The Elder Scrolls Renewal Project
The Elder Scrolls Renewal Project is a fan volunteer effort to remaster video games in The Elder Scrolls series.
History
The team is best known for its Skywind project, which seeks to remaster the 2002 The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind in the 2011 The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim game engine.[1] The Renewal Project began with Morroblivion, a Morrowind remaster in the 2006 The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion engine, prior to Skyrim's release. The mod was publicly available on the team's website in 2008.[2] It continued development into 2012 as volunteers began work in the Skyrim engine,[3] coordinated through the Morroblivion website's forums.[4]
Another volunteer team works separately on Skyblivion, a similar but separate project to remaster The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion in the more advanced Skyrim engine. As of mid-2014, the project sought outside help from visual artists and declined voice actors, as Oblivion already featured a full voice cast.[5] The team released a development trailer in May 2014 that showed the remaster in early development,[6] and a gameplay trailer a year later. As of 2015, the game lacked navmesh, a mechanism by which non-player characters wander an environment without becoming lost in other assets.[7] The remaster has no set release date.[8]
Skywind
Skywind is a remastering of Morrowind (2002) in the Skyrim game engine (2011). The original game developers, Bethesda Softworks, have given project volunteers their approval.[1] All original game assets, including textures, music, quests, and gameplay, were planned to be redesigned. The remastering team involves over 70 volunteers in artist, composer, designer, developer, and voice acting roles. They released several videos highlighting their development progress. In November 2014, the team reported to have finished half of the remaster's environment, over 10,000 new dialogue lines, and three hours of series-inspired soundtrack. Players were able to download and play an unfinished version of the release until late 2014 when the volunteer team chose to divert assets to development instead of user support. A March 2015 update showed updated levels. The developers wrote that they were not close to a release despite technical indications from their project's version number.[9] The team released its public alpha, an unfinished test version, in mid-2015, but was soon withdrawn.[1] After a year, the project team released its fourth update, which was designed to solicit volunteers for the remaining work.[10]
References
- 1 2 3 Owen S. Good. "Fans remastering Morrowind give another glimpse of its landscape". Polygon.
- ↑ Mike Fahey. "Morroblivion - You Got Your Morrowind In My Oblivion". Kotaku. Gawker Media.
- ↑ Alexa Ray Corriea. "Skywind project mods 'Morrowind' into 'Skyrim'". Polygon.
- ↑ Jason Schreier. "Morrowind Modded Into Skyrim Is Something You Must See". Kotaku. Gawker Media.
- ↑ Owen S. Good. "'Skyblivion' seeks to recreate The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion with Skyrim's engine". Polygon.
- ↑ "Skyblivion trailer shows Oblivion's opening locations recreated in Skyrim". PC Gamer.
- ↑ "Tour the world of Skyblivion in new 45-minute gameplay trailer". PC Gamer.
- ↑ "Skyblivion! Gawp At The Skyrim Remake Of Oblivion". Rock Paper Shotgun.
- ↑ "Ambitious The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and Morrowind Crossover Mod Gets a New Trailer". GameSpot.
- ↑ Owen S. Good. "Fan-made Morrowind remaster gives another look at the progress they've made". Polygon.