Hello everyone,
I am in charge of landscaping for the project. As of late we have gotten quite a few of you coming to help Skywind with your imagination and skill. We will collect your contributions and give you insight into what needs to be done in this thread regarding Skywind’s landscape. We will attempt to make a full list of all that is needed, however it is likely that this will change as we advance in the project.
Before you take an assignment
At this stage, we only want experienced level designers to work on the landscapes. With the amount of assets, style wanted, consistency and time needed to achieve this, only those with genuine experience and can spend over a hundred hours to the task will be able to help with exterior landscaping. I'll repeat that unless you can spare > 100+ hrs (realistically more, much more) then this is not how you can help the project.
Be sure to introduce yourself properly. This is as a courtesy to your fellow artists on this project. This will also serve as an opportunity for you to tell us if you have any particular ideas for certain areas in the game.
We will try to find you work that suits your skillset and style. You have to be prepared for some disappointments however – even really good ideas will be rejected if they don’t fit Morrowind’s style and atmosphere. We don’t want to limit anyone’s imagination since it is the core of creativity, but a designer needs to be flexible – and we need consistency in our game’s style so it feels like a whole, and not like a bunch of different bits and pieces thrown together chaotically.
When you are landscaping
Keep in touch with me through the creative process. It’s a team effort, and every idea needs to be constantly reviewed and discussed with other members of the team – this cannot be stressed enough for landscaping in particular. If you do not communicate with us and create an entire area, it is very likely that you’ll have to start over if we ask to change certain elements. We wish to avoid situations like this as much as possible. We can provide you with inspiration and references. We have careful consideration for the different aspects of Morrowind’s overall feel and we want you to understand our vision before starting a project. I will gladly discuss and share what I’m working on too – as every artist needs some feeback, and the more – the better.
We strongly encourage that you play Morrowind to familiarize yourself with the variety of environments and locations found across the game universe. We want to give life to Skywind the alien creature and culture on Vvardenfell. Keep this in mind while thinking of the different kinds of elements to incorporate into the landscape.
This thread can cover submissions and examples of things we could use for environments. We need to rebuild each of Morrowind's different regions and climates and learn how to make the world believable and above all - immersive.
What you will need to know
How to make new assets: This is vital to landscape building. You will need to learn how to copy some of Skyrim’s assets, and how to properly name them in the engine for smooth communication with everyone on the project. For example, 0ma = Skyrim Molag Amur assets to use in that region. There are also some listed as 01ma as well. Just filter the search with that depending on the region you are working on. If you use a new Skyrim asset, it MUST be duplicated, renamed and retextured using the same format.
Download the stripped version of Skyrim: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0ByQVbq7PZPW5aFJmUFpNRlpqMFE/edit?usp=sharing The stripped version is what you need to use. The normal skyrim.esm is too large to us with Skywind with it. There is an automatic converter you can download in the download too. "WrldMorrowind" is what we are using to landscape, so have a look around the world so far.
Claim a region: As it stands, there is a lot of regions to do still. If you want to do interiors and dungeons, look for that thread. If you want to landscape, check the updated grid claim map here; https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AiQVbq7PZPW5dHpmSmxnU3RrZ2hIRlpsRDlhY1lUQXc&usp=drive_web#gid=0
This is not completely accurate though, and most regions still need lots of work. The regions that haven’t been touched or needs a lot of improving are Azura’s Coast, Sheogorad and the Grazelands. People have already started most of these, so check the threads and coordinate with the current artists for which areas you can work on.
Ask questions: We need to actively check out each other’s progress in order to ensure the quality of the landscaping. Don’t be afraid to open up and really show us how you’re portraying what you’re working on – it may inspire others as well as make you privy to some good insight by other members.
Please check in with me if you have any questions or require assistance.
Regions
Ascadian Isles: Almost done, needs ground texture blending and clutter for empty areas. Volunteers welcomed.
Ashlands: Northern part worked on by SquallyDaBeanz and will be finished soon. Eastern Ashlands needs work still, coordinate with Squally.
Azura’s Coast: Being worked on by SquallyDaBeanz and Thermocrius, mostly all claimed. Not accepting volunteers at the moment.
Bitter Coast: Needs attention to objects in water. Coordinate with HappyChappy if you want to help.
Grazelands: Awaiting meshes and concepts before real work can be done. In the works, for now, not much can be done.
Molag Amur: Worked on by SquallyDaBeanz, mostly done aside from ground texture blending and clutter in empty areas. Volunteers needed to help clutter the ground and fix mesh bugs. Plants, rocks, etc need to be added still. Assets are being worked on.
Red Mountain: Currently off limits as all assets are being remade. no volunteers needed at this time
Sheogorad: Being worked on by Nahlo, coordinate with him if you want to help.
West Gash: LASentry, coordinate with him if you want to help. Volunteers appreciated.
Clutter
Most landscapers come and and do the general landscaping. This mostly includes large rocks and mountain meshes without paying proper attention to the small details. Local flora, rocks, and other details are ESSENTIAL to making an area polished and done. Don't forget about the things at or below eye level when playing. The player needs to be kept in mind at all times, and it's the small details that bring the world to life.
IMPORTANT
When it all comes down to it, you cannot forget about THE PLAYER. It is easy to make a beautiful and detailed landscape, but if the player isn't able to explore and discover it, there is no point. Always be aware of creating a world around the player. One place of interest should lead to another, and they should easily be able to navigate an area.
There is a lot of landscaping to be done and not enough volunteers. If you are new to the creation kit, I encourage you to take the time and learn it. It takes a lot of practice to get familiar with it, but when you learn it, it’s one of the easiest and more fun jobs that Skywind has to offer.
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Hey folks, I'm a graduate
Hey folks,
I'm a graduate of product design, so have plenty experience with Photoshop, Illustrator and Solidworks, though solidworks is not too much use here I'm just giving the idea that I can get my head round design packages fairly quickly. I tinkered a fair bit with the original Morrowind con. set, building rooms caverns, gardens, transporters with sketchy lore reference... high emporer of the mages guild has certain perks in that you can have a transportal in your gaff... erm.. like I said, sketchy lore friendliness!!
I'd love to help out with this project, both to aid a truly honorable project of rebirthing the Nerevarine and to selfishly build up some game dev. skills! I spotted it in December, though I just bought the Morrowind expansions yesterday. I think I would probably like to first get my hands dirty with landscaping (gonna repost this in the other thread in a min).
It's about 4 years since I've played Morrowind so need to get into the game again. I will be getting stuck into that from today in my spare time, I wanted to check in with you guys to express my intentions first though. I'm green but I'm pretty sure I'll pick up what I needs to be known soon enough and for now will work on what you think most needed.