
Yes, its Ayleid ruins and the Empire’s architecture give the game some character, but players won’t find a ton to do while they’re adventuring in the world. Unlike Skyrim, Oblivion isn’t exactly filled with a lot of personality. Oblivion is a big game, bigger in fact than Skyrim, but you might not notice that during play. Trying to emulate the game development experience, though, also means facing the problems real developers face. There have been instances where a team lead asks someone with AAA game development experience to make something as simple as an outhouse. The mix creates a strange social dynamic for Skyblivion’s team leads. Others are simply hobbyists, people that like The Elder Scrolls and want to try their hand at developing something all their own. Some are experienced with 3D modeling or coding, with a small number of the team’s members being developers at major game studios. Skyblivion’s team today consists of over 40 members, all of whom, as mentioned, are volunteers. It’s the benefit that comes from a team of volunteers, on a project that, as Keyes describes it, is a “rare opportunity to almost go back in time and work on a game that’s one of your favorites.” Whereas some areas of Skyblivion are remade just as they were in Oblivion, others are brought into modernity with improvements. “The project is constantly swaying between a remaster and a remake” landscape lead Keyes tells Digital Trends. But the scope of Skyblivion was large, and in some cases varied. The trailer brought in a myriad of 3D artists and programmers, each of whom had to be put to work. By that time, the engine was outdated, but it was still a vast improvement on Oblivion, which was released in 2006. Titled “Return To Cyrodiil,” it offered the first look at Oblivion remade using Skyrim‘s Creation Engine. The mod’s development team truly exploded in late 2016, when its first real trailer was released. They would get others to join, so on and so forth. His pitch was accepted, and soon Rebel began recruiting people into what he called the “perfect pyramid scheme.” Instead, he pitched a project that would recreate Oblivion in its entirety rather than merely port it. Whereas the original duo who started the project simply wanted to convert the game, Rebel was far too big a fan of Oblivion to let that be the end of the story. That version of the game is broken, though, and for Rebel, far too small in scope. Create a tool that can convert the data to a readable format for Skyrim,” said Rebel. “The original goal was to convert Oblivion data to Skyrim.
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During those early days, Skyblivion was vastly different, with the two original creators of the mod seeking to make a crude port of Oblivion to Skyrim. Rebel, who joined the project while he was in college. Skyblivion’s current team lead - which in proper game development terms would equate to a game’s project lead or creative director - is K. The game, which members of the team share fond memories of and appreciate for its significance, is still an ever-evolving beast 10 years after its release - and its Anniversary Edition release is threatening to uproot the project once again. Instead, Skyrim itself, which the entire project is based on, has been the mod’s main antagonist. It’s hard to steer a ship effectively when the crew isn’t getting paid.īut an unpaid and inconsistent staff wasn’t the only issue encountered by Skyblivion’s developers. In fact, its volunteer-focused nature is part of why the project has been in development for so long.

Skyblivion is wholly a volunteer project, made up of talented Oblivion and Skyrim fans who also have a knack for coding or 3D modeling. None of the people making it have received a dime for their efforts. The project, which began in 2012 and has been in development ever since, is a work of passion.

Keyes is part of a large group of volunteers - set apart by being one of a handful of team leads - working on a mod called Skyblivion, which uses The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim to gift the joy of venturing through Cyrodiil in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion to a new generation. Instead of playing a game, he’s making one. You can often find Dee Keyes streaming on Twitch, but his stream isn’t like the myriad of chat-focused or gaming-centric channels users typically find on the platform.
