FULL PLAYTHROUGH
overview
DEVELOPMENT INFOGame: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Engine: Creation Kit Development Time: 4 weeks (225 hours) Game Type: First Person Adventure Playtime: 15-20 minutes |
DESIGN GOALSStory based gameplay
Create an idyllic floating island Two main paths, one for melee another for magic players Target puzzles using archery or magic |
story
The story is told from several points of view: the quest giver, Zyme and his allies, the Captain of an Imperial squad tasked with escorting a group of unusual mages up Hammer Mountain, a mercenary band paid to investigate the interior of Hammer Mountain and two spellswords on the run from a bizarre cult. I decided to scatter some books around the play areas so the player can put the pieces together himself.
I'm a fan of the illusion of choice in stories. In this case, I wanted to make the player feel like nothing good came from taking the quest. If the player ignores the backstory, the true villain remains obscure, however if the player learns all he can, nothing will change due to the uncontrollable hate or obsessive ambition of the main characters.
File size issues prevent me from including the books in the full playthrough video so I have posted them here.
Alexander's Diary (pt.1) Rachel says I should start doing this too, for posterity or whatever. Seems to work for her so I'll give it a try, feels stupid though. It's been three months since we left the monastery where we'd lived since our childhood. It feels strange just... doing whatever it is we're doing. I don't know how to describe it. I think we're just doing nothing, day in and day out. It's relaxing. All we need is a permanent place to live, secluded from everything, and that's almost complete.
Alexander's Diary (pt.2) I guess I should start at the beginning. I lived in a small village in the middle of nowhere until I was around 12. Rachel lived there too, but we didn't know each other back then, she's a few months younger than I am. Anyway, life there was normal I suppose. I woke up to screams one night. It sounded like a bandit raid so I grabbed my father's wood axe from the wall (don't know what I expected to do, honestly) and went out to investigate. When I opened my door I saw nothing. No battle, no fires, no chaos. But something felt wrong. There was no movement anywhere, usually there's a night guard or someone leaving the commons, but that night, nothing. I saw a strange cloud in the distance, I had barely noticed it when it suddenly started moving towards me.
Alexander's Diary (pt.3) As the cloud came towards me, it moved through a nearby house. I heard a short scream that came from inside and then more silence. I don't know what came over me but I ran blindly from that cloud. I kept going until a saw another face. I was pulled inside one of the houses I had never been in before, I later learned it was Rachel's home, her parents saw me and guessed something was wrong. I don't really remember what happened next, I guess that thing followed me inside. The next thing I remember, I was lying in a large yet shallow crater, Rachel was sitting next to me, terrified. After I pulled myself together I took her and climbed out. I realized we hadn't moved at all, but something had destroyed her house but somehow left us unharmed. As we walked back to the village center, we noticed everyone in town was dead. But not by weapon or magic...just dead.
Alexander's Diary (pt.4) I think we slept in the park that night, it was the only place without bodies of people we knew. Honestly, I thought the world ended. But the next morning a religious group I'd never heard of before passed through. (I didn't think anything of how convenient it was back then.) Long story short, we were adopted (so to speak) and lived with them for several years. Rachel and I quickly learned magic, I got better with a sword.
Alexander's Diary (pt.5) Rachel and I become close shortly after we'd been adopted into our new home, we were always together. Probably something to do with being the only survivors from our village. Our new life was strange, everyone seemed to take notice of us. Yes our circumstances were unusual, but people knew of almost everything we did. We later learned that they had been watching us at all times. I'm getting ahead of myself. The man who led this religion was a man named Zyme. For a long time he wouldn't say much about what their beliefs were (the deaths of everyone we knew also killed what ever faith we had, I thought at the time he understood that was being respectful), just that they worshipped Akatosh and were persecuted because of it. He had asked us to study magic and weaponry in case they came under attack. We agreed because we were "indebted to them for rescuing us".
Alexander's Diary (pt.6) They were attacked, of course, and Rachel and I helped them fight back. This happened several times over the years, by the same group of templars. After some time I overheard a conversation between Zyme and one of the other higher-ups. They were talking about Akatosh and the rest of their insane beliefs. They believe that Akatosh has taken mortal form and lost its memories, but retained some of its powers. If they re-awaken Akatosh, it would reward them with power and immortality, but the only way to do so would be to destroy its mortal form, in body and mind. When they came across my childhood village, they felt a strong magical energy, but couldn't figure out who it emanated from. So one of their mages summoned a poisonous cloud of magic that killed everyone it touched, believing that the only one who'd survive would be Akatosh. Having two of us survive threw them for a loop for a while.
Alexander's Diary (pt.7) I left with Rachel that same day. I figured we could disappear somewhere, but they kept finding us. We killed whoever came after us, but more would always come. The last time they found us, they brought Zyme's granddaughter, a promising temporal mage Rachel had looked after for a while after she was born. Zyme had told her learning a powerful time manipulation would make us happy, and to go show it to us when it was complete. When she activated the spell, time began unraveling, it was far too powerful for her. If it continued the whole world would be at risk. I tried to get her to stop, but she wouldn't listen, she said Zyme would be mad at her if she did. We tried everything we could think of, but nothing worked. I had to kill her. She was six. We realized that we'd never be safe until they were all dead, starting with Zyme.
Alexander's Diary (pt.8) We went back to the monastery where we had spent the last several years. We killed everyone. But there was no sign of Zyme. We looked for him for a couple of months but found nothing. Finally we decided to settle down and build a place of our own, away from Tamriel, and away from Zyme. We returned to the place where I killed that child. There were still distortions in time around that area, with a little work, the two of us enclosed the area around Hammer Mountain in a temporal bubble. We're just about finished building our new home. I'm not concerned about Zyme. He's weak and has few followers left. He'll come to us eventually. He has to. He has nothing else.
Alexander's Diary (pt.9) Rachel's been everything to me since then. I don't know what'd I'd have done if I had been alone when I woke up in that crater. She's brash and impulsive, but she keeps me grounded. Why am I writing this in a book?
Rachel's Diary (pt.1) I think this my sixth diary now. It's always strange when I look back on my younger self and read my thoughts at the time. It's obvious to me now how and when everything went wrong, but back then I had no idea what was happening. During my time in the monastery, I studied Restoration magic, and became a proficient healer. I spent a lot of time patching up Alex during and after the raids. As time went by I grew frustrated with my choice in magic, I could only help after the battles. I asked Alex to teach me destruction magic and how to use a mace. He was against it for a long time, but I finally convinced him.
Rachel's Diary (pt.2) Alex burst into our room earlier, he was incoherent, talking about Akatosh and our families. When he calmed down, he told me about Zyme's ambition - he believes Akatosh has taken human form but lost its memories. He thinks one of us is it, and he destroyed our home and killed our families to find out. It's hard to take in all of this, but I believe it. They've been treating us strangely since we arrived, we've rarely left the monastery this whole time, and they've always expected us to fight for them. They want to draw out Akatosh by breaking its human form, so they subjected us to all of this chaos since we were kids. We're leaving once we get everything together, and burn through anyone who tries to stop us.
Rachel's Diary (pt.3) They came after us again. I cornered one of the survivors after the battle and had him explain who he was, he claimed to be a templar. I had always wondered who the people that raided the monastery all those times were. They were more of Zyme's followers, the monastery and the templars are the same organization. Zyme manipulated all of these people to their deaths for his own ego. We may have to hunt him down, he isn't going to stop unless we make him.
Rachel's Diary (pt.4) Another group came after us today, they had Zyme's granddaughter with them...I practically raised her since she was born.... I can't write about it.
Rachel's Diary (pt.5) We annihilated the monastery today, good riddance. We couldn't find Zyme though, but we'll come across him soon enough. If not, he'll come to us. He's too obsessed not too.
Rachel's Diary (pt.6) We set up a time barrier around Hammer Mountain. With a little work, we can make a home here. I think I feel...relaxed. It's been so long since I've felt at peace like this. I was thinking of starting a family. I'll have to ask Alex about names.
Rachel's Diary (pt.7) Some strange things have been happening lately, to say the least. The wildlife here is docile around us, not as though they're afraid of us, but more like respect. I don't understand it.
Rachel's Diary (pt.8) A dragon! It spoke to us! (It's strange that it didn't attack us but this is weirder, by the way his name is Vahlok). Something about being the guardian of time, he sensed the rift in time around here and set out to fix it. He perfected the barrier around the mountain and is apparently going to stick around to guard it (the fabric of time is still very damaged from that one time...). Apparently that makes him an ally. I'm speechless.
Captain's Log (b5 p37) Captain's Log: I'm to set out for a place called Hammer Mountain with a small group of settlers and a minor peacekeeping/bodyguard force next dawn. Supposedly it's in a clearing near some dwarven ruins to the north of Riften. Gotta be a mistake, my map shows nothing but a frozen hellhole up there. Maybe they plan to settle inside the ruins, no way anyone would choose to live in that climate.
Captain's Log (b5 p120) Captain's Log: Passed by some strange stone east of the river. Had one of those summoned creatures etched into it. We examined the stone but nothing happened, it's likely a shrine to a god or daedra or some shit, best to leave it alone. We plan on passing this area by entirely tonight, some claimed to see a large winged figure on the horizon. Now rumors of dragons are spreading, ridiculous as it may seem. Again, better to move on as quickly as possible...just in case.
Captain's Log (b5 p312) Captain's Log: I don't usually get involved with clients, just do my job, get paid and go home; hopefully with as little horseshit as possible. But there's something about these people. I get that we're going into the mountains - for exploration, mining, who cares - but they're carrying a lot of armor. Weapons and magic I understand, you never know what kind of crap can come at you around here, and some armor makes sense. But they have a lot of armor. More than one suit per person. And I don't understand why, half of them are mages, doubt they even wear armor. There's no towns nearby so they aren't gonna sell them, besides they have enough money if they're paying me and my regiment to tag along. Which is exactly what we're doing, tagging along. They have enough firepower here, they don't need us to guard them. I don't like it, I think they're looking for a fight. Just gotta get to where we're going, get paid and leave.
Captain's Log (b5 p441) Captain's Log: They're definitely looking for someone. I overheard something about two people that have been giving my clients hell for several years, and apparently my clients have had enough. Wouldn't want to be those two, especially with all the armaments here. But if they think I'm getting involved, they're wrong. I don't get paid enough for this. Money or none, I only take a job when Commander okays it. Some harmless old guy named Zyme paid for all this, but I don't like it. This job was supposed to have been investigated so we don't have any surprises. Wonder how much my 'clients' paid to skip that step.
Captain's Log (b5 p544) Captain's Log: The closer we get to this Hammer Mountain, the stranger things become. We'd set up camp for the night and went to bed. But when we awoke it was still dark. When I asked the nightguard how long it'd been, he told me a strange story. He'd been watching the stars when a small flash of light appeared in the sky. He looked up to see a floating island. In the sky. (I've seen and heard some strange things in my day but this is just bizarre.) Apparently it was only there for a few minutes, so he thought he had imagined it. Several hours later, when I woke up he looked at the sky again and said that stars hadn't moved since then, as if time had stopped. To hell with the Commander and to hell with the pay, there's some strong magic at work here. My clients know about it and I want a explanation.
Merc's note (pt.1) We got hired by these annoying guys to investigate some mountain. We got there but can't even get inside, some kind of magic barrier I'd never seen before. Oh well, easiest money I ever made.
Merc's note (pt.2) Bah my benefactors knocked down that magic wall or whatever so we gotta go back inside to get paid. Not sure why they need us to though, seems like a waste of money to hire us when they can just do it themselves. Like I care, so long as I get paid.
Merc's note (pt.3) What the hell is this place? Bodies everywhere, creatures popping out of the walls, strong magic everywhere. Fuck this. No reward is worth this.
screenshots
design challenges
- Create a tandem boss battle: two enemies that help each other in battle
- Create target puzzles with both magic and archery components
Scripting Commentary
Target puzzles
Scriptname AAZDArrowHit extends ObjectReference Event OnHit(ObjectReference akAggressor, Form akSource, Projectile akProjectile, bool abPowerAttack, bool abSneakAttack, \ bool abBashAttack, bool abHitBlocked) if (akSource == AngiBow || akSource == BoundBow || akSource == DraugrBow || akSource == DrainspellBow || akSource == DaedricBow || akSource == DravinBow || akSource == DwarvenBow || akSource == ElvenBow || \ akSource == EbonyBow || akSource == FalmerBow || akSource == ForswornBow || akSource == FirinielBow || akSource == FrokiBow || akSource == GauldurBow || akSource == GlassBow || \ akSource == HuntingBow || akSource == ImperialBow || akSource == LongBow || akSource == NightingaleBow || akSource == NordHeroBow || akSource == OrcishBow) if (targetlight1.IsEnabled() == true) targetlight1.disable() else targetlight1.enable() endIf if (targetlight2.IsEnabled() == true) targetlight2.disable() else targetlight2.enable() endIf if (targetlight3.IsEnabled() == true) targetlight3.disable() else targetlight3.enable() endIf endIf if (targetlight1.IsEnabled() == false && targetlight2.IsEnabled() == false && targetlight3.IsEnabled() == false && targetlight4.IsEnabled() == false) arrowdoor.lock(false) if (arrowdoor.islocked() == false) Debug.MessageBox("You hear a nearby door unlock.") endIf endif EndEvent WEAPON Property AngiBow Auto WEAPON Property BoundBow Auto WEAPON Property DraugrBow Auto WEAPON Property DrainspellBow Auto WEAPON Property DravinBow Auto WEAPON Property DwarvenBow Auto WEAPON Property DaedricBow Auto WEAPON Property ElvenBow Auto WEAPON Property EbonyBow Auto WEAPON Property FalmerBow Auto WEAPON Property FirinielBow Auto WEAPON Property FrokiBow Auto WEAPON Property ForswornBow Auto WEAPON Property GauldurBow Auto WEAPON Property GlassBow Auto WEAPON Property HuntingBow Auto WEAPON Property ImperialBow Auto WEAPON Property LongBow Auto WEAPON Property NightingaleBow Auto WEAPON Property NordHeroBow Auto WEAPON Property OrcishBow Auto ObjectReference Property arrowdoor Auto ObjectReference Property targetlight1 Auto ObjectReference Property targetlight2 Auto ObjectReference Property targetlight3 Auto ObjectReference Property targetlight4 Auto
Scriptname AAZDHitTarget extends ObjectReference Event OnHit(ObjectReference akAggressor, Form akSource, Projectile akProjectile, bool abPowerAttack, bool abSneakAttack, \ bool abBashAttack, bool abHitBlocked) if (akSource == Flames || akSource == Firebolt ||akSource == FireRune || akSource == Fireball || akSource == FlameCloak || akSource == Incinerate || akSource == WallOfFlames || akSource == Firestorm) if (icelight.IsEnabled() == true && lightninglight.IsEnabled() == true) firelight.disable() endIf endIf EndEvent SPELL Property Flames Auto SPELL Property Firebolt Auto SPELL Property FireRune Auto SPELL Property Fireball Auto SPELL Property FlameCloak Auto SPELL Property Incinerate Auto SPELL Property WallOfFlames Auto SPELL Property FireStorm Auto ObjectReference Property magicdoor Auto ObjectReference Property firelight Auto ObjectReference Property icelight Auto ObjectReference Property lightninglight Auto
Scriptname AAZDIceHit extends ObjectReference Event OnHit(ObjectReference akAggressor, Form akSource, Projectile akProjectile, bool abPowerAttack, bool abSneakAttack, \ bool abBashAttack, bool abHitBlocked) if (akSource == Frostbite || akSource == IceSpike ||akSource == FrostRune || akSource == IceStorm || akSource == FrostCloak || akSource == IcySpear || akSource == WallOfFrost || akSource == Blizzard) if (firelight.IsEnabled() == false && lightninglight.IsEnabled() == true) icelight.disable() else firelight.enable() endIf endIf EndEvent SPELL Property Frostbite Auto SPELL Property IceSpike Auto SPELL Property FrostRune Auto SPELL Property IceStorm Auto SPELL Property FrostCloak Auto SPELL Property IcySpear Auto SPELL Property WallOfFrost Auto SPELL Property Blizzard Auto ObjectReference Property magicdoor Auto ObjectReference Property firelight Auto ObjectReference Property icelight Auto ObjectReference Property lightninglight Auto
Scriptname AAZDLightningHit extends ObjectReference Event OnHit(ObjectReference akAggressor, Form akSource, Projectile akProjectile, bool abPowerAttack, bool abSneakAttack, \ bool abBashAttack, bool abHitBlocked) if (akSource == Sparks || akSource == LightningBolt ||akSource == ChainLightning || akSource == LightningCloak || akSource == Thunderbolt || akSource == WallOfStorms || akSource == LightningStorm) if (icelight.IsEnabled() == true && firelight.IsEnabled() == false) firelight.enable() endIf if (firelight.IsEnabled() == false && icelight.IsEnabled() == false) lightninglight.disable() magicdoor.lock(false) if(doOnce == true) Debug.MessageBox("The door in front of you unlocks.") doOnce = false endIf endIf endIf EndEvent SPELL Property Sparks Auto SPELL Property LightningBolt Auto SPELL Property ChainLightning Auto SPELL Property LightningCloak Auto SPELL Property Thunderbolt Auto SPELL Property WallOfStorms Auto SPELL Property LightningStorm Auto ObjectReference Property magicdoor Auto ObjectReference Property firelight Auto ObjectReference Property icelight Auto ObjectReference Property lightninglight Auto Bool Property doOnce Auto
Maps
Design
Hammer Mountain - town
This section serves as the introduction to the Hammer Mountain quest. The town has already been destroyed at the start of the mission, there has clearly been a battle here, however it was completely one-sided, indicated by the multitude of bodies but no indication of who the attackers are.
This section also contains some background story if the player wishes to explore, notably the last travel log of an Imperial Captain who was tasked with escorting a group of mages up Hammer Mountain. |
Hammer Mountain - dungeon and summit
I had to blow up and rebuild the dungeon portion of Hammer Mountain 2 or 3 times throughout development. As I mention in a Scripting Video, the target puzzles were a last minute addition I added in order to salvage the dungeon section. The player just did nothing interesting in this whole section, whack an enemy here and there or just run through the whole thing to the exit...not very fun. I decided it needed a bit of one of my favorite game series: the Legend of Zelda. Target puzzles are a great way to keep a player in a room and make the player - think - of a way to continue. I have two types of puzzles in the dungeon, one for archery and one more magic in order to accommodate the various play styles in Skyrim. Only one of these puzzles needs to be completed in order for the player to move on, although I give the player the tools he needs to solve both.
The Dragon on the Summit was a challenge to get working properly, throughout development it would fly through the floor and the mountain. After weeks of attempts and little improvement, I decided to give up and just call it a ghost. That would explain why it flies through solid objects the way it does. Say it with me now: "it's not a bug, it's a feature". Much later I figured out how to fix these problems, however by then I liked the effect so much I decided to keep it. |
Shrine of Time
The Shrine of Time is meant to be an idyllic piece of land that was ripped straight out of the ground and transported into another dimension, cut off from time and space as we know it.
The first section the player comes across is the Shrine, designed to be both magic in some way and a large battlefield for the player's final boss fight. The rest is meant to show a very peaceful side to the Shrine and give insight to the people that chose to live there. The boss fight was fun to design. I like when enemies come at you with a strategy instead of blindly charging to their doom. It is also great if they can convey personality with their battle style. Both bosses interact with each other and react when the other is killed to show the player that these guys are special and not the boring, emotionless enemies he typically fights. |
post mortem
The ghost dragon is my second favorite thing I created in any project, it is such wonderful BS. Again, "it's not a bug, it's a feature". I struggled with the dragon for weeks before settling on turning it into a ghost on the last day of development. It was a very elegant solution to a problem I did not know how to fix at the time.
Everything that could have went wrong in development did go wrong, short of the editor itself breaking. I had problems in each section of this quest. Size problems, uneven flow, technical bugs, you name it, it happened in Hammer Mountain.