Interviewer:
Hello and welcome to this interview with team leader and scripter on the Thorlak Island mod, Nic-V.
Nic-V:
Hello there.
Interviewer:
Let's start with a question I know has been on the minds of many in the last weeks, a Thorlak Island prerelease in december? Is it true, when is it going to be possible to download and what is going to be in it?
Nic-V:
Yes it is in fact true. We're aiming for the 25th. Well we're not exactly aiming we promise it will be up for download by then. It will contain a lot of the features that will appear in the full mod just not in the same scale. What I mean is a lot of quests, creatures and some land is not available etc. For a more precise list you can refer to our list on ModDB.
Interviewer:
Sounds pretty cool, can't wait to play it! A little question, you have not always been the Thorlak Island team leader, what happened? In the start you were just the scripter if I understand correctly?
Nic-V:
Well I was merely a scripter when I joined the team. In fact I was the only scripter and I still am [laughs]. With the old team leader Indiana Bones being much too busy with school it ended up being me doing all his work and in the end it became too much and he just handed me the title. As for power within the mod it hasn't changed a lot. We're a democratic mod and I make sure to hear every persons opinion on all matters. I don't want to say a bad word about our old team leader but he was a bit too neutral if you get my meaning
Interviewer:
Okay then. You have made other mods, most known is Nic-V's Better Beggars or simply NBB that you made in cooperation with Haulik who is also the quest writer in Thorlak Island if I understand correctly. What made you join a mod like Thorlak, much bigger then the things you have been working with before? And is it a coincidence that Haulik also works on this mod?
Nic-V:
I always liked working with quests although few of my own mods have allowed me to do that. When I saw how Indiana Bones put up a nice description of an interesting story I became interested. I remember Indie being very engaged in the project and I think that's a part of why I joined. I viewed the screenshots but I didn't download the preview Indie put up for download. Then I contacted him about joining. I have always loved working with Haulik because of his intuitive ideas and suggestions. I think we make a great team so I practically forced Indie to let him join [laughs]. Well it worked and I think it's safe to say we have some of the most engaging side quests I've seen.
Interviewer:
Fantastic [laughs]. If you had to pick three key words to describe Thorlak what would they be?
Nic-V:
Three words? I hate when you do that three words thing [laughs]. Well I'd say snow, story and features I think. I do think these are the things we do best.
Interviewer:
[Laughs] Okay then, Nic. What are you and the team working on right now?
Nic-V:
Wrapping it all up for the prerelease. We're doing some quest polishing, improvements to the dialogue and of course bugfixing. We really want to release this year so I'm sorry to say some improvements to the environment have been cut but I hope to be done in time to make some of them. That's our exterior modder, tomnl doing that stuff by the way
Interviewer:
Now it's time to be a bad cop, what makes Thorlak Island different from all other island mods, why should people spend time on downloading it?
Nic-V:
You know I really like acting the bad cop. First of what I am aware of there are very few full fledged islands out there. And I'm not counting all those "zomg it's a ownable castle on an island!" mods. Not that I despise these at all but I don't think their in the exact same genre. With that said I think people will find that Thorlak Island has an atmosphere you won't find that many places. And our quests are just too cool to be true. I think people are going to want to download this mod to see what it is and I definitely think that just with this prerelease we have enough content to match all island mods out there. Not that I am making myself a professor in those things though as I don't use too many mods myself.
Interviewer:
Oh, you sound like you know what you are talking about [laughs]... Okay back to good cop again. There have been some rumors about children NPC's on Thorlak. Is that true? When i first heard it i was like "Sounds cool, but how the hell? And why".
Interviewer:
Oh, you sound like you know what you are talking about[laughs]... Okay back to god cop agein there has been some rumors about there is going to be children NPC's on thorlak is that true? When i first heard it i was like "Sounds cool, but hooow the hell? And why".
Nic-V:
Oh yes that's quite true. We have been working much with expanding the features of Oblivion and putting new ones in. So one day it just came up while I was speaking with Haulik and we were both like "wouldn't it be cool to actually include children?". After quickly bringing up the idea with tomnl I started working. Children work a little different than other NPCs in that you can't actually start a real dialogue with them. Instead they will use what we refer to as "ActiveTalk". Also something else is that you will see the children playing in the streets while randomly laughing now and then. It's a really cool feature that we hope to use more than we have done currently. Right now children play a part in one quest only.
Interviewer:
But can you kill them?
Nic-V:
Yes you can kill them. I don't answer to the ESBR or PEGI so I don't see killing children as a problem. Almost all NPCs are killable, even those required for quests.
Interviewer:
Killing children! Oh my god [laughs] they didn't even allow that in Fallout 3. But killable quest NPC? How does that work?
Nic-V:
Well it's quite simple. Everything you do has a consequence. It's like that in real life and it's like that in this mod. If you kill an NPC from a quest you may never learn of the existence of that quest. It gives some more things to think about before you go on a rampage or something like that. Killing NPCs can also break quests while in the process of doing them. In this case you will be notified and the quest will end. Sometimes a quest will ask you to kill an NPC (if you choose so). In this case it is for certain that it will not break a quest. We're not trying to make people break quests but it is an option that I think brings much more soul to the mod.
Interviewer:
Sounds cool, do you have any last words? Before we kill you? [laughs]
Nic-V:
Yes I would like to say a few things about the dynamic night/day system. It is a thing we haven't been talking too much about. The lighting inside houses changes at 7am and 8pm. It changes the lighting in interiors between night and day and also candles will be lit and snuffed. But I think that's all I want to say then.
Interviewer:
Okay, then thanks for your time Nic! And we can't wait for the prerelease!
Nic-V:
See you!
