Been a bit since we heard from Skywind, the mod remaking The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind inside The Elder Scrolls 5, which is a fancy way of saying ‘fan-made port to an upgraded engine.’ At this point it has clearly gone far, far beyond that humble description, with modders remaking and wholesale reinventing the environments, models, and game mechanics from Morrowind within the Skyrim engine. The mod team’s fifth, newest Developer-Diary-cum-community-update shows off lots of nice, new things:
Starting off by showcasing new landscapes and environments, the video details the depth of design that has gone into the game. The team’s work is in many ways indistinguishable from professional material, with impressive equipment and tools shown off at every level. That’s not really something I say lightly because I literally speak to and look at the work of professional game designers for a living. This is the kind of work that shows off a fascinating, unique thing about our modern era of game design: The professionals and amateurs have access to nearly identical tools. What I’m saying is that someone should give the Skywind team a few hours in a mocap studio.
If you’re interested in helping out, the Skywind team needs a few things right now: They need game concept artists, experienced QA members, experienced project managers, and capable level design artists. Those without too many technical skills are also invited to help the project by doing extremely simple audio editing work on voice lines. You can find out more about Skywind on The Elder Scrolls Renewal: Skywind website.
