You should have acted.
They're already here.
The Elder Scrolls told of their return.
The dev diaries are back!
Hello, Mr. Cosmogone here for a long-awaited dev diary about your favorite mod, Lordbound! But first, a bit about myself. You can scroll down to the pretty pictures instead if you cannot wait to see them.
I joined the project several years back, working as what we called internally a "Core Designer". It was my responsibility to design and implement new spells, weapons, armors, potions, enemies, and whatnot. Quest rewards, unique items, and more mundane things fell under my dominion. After a few years, I started helping on level design - initially a little, then more and more, until it became all I did. In the meantime, my IRL professional focus was narrative design. Like a good Skyrim player, you can see that I leveled up a bit of everything!
The latest big Lordbound thing happened some time ago when our beloved Neshkor felt like he had a right to a personal life (he does) and that he should step down from his lead position (he did.) The stage was set for a coup, and soon after, I was wearing the Lordbound crown. Yay!
Actually… not that yay. It came with significant challenges. Coming out of COVID everyone in the team was worn out, myself included. At that point, we'd been working on this mod for a long time, and several members, for various reasons decided they didn't want to continue. Many of us joined to get the chance of working on a significant portfolio piece that would get us a job in the games industry, and for many of us, it did! But with jobs come responsibilities, and those are fine motivation killers.
The gist of it is that both real-life and different projects have snatched back quite a few of our team members, and we've been operating on meager resources for the past few years. Progress still happens, but the pace is slow. I know this isn't the best news to read, but in the spirit of transparency: this is where things are.
Don't worry too much though! We already have a lot, and what we have is pretty damn cool. Trust me on that!
That was the not so good news, now let's move on to the good stuff!
The title mentioned a road and a map, but I will not give you a roadmap (things are progressing way too erratically for that, as is the way of modding. Sorry!) Instead, feast your eyes on the map of the Druadach Valley in all its glory!
To the east lies Highreach Hold. Home to respected wizards, the eponymous capital was established on a rocky spur in 2E 767 and has stood for generations, proud of both its magical tradition, and its independence.
The northern mountains of the valley around Highcrown Peak, previously home to the Dwemer, are today the territory of fierce Reachmen who wage relentless guerilla warfare upon the other inhabitants of the valley. They have never been amenable folks, but scattered reports of dark magic have recently surfaced. Some suspect that in the shadows, a terrible pact has been struck.
Gardale was a peaceful town before the return of the Empire in the valley. Trade with Highreach and Garshakur ensured the prosperity of the settlement despite Reachman raids. The arrival of Imperial forces in the valley will upset the delicate balance of power, and no matter what transpires, Gardale's central position will see the town caught in the middle.
In the middle of inhospitable marshes, Motte Malgorath is one of the Orcish strongholds in the region, and protects the south border from any would-be invaders. Centuries ago, a Nord warband unceremoniously met their doom in the fetid bog. Only fools would dare venture here unprepared.
To the south is Tangled Moot, a largely unpopulated section of the valley. The Moot is home to a diverse mix of prowling Reachmen and peaceful Giants, all of them living amongst centuries-old Dwemer ruins and long abandoned settlements.
To the west stands Garshakur. Here the Orcs led by Chief Gorek, the champion of Malacath, have forged a new home for themselves. Any who attempts to take it from them shall pay the price in blood, for Malacath's faithful will accept nothing less in the name of the mighty Garshakur.
That's all we have for today, folks!
Next time, likely in two or three months (we promise!) we'll take a deep dive into Highreach Hold with pictures, stories and more.
We are always open for recruitment! We'd love to hear from you. We are specifically looking for people with relevant experience for the following roles:
- Video Editor
- Visual Artist
- World Designer
- Quest Designer
- Living World Designer (City interactions)
For more information, check the Lordbound Discord and contact Mr. Cosmogone#8050 or Neshkor#6497
-Mr. Cosmogone
The weary lord arose in ire
As dragons pierced the sky
Dancing, burning, every dream
As death became his plight
The knife inside the family tree
The corpse with every lash
Honor came to rob his sight
And steal his seat of ash
He stood upon the frozen rim.
With graves for dying wyrms,
And prayers fit for every end,
But not the one he earned.
As heavens doused the dragons' flame
And heavens crushed his breath
The fallen rose and never knew
The cold embrace of death
Honestly what I don't get is why at some point you had to decide to totally remake one of the cities initially you worked on.. this happened a few years ago, additionally I remember you used to give a kind of "3 mainquests quests progress update" also a few years ago, then again, nothing..
So why? Why working on something and at some point change everything? these projects are absolutely hard to make, we get it and we can't say nothing because any of you must do what he\she wants with his time, but in all sincerity, this looks like something that is not going to end..
So.. at this point, after 7\8 years of development if I'm not wrong, where is exactly the project? are you implementing quests or are you landscaping? cause the first could suggest something close to an end, the second, after so many years looks like we are still very very far away, as my hope to try it.
Sorry for harsh comment, but being honest I didn't want to say the usual words "take your time don't rush it and make a good mod", I would instead tell you "do something not perfectly and later on if you are still there, repair it with a bugfix"
that said, good luck, I hope this will release
Development hell
Interesting
it might be a good idea to upload a WIP pre-release for feedback, alot of mods end up dead in the water with nothing to show for it
Hi there would really recommend crossposting to /r/skyrimmods. It's an exciting update with beautiful screenshots. I do check this site periodically waiting for updates but most people aren't going to see this. Could give you the volunteers you seem to desperately need!
Also - I do think if the project is as you say without many people working on it you may benefit from working towards a pre-release. Something like the Beyond Skyrim folks team have done, with Bruma, or even on a very small scale where they release a Dungeon/armor/flollower stand alone into the Skyrim worldspace. It will get a lot more eyes and fresh excitement on your mod project, and would be a meaningful milestone IMO
Just my two cents. Really looking forward to the mod and tbh, I have rewatched that first impressive trailer the team put out multiple times over the last 5 years, and it's just as epic as it ever was. Good luck to the team and project!
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