Skyblivion dev diary shows how far they've come

The team of modders working on Skyblivion—porting the entirety of Oblivion and its expansions into the latest version of the Creation Engine used in Skyrim—have released their first development diary. It catalogues the history of the mod, going all the way back to its humble beginnings as a solo project in 2012, through its surge in volunteers thanks to a popular trailer in 2016, up until now.

One of the interesting details is that they're not aiming for a one-to-one recreation of Oblivion, saying that, "its generated world left a lot to be desired" and that they're making changes in the landscape "using pre-established lore, and a bit of creative licence." That includes more plants and other assets in each area than Oblivion's version of the Creation Engine was capable of.

The UI is also being changed, as they "needed something soft, elegant, and not as dark and Nordic as Skyrim's UI" and Oblivion's UI was no looker either. Some of Oblivion's mechanics are being preserved, like spellcrafting, quick-casting, and underwater combat. Personally I wouldn't mind if they skipped item repair, but spellcraft was always fun.

Also of note, while the original score will remain, two composers working with the team are adding to it. As they point out, Oblivion had only 26 minutes of exploration music—over an hour less than Skyrim. Frankly, I turn the music off in Elder Scrolls games after a while and play my own, both to avoid the repetition and because sudden combat music is jarring, but I'll certainly listen to the new stuff once or twice.

You can find out more at the official site. And while Skyblivion is obviously a long-term project with a ways to go, it's worth pointing out that Morroblivion is fully playable and contains all of Morrowind's quests.

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Jody's first computer was a Commodore 64, so he remembers having to use a code wheel to play Pool of Radiance. A former music journalist who interviewed everyone from Giorgio Moroder to Trent Reznor, Jody also co-hosted Australia's first radio show about videogames, Zed Games. He's written for Rock Paper Shotgun, The Big Issue, GamesRadar, Zam, Glixel, Five Out of Ten Magazine, and Playboy.com, whose cheques with the bunny logo made for fun conversations at the bank. Jody's first article for PC Gamer was about the audio of Alien Isolation, published in 2015, and since then he's written about why Silent Hill belongs on PC, why Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale is the best fantasy shopkeeper tycoon game, and how weird Lost Ark can get. Jody edited PC Gamer Indie from 2017 to 2018, and he eventually lived up to his promise to play every Warhammer videogame.