Early Design, Level Layout

I have decided to get back into creating Skyrim mods! Thus, I wanted to document my design process through this mini-blog! I will try to post an update at least once a week, but I am a busy person so I won't make any promises.

I haven't touched the Creation Kit since 2014 when I created my first player home mod, and I almost forgot how much I love using it. It's such a great tool, and I'm having a lot of fun with it. A lot of the process so far has simply been re-learning how to use the engine, naming conventions, and what assets are available to use in the kits. But it's all coming back to me pretty quickly.

My idea for this mod is that it will be a 3-level dungeon, but more so in the form of a tower. From a narrative perspective, I'm thinking this tower would have been at one point an outpost/camping site that the Nords of Skyrim may have used a long time ago if on the road to war. I was kind of imagining something like that scene in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King when the camera overlooks the Rohan encampment. This tower is now long forgotten and run-down, and currently being used by bandits.

Scene from The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)

​I thought the first thing I should do is go into this with a plan by sketching out some basic level layouts. I anticipate my levels will change as I iterate and learn to navigate the engine better, but I figured I needed somewhere to start. For these sketches, I wanted to be thinking about a few different things:

• Flow of the level, have stressful moments but also allow some breathing room for the player
• Architecture - keeping rooms and overall layout somewhat compact as they might be in a large tower
• Opportunity for exploration - include non-essential rooms with potential rewards
• Big reward at the end - by taking the quick exit, player will discover a secret underground passageway filled with loot

By taking this approach and having a plan at the start, I think I'll be able to work more efficiently. Again, as I playtest this level I'm sure there will be some iteration on these designs. Below you can have a quick look into what I've built so far: