[WIP] True Lichdom - Nexus Thread # 1

[oblivionhot]

he logged in on the 18th of november :D

[necromacer7]

I hope this mod is still being worked on. Love the idea. Hope i can be a lich soon

[delfofthebla]

Guess it's about time I stop putting this off. Prepare for a giant wall of text.

 

A couple months before Skyrim released, I decided to try and play through Morrowind again. I've done this countless times but for some reason I'm never able to finish the damn thing. Anyways, this time around I went with a heavily modded version, and while I was searching for mods, I stumbled upon this mod developed by VenomByte; entitled, lichcraft. This mod allowed the player to permanently transform himself into a Lich. I played through the game and while I expected the mod to be somewhat interesting, I really didn't know what I was in for. This man...was a genius. It added more than I could possibly imagine, and forced me to play the game in a whole new way. Certainly it was filled with many bugs and wonky features that didn't really fit, but the mod as a whole was amazing. The concept of being able to play as a Lich created this amazing level of immersion and excitement for me, and while I, yet again, was unable to finish playing through the game--I had a killer time. I wanted to re-create that experience in Skyrim.

 

After Skyrim was released and I had a chance to play it, I was dead set on the idea of creating a Lichdom mod similar to Lichcraft. Something that would allow me to play as my ideal vision of a Lich. Shortly afterwards I played the Illuminated Order mod. This didn't give quite the same "Lich" experience as Lichcraft, but it was still amazing. Hell, it was more amazing in many ways due to the story and lore that was provided within it.

 

I was now set on combining the two. I wanted to merge Lichcraft with Illuminated Order, and I wanted to do it in Skyrim, with my own power. Oh what an overly ambitious desire that was.

 

But I knew it was ambitious. The scope was much more than I had the power to create, and I knew this well. So I sought help. Coincidentally, my old modding buddy from the Oblivion days (Malevolent) was at it again, and this time, he had a team. The team was going to create numerous Skyrim mods, and they had all the skills to do it. I was...excited.

 

However, shortly after joining the team and getting acquainted with everyone's skills and ideas, things immediately started to go south. We lost members like wildfire, until it was just me and Malevolent left. Even still, I had hope. We posted up some recruitment posts, and just kept working. I programmed and programmed, and programmed some more. I tediously created numerous abilities and spells, and I playtested them until I felt they were perfect. I woke up and I immediately would start working--I wouldn't stop unless it was to eat or use the restroom. I'd go to sleep, and lay in my bed thinking of what I would do tomorrow, and how I would do it. I had stopped talking with my friends so much, and I had stopped playing games. Looking back, I don't know how it ended up that way. I was just...overflowing with passion and inspiration, I guess.

 

I'm not sure when it started, but somewhere during the development process, I had decided that my work, as far as programming goes, was complete enough that I didn't need to focus on it that much anymore. We needed a story, and we needed a good one. But we also needed somebody that could create the world for that story. I actively started seeking new members for the team. I'd send countless private messages to dungeon designers and writers, attempting to fill the skills that we ourselves lacked. Occasionally I'd find someone willing, and I'd be filled with joy. "Yes! Finally, we can start moving forward." Unfortunately, most new members lacked the skills to really create what I was looking for, and most took off before accomplishing anything major. It was at this point, that my position as a programmer turned into one of a manager.

 

Every day was filled with writing forum posts, talking to potential new members, or trying to discuss the direction of the mod with new ones. I started writing more actual words than code, and it was really starting to wear on me. The situation with our new writer was a particularly troublesome one. Not that he was a bad guy or anything, it's just that our vision's did not coincide with each other, and our conversations typically consisted of several paragraphs-worth of disagreements and debating. Even still, he was one of the few that actually gave me some hope towards the mod. We were making progress, however minute it was.

 

This project officially started in February, and I continued to work on it until about the middle of May. It was about this time that I started to become rather stressed. I was cracking under the pressure. I couldn't find the people we needed, and the people that we found required more attention than I would have liked. (With the exception of BartokTB. That man was a godsend.) So I decided to take a break, and I went to go play Diablo 3 with my friends. This was when it all came crashing down.

 

As much as I look back on Diablo 3 as a terrible game that nobody should play, I did manage to find it enjoyable for a while. I..had fun. Something that I hadn't done in 3-4 months. My motivation completely disappeared at this point. I no longer had the passion, the inspiration, or the drive the complete the mod. I was sick of looking for new members, sick of recruiting members that would leave after a day, and I was sick of the countless limitations that the Creation Kit contained. The work kept piling up in areas it shouldn't have. Simple model related tasks were suddenly going to take weeks to a month. It was infuriating, I was fed up with it all, and now, so was Malevolent.

 

Shortly after, my writer informs me that he was taking off the month of June to work on another project. Which, seemed odd to me, but I really couldn't bring myself to fight it, and I let him have his month.

 

With my supposed dream-team crumbling into pieces, my writer taking a sudden hiatus when I needed him most, and Malevolent losing all motivation to continue on work he wasn't even sure he could do, I was disheartened to say the least. I still had hope though. If I could find another 3D artist...if I could just hold out for my writer. If I could just...find a dungeon designer. The mod could be completed. It could still be done! I could still finish this god damn mod! Unfortunately, reality wasn't so kind. The writer disappeared on me, I still couldn't find anyone else, and a month later, during a reformat, I forgot to backup my Skyrim directory. At that point, the last month and a half of work was completely lost. It wasn't an excessive amount of work, but it was enough to deal the final blow. I lost all motivation at this point, and haven't worked on the mod since.

 

I'm a college student that currently lives with his parents. It's due to this that I was able to devote so much effort towards the mod, and anything else really. I've had an excessive amount of spare time at my disposal. Unfortunately, that time is running out. I'll be graduating soon, and my time is mostly being consumed by preparing for my senior project, and trying to find a job. I'd be lying if I said I don't have "any" spare time, but the fact of the matter is, it's much lower than it used to be, and I just don't have the drive anymore. To all of you who have been waiting desperately for an update or release, I am sorry. I've raised your hopes and then dashed them into pieces. Maybe someday I'll get crazy motivated and start working on this again, but that's...unlikely. At the very least, it won't happen any time soon. I'm not in a position in my life to where I want to stress over this mod. I'd rather focus on my graduation and job hunting without worrying if I'll ever find someone to fill that [one] spot that the mod needs to make progress.

 

Thanks everyone for your support during the mod's development. Whether it was actual contributions, feature ideas, or just moral support, I thank you. Between the nexus forums and the Bethesda forums, I have received a countless amount of suggestions, ideas, and praise during the development of the mod. And BartokTB, man I don't know what I would have done without you. I doubt I would have even made it through half of the bulls*** I went through if it wasn't for all the people that were interested in the mod. So once again, I am sorry for being unable to finish the final product.

Edited November 23, 2012 by delfofthebla

[TheUninvitedGuest]

Would you be open to putting the mod "up for adoption" as it were ? I would understand if you weren't, as it would be harder still to see something you were so passionate about completed in a fashion that you felt didn't do the idea justice, but it is an idea.

[Deleted1308005User]

Aye, real life before modding, that's the thing I say to myself even if my just-released mod is buggy as ****.

 

People should understand how you feel, or at least that you aren't going to complete it in 2 hours just to make them happy.

 

I appreciate really much that you posted that comment, clarifies a lot, and eases the pain people felt because of no info.

 

I hope you are able to do your real life things, and maybe after some time return to this mod, but I know it takes time, and others should realize it too.

Real life can become more complicated easily, and you don't want to spend all your free time to make others happy.

 

Shoulder pat to you, Sir! I wish you luck on your journey! :)

[delfofthebla]

Would you be open to putting the mod "up for adoption" as it were ? I would understand if you weren't, as it would be harder still to see something you were so passionate about completed in a fashion that you felt didn't do the idea justice, but it is an idea.

Well, I'm not entirely against the idea, I do not believe that it would be that easy.

 

The largest issue with the modding community for the elder scrolls games, is that if someone is desiring to create a mod, they typically have their own ideas on what they want to create. For simple projects, it wouldn't be uncommon for multiple people to agree on the idea and work together, but for larger projects, such as this one, it's rare to find people motivated enough to help out.

 

I've received countless offers from forum users to help with the mod, but unfortunately, few of which were actually modders.

 

Most people either want to:

 

a) Beta Test

b) Voice Act

c) Help out but they have no experience

 

I've attempted to take in some people that had no experience, and "raise them up" so to speak, but they usually took off once they realized it wasn't as easy as they had thought.

 

If somebody messaged me and said "Hey! I love your idea, and I saw that you're discontinuing the project. Would you mind if I took over your work?" I would be pretty surprised. If this person had the "resources" to actually finish the mod, I would rather they just join me and finish it how I envisioned it. If I don't have to search for people on a daily basis, and I can just concentrate on the actual work, I think I'd be able to finish the mod. However if they were just going to polish what I had already created, I would not be "OK" with that. If they're just touching up what was already created, I'd rather it not be done at all.

 

Aye, real life before modding, that's the thing I say to myself even if my just-released mod is buggy as ****.

 

People should understand how you feel, or at least that you aren't going to complete it in 2 hours just to make them happy.

 

I appreciate really much that you posted that comment, clarifies a lot, and eases the pain people felt because of no info.

 

I hope you are able to do your real life things, and maybe after some time return to this mod, but I know it takes time, and others should realize it too.

Real life can become more complicated easily, and you don't want to spend all your free time to make others happy.

 

Shoulder pat to you, Sir! I wish you luck on your journey! :)

Thanks for the support. :)

 

 

A final closing thought:

 

The thing with Elder Scrolls games is that I always tend to go back to them, and I believe it is the same for most people. I could come back in 6 months, a year, or maybe 2, and then suddenly have a huge desire to finish the mod. I don't intend to banish the project from my life, or anything of the sort. While I do not think I will work on it in the short future, further down the road, who's to say? I just don't want people sitting on their thumbs waiting for the mod to release anytime soon, and that is why I chose to label the project as "discontinued".

Edited November 23, 2012 by delfofthebla

[assasinwar9]

o comon i want to continue this mod .... i may not be a extreme moder but i can mod pretty dam well! instead of letting the work u did go too waste, release the mod as is and let others take up the work. i know i would work on it! so plz release the mod so i can work on it or at least send it to me!

[Deleted1308005User]

o comon i want to continue this mod .... i may not be a extreme moder but i can mod pretty dam well! instead of letting the work u did go too waste, release the mod as is and let others take up the work. i know i would work on it! so plz release the mod so i can work on it or at least send it to me!

 

 

Yeah, everyone can trust person who says that and hasn't released any mods :facepalm:

 

No offense of course, but I guess you can understand my point.

[assasinwar9]

its not a matter of trust. i simply think it would be better to release it so others can edit it, i would edit it myself but that's besides the point! it would be a waste if it wasn't released .

[robsmith]

... I don't want to live on this plant any more... but i understand real life comes first, I recomend you find some of the people that showed lots of enthusiams but a lack of skill and have them drum up support for the mod to try and encourage some good modders to come. my naive hopes.