Recruiting Modders and Mod Teams

[Vagrant0]

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High Quallity Version

*Promo Video provided by Elraine Kiyoshi of TESNexus

 

 

As some of you may have noticed, for a little over a year now we have been working on a large mod project with hopes of providing additional worldspaces for the player to experience, and for modders to make use of when no base game areas will fit their project. Over that time, progress has been slow going, but reasonably steady. But has been lacking the team to really take the mod to where it could go. Undoubtedly I have helped many of you in the past with your own projects, now it is time that I have to ask you to help me with mine. With the current team, this mod CANNOT be completed even partially for another several years. With enough help, this mod could be finished by the end of the year.

 

The project, incase you were not aware, is creating a new realm of Oblivion related to the Daedra Meridia. As very little is known about Meridia, we have a good deal of artistic freedom to work with, while keeping most of it lore friendly. For our purposes, this is beneficial since it allows the realm to have a certain look and arrangement which is suited to the needs of what people really want to have in their mods. Using the name of Meridia's realm, The Colored Rooms, as a guide, we have designed several areas according to a particular color. White is a frozen wasteland of ice, water, and snow. Orange is a vast golden plain of small settlements, caves, and ruins. Red is a murkey swamp, filled with conflict. In our vision, many of the rooms are inhabited by various people, who were Meridia's faithful, or were brought against their will. The history of the Colored Rooms is one of cohersion, deception, and control, all to satisfy the wills of its owner. As its base, the Colored Rooms hopes to provide a place of continuous wonder, entertainment, and challenge. As a project, it hopes to provide another place to put their mods, where they run less risk of having space conflicts.

 

What makes this project different from others is how it is structured. Due to how the worldspaces are setup, many different areas could be worked on at a single time, without many difficulties, even when little communication between groups is present. In addition to that, much of the overall plan and design of the project is already established, and much of the initial work of putting those things into the mod is already done. What remains is filling out the areas of the mod with quests, dungeons, NPCs, and environments. For that, we need persons of with ANY modding experience to be willing to offer their help in getting this project completed. As many may be apprihensive of joining a mod project, especially a large one, there are atleast two ways which you can help.

 

First option, join the project as a member of the team. As a member of the team, you will get direct assignments based on your own skills, and access to the resources needed to complete those assignments. Even if all you've done is a house mod, or dropped an item in the IC, there are tasks which can be suited to your skills. Even if all you are good at is simple retextures, there is something suited to your skills. Even if you have a slight bit of scripting/quest knowledge, there is something suited to your skills. And because you are working with a team, the work load needed tends to be fairly small, and suited to what YOU can manage. Team members also assist with flushing out ideas, or suggesting new additions, as appreciation for their help. This means that unlike some other team leaders, I want to hear what ideas, suggestions, or feedback you may have. Although I am the leader of the team, I am also a member of that team, doing much of the other work which is needed.

 

Second option, become an Associate. An Associate is not a member of the team so much as an outsider who wants to do work for the mod. In essence, you are given the freedom to use the mod as a base for your own mods which may be incorporated into the main mod, or are asked to work on less specific parts of the mod. Most of this work should try to match the world the mod is set in, but some exceptions could be made. Additionally, as part of the Associate program, whole groups may submit their work for the mod, adding anything from companions, quests, to whole areas. And as it is not done as part of the team, I have no direct control of what these areas are. I may offer suggestions, concepts, or ideas about what I wanted to see in those areas, and may use those suggestions as criteria for blending the work into the main project, but the individual or group is given most of the freedom about all the specifics. As far as trying to maintain consistancy, this is a risky option, but I personally see no other way to finish this mod without such an option.

 

Naturally, all team members will be able to submit their own works with those areas for inclusion in addition to what work is assigned.

 

To offer your services for the mod, please visit the guild forums and post a brief description of your abilities, and what you hope to offer the project. For Associates, you will be required to post links to mods which you have already worked on, or completed. The download for the mod is still several months away from going public, meaning that I don't want people who are just going to offer to help, just to see what the mod looks like. I'm not trying to discourage people from helping, just wanting people who are more likely to follow through on their offers.

 

What we need;

Scripters (usually to help with quests)

Texture Artists

Mesh Makers

Quest Writers (people who define quests and setup dialogues/NPCs/areas)

Interior Designers (just cluttering, to making interiors from pieces)

Exterior Designers (everything related to making landscapes look good)

NPC designers (NPC appearance, names, AI, packaging, abilities)

Book Writers

 

Although I personally can, and have, done all of those things for the project, there is only so much time in the day, and only so much of the day that I can devote to working on the mod. While this is good, in that I can help answer questions, or provide solutions to problems in almost every aspect of the mod, I often find myself stretched between too many different parts of the mod because there isn't anyone else to fill that role. I realize that this likely won't change, but appreciate whatever help I can get. So please considder contributing some work toward the project. Without help, this project may go the way of so many before.

 

You can get more information (although, admittedly, some of it may be a little outdated) about this project either at the project website in my signature, or at the forums at the link below.

http://z2.invisionfree.com/DarkGenesis/index.php?act=idx

[Vagrant0]

Just wanted to add that we need people with experience working with interiors and exterior areas the most, since that is where most of the work is. Although having a few more people for meshing/texturing would be nice, since it would free me up a bit to work on scripting and other areas, it isn't like there's a whole bunch of meshes which need to be made, but can't be done without someone else doing them. As can be seen in the screenshots on the website, the mod already contains several new meshes, and more are baing added with each update.

 

Hopefully, with that clarifiaction, some of your doubts about the viability of this project may be lessened. I wouldn't be working on it if it wasn't a viable project which was worth spending a few years on.

[Vagrant0]

Is there just not enough interest in seeing this sort of project succeed, or what? I'm not really asking people to devote themselves to the mod, or to spend several hours a week working on the mod. Most of the assignments are small, and are done over a period of 2-3 weeks. And with the Associate program, you aren't even bound by how quickly other parts of the mod are being worked on. I personally have little time to devote to the project on a regular basis, and do not ask things of others that I wouldn't find appropiate to do myself.

 

Most of all, I just want whatever work has already been done, and what can be done to go to something of a finished project. Otherwise, it's like me, and the rest of my team, have just wasted their time. We cannot achieve that without having enough people on the team or helping to complete the project. This is simply more than a 3 person job, regardless of what abilities those 3 people have.

[TotallyNotToastyFresh]

I can work on any non-organic meshes, I can't make armor very well though. But I still can. If you need a modeler, I can do it. But I'll need some help if I can't figure out how to do something or how to get it to work.

[Vagrant0]

I can work on any non-organic meshes, I can't make armor very well though. But I still can. If you need a modeler, I can do it. But I'll need some help if I can't figure out how to do something or how to get it to work.

I appreciate the offer, and won't turn away someone who wants to help, but as far as meshing goes, there isn't a whole lot that can be used at the moment. And what can be used is either too large of a job to ask of others, like an interior tileset. Or they are something that requires a look similar to what has already been established, which usually suffers when different people are used. Or it is something like armor, weapon, or creature models/textures, which may be nice, but aren't entirely necessary, and would probably be more on the nature of you making it as a resource, and us just giving credit.

 

For the sake of argument, this is a list of all meshes which could be useful to the mod, first being more important.

Required...

Smaller gateway mesh with particle based activator.

Mock swinging doors with simple square frame that match normal doors.

Mock chests which have an open/close animation, and match existing chests.

Interior tile set for garden hallway mesh.

Transition pieces (doors and arches) for interior set which match exterior set.

Horse beacon/statue/portal thing mesh (used to bring horse into realm).

Better particle system for inner-realm gateways.

More painting items.

 

Not required, but still nice to have...

Weapon meshes for people in the pit.

Robe/clothing retextures/meshes for people in the pit.

Special, black armor, retexture or mesh.

Banners and insignia based items for main realm factions (insignias have not been decided).

Skeletons with iron/elven armor pieces.

more misc clutter.

 

 

Really, as far as meshing, this covers the vast majority of mesh needs forseeable right now with the project. Either it's a major project, or it's somthing which can just be resourced out. And alot of it is more about the textures, or other aspects, than just the basic mesh.

 

This is why I stated that most of what the team needs are people with just good CS skills who wouldn't mind making a dungeon, a few interiors, or setting up quests. And, this is where most of the progress on the mod has hit a snag, since most of the people who want to do this sort of thing are usually working on their own projects, or don't want to have the responsibility/problems of working with a team.

[TotallyNotToastyFresh]

Well, the first list seems a bit beyond my skills, but the second ones I could do fairly well...

 

since most of the people who want to do this sort of thing are usually working on their own projects,

 

That must be a problem, as I'm working on two... :wacko:

 

Also, I am proficient in using the CS, although I am no expert...

 

If you want me to help, I could chip in a bit every week or so. It does kind of aggravate me a little to see that someone who has helped so many people doesn't even get looked at by others....

[Vagrant0]

If you want me to help, I could chip in a bit every week or so. It does kind of aggravate me a little to see that someone who has helped so many people doesn't even get looked at by others....

Thats pretty much what I'm looking for, a pool of people who can chip in a little bit at a time. Just because the mod is huge doesn't mean that the work assignments are particularly large. I try to keep things small enough that people can manage without going crazy.

 

If you want to help, sign up on the forums and message me so that I can give you access to the download and all the information about the project.

[chris 07]

having worked on this project in the past i want to point out to other modders is that this project is the most flexible group project that i've worked with (many if your wondering) so if you could only work for a little bit a week this project is the one that you should take a look at in helping. ;)

i'll be back soon.

[TotallyNotToastyFresh]

Message sent, Vagrant. :)

 

EDIT: Just looking at the top post again, I know that I could certainly write the books and clutter up interiors.

[exanimis]

I'm in just let me know what needs to be done