Soulrest: City of the Dead

[behughes]

So, the landmass creation is coming alone slowly but surely. I've gotten a handle on using TESAnnywn, though I still feel like getting the water height to be right is more-or-less just guesswork. I've decided to simplify the landmass some for now, as this process has revealed that my original concept was a bit unnatural or "geologically impossible.

While I work on that, I wanted to pose a question to anyone out there that's reading this:

Which of the following would you like to see most from a mod like Soulrest?

1.) A totally stand-alone story that takes place at the same time as Skryim (circa 4E201). The Player Character cannot go to Skyrim (without using the console).

2.) A story that is set BEFORE Skyrim and serves as a sort of "prequel", wherein the Player Character eventually leaves Black Marsh and goes to Skyrim.

 

3.) A totally stand-alone story that takes place AFTER the events of Skyrim.

 

 

In Scenario #3, the following things have happened:

 

-the dragon crisis is over, Alduin is defeated
-the civil war in Skyrim has been won by one of the two warring factions (probably the Stormcloaks, as this ending is more interesting lore-wise)
-Titus Mede is dead.
-the Psijic Order is in possession of the Eye of Magnus

 

I'm leaning towards 1 or 2. Scenario 3 presents a few challenges in terms of lore, but is interesting from a writer's point of view. Let me know what you all think!

[Floordan]

I'd say number one, it'd make it feel like "Skyrim isn't the only place where things are happening"

[Issa 5]

I vote number two, a prequel sounds like it could be really interesting. How would you handle levelling?

[behughes]

Thanks for the input guys!

Right now, I think I'm going to treat Soulrest as a stand-alone. This will give me more freedom with the story.

 

 

How would you handle levelling?

 

I've thought about this a lot. Compared to normal ES games, Soulrest will probably not be as combat-heavy. There won't be any areas that are purely hostile or purely civil. You might walk through a neighborhood and get jumped by an enemy gang, but depending on your standing with other factions, you may have to fight, or simply seek shelter in a part of town ruled by their rivals. There will probably be a greater emphasis on speech, bartering, and stealth, as well as crafting skills. I honestly have no idea how balanced this will be without tweaking the leveling/perk system (which I don't intend to do).

This could make for a really awkward prequel. For some, arriving in Skyrim as a level 15 character who has maxed out enchanting and speech but can't swing a sword to save his/her life might play weirdly. Also, I may introduce some spells/powers that are gained via consumption of Hist sap, which might overlap with "support" Thu'um abilities like Become Ethereal.

 

I have considered some options that would allow the player to visit Skyrim as a non-Dragonborn character, but for now, I'm putting that in the "maybe but probably not" pile.

[behughes]

Back again with a few updates.

 

After having many problems with my previous landmass design, I decided to scrap it for one that did not make use of such extreme elevations. I also re-oriented it so that it would better fit the area of Black Marsh in which it is meant to fit. The same districts I described in the original posts are more-or-less still included (I added a Khajiit neighborhood called New Pelletine in place of the Meric Quarter, since Soulrest is closer to Elsweyr than any Elven province, and would likely have been flooded with refugees after the Dominion took over there).

The layout looks like this:

I'm still wrestling with GeoControl to get the erosion patterns to look good, and I'm still having issues with height and scaling, but overall this design came out a lot better. I was able to get a functional landmass, which is a start.

For shits and giggles, I decided to throw together a very rough mock-up of what the poor neighborhood, "The Dregs," might look like. I mostly put it together to get a sense for the height scaling, and I doubt the final version will look anything like this. One thing I did like about this was that I could make open houses by using the "destroyed" versions of the Skyrim farmhouses. Open houses were something I wanted to play with, as I think this makes thievery a much more dynamic enterprise... but I digress.

 

To give a sense of scale, with my current landmass, the area shown here is basically the western tip of the western-most island. In my opinion, it's WAY too big, so I'll be reviewing a smaller version soon. For now, here's a peek at what I've put together.

As for how the player will reach Soulrest, until some of the more sophisticated story stuff is implimented (which I'm not even thinking about much at this stage), I will probably create a way for the player to reach Soulrest by boat from one of the major cities in Skyrim or Solstheim. That way, if quests are never implemented, the player will still be able to visit Soulrest.

One last thing... I am looking for help on this project, mostly level designers and modelers at this point, but anyone who wants to take part is welcome. If anyone is interested, shoot me a message!