Project Spotlight: Beyond Skyrim - Cyrodiil

[PHILC1991]

Howdy everyone! I think it's safe to say that those who are waiting patiently for this mod will not be disappointed! In my opinion, this is the most anticipated mod ever announced for Skyrim!

[reazonozaer]

I just hope someone in Cyrodiil asks the important question, "Have you heard of the High Elves?"

 

Seriously though, it looks great and I can't imagine how much work has went into it so far. I can't wait to see what comes next.

[IKobi]

This is one of those projects that goes on for years and never releases, or when it releases is pretty much outdated (we'll have TES:VI by then).

 

I mean no disrespect to the Teams working on it though, is just the general rule for projects of this scope.

Edited October 20, 2018 by JoseSnake

[BandyRFC]

In response to post #64513911.

JoseSnake wrote: This is one of those projects that goes on for years and never releases, or when it releases is pretty much outdated (we'll have TES:VI by then).

I mean no disrespect to the Teams working on it though, is just the general rule for projects of this scope.

Beyond Skyrim Bruma...

[izzier2750]

What about Skyblivion? Or did they just rebrand?

[Pickysaurus]

In response to post #64514956.

izzier2750 wrote: What about Skyblivion? Or did they just rebrand?

They're two different projects. Beyond Skyrim are creating a Cyrodiil in the TESV timeline and Skyblivion are basically remaking oblivion

[kissbaby]

they don't mention the most important part of the game. Dark Brotherhood of Cyrodiil and its a key guild because of the assassination of the Emperor. Seriously in all of Tamriel the last of the DB are 3 people in dawnstar? Thats it?

[ghaladh]

Tamriel rebuilt, Skywind, Morroblivion and massive projects like this one will never get done. What baffles me is the fact that people never learn that no such undertaking has ever been completed so far in TES history, yet people keep being so dumbly optimistic and try it again every single time. I don't know if they keep lying to themselves or they truly believe that "this time is gonna be different". It's ludricous.

 

Rather than wasting time, efforts and resources in such a grand hopeless project I suggest you to learn from the previous failures: there is no use for a huge landmass when there is really nothing to do in beside walking and exploring. Start smaller, do just a part of land with a town and fill it with side quests. When you are done, proceed with another chop of land and do the same thing again. If the Gods smile on you, you might get enough towns to start connecting those places with more intricated and significant quests.

 

Many claim that Tamrield rebuilt has accomplished a lot. Yeah, in more than a decade has added a significant landmass to a (wonderful) game that very few people still play. Yet it's still a WIP. What's the point of it?

 

By releasing a finished town with quests every time you are done with it, it allows the player to remain interested in the project, to play what has been done so far (not just have a stroll in the new places, I really mean "PLAY" the mod).

 

You need different teams:

1) Environment team: those modders will merely create the environment and will keep it updated when necessary. That's going to be the biggest team because it encompasses graphic designers to develop new textures and meshes, exterior and interior designers and possibly programmers to implement new eventual features (interactive items, dynamic weather and lighting and so on...).

2) The NPCs and quest development team: those will fill the land prepared by the previous team with quests and NPCs. Two/four modders at best is what's necessary here.

3) Beta refining team: just a couple of modders that will scout the forum and apply the changes and the bug fixes reported by the players.

 

Think step-by-step and if one day the project would fall into oblivion, at least you will have given to the players a mod that can be played and enjoyed. Anything else would be a waste of time, talent and resources. Having teams dedicated to so many provinces at the same time will set the whole project in the neverending limbo of the never finished and unplayable WIPs.

[theblackpixel]

In response to post #64519381.

ghaladh wrote: Tamriel rebuilt, Skywind, Morroblivion and massive projects like this one will never get done. What baffles me is the fact that people never learn that no such undertaking has ever been completed so far in TES history, yet people keep being so dumbly optimistic and try it again every single time. I don't know if they keep lying to themselves or they truly believe that "this time is gonna be different". It's ludricous.

Rather than wasting time, efforts and resources in such a grand hopeless project I suggest you to learn from the previous failures: there is no use for a huge landmass when there is really nothing to do in beside walking and exploring. Start smaller, do just a part of land with a town and fill it with side quests. When you are done, proceed with another chop of land and do the same thing again. If the Gods smile on you, you might get enough towns to start connecting those places with more intricated and significant quests.

Many claim that Tamrield rebuilt has accomplished a lot. Yeah, in more than a decade has added a significant landmass to a (wonderful) game that very few people still play. Yet it's still a WIP. What's the point of it?

By releasing a finished town with quests every time you are done with it, it allows the player to remain interested in the project, to play what has been done so far (not just have a stroll in the new places, I really mean "PLAY" the mod).

You need different teams:
1) Environment team: those modders will merely create the environment and will keep it updated when necessary. That's going to be the biggest team because it encompasses graphic designers to develop new textures and meshes, exterior and interior designers and possibly programmers to implement new eventual features (interactive items, dynamic weather and lighting and so on...).
2) The NPCs and quest development team: those will fill the land prepared by the previous team with quests and NPCs. Two/four modders at best is what's necessary here.
3) Beta refining team: just a couple of modders that will scout the forum and apply the changes and the bug fixes reported by the players.

Think step-by-step and if one day the project would fall into oblivion, at least you will have given to the players a mod that can be played and enjoyed. Anything else would be a waste of time, talent and resources. Having teams dedicated to so many provinces at the same time will set the whole project in the neverending limbo of the never finished and unplayable WIPs.

First of all full disclosure: Until recently I was the department director at Beyond Skyrim: Iliac Bay (I left due to time constraints). Second, the things I say here are my views, not some official statement by Beyond Skyrim.
Now, let me adress some of your complaints. The first thing you have to keep in mind is that modders do not work work for the players. I worked on the project because I liked doing level design and enjoyed the change of scenery that Beyond Skyrim offered. I met a really cool group of people and together we worked on a grand project. I rarely play Skyrim anymore, but I still very much enjoy modding it. I did not work on Iliac Bay because I wanted to release it but simply because I enjoyed working on Iliac Bay.

You make the mistake of viewing the effort Beyond Skyrim and Tamriel Rebuilt put into their project as wasted time. We're just having fun making things and every piece that gets released is just a gift to the community. The act of making those things in and of itself made it worth my time. You're upset at the presents you could've gotten instead of appreciating the ones you're getting. I understand why that bothers you but keep in mind; these projects are free, you invested nothing to get them. It's not like you paid 60 dollars for an early acces title which did not deliver, these projects do not have a responsability to you. A lot of these projects even avoid giving release dates as to not disappoint people if they miss them.

Now onto the second part of your complaint. A rolling release would indeed be something which lends itself well to larger projects like the ones in Beyond Skyrim, I certainly do agree with that notion. Your other issue however misses the point of what Beyond Skyrim is. It is not a single project but a conglomerate of multiple separate projects, sharing assets and a community, among other things. Think of it as this analogy, you cannot expect every European country to go help say Germany imrpove as a nation, they have their own nation to run but can help eachother out in other ways. People who work on Morrowind might have no interest in working on Cyrodiil and vice versa. In order to join Beyond Skyrim you already need to have an established project with some progress, in other words you need to have a team before you can become part of the larger endeavour.
Now onto the third part of your comment. You suggest having different teams to take care of different things. These do exist within every project, in Beyond Skyrim they're called departments. At Iliac Bay we had:
Level Design
Audio and Composing
Implementation and Scripting
Voice Acting
Writing and Lore
2D Artists
3D Artists
Marketing
Software development

I hope that answered some of your questions and offered some clarification as to how the things are the way they are.

[OhPa]

What a fantastic project! Please keep us informed. If only I had the time to take advantage of Arcane University.