Design Director - Beyond Skyrim: Iliac Bay
I find an incredible joy in creating highly interactive stories for players to experience, and leading a team of talented artists to a common goal. Up until the Coronavirus pandemic, that took the form of live threatre. Often interactive or experimental theatre. But as that industry shut down, I dipped my toes into a longstanding interest of mine: video games.
I joined Beyond Skyrim in September of 2020 as a writer for Beyond Skyrim: Iliac Bay. Early on, I also wrote dialogue and quests for the currently released version of Wares of Tamriel as well as Beyond Skyrim: Roscrea and Beyond Skyrim: Elsweyr.
In January of 2022, I took over as Writing Director of Beyond Skyrim: Iliac Bay. At the time, the writing department had no active writers. In only a few months, I revitalized the writing department and got us back on track. Slightly over a year later, Beyond Skyrim: Iliac Bay had over a dozen active writers, and though much of our writing progress got reset when I became director, we were farther along in our writing than the team had been in the roughly 9 years since its inception.
By July of 2023, I had gone beyond simply writing the quests, and began implementing the game logic for them myself. When the implementation department lead decided to step away, I stepped up and began leading the transition of existing writing into playable quests and settlements.
Now, in 2024, our team is gearing up for an upcoming release of several small zones which are fully playable. The team has gone from an internal reputation of toxic in-fighting to being one of the most productive and genuinely fun teams to be a part of within the Beyond Skyrim umbrella. And our next steps are only looking smoother thanks to the strong foundations we've put down.
Writing Sample - The Red Spot
Of course, I not only lead the writing department, but write dialogue and quests alongside them. While I have written dozens of quests and NPCs for the project at this point, I believe this recent work is best representative of my skills.
When going in, this quest has several needs. It is a "wilderness quest" for the large ruin of Ino Hirna, and so has to emphasize the amount of external exploration available in that area. Red Bonnie Reed and Jorri Half-Helve are actually quite close to each other, but the dense ruins make it easy to hide. It also could not involve the player delving into Ino Hirna's main interior, as that was reserved for another quest. And, of course, I have to abide by the standard line length restrictions and dialogue structures baked into the Skyrim Creation Kit.
The format is based on our Universal Style Guide that most Beyond Skyrim projects have adopted, which I was involved in organizing and iterating.
Writing Sample - Clear out the Creatures Freeform Quest
This is an example of a shorter, simpler freeform quest, utilizing the same format as the above Side Quest example. This quest is intended to make use of an empty island off the coast of Herne, and showcase our recently modeled Nereid creatures.
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Documentation Sample - Eko Hirna Planning
Clear and organized documentation is key to leading any team of writers, especially on a project so dense with lore and characters, politics and quests. As such, this is only a small sample of the breadth of documentation that I create for my writing team. Making sure the team knows where to go for the information they need is fundamental.
The document presented here is a planning document for the main village on the island of Herne. In the full document, all the names link to their respective NPC dialogue documents. Some of the later sections have been added as we moved on to quest writing and scenes with these characters.
All of the content listed here, save for some scenes between Chora NPCs, is currently implemented into Beyond Skyrim: Iliac Bay.
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Beyond Skyrim: Iliac Bay Creation Mod Con 2024 Showcase
I once again filmed and edited the Iliac Bay showcase for 2024. This one showcases less of my implementation work compared to last year's (besides implementing shovel sounds), but my skill at video editing has increased dramatically. I also particularly wanted to put my face into this showcase as a way to humanize the project, which has received some amount of hate online due to the perception that Beyond Skyrim is making no progress.
Creation Mod Con 2024
I once again took a leadership role on Creation Mod Con 2024, this time with an expanded team around me. We were able to expand our offerings, while lessening the strain the event places on individual projects. Additionally, we added a charity element and raised over $600 for Doctors Without Borders over the course of the event.
Beyond Skyrim: Iliac Bay Creation Mod Con 2023 Showcase
I also scripted, filmed, and implemented several sequences for Iliac Bay's 2023 showcase. All of the NPCs, dialogue, idle animations, navmeshing, and enemy placement featured in this walkabout was my work.
Creation Mod Con 2023
I became the Lead Organizer for Creation Mod Con 2023, when much of the previous leadership left. My experience in theatre production has really helped here, as event management is a skill I retain from that work. Below the videos are some examples of documentation I've made for the event, which followed us into 2024.
A portion of our programming schedule.
Our production schedule, which was the first thing organized and agreed on along with the show dates.
Our outreach form for tracking various projects which we contacted about participation in the event.
Creation Mod Con 2022
For Creation Mod Con 2022, I was involved with outreach to various content creators on Youtube. This led to a collaborative video with Beyond Skyrim: Iliac Bay and a well-known Elder Scrolls lore youtuber, FudgeMuppet. I was instrumental in getting this video made and getting Scott the resources he needed. I also spoke on the Iliac Bay showcase, as well as streaming that section of the online convention.
Abecean Teaser - Beyond Skyrim: Iliac Bay
I filmed this teaser trailer for Beyond Skyrim: Iliac Bay's contribution to Creation Mod Con 2022. I also compiled the script from dialogue written for Zaorir Twice-Dead by the wonderful Wyatt Boutilier, and some elements I added myself such as "The Abecean Awaits".
Within the team, I campaigned for various assets to be completed for the trailer, such as Fort Liminos and Zaorir who are featured prominently, and the new song which underscores the trailer. I then placed enemies, harvestables, and other assets into Skyrim Special Edition utilizing both the Creation Kit and in-game console. Using these, I set up shots, filmed, and edited the footage in Adobe Premiere Pro CC. I also composed the logo animation in Adobe After Effects CC.
Intermission Footage - Creation Mod Con 2022
For Creation Mod Con 2022, I also filmed and edited Beyond Skyrim: Iliac Bay's intermission footage. I set up scenes and weather within Skyrim Special Edition, filmed in-engine, and edited the footage in Adobe Premiere Pro CC. Much of the other intermission footage was done by Bustafooligan, while I managed other aspects of CMC 2022, including streaming and event organization. After the event, I compiled the intermission footage presented by each project and edited together this ambient mix for fans to enjoy.
Creation Mod Con 2021
For the first Creation Mod Con in 2021, I spoke on the writing panel, Unraveling the Scroll, as well as shooting and editing the intermission footage for Iliac Bay, and editing intermission footage for Atmora, Roscrea, and Skyblivion.
Wares of Tamriel
Earlier on in my time as a writer on Beyond Skyrim, I got the chance to work on some dialogue for the currently released mod, Wares of Tamriel. I wrote most of the rumors related to Iliac Bay, many of which you can hear in this play-through. I've set the video to begin on one of the lines that I wrote.