According to the new video, the majority of Skyblivion’s map is now in the final stages of development, and the work shown so far is seriously impressive. The video discusses how areas such as the forest surrounding the Orange Road have been adapted and improved for the remake. The team decided to make the forest “more lush and detailed than its original counterpart” and make it larger to give it a more prominent role in the game, citing the area’s ambience and popularity with players as the reason for giving it more attention.
Blackwood, meanwhile, has been given more fortifications and border gates to add points of interest. The new boggy marsh at the centre of Blackwood, called Blackmarch, looks suitably horrifying and spooky - promising players a subregion full of ruins and decay. The city of Leyawiin has been redesigned from the ground up “referencing concept art from Oblivion that was likely discarded owing to technical and time limitations”, with the city divided into three distinct sections. Boats are now able to sail right through the city, allowing them to go further inland.
The team has also been chipping away at the game’s forts, and 28 of Oblivion’s original 52 forts have now been completed since work began on them two months ago. The video provides a look at some of the intricate work carried out on these using the team’s new fort kit.
Since April, the team has also been working on interior locations for the city of Bravil - making everything from skooma dens to cosy inns - and all of these are now complete. Next on the to-do list are the cities of Bruma and Skingrad. In the cave and mines department, meanwhile, work has commenced on over 40 of the original 115 cave systems found in Oblivion. The team is looking for volunteers with creation kit experience to lend a hand with creating these.
The Skyblivion team seems to be on a recruitment drive for a number of other departments: the video also asks for volunteers to help with navmeshing, while coders are also required to build a tool to automate this process (using C++). The 3D modelling team has also been hard at work creating thousands of assets for the mod, with nearly all the weapon and armour sets now complete - but more volunteers are wanted to help with asset creation.
According to the mod project’s website, work on Skyblivion began back in 2012 - and the team size has now grown to include over 50 volunteers.
“What started out as a simple side project has evolved into one of the biggest modding projects to date,” the video concludes. “Despite the massive scope of this project, we are finally seeing the end of the road - but there is still work to be done.”
If you want to get involved, you can find the team’s volunteer application form here. There’s still no release date for the mod, but it sounds like another development diary is on the way, with the next one focused on “a deep dive into much-requested subjects” including “quests, mechanics and much more”.
