[WIP] Shezzarine - The Fate Of Tamriel

[calfurius]

At the risk of being a negative Nancy, have you thought about down-scaling the mod? You seem to have multiple large plot threads (Empire vs Thalmor, Shezzarines, Gods, etc,.) that would honestly need a large game studio to be done well. You honestly might be better off just focusing on the Caesia character and making a scaled down quest for her. The type of questline you're proposing on doing is something that a LOT (and I mean a lot) of mod authors have tried to do before (even ones with large teams) and the vast majority of them have ended up not going anywhere and the modders involved burning out. Many of these large scale modding projects that do end up getting done tend to be of fairly low quality (Summerset Isles being a prime example). Even a mod like the Forgotten City (one of the better quest mods available) took years to make and it's far smaller and had far more people involved then what you're proposing to do.

 

You don't have all the people you need to finish this mod and honestly I think you would be better off just trying to make a good follower mod with a decent questline then trying to make what is essentially a massive expansion pack. Everybody wants to make a massive questline and story. But you need to know what you can swallow and what you can't. I mean for god's sake an Empire vs Thalmor storyline would be it's own massive undertaking by itself, but you're thinking it will be a side plot. A side plot. You don't have the resources to do what you want to do mate.

[anbeegod]

At the risk of being a negative Nancy, have you thought about down-scaling the mod? You seem to have multiple large plot threads (Empire vs Thalmor, Shezzarines, Gods, etc,.) that would honestly need a large game studio to be done well. You honestly might be better off just focusing on the Caesia character and making a scaled down quest for her. The type of questline you're proposing on doing is something that a LOT (and I mean a lot) of mod authors have tried to do before (even ones with large teams) and the vast majority of them have ended up not going anywhere and the modders involved burning out. Many of these large scale modding projects that do end up getting done tend to be of fairly low quality (Summerset Isles being a prime example). Even a mod like the Forgotten City (one of the better quest mods available) took years to make and it's far smaller and had far more people involved then what you're proposing to do.

 

You don't have all the people you need to finish this mod and honestly I think you would be better off just trying to make a good follower mod with a decent questline then trying to make what is essentially a massive expansion pack. Everybody wants to make a massive questline and story. But you need to know what you can swallow and what you can't. I mean for god's sake an Empire vs Thalmor storyline would be it's own massive undertaking by itself, but you're thinking it will be a side plot. A side plot. You don't have the resources to do what you want to do mate.

 

Which is why I will prove what we can do by releasing the prologue first.

 

Caesia is something I took only a bit of spare time to do, the effort put into her is nowhere near Shezarrine's level of commitment. (In case it's thought that it took me great effort to create Caesia as a mod) In fact, Caesia is not even the most important character in Shezarrine. All lines and the plot are finished, and I can say if we have 2 more level designers, 2 more scripters and 2 more modelers, we can release the full version before 2019. The prologue will be released to attract people who can help, because words don't speak as loudly as products. I have the concepts and experience, and I coordinate the team - I know what can possibly be done.

 

If we downscale it to a simple follower mod (which is less than what the prologue is about), at best, we make a memorable mod. If we finish it, we all get a half-ticket into gaming industry.

Edited November 7, 2017 by anbeegod

[calfurius]

I appreciate your drive man. I really do. I'm just saying keep your expectations tempered. I've seen a lot of talented mod authors get burnt out making their "magnus opus" mods and not only did they not finish their modding projects, they ended up quitting modding altogether. Even if you don't want to downsize her to a follower mod, maybe just downsizing the mod to a single mini questline (Like Forgotten City or Clockwork) could also help?

 

Also if you feel really confident about this project and if you can make a really good first part, you should try and get into contact with Bethesda about getting some funding and assistance in uploading the full version via the Creation Club. It's a long shot, but part of the reason the Creation Club was made was to help encourage higher quality modding projects.

[anbeegod]

I appreciate your drive man. I really do. I'm just saying keep your expectations tempered. I've seen a lot of talented mod authors get burnt out making their "magnus opus" mods and not only did they not finish their modding projects, they ended up quitting modding altogether. Even if you don't want to downsize her to a follower mod, maybe just downsizing the mod to a single mini questline (Like Forgotten City or Clockwork) could also help?

 

Also if you feel really confident about this project and if you can make a really good first part, you should try and get into contact with Bethesda about getting some funding and assistance in uploading the full version via the Creation Club. It's a long shot, but part of the reason the Creation Club was made was to help encourage higher quality modding projects.

 

I understand your concern, friend. Appreciate the suggestion as well :)

 

I've tried to contact Bethesda (and ZeniMax for use of ESO's music) but their only response is always "You want to get an ESO beta code? You can..." Man, I seldom play online games now.

 

The reason why I want to produce the prologue first is to prove that the final version is worth the wait because it will be real. The content's doability was examined before the design actually took place.

[KPGelebor]

I wish i could help you some how, but I'm afraid my creation kit skills aren't all there. I hope development is going well. Like the picture btw, KING OF THE NORTH!!

Edited November 8, 2017 by KPGelebor

[viltuska]

Caesia is definitely one of the best companion mods out there but I have to agree with a few other commentators that the current outline of Shezzarine feels a bit grandiose and overblown. There have been several attempts at "Destroy the Thalmor & Become the Emperor of Tamriel" mods and I feel that the premise lacks originality. I think the concrete scale of a mod doesn't always correlate with worthwhile content and actual epicness. I don't doubt your skills as writer but I get a strong feeling that you might stretch yourself a bit too thin with this one. Maybe narrowing down the mod as an extension of the College questline since Onmund is the key character anyway? You'd still get a lot of interesting material from the Ps'jic monks and Artaeum.

 

Nevertheless, I hope you luck and success whatever path you tread on and the most important thing of course is that you have fun while modding.

[anbeegod]

Caesia is definitely one of the best companion mods out there but I have to agree with a few other commentators that the current outline of Shezzarine feels a bit grandiose and overblown. There have been several attempts at "Destroy the Thalmor & Become the Emperor of Tamriel" mods and I feel that the premise lacks originality. I think the concrete scale of a mod doesn't always correlate with worthwhile content and actual epicness. I don't doubt your skills as writer but I get a strong feeling that you might stretch yourself a bit too thin with this one. Maybe narrowing down the mod as an extension of the College questline since Onmund is the key character anyway? You'd still get a lot of interesting material from the Ps'jic monks and Artaeum.

 

Nevertheless, I hope you luck and success whatever path you tread on and the most important thing of course is that you have fun while modding.

 

Thanks for the kind words. :) While the scope seems non-original, the theme and storyline are not. I did it in a way that a small team can handle yet the scope doesn't lose its greatness. Imagine it as something like Hearts of Stone of The Witcher 3, or Trespasser from Dragon Age Inquisition.

[viltuska]

Hearts of Stone is definitely a good example to aspire to storywise. And I don't doubt that there are non-cliche ways to accomplish a fate-of-the-world questline. Have you thought for example using mods like Beyond Skyrim Cyrodiil as a base master for your mod or is the environment design so far off that such a depency would be useless?

[anbeegod]

We try to not use other mods as master file (except USLEP) because that reduces the originality and might cause problems that we can't fix on our end - using a master file is unlike simply borrowing a mod's assets.

 

USLEP is used because the mod will have extensive modification on vanilla quests, so we have to ensure that it is made in a minimal-bug condition.

[anbeegod]

We are going to make our first pre-launch trailer. We welcome the help from anyone who either 1. has video editing skill, 2. has a good enough computer to shoot video clips with ENB on.

 

And of course, we still need more level designers and modelers for the second version of the mod which is after this one.