SKYRIM
Genre
Platform
Level Editor
- RPG
- PC
- Skyrim Creation Kit
Plan
I've always been a big fan of Bethesda and many of their titles, however Skyrim is, by far, my favourite. For this personal project I'm using the Skyrim Creation Kit, to make a cave system that breaks into a Nordic ruin. In there lies a Dragon Priest, buried along with his dragons. This is the overview of the whole dungeon:
Difference in elevation
Room 1 and 2 are rather simple caves with trolls as enemies.
The path that leads away from room 2, breaks into the wall of room 3 which is a part of the Nordic ruin. Multiple dragon skeletons can be found in holes in the floor. Weather these dragons were buried or trapped there, is up to the player to interpret. There will be no, or only a few enemies in this room. There is a big but inaccessible door on the right wall (same wall as room 5). This was used to bring in the big dragons in the old times.
Following the path will lead the player to room 4, a dining room where they will face draugrs. The path will then take the player upwards to an elevated ledge of room 3.
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Room 5 is a small room with an enchanter or such, with no enemies. It is accessible only from the upper ledge of room 3. There used to be a room next to this one but it is now collapsed.
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Following the ledge will lead to a corridor to room 6. The room is filled with sarcophagi and many draugrs rising from them.
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A staircase (7) will take the player upwards to a corridor that leads to room 8.
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Room 8 is the big boss room where a dragon priest is buried. There will be a few dragurs fighting alongside him. When the dragon priest is defeated, the player can proceed to a cave behind the tomb of the priest.
Here in room 9, three dragons where held up at the time of the dragon priests death. He possibly wanted them to come with him to the afterlife. Two chained down dragon skeletons are found in here and the broken chains of a third one that is now gone. The ceiling of the cave is broken and by the looks of it, two dragons got hit by the rocks and one managed to escape.
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By following a path and opening a hidden door, the player reach a ledge of the first cave. This ledge cannot be reached from the ground floor.
Room 1
The base
I made the first room rather simple; a fairly small cave with one pillar. Viewing from the entrance, there is a path to your left, further into the cave. This path leads to room 2. On the right wall, is a somewhat concealed ledge with a hidden door that can only be opened from the other side. Straight ahead is a small elevation of the ground floor.
Cluttered
I added some more rocks, boulders and dirt piles to hide repeating textures and also to make the room feel less flat and square. Making the cave simple with not much going on, will make the player focus more on the Norduc ruin and its narrative.
Because this cave is a troll's lair, it is fitting to put out remnants of past meals. Apart from some bloody bones in the entrance, I placed out a freshly killed deer and old human bones. There is also a quicksilver ore vein in the cave that has a broken down wooden structure under it. The story of this cave is that a human found it and decided to start up a small mine but soon ended up as a meal. The human skeleton has a pickaxe in its hand to show that he was a miner. He misses three limbs, though his left leg can be found in the same cave. There is a chest and some mushrooms in the room as well, that the player can loot/collect. At one place, the ceiling has broke and fallen rocks lies beneath it, creating another obstacle in the cave.
The cross-air points at the troll
Here is the navmesh and the troll's position.