Any Sim Ant enthusiasts hear me out

[ProjectRender]

I have a very ambitious idea for Skyrim by implementing the essence of Sim Ant. As I said, this to me seems like quite an undertaking considering my newness to blender and the creation kit but I would just like some clarifications from experienced modders before I learn the modding process to this extent. Since I played Sim Ant as a child I have always wanted a way to play a 3-d ant/insect simulation game, and Skyrim's creation kit and dynamics coupled with blender make it the perfect way to incorporate this idea. A little advice and a few answered questions should be getting me on my way. I'll keep the requests basic for now, but I'll probably edit this post later if i can get this rolling.

 

-Is is possible to render 3-d ant characters(specialized characters such as queens/minors/majors) in blender and animate them into Skyrim, along with a few more insects?(Possibly later adding flying insects?)

-Creating certain "racial talents/requirements" per say for each type/species of ant/insect?

-Possible nesting areas (caves, abandoned houses, etc.) for the ants? (Sounds odd but I really appreciate the realism and want to make this as real-to-life as possible)

-Options to start as different species of ant from the start?

 

I'll continue to post as long as the possibility is there. Being new to this I still understand the idea of plagiarism from the game Sim Ant, but I assure you my ideas are not copying any of the qualities of the original. Seemingly just creating the ant in the virtual world of Skyrim in as much detail as possible. Any advice is appreciated, anyone wanna pm chat is more than welcome, and anyone with modding experience that may share my enthusiasm and wants to lend a hand is also more than welcome. Thanks in advance nexus!

[WorldShaperDragon]

I remember that game!

 

I think the biggest challenge would be tunneling, since the game wasn't meant to have dungeons dynamically created by the player in-game.

 

Despite the animation glitch, I think that because your animations would be for a new skeleton, they would work (or you might still have to .esm-ify your plugin)

[ProjectRender]

Thanks for he info, yea I pictured tunneling as the most intensive part. I had a few ideas of creating separate cells for the nests, but I would also settle for inhabiting a cave or old fortresses and things along those lines. I pictured you starting as a queen such as in the old Sim Ant, after picking your species (hopefully flying will be implemented by this time) you will find a suitable location to start your nest. Each queen will be fitted with stats appropriate to its species, and maybe after clearing a cave,dungeon,etc, you can settle in and start laying eggs. (Still need a mechanic for that also) You become the first born and start gathering food for the nest (wild animals, tamed animals, maybe even the citizens of Skyrim) and carrying on the basic activities as in the simulator. There would have to be a basic UI for each species, but thats for another post.

[Rennn]

Sim Ant? Now I have to look that up!

That sounds fun.

[ProjectRender]

Sim Ant? Now I have to look that up!

That sounds fun.

 

Yea, its a great simulation game being a mix of basic play and statistics. The only thing I find lacking about the game is nowhere down the ling a 3-d open world version was never introduced, hoping to change that though.

[Darksun45230]

I played Sim Ant when I was eleven.

I was eaten by a spider.

 

;D

[JanusForbeare]

Heh, I played that when I was like eight years old. Maxis was way more creative back then.

 

The GECK might be a better way to go, as ants and their animations are already built into the Fallout series. There's no reason you couldn't build the meshes, textures, and animations yourself (you're talking about a total conversion, after all, so replacing vanilla anims isn't a concern) and use the CK, but using the GECK would cut out a significant chunk of your workload.

[ProjectRender]

I played Sim Ant when I was eleven.

I was eaten by a spider.

 

;D

 

The spider was always eating something lol, i figured a few roaming spiders would also be very well accepted into the insect AI, the insect features is hopefully nearly unlimited with the available tools. Also bring in following ants that travel with you for group encounters.

Edited March 1, 2012 by ProjectRender

[ProjectRender]

Heh, I played that when I was like eight years old. Maxis was way more creative back then.

 

The GECK might be a better way to go, as ants and their animations are already built into the Fallout series. There's no reason you couldn't build the meshes, textures, and animations yourself (you're talking about a total conversion, after all, so replacing vanilla anims isn't a concern) and use the CK, but using the GECK would cut out a significant chunk of your workload.

I see, the idea kinda sparked when I witnessed trails of ants going back and forth across a road between trees in Skyrim so I was banking on a model already in use. GECK from Fo3? That would be a nice start, maybe down the line adding in concept stand-alone models and then a final model for each species/and class of ant within the nest. Very nice idea, you have no idea how much it helps a noob modder.

[JanusForbeare]

The bummer is that you won't be able to port in assets from FO3 if you plan on releasing your mod to the Skyrim-playing public. Bethesda and Obsidian. reasonably enough, doesn't want components of their titles to be accessible to people who haven't necessarily paid for the game. I didn't know there were ants in Skyrim (I don't spend much time looking at the ground), so I wasn't aware that there are resources to work with already in the game. Glad to hear you have a starting point.

 

Good luck! This will be a huge undertaking, but it will definitely put a new spin on life in Tamriel!