[WIP] The Ebony Isle : III

» Fri Jan 29, 2010 11:36 pm

So. I have something here for you.

I've been working on this mod (my first for Morrowind) for a few days now and I feel it's currently in a presentable state.

To start off, a bit of (probably awful) backstory for this idea of mine:

Gather 'round, friends, for I have a story to tell...

Somewhere off the coast of Vvardenfell, on a miserable lump of an island, lies a secret. A very, very expensive secret.

You see, friends, long ago, back when the Dwemer were still around, they built a small colony on an even smaller island. It was used for many things, observation, communication and such.
But one use in particular stands out: A large Ebony storehouse.

Once they vanished, the island quickly died from memory. Until now. A few years or so back, some Argonian smugglers coming from Skyrim were caught in a storm, and got themselves shipwrecked on that very same island.

One daring pair decided to explore the rock they had landed on whilst the others attempted to fix the ship. One ended up falling down a hidden shaft of some sort, and landed on something hard and rough. He looked down and realized he was lying on top of an enormous pile of raw Ebony stones.

Needless to say, being smugglers, they began to sell it off to other shady groups, and ended up making quite a bit of coin.

Today, they still operate on their island, and there's rumors that a small city has sprung up around it, populated not by thieves and smugglers, but by honest people looking for a way to make a living.

They say the Argonian who found the cache still rules over the island, keeping his island hidden away from Imperials and anyone else who might want to plunder his treasure.

But who would know? It may only be a story.

Now could you spare a few coins, please?

What that beggar didn't know is that his story is the truth. And that he wouldn't be getting any coins from me.

So, thus begins the meat of the content:

_________________________________________________________________

The Ebony Isle

A work-in-progress mod for TES III: Morrowind.

Planned features & Completion percentage:

A new small island off the coast of Vvardenfell, complete with a settlement built upon it.
Several new quests, from killing the head of a group threatening to tell the Empire about the island, to finding food for J?pers the Clannfear.
Too much detail.
A purchasable house(Ooooh)
A new beggar for Caldera.
Will add more features when I actually think of them.

_________________________________________________________________

WIP Screenshots

(Taken with a few graphics mods, distant land, updated water and higher resolution textures)

http://i41.tinypic.com/2pouro7.jpg

http://i43.tinypic.com/2zqg960.jpg

http://i40.tinypic.com/e8pibq.jpg

http://i41.tinypic.com/292wr5x.jpg

http://i44.tinypic.com/2zoiwjk.jpg

http://i41.tinypic.com/14mvt3.jpg

http://i39.tinypic.com/16lfls6.jpg

http://i39.tinypic.com/9s77ly.jpg

With that out of the way, I hope you like it. Feedback is appreciated.

Whee semi-first post

» Sat Jan 30, 2010 12:44 am

Firstly - let me give you a welcome proper to the forum! That is to say, the Morrowind forums in particular. Enjoy your stay, for there will be no escape. :evil:

This is a fairly ambitious first mod (moreso than the usual retextured doors or personal house modifications), but it seems to already have had a great deal of planning and forethought placed into it. I don't think you'd be contradicting any lore or historical background in having this inconspiciously overdetailed island out in the sea, certainly any fanmade Morrowind-friendly landmasses are a welcome download in my game.

Concerning the screenshots, I'd say you've hit a pretty nice medium with the detailing. I'm loving the "cobbled-together" look of the entire region, and the generous usage of coastal rocks looks far more realistic than the usual dull heightmapped terrain slope (will it be easy to get back on land should you fall into the water, though? I'm only seeing a few slopes). You may want to know that these rocks (among other things) can be a total mess collision-wise in Morrowind, so I would advise against having the player do much climbing over them. Otherwise, I've no other remarks - just keep doing what you're doing now, since it seems to be working quite well for you. Looking forward to seeing more updates on this!

» Sat Jan 30, 2010 5:22 am

I'm honestly surprised this is getting as little feedback as it is... other threads seem to be doing fairly well.

» Sat Jan 30, 2010 10:51 am

Just be patient

Lack of comments don't necessarily mean a lack of attention. I'll be watching this mod, It looks interesting and it isn't out of place.

» Sat Jan 30, 2010 6:17 am

Hahaha I had the exact same idea a couple of years back. Pretty much. To be honest, I thought that I may have posted some screenshots of it and then you janked it and called it your own- being a new user and all. But I checked the screenshots, then gave a sigh of relief. My idea was to have an island discovered by accident by some sailors and they colonized it because there was a large ebony mine underneath it- and the Empire didn't know, it was a secret, blah blah blah. If I can find a screenshot, I'll show you the similarities. Good work so far, keep it up!

» Sat Jan 30, 2010 5:46 am

Hahaha I had the exact same idea a couple of years back. Pretty much. To be honest, I thought that I may have posted some screenshots of it and then you janked it and called it your own- being a new user and all. But I checked the screenshots, then gave a sigh of relief. My idea was to have an island discovered by accident by some sailors and they colonized it because there was a large ebony mine underneath it- and the Empire didn't know, it was a secret, blah blah blah. If I can find a screenshot, I'll show you the similarities. Good work so far, keep it up!

That's almost kinda creepy. Thanks for the feedback though.

» Sat Jan 30, 2010 2:58 pm

Took a bit of a break, but now I'm back to working on it. Got a few shots of the main town area:

http://i39.tinypic.com/9s77ly.jpg

http://i39.tinypic.com/16lfls6.jpg

And an updated one of the docks area:

http://i43.tinypic.com/2mxlgl0.jpg

» Sat Jan 30, 2010 2:38 pm

The story behind the island it's simple and intriguing at the same time. Plus, I like the idea of the beggar telling the tale and them asking for a coin.

Let's see how this comes out...

» Sat Jan 30, 2010 10:28 am

Again, I took a good long break on this after playing some other games for a while. I'm debating changing it to a snowy area and enlarging it.

» Fri Jan 29, 2010 11:53 pm

I like it so far, and I absolutely love it when a new modder shows up to show off some potential. Welcome and I second the notion you will never escape. As long as you are respectful, you will have found a home here on the forums.

You seem like you want some feedback/insight and luckily that is what I do best for the modders here. I will be happy to help you out if I am able. On that note: Although the story is interesting enough, and even pretty simple, I think it needs to sound less like it's a sure bet that it's true. It would help immersion if the beggar sounds a little more unsure of the story.

Something like:

Gather 'round, friends, for I have a story to tell... if you'd be so kind as to share some coin for the tale. It's a good tale, one that was told to me by (some obscure person to explain how he knows it).

Well it goes like this..
Somewhere off the coast of Vvardenfell, on a miserable lump of an island, lies a secret. A very, very expensive secret.

Now, you see, friends, I was told that long ago, back when the Dwemer were still around, they built a small colony on an even smaller island than this here Morrowind. This island was used for many things, observation, communication and such.
But one thing in particular stands out above all that: A large Ebony storehouse.

Once the Dwemer vanished, the island quickly died from memory. Well, apparently until now. It seems a few years or so back, some Argonian smugglers coming from Skyrim were caught in a storm, and got themselves shipwrecked on that very same island.

One daring pair decided to explore the rock they had landed on whilst the others attempted to fix the ship. One of them ended up falling down a hidden shaft of some sort, and landed on something hard and rough. He looked down and realized he was lying on top of an enormous pile of raw Ebony stones.

Needless to say, being smugglers, they began to sell it off to other shady groups, and ended up making quite a bit of coin.

From what I heard, they still operate out of their island, and there's even rumors that a small city has sprung up around it, populated not by thieves and smugglers, but by honest people looking for a way to make a living.

Some say the Argonian who found the cache still rules over the island, keeping his island hidden away from Imperials and anyone else who might want to plunder his treasure.

But who knows? It may only be a story. After all, if such a place really existed, what with honest folks on it an all, surely we'd know more about this place already.

Now could you spare a few coins, please?

I have bolded what I changed so you can clearly see the contrast of my changes as opposed to the original version. You don't have to use it or anything. It's just a suggestion.

EDIT:

Just took another look at your screenies and I noticed something. For a former Dwemer outpost, it's pretty deviod of ruins and such. I know the place was built by the honest folks after the smugglers came and went, but they would have re-used the ruins in at least the beginning.

Also, a town made in it's current style doesn't make a lot of sense. It would have need materials shipped to it. Not very secret. It would be cool if the town was somewhat intermixed with dwemer stuff, so the back story seems feasible. If it looks partly intermixed it would make it seem like the town rose up in the area, with some of the abandoned stuff used, rather than the town just appearing, and it would have needed less materials in theory.

» Sat Jan 30, 2010 5:17 am

*Long text which is impractical to quote*

Thanks for the suggestions. As I said, I'm debating a drastic redesign of the overall theme. Instead of Nordic style houses, I had been thinking shacks built on Dwemer ruins and general wooden shacks - stone and other materials would be hard to come by in secret as you said.