How would you expand the cities of Skyrim?

[huntsman2310]

So heres my idea about Winterhold.

 

http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/9541/27121101.th.jpg

[horrorview]

Rather than make them larger, how about just giving us more of a reason to hang around a city. Give me more things to do, things to watch, events to attend. How about some concerts at the Bard's College? Maybe some short "plays" in the city center, or a traveling carnival (like the one in WOW, but not quite as lame). Add some culture to the places so we can spend our downtime doing something else besides sleeping. Talented modders can do these things, I'm sure, and, judging by what I've seen on here, there's no shortage of them! It'd be great to tie in some quests to these, as well, along the lines of the College Quests, but with objectives like "The lead actress in the play has been kidnapped" etc.

 

 

I'd also like some more "off the beaten path" establishments, like "dive bars" similar to the one in Windhelm but more fleshed out. Imagine a rowdy, dimly lit tavern filled with unsavory NPC's hanging about, drinkin', fightin', and whorin'. Mod in a variety of mini-games (ala Fallout 3 or The Witcher) to play with the patrons. Card games, dice games, darts, arm-wrestling, bare knuckle boxing, drinking contests. You know, fun stuff that happens in dive bars! Give us some ways to spend our gold in the cities beyond buying weapons and potions. Add some good and easily implemented Poker style games. I know I gambled like crazy in Fallout 3, and, if we take a page from The Witcher games, quests can come of that, as well, where you have to work your way up to face better competition scattered around Skyrim, or have to fend off debtors or folks you fleeced.

 

Obviously, the more up-scale cities like Winterhold and Solitude wouldn't tolerate any sort of establishments like that, but how about a dive bar outside of the gates, a little ways down from the Stables? Maybe a sort of "speakeasy" type of place down by the Solitude and Windhelm docks? Brothels near Dawnstar and Falkreath? And, while on the subject of brothels, why not inject a little adult material into the game. I know there are folks who are against it, but I like mature themes in my RPG-style games as, to me, it adds to the immersion level. Let players visit brothels, pay for the services of a woman (or man), and occasionally deal with the fallout from said liaison, whether it be an angry spouse or a brothel that's actually a front for a coven of vampiresses. I'm not saying we have to actually SEE anything, obviously (save for the occasional nudie bits), but, rather, suggest the act. And, once again, it gives us something to spend our gold on once we're up to 300,000 pieces like I am! :P

 

Another way to expand some of the cities would be to add an underground level to them, ala Riften. A sort of Ratway, but with merchants and taverns, some hole in the wall housing, and a variety of various scum and villainy living beneath the cities. Wouldn't work for most of Solitude, seeing as how it's perched above the sea, but it could be implemented in Windhelm and Whiterun.

 

I'm all for increasing the size of the cities so long as that size is put to good use, but if it's just a matter of throwing in a bunch of empty farmhouses or a few more NPC's to steal trinkets from, it's a bit of a waste, no?

Edited December 27, 2011 by horrorview

[AtlasS]

Rather than make them larger, how about just giving us more of a reason to hang around a city. Give me more things to do, things to watch, events to attend. How about some concerts at the Bard's College? Maybe some short "plays" in the city center, or a traveling carnival (like the one in WOW, but not quite as lame). Add some culture to the places so we can spend our downtime doing something else besides sleeping. Talented modders can do these things, I'm sure, and, judging by what I've seen on here, there's no shortage of them! It'd be great to tie in some quests to these, as well, along the lines of the College Quests, but with objectives like "The lead actress in the play has been kidnapped" etc.

 

 

I'd also like some more "off the beaten path" establishments, like "dive bars" similar to the one in Windhelm but more fleshed out. Imagine a rowdy, dimly lit tavern filled with unsavory NPC's hanging about, drinkin', fightin', and whorin'. Mod in a variety of mini-games (ala Fallout 3 or The Witcher) to play with the patrons. Card games, dice games, darts, arm-wrestling, bare knuckle boxing, drinking contests. You know, fun stuff that happens in dive bars! Give us some ways to spend our gold in the cities beyond buying weapons and potions. Add some good and easily implemented Poker style games. I know I gambled like crazy in Fallout 3, and, if we take a page from The Witcher games, quests can come of that, as well, where you have to work your way up to face better competition scattered around Skyrim, or have to fend off debtors or folks you fleeced.

 

Obviously, the more up-scale cities like Winterhold and Solitude wouldn't tolerate any sort of establishments like that, but how about a dive bar outside of the gates, a little ways down from the Stables? Maybe a sort of "speakeasy" type of place down by the Solitude and Windhelm docks? Brothels near Dawnstar and Falkreath? And, while on the subject of brothels, why not inject a little adult material into the game. I know there are folks who are against it, but I like mature themes in my RPG-style games as, to me, it adds to the immersion level. Let players visit brothels, pay for the services of a woman (or man), and occasionally deal with the fallout from said liaison, whether it be an angry spouse or a brothel that's actually a front for a coven of vampiresses. I'm not saying we have to actually SEE anything, obviously (save for the occasional nudie bits), but, rather, suggest the act. And, once again, it gives us something to spend our gold on once we're up to 300,000 pieces like I am! :P

 

Another way to expand some of the cities would be to add an underground level to them, ala Riften. A sort of Ratway, but with merchants and taverns, some hole in the wall housing, and a variety of various scum and villainy living beneath the cities. Wouldn't work for most of Solitude, seeing as how it's perched above the sea, but it could be implemented in Windhelm and Whiterun.

 

I'm all for increasing the size of the cities so long as that size is put to good use, but if it's just a matter of throwing in a bunch of empty farmhouses or a few more NPC's to steal trinkets from, it's a bit of a waste, no?

+6 for:

Awesome Idea(+1)

Well defined(+2)

Immersion enforcing(+5)

Extremely difficult and would be a huge undertaking(-2)

[horrorview]

Rather than make them larger, how about just giving us more of a reason to hang around a city. Give me more things to do, things to watch, events to attend. How about some concerts at the Bard's College? Maybe some short "plays" in the city center, or a traveling carnival (like the one in WOW, but not quite as lame). Add some culture to the places so we can spend our downtime doing something else besides sleeping. Talented modders can do these things, I'm sure, and, judging by what I've seen on here, there's no shortage of them! It'd be great to tie in some quests to these, as well, along the lines of the College Quests, but with objectives like "The lead actress in the play has been kidnapped" etc.

 

 

I'd also like some more "off the beaten path" establishments, like "dive bars" similar to the one in Windhelm but more fleshed out. Imagine a rowdy, dimly lit tavern filled with unsavory NPC's hanging about, drinkin', fightin', and whorin'. Mod in a variety of mini-games (ala Fallout 3 or The Witcher) to play with the patrons. Card games, dice games, darts, arm-wrestling, bare knuckle boxing, drinking contests. You know, fun stuff that happens in dive bars! Give us some ways to spend our gold in the cities beyond buying weapons and potions. Add some good and easily implemented Poker style games. I know I gambled like crazy in Fallout 3, and, if we take a page from The Witcher games, quests can come of that, as well, where you have to work your way up to face better competition scattered around Skyrim, or have to fend off debtors or folks you fleeced.

 

Obviously, the more up-scale cities like Winterhold and Solitude wouldn't tolerate any sort of establishments like that, but how about a dive bar outside of the gates, a little ways down from the Stables? Maybe a sort of "speakeasy" type of place down by the Solitude and Windhelm docks? Brothels near Dawnstar and Falkreath? And, while on the subject of brothels, why not inject a little adult material into the game. I know there are folks who are against it, but I like mature themes in my RPG-style games as, to me, it adds to the immersion level. Let players visit brothels, pay for the services of a woman (or man), and occasionally deal with the fallout from said liaison, whether it be an angry spouse or a brothel that's actually a front for a coven of vampiresses. I'm not saying we have to actually SEE anything, obviously (save for the occasional nudie bits), but, rather, suggest the act. And, once again, it gives us something to spend our gold on once we're up to 300,000 pieces like I am! :P

 

Another way to expand some of the cities would be to add an underground level to them, ala Riften. A sort of Ratway, but with merchants and taverns, some hole in the wall housing, and a variety of various scum and villainy living beneath the cities. Wouldn't work for most of Solitude, seeing as how it's perched above the sea, but it could be implemented in Windhelm and Whiterun.

 

I'm all for increasing the size of the cities so long as that size is put to good use, but if it's just a matter of throwing in a bunch of empty farmhouses or a few more NPC's to steal trinkets from, it's a bit of a waste, no?

+6 for:

Awesome Idea(+1)

Well defined(+2)

Immersion enforcing(+5)

Extremely difficult and would be a huge undertaking(-2)

 

LOL! Yeah, maybe all of that would be a little on the difficult side to implement. I'm a writer and graphic artist, but I don't know the first thing about modding (although I've just started dabbling in retexturing, which is quite fun!), so I guess I just sort of shot for the moon with those suggestions/ideas. I just see how they're already implemented in games like Fallout 3, so I wonder if there's some way of copying that without violating any of Bethesda's rules about porting over code/elements from other games. I wish I had the head for programming! I'd love to be able to contribute to this awesome community and game. Sadly, I'm 42 and I think my brain is "full". :wallbash:

[BadMaker]

LOL! Yeah, maybe all of that would be a little on the difficult side to implement. I'm a writer and graphic artist, but I don't know the first thing about modding (although I've just started dabbling in retexturing, which is quite fun!), so I guess I just sort of shot for the moon with those suggestions/ideas. I just see how they're already implemented in games like Fallout 3, so I wonder if there's some way of copying that without violating any of Bethesda's rules about porting over code/elements from other games. I wish I had the head for programming! I'd love to be able to contribute to this awesome community and game. Sadly, I'm 42 and I think my brain is "full". :wallbash:

 

Meh, the whole "you can only learn when you are young" thing is somewhat true, but a little over-blown. As with learning anything, you just need to make the time commitment and make babysteps. When the mod tools come out next month (hopefully!), I would just fiddle around with it for a while.

 

Anywho, I like where your idea of making cities deeper is going. When I go to solitude, I immediately notice some places that are boring, empty or just need something more. For instance, there are some market stalls just past the first few buildings inside the city, but they seem boring and alone. A market is supposed to be a lively, colorful place. Lets add a music player that takes tips, a few more specialized stalls and perhaps a small side alley with a fence for thieves.

 

On the subject of adult material, its not terribly hard to make mods modular. I love adult material, but would make it an optional component, or possibly something that needs to be downloaded separately and uses the main city file as a base.

[somnyus]

Dawnstar: player house

Falkreath: player house

Morthal: player house

Winterhold: player house

 

Going to do just that :biggrin:

Have a [WIP] thread at Skyrim Real Estate if you're interested! I might copy it here too.

Also, I'm planning to add several more shops to the minor cities. Should go well with the above mod. If I'm going to live there I want to at least be able to go to the grocery store :tongue:

 

Some great ideas here. Wouldn't actually be bad to make the minor cities stand out a bit more. Especially Dawnstar!

[AtlasS]

 

Going to do just that :biggrin:

Have a [WIP] thread at Skyrim Real Estate if you're interested! I might copy it here too.

Also, I'm planning to add several more shops to the minor cities. Should go well with the above mod. If I'm going to live there I want to at least be able to go to the grocery store :tongue:

 

Some great ideas here. Wouldn't actually be bad to make the minor cities stand out a bit more. Especially Dawnstar!

epic man! :D registering on the site now to take a look around

[horrorview]

LOL! Yeah, maybe all of that would be a little on the difficult side to implement. I'm a writer and graphic artist, but I don't know the first thing about modding (although I've just started dabbling in retexturing, which is quite fun!), so I guess I just sort of shot for the moon with those suggestions/ideas. I just see how they're already implemented in games like Fallout 3, so I wonder if there's some way of copying that without violating any of Bethesda's rules about porting over code/elements from other games. I wish I had the head for programming! I'd love to be able to contribute to this awesome community and game. Sadly, I'm 42 and I think my brain is "full". :wallbash:

 

Meh, the whole "you can only learn when you are young" thing is somewhat true, but a little over-blown. As with learning anything, you just need to make the time commitment and make babysteps. When the mod tools come out next month (hopefully!), I would just fiddle around with it for a while.

 

Anywho, I like where your idea of making cities deeper is going. When I go to solitude, I immediately notice some places that are boring, empty or just need something more. For instance, there are some market stalls just past the first few buildings inside the city, but they seem boring and alone. A market is supposed to be a lively, colorful place. Lets add a music player that takes tips, a few more specialized stalls and perhaps a small side alley with a fence for thieves.

 

On the subject of adult material, its not terribly hard to make mods modular. I love adult material, but would make it an optional component, or possibly something that needs to be downloaded separately and uses the main city file as a base.

 

Cheers, man! I think I will give the CK a whirl, just to see if I can get my head around it. I've never had much luck with the 3-D modeling stuff (save for Poser, which I occasionally have to use to create bodies for comp work I do), so I don't know how much I can really achieve, but nothing ventured, nothing gained!

 

Yes, I agree wholeheartedly about the markets. They're so lifeless! Three little kiosks with a drunk and a guard just standing around doing nothing. I know it may mean a performance hit, but how about adding some bustle to these places!? There's a post above me that mentions a grocery store. That's a really good idea, as would be some sort of dining establishment; maybe an outdoor area with tables and the like, with a bunch of folk just gathered around eating, drinking spiced wine, and watching the street performer you mentioned!

 

I'd also like to see some more ethnic "neighborhoods", like the Dark Elf district in Windhelm. Imagine a Redguard neighborhood in Morthal, or an Argonian neighborhood in (a slightly bigger) Riften, replete with outdoor market, banners, and designs (and maybe a small piece of architecture, like a restaurant or store) reflecting their heritage.

 

Like other folks have said on these forums, however, 'anyone can have ideas", To actually incorporate them....well....that's another thing entirely! :biggrin:

[runicNomad]

I would love to see these cities grow over time based on triggers or quests. obviously a ck thing... I would dig this kind of interactivity

[Dagstyggr]

It would be nice if you could become the Jarl of one of these cities or found your own city based on a quest. Perhaps reclaiming an underground city; plenty of Dwemer stuff for that alone.

 

Then, you could perhaps encourage people to come live there by offering them better lives - all quests done features. Perhaps have a huge underground city exclusively rich on mining, the cash would attract people that way.

 

You could make a Blackreach colonization quest & have the option to broker some sort of peace with the Falmer. Or, you could enslave them to mine for you. You could use some magically repaired automatons from the Dwemer to act as city guards. All those alone should make for a huge amount of quests.

 

Went a bit off topic there, but if I don't have the authority over a city I don't feel invested into expanding it. It should also cost a lot of gold, and in return, make you a lot of gold.

Edited December 29, 2011 by Dagstyggr