1. Where does the High Rock mod take place? Does it focus on one area or the entire province?

Well, the High Rock mod takes place in the Tamriel province of High Rock. It will take the player across the entire province during the main quest and will have numerous faction and secondary quests spread evenly throughout the whole of High Rock.

2. What is the main story of High Rock?

Hmm... I'll say that the main quest for our project will revolve around the political tension building up in High Rock. It will encompass a wide range of factions, kingdoms and characters, providing the player with multiple sub-quests and side plots to play around with. 

3. What is your current release date?

We are planning on releasing a beta of the demo for our project that will take the player through a short adventure on the island of Betony by the end of November 2006. And the full version of the whole province is expected to be ready in roughly two years from now.


4. How did the High Rock mod come in contact with the Beyond Cyrodiil community?

It's actually the other way around. :) The Beyond Cyrodiil community, in the form of KuKulzA, came into contact with me when I posted a work-in-progress thread on the ESF forums about making a Tamriel province. It was Black Marsh at the time but, as I later found out, that location was already in the making, so I chose to create the province of my favourite Elder Scrolls race, the Bretons.

5. Now, a little about yourself. How did you get involved in Beyond Cyrodiil in the first place? What is the main reason you wanted to start this mod?

Well, I've been around the ESF community for quite some time now and helped make some of the smaller mods (like the Llilarcor mod for example) come to life. At some point I decided to take break from modding and was away from the community for about three months, until an urge to channel my creativity steered me back to the ESF boards with building Tamriel in mind. That's when I met KuKulzA, who invited me to try my luck with the Beyond Cyrodiil team. Not much to tell of what happened afterwards really; I met Hrafnkel who had helped me put together a presentation for the BC core, then they held a vote on it. I got in.


6. What are your modding skills, strong points and general experience? You mentioned Lliracor as one example; Any others you'd like to mention?

My modding skills include Oblivion Construction Set knowledge, modelling and general creativity (if that can be called a skill). I have been affiliated with numerous communities for various game titles like Morrowind, Warcraft III and Neverwinter Knights over the past six years or so, mostly doing personal projects and small work on item expansions for those games. I made only one large mod before High Rock for Warcraft III, but it never went public. It was a total conversion, turning the game into an RPG instead of an RTS as it is currently. And as for Lilarcor, it was my first Oblivion project. It was a joint effort on behalf of MaXiMiUS and myself. I was the modeller and Max the scripter. I'm not sure if the mod ever got released, as it was at that time that I had chosen to retire from modding altogether, three months before finding the Beyond Cyrodiil community.


7. What are your weaknesses and how have you tried to balance the modding team based on this?

Well, I don't know the first thing about scripting and this is my first project of such grand scale. And for the team, I have persuaded MaXiMiUS to join us as our scripter - he's very good too. He is the person responsible for the Crowded Roads mod). The rest of the team members are very easy to work with and have been closing up the gaps instinctively wherever they appear, so that they more than remedy my inexperience as a leader.

8. Is the High Rock core team open to new members? If so, how do you apply and what are the skills needed?

Yes, the High Rock team is open to new members, both core team and general design. To become a core member you have to accept the responsibility of supervising the creation of one of the city-states of the province. To do that you need to do the following:

1) You need to write up a proposition on the city-state you wish to claim and then demonstrate your various skills to the core team. The proposition should NOT be plagiarized or copied from one of the currently running ideas on the city-states in development. We currently have the city-states of Farrun, Shornheln, North Point and Camlorn open for design.
2) You also have to have been around the High Rock forums for some time, participating in discussions and providing input, ideas and criticism for a while. 
3) The core team will then vote on the proposition. A simple majority wins.

Alternatively, if you are not looking for core membership, you may contribute to the project as much as you want without taking that responsibility upon yourself. The team will consider every single idea. We are always open to new ideas and creativity.

9. Back to the mod, if I may... What do you consider to be your project's greatest strength at the moment?

The greatest strength is, of course, the currently assembled team. Other than that, there's not all that much to speak of yet. We only started the project a month ago, but we do have the height map designed for the province, along with the beginning claims for our demo, The Isle of Betony. We have several concept designs for city-states on the drawing board, including Daggerfall, Orsiunium, Wayrest and Jehanna.  Various quest lines, new races and location ideas are under design as well. Check the forums for all the details, here: http://www.silgrad.com/wbb2/board.php?boardid=177


10. Some other time related questions...Where do you see High Rock being six months from now?

Well, in six month's time we want to have released the demo. We also are aiming to be close to completing the exteriors for the currently claimed city-states and putting up development claims for them. I also expect that a lot of artwork and modelling will be done by then. The core team will probably also have expanded by then and work started on the remaining unclaimed city-states.

11. Tell us about the Hight Rock team. What is the team's vision for the mod?

The High Rock core team currently consists of five people: 

Hrafnkel: Lore master. One of the people who's been with the MOD since the very first moments of it's conception, he's probably contributed more useful lore on the area than the rest of the team put together so far. Hraf is detailed and willing to check Lore to keep things accurate, which is vital to keeping the TES flavor intact. [He's easy to work with as long as you don't get on his bad side, which I haven't seen yet, so I'm putting it down as rumours for now.] <--[Might be inappropriate for the interview.] [Also mention his books and the concept drawings he has contributed for Anticlere and early DF design.]

DarkAsmodeous: Major core member. He has helped me a lot with some technical stuff I ran into with the Height Map and, as an experienced leader, has provided me with very useful general modding and leadership guidelines. He's been with us for as long as Hrafnkel and has contributed almost as much, but his attention is spread over several projects, so he can't dedicate as much time to High Rock as Braggi or Hrafnkel. Can be slightly argumentative, but always backs up his case with very solid arguments, which proves to be very constructive in the long run.

Braggi: Major core member and the latest addition to the core. Although he's not been around as long as the rest of us, he's contributed more content ideas and concepts in less time than the rest of us have. Braggi's VERY creative and constantly spouting ideas the rest of the team can grab hold of and develop. He takes criticism very well, which is an essential trait when working in a team.

KuKulzA: Major core member, and Grand Overlord of the Orcs. He's the person that's gotten me into this whole mess in the first place, which I am of course very grateful for. :) Ku has a lot planned for Orsinium and the Orcs, and, given enough freedom, would have them marching all over Tamriel in global conquest  (just kidding). Can be a little rough and unwavering in his conviction to his ideas at times, but we've been able to work peacefully and productively so far.

Gyssar (Me):

[Regarding the project vision - mention it is not a TES2 clone?]


12. What kind of things do the team and the mod need most at the moment?

{Mention specific skills needed such as city concept artists, outdoor designer and insert-needed-items here?]

13. Are there any special features you would like to mention?



14. Can you expand a little on the demo, regarding its location and faithfulness to the TES2: Daggerfall version of Betony? Also is the mod as a whole relying heavily on TES2 for content and ideas?


