Braggi
Seigneur
Registration Date: 2006.09.23
Posts: 287
Location: B.C. Canada
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 High Rock FAQ (Edited/Updated 03 10 2008) |
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This
FAQ is to answer some of the more commonly encountered questions we run
into. We will be adding to it and updating or deleting items as needed.
Q: So this is High Rock. Are you re-doing TES2 – Daggerfall or something?
A: No we are not redoing TES2 - Daggerfall. We will be drawing
from that game for some Lore and visual inspiration, however the
province being developed here is from the time period covered in TES4 –
Oblivion. 20-some years have passed in game terms between the events of
TES2 and TES4. The mod will reflect this through updated Lore, NPCs,
geography and politics, and of course the capabilities of the TES4
engine.
Q: Who are the core team members?
A: Currently the core team consists of the following:
Gyssar - Height map, 3D modeling, textures, main quest design, mod visionary, general CS modding
Braggi – Resource gatherer, organization and tools, quest design, menagerie keeper, forum sweeper, general CS modding
Tabber42 - Loremaster, quest design
Deeza: Concept work, orcish Lore, explanatory game books
Q: So, what sources are you drawing from exactly?
A: The majority of High Rock will be drawn from Lore and events
contained in TES4 Oblivion, TES3 Morrowind and TES2 Daggerfall, in that
order. Newer Lore will over-ride the older, since Tamriel has changed
so much over the duration of each of the games. We will also be using
TES1 Arena for proto-lore and inspiration, basically as a highly
mutable framework of ideas to start on areas that have not been
developed by Bethesda. In the cases of a number of cities and counties
to the east of the province, this will help us get starting points for
development. TES2 Daggerfall exclusively developed the eastern half of
High Rock. With only small, generalized contributions to the rest of
the province since, the western areas need a great deal of work.
Additionally, we will be making design decisions to clear up Lore
conflicts as needed. For example: The city of Daggerfall has two
different “official” physical locations – one on the west side of the
peninsula (as given in TES1 Arena and the most recent official Bethesda
map) and one on the east side, as given in TES2 Daggerfall, and in
several TES3 Morrowind and TES4 Oblivion book sources. We decided to go
with the latter option, since it makes the most physical sense in terms
of the previous events that we need to account for and it fits how the
city would develop as a trade and shipping center.
Q: High Rock was active a couple of years ago and then it died. What the heck happened?
A: The High Rock mod was originally launched by Gyssar as part
of Silgrad Tower: Beyond Cyrodiil. Gyssar created the height map and
started the core team. Development began in September of 2006 with the
launching of the High Rock Forums and things began to take off. Sadly,
two things intervened that ultimately led to the mod becoming inactive.
In the winter of 2006-2007, Gyssar suffered a serious injury in an
accident from a R\L medieval combat re-enactment. This put him out of
action and offline for a number of months. At the same time another of
the core team members, Braggi, was called away to beta test
professionally. Unable to keep up his commitment to the mod, Braggi
chose to resign rather then drag the team down through an extended
absence.
This left the rest of the mod’s core team in a very tough spot, since
several of the team members were also leaders or core members of teams
developing two or more BC mods simultaneously. White Wizard stepped up
as the High Rock mod leader for a time and Hraf, DarkAsmodeus and
Kulkuza did their very best to keep things afloat as well. However,
since Max’s unavoidable recovery time offline cut the team off from the
height map and ESM, the mod was essentially paralyzed. Development on
the mod officially ceased in 2007 with the archiving of the High Rock
forums.
Q: So, where is the mod at now?
A: Gyssar and Braggi have re-opened the mod. The majority of the
development and resources for the project were saved or re-collected
from various sources, so these form a strong base to work from. Two of
the most important items are the original height map and the work done
on the Isle of Betony. The original design document is also intact. It
has been added to and updated with new ideas, which is an ongoing
process. Also in development is a new provincial height map aimed at
correcting a number of flaws in the old one. (See the Development Plan post for a detailed list.) The original is now a prototype and design base.
Q: Sounds like a big job. So, why re-open the mod if you don’t have the final height map in place?
A: Because we have a huge number of things that need development
now! While the new height map is being perfected, we can get a jump
ahead by developing the overall resources going into the mod.
For example, we have a number of new creature claims that need to be
edited, altered and generally configured and these can be tackled
immediately. Additional items needed include, 2D art work (such as
faction icons), 3D artwork including new individual statics (buildings,
plants, rocks, etc.), tilesets, clothing, weapons, and so forth. In
most cases, we have a base to work from through modder’s resources or
items that we have gained permission for use and alteration from the
original creator previously. And, of course, we welcome any submissions
of new and original items!
The design for Betony, including quests, factions, NPC’s, interior
claims and basic exterior claims (specifically buildings) is being
started now, even without the new height map to work from. All of
Betony’s original resources were recovered, as well as it’s design
document and height map for reference. This makes the best use of what
we already have and lets us make progress on the mod while the final
height map for HR is being developed.
Finally, the time before the height map is finalized is critical: it
will let modders get familiar with the project, come up with ideas and,
most importantly, it allows research, development and organization the
Lore for cities, towns, regions, quests and so on. These areas were
some of our toughest challenges with the original mod. Lore is one
place we will need a lot of input – if you have a piece of High Rock
Lore you think is important, post it, discuss it and refine it! The
more discussion we have on this, the better all the sources will get
blended together – and that means we will have a smooth mod overall in
terms of terrain, politics, storyline, factions and quests. (As just
one example, the Warp in the West changed a tremendous amount in all of
these areas.)
Q: Speaking of Betony, how much of the old mod are you going to use?
A: Realistically, as much as possible. A good deal of design and
concept work was already in progress for both Betony and HR as a whole
when the mod was archived. We are using as much as we can in this new
incarnation. The main quest, side quests, factions, basic city outlines
and overall political structure are all places where we have a rich
base of ideas and structure to draw from and add to. We have a number
of visual items that can be refined as well, along with collected Lore
from the first incarnation of the project.
Q: How much is going to change from the old project?
A: Again, realistically, quite a bit. The old project had much
more manpower to draw from, since TES4 – Oblivion was still a new game
in 2006. The modder base has shrunk in the last two years, so we have
to be much smarter and better organized to make up for this fact. Also, we don’t want to draw people away from active Silgrad or Beyond Silgrad mods – we want the other projects to flourish too!
Additionally, a number of size and scale issues from the old mod have
been toned down. We can’t hope to have cities as large as we once
planned (80+ buildings for the capitals of each county, as one
example). Just the creation of that number of exteriors in such a case
would be staggering, let alone the unique NPC’s, dialogue and other
items required. Our philosophy now is simple: start smaller and get
bigger if the manpower permits.
To the good, the last two years has also seen a number of improvements
in terms of modding resources available. We have gathered (and are
continually adding to) items such as tilesets, creatures, interior and
exterior statics, and utilities that have been released. In all cases,
these resources are either freely available for the modding community
(as expressly indicated by their creators in the resource mod readmes)
or written permission has been granted directly. (And yes, we certainly
are keeping track of permissions!) These things go a long way towards
getting the mod up to speed and they provide us with items that can be
developed specifically for HR as of this moment.
Finally, we want to keep this mod organized and focused. One of the
greatest weaknesses of the original High Rock project was its lack of
coherent organization. To that end, we have done a tremendous amount of
pre-planning on everything, from how the forums will be set up to how
to divide the core team responsibilities, including what kind of skills
we’ll need for development of the mod and how we intend to handle
development problems as they arise. The old project is a priceless
example of what to fix, what to keep and what needs an overhaul – we
are learning from our mistakes and keeping our successes wherever
possible. This post has been edited 6 time(s), it was last edited by Braggi: 2008.10.04 07:13.
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