictate the characters and thus the voice acting I'll need to record (I mostly work with music and audio), if any special items needs to be modeled/textured, if there need to be any special animations, if any locations (homes, dungeons, etc) need to be created, and if anything needs to be scripted (coded). In other words, I want to structure what I can before work begins, so I can create and lead a team more efficiently (though I know I will at least need a texturer, modeler, coder, and some male and female voice actors). On the team front, I'm waiting to hear back from an animator who has worked on a handful of motion pictures (good friend of mine), and the candidate for the lead writer (again, a good friend of mine) who is based out of LA right now. I have about half-a-dozen semi-pro voice actors close to me (so they can use my equipment to record) and a story board artist who are all willing to volunteer their time. What I'm most anxious for at this point is someone who has some experience writing scripts/screen plays, honestly. I'm still looking through some Nordic lore for inspiration, but could definately use some creative help on that front, as I'm no writer. I can always be reached via PM if you guys have some questions or comments, and I'm open to whatever advice you'd care to share.

I have hopes to create, in short, a detailed quest/story mod for Skyrim once the SDK comes out, perhaps in the style of classical Viking lore. I'd like to guage any community interest, as I would need to put a team together to accomplish this. My goal is for the team and myself to create something that is short (to keep things manageable; this will not be an overhaul), but of considerable quality. I would handle project oversight as well as audio engineering (dialogue recording and editing, foley, music, etc), but would need help from those skilled in other areas, including script/dialogue/story writers, modelers, texture artists and programmers, to name a few. If anyone is curious for more information, or would otherwise like to express interest, I can contanct individuals as the situation develops (as it is still quite early). Please drop me a PM if you think you'd like to be a part of this project. At this point, nothing is really set in stone, so please feel free. [edit] Changed description in OP.

I dislike the new layout. It is too bright and cartoony. At least with the layout now, the color scheme is a lot easier on the eyes, more professional looking, and has a logo which shows a TESIV pic. That new stuff just looks like megaupload, or something.

Is Oblivion the game you were hoping for? I had never played any of the other ES games. So I only expected what I saw in the trailers, which was a huge world and pretty graphics. Do you enjoy playing it? Vanilla was fun until I knew better. After playing the game for around 100 hours, I saw every flaw in the game ...they made me realize how unfinished vanilla really was. It wasn't until I modded the living crap out of TES IV that many of the flaws were fixed. To Bethesda and possibly 90% of all commercial companies: STOP RELEASING UNFINISHED PRODUCTS. MAKE QA TESTING MUCH, MUCH LONGER. If you were lead developer of Bethesda, what specific, major changes would you make to the game that you think would improve it? Give the game a damn soul, as it lacks one. They dumbed down their potentially awesome AI to the point where each NPC was a clone of only five personalities. RANDOM AI OCCURRENCES (I'm not making enough money with my vineyard ...should I try harder or steal?) INCREASE RE-PLAYABILITY. REAL CONSEQUENCES. NO HAND-HOLDING. MORE DIVERSE ITEM AND SKILL-SET (unique items, anyone?)