First Steps

I have started putting together some of the basic architecture for the entrance hallways for my level. To avoid a world hole (a player being able to see or enter the void) I had to bring in an extra boulder to block a hole which was in one of my hallways, you can see what I mean in the picture below:

Concept Ideas

After messing around in the creation kit and having it crash... sigh, I decided to draw out a couple of ideas for a map and start thinking about a basic quest idea.

- - - - - - Map - - - - - -

You can see in this picture I am trying to keep the layout fairly complex whilst still trying not to confuse the player, the idea I want to go for is to have a fairly realistic seeming structure whilst still maintaining a natural feel of play through for the player. I am thinking about achieving this by having lots of side rooms coming off of the main corridors, basic rooms that I can populate with enemies, bookshelves, alchemy tables, rubble and much more aesthetically pleasing items.  

- - - - - - Quest - - - - - - 

So far I have been thinking about the idea of having a boss called "Onstwon" inhabit the dungeon along with his loyal followers (some being Drague and some being Necromancers). The player will hopefully receive a quest from someone in a nearby town or from a pick-up such as a diary and will have to go through figuring out what happened to a previous adventurer that dared the tombs.

To aid in this experience I am thinking about littering the tombs with various skeletons and bodies and have the player searching through them trying to identify a certain previous adventurer. 

Getting to grips

Before I get too ahead of myself I thought it would be best if I had a bit of a play around with the creation kit to ensure what I wanted to create was possible and too make sure this sort mod would not be out of my skills.

Within 10 minutes of playing around with the Creation Kit and looking through the Creation Kits wiki I managed to create a small room with no void holes and managed to get the hang of the software and some of the basic techniques the developers behind Skyrim actually used. I'll link their youtube tutorials at the bottom of this post.

Here is the basic room I created within minutes of being on the software:

Creation kit tutorial

What now?

Now I have decided on creating a level for Skyrim I need to run through a few ideas, I mean, I want my level to flow with the game and not stick out as though it was obviously a mod and to do this I felt I should get some inspiration and what better way that to start playing through the game again and to visit some of the dungeons and quests already within the game.

After questing and exploring for awhile to get some inspiration and to ensure I didn't mess with the flow of the game or make something the player would question I decided I needed a few key features.

 - - - - - - Key Features - - - - - -

• A believable story line
• A mini quest or reason for the player to be there
• plenty of "cluttering" to make the dungeon or cave look believable and inhabited
• Rewards (why would a player want to go there if they won't get anything from it)
• A challenge (A boss scenario, maybe an ambush, maybe some traps)
• A mental challenge (The level cannot be a simple one route walk through)
• A believable world hook-up (Creating an exterior cell so the player can find it in the world)

Obviously these key features are very vague so far, but where I am now is in more of a conceptual stage, soon I will begin creation of some basic ideas and layouts of the cave system.

Introduction - Design Process

One of my modules in my second year of study in University is Design Process, in this module we focus on the process that goes into the design of various game projects and in particularly, level design.

For my project in my module level design I have been challenged to create a level mod for a game which is currently out in the market and my mind initially ran through a few ideas such as Garry's mod and Counter strike but then Skyrim took my eye in my steam library and since the "Creation Kit" is already supplied through steams tools by Bethesda I though this would be a great place for myself to start looking since I have been an avid fan of The Elder Scrolls series all the way back to Morrowind.

So I now I have my mind set, my level mod will be some sort of add-on to the game Skyrim.