What started the trend of kitbashing?

[imperistan]

Something I've noticed about Skyrim's modding community since the game's release, is that compared to the past two games, a lot more armor mods (most of the good ones do it seems) are utilizing kitbashing (as in, cannibalizing vanilla models to make new ones) rather than creating outright new models. In Morrowind I don't ever remember anyone ever doing this, and in Oblivion I only remember a few mods that did it (Waalx's stuff mainly). But with Skyrim, kitbashed models are all over the place.

 

I'm just curious what exactly started this trend and what about Skyrim made this method so popular.

[acidzebra]

An ever-expanding audience of modders with varying skill levels (and those skill levels also change over time, of course), and the evolution and usability of available toolsets.

 

Morrowind

2,724 Files

993 Authors

3.02m Downloads

 

Oblivion

28,077 Files

7,152 Authors

127.04m Downloads

 

Skyrim

29,315 Files

11,163 Authors

221.98m Downloads

Edited April 22, 2013 by acidzebra

[Urwy]

An ever-expanding audience of modders with varying skill levels (and those skill levels also change over time, of course), and the evolution and usability of available toolsets.

-snip-

That, and the fact that it doesnt require as much time and effort as creating models and textures from scratch. This enables people with less experience to still create good looking items and objects.

 

An example; Of all my mods in my signature, the ones that look and blend west in skyrim are the ones that aren't made from scratch, but are revamped/kitbashed mods. Guess which mods cost me the most time to make? =)

 

Funny.. I never actually thought about this trend before.. XD

Edited April 22, 2013 by Urwy