Greetings and salutations!
I'm an old friend of Ibsen's, we were both engaged in the Thief project called HI. I've recently exchanged a couple of emails with Ibsen, who encouraged me to drop by this forum, say hi.
I basically wish to say how much I respect and marvel at the Black Marsh project initiative. I saw the screenshots (wow!), read some posts and the project seems like a huge thing. So kudos! Black Marshes truely seem like a respected successor of the legendary Hammerite Imperium grand project. HI, which unfortunately never saw daylight in a form, which was originally planned. Too bad that many fan projects end up like that. Fortunately after so many years of work, a single HI mod (fan mission or FM as per Thief nomenclature) was released. At least something. Ibsen, you need to at least play it, it's good.
Still, there were so many plans, so much work, especially with the storyline. Tre-Cravon plot, Shivan's character arc, a grand city of Stormhold... Even though my involvement was somewhat erratic, we still remember all these names. How many mods (FMs) were planned? I think something in the vicinity of 10 or 15... Pheew! And a strong thing about Thief FMs was such a solid grip on the storyline side of things. I still have Frobber's 9 parts of "The Art of Storytelling in Computer Games" binder-version print-out on my shelf.
And I have to tell you (HEHE), I still remember one of the funny conversations I had with Alexius in the old days. He wanted to implement guns in HI. I was strongly against it, since it felt so much non-Thiefy. The conversation pretty much went like this:
Me: "What?? Guns?? Come on, no way. No guns in HI."
Alexius: "You sure? Not even a single pistol?"
Me: "I'm sure. No way."
Alexius: "OK, OK, no guns."
Me: "Pheew. Good. Im revlieved."
Alexius: "How about nukes?"
Me: "Huh? What do you mean?"
Alexius: "Nuclear weapons."
And here I almost fainted.
And he was serious.
But... let's not dwell on the past. Especially since you have such a grand project at hand here! Knowing Ibsen's devotion, enthusiasm and dedication, I suspect this must now be your beloved "baby".
Not to mention, I've recognized some of the old work of Alexius now merged into the Black Marshes. lol Good, good, at least this fantastic stuff will be used.
So... if I can help in any way, please let me know. One thing, I wish to say right at this point, is that I cannot guarantee my full-time committment. I don't know. But I feel I want to be honest with an old friend from HI, rather than disappoint someone later on. Maybe let's just talk on the forums a little bit and -if you see me fit- we can slowly develop my involvement. That is if you wish me to help in any of the departments. I might have some good ideas, might have some cool talents, but my involvement these days in computer projects is somehow erratic, I have to confess. So let's take it slow, huh?
Consider using my in the following areas: (sorted in order of importance)
*
Storytelling. I'm not a professional writer, yet I believe I got a grip of how a good storyline should look in a computer game. So basically you can instantly tell the difference between a good one and a poor one, you know why etc. So if you feel comfortable with revealing the Black Marsh storyline, perhaps I could throw in some ideas, comment of the thing, help develop a side-plot or two...
*
Modelling. Well, I enjoy crafting some cool things in either 3dMax or Anim8or. I understand that Oblivion standards are higher than Thief's, so that probably means more high-poly stuff. I'm not experienced with Oblivion, so someone would simply need to instruct me what "poly-budget" we have to play around with.
*
Modding. I could always help in this department, however I'd need to first get a better understanding of how Oblivion works. I haven't played Oblivion in ages. I have CS installed and know how to use it. I made my own mods, like a cheat chest, super cool ring to help you play or your own house (well, haven't we all? lol)
Alright, that's already much as for a single post.
Ibsen, good to see you active and good to see a new grand project after HI was basically buried. Good luck with the project and hope to hear from you.
Cheers!
P.S. I started reading some intro posts, one of them mentioning to start by grabbing .esm file. The link seems inactive:
http://www.silgrad.com/wbb2/thread.php?threadid=10986 On top of that, I must say I'm a bit confused what I need to grab to have a preview of Black Marshes. I take it these are the .esm file and the .bsa files with several updates? Anything else?
P.S.2. I quickly browsed throu
Pledge of the Lizard King, especially "...the important bit..." part. Certainly. I fully understand your position. Only what you make actually counts, the rest is but a mist and idle talk. So I wish to stress what I said earlier in my post (about taking it slow etc.). I simply do not want to disappoint anyone.