KEY INFO
Platform: PC
Release: Portfolio piece for Skyrim Special Edition
Timeframe: About a month so far (split across several)
Tools: Creation Kit
Skills: Level and Mission Design
Lokir’s Rest: Creation Kit Practice Level (WIP)
For this project, I have been working in Creation Kit loosely following the Bethesda Creation Kit tutorial series to create a multi-room dungeon space. It has been a great exercise in level design and implementation, allowing me to explore the creation of a brand new Nordic ruin dungeon within a game I’m already very familiar with.
I’ve been keeping detailed blogs breaking down my work so far in detail, documenting my challenges and design decisions on the level. You can find my design blog here, but I’ve included a brief rundown on latest takeaways below.
THE STORY SO FAR
Using the tutorial layout as a guide, I started by creating a set of interconnected rooms using the Nordic ruin asset kit. Since the original tutorial layout is designed to teach folks how to use the engine rather than create particularly compelling level design, I let myself be guided by my own instincts and curiosity as I developed the skeleton of the layout.
On the left you can see the current state of the map. The cave is noticeably larger than the base tutorial guide with a stream running through it, and I have branched out into other room kits like the large room and catacombs kits (where the tutorial only uses the small room). I also added a Hall of Stories, showcasing where I implemented my own unique Puzzle Door at the end of it.
To create some context for the space, I researched the kinds of people and deities that would have been involved with a Nordic burial ruin in Skyrim, and developed a small narrative conceit:
Like many ruins across Skyrim, this funerary shrine to Akatosh has been inhabited by a group of necromancers making use of the corpses available in the burial chamber. They haven’t been able to figure out how to get past the puzzle door in the hall of stories, and they have no idea what lies beyond it. What they don’t know is that right under their noses is the key - Lokir’s Claw. Using the key, the Dragonborn is able to access the chamber beyond the puzzle door and find the cave, home to an ancient shrine to Nocturnal.
To date, here are some of the implementation highlights:
Setting up the initial layout
Creating the cave, adding water planes and water VFX
Adding some basic clutter and swapping out kit pieces to make the spaces more “ruined”
Developing a basic mission narrative to inform the feel of the different spaces and the player’s goal in the space
Implementing some NPCs and enemies, adding patrol points and experimenting with tweaking their behaviour
Navmeshing for the NPCs
Adding an entrance and exit trigger
Implementing the puzzle door set up and key
Next Steps…
My upcoming changes for the level will focus on solving some of the level design issues outlined in my blog, and covering:
Adding loot, especially in the rooms with enemies
Add more clutter to the lower burial chamber
Improving the encounter in the big hall
Improving readability of the cave and adding an encounter
Adding optimisation zones and portals to the level
General lighting pass
World hookup
I’m also going to develop a short questline to go with the cave. More on that soon!