Falskaar

By Alexander J. Velicky

http://youtu.be/BxWpfz06sgw

What is Falskaar?

Falskaar is a new lands mod that adds a brand new Expansion-sized land for the player to explore! It is lore friendly as far as not violating lore, though it doesn't exist in lore. (In other words it fits in perfectly. There are no purple unicorn ponies, or light sabers or anything ) At the end of the 2nd era, an expeditionary group wandering the hills of Skyrim finds an old Dwemer ruin. They explore it only to discover a mysterious portal of unknown origin. They cannot restrain their curiousity, so they activate the portal and pass through. They are met with the desolate, polar region of Falskaar, a small Island northeast of Tamriel. It's freezing cold, snowy everywhere, and void of almost all life. Through a miraculous turn of events, the land is transformed into a warm, inhabitable region. At least the Southern half of the island is, while the Northern half remains desolate and cold. The people flourish and develop. Over the next 600 years there are inevitably wars, conflict, and peace. However things take a turn for the worse, as people begin to flee the land, moving back to Tamriel. At present the people hold themselves together under the virtuous leadership of King Agnar Borvaldur, who's family has managed to keep peace for over 100 years. Though that peace, may soon be coming to an end...

Features

Upon completion Falskaar will feature:
- 20-30 quests, including a 9 quest long main story, 5-10 side quests, and a big heap of miscellaneous objectives!
- New items including new books, recipes, and potentially a couple weapons and a set or two of armor.
- New spells and dragon shouts.
- Potentially new birth stone powers.
- A bard with a whole array of brand new songs!
- Potentially custom exploration/battle music.

Falskaar will be fully voiced by a team of 31 hand picked voice actors!

Mauri Majanoja, Mick Mize (Currently performing in Cirque du Soleil!), and Robert S. Benjamin return from Deimos.

The cast also features Casey Mongillo who was in Red Dead Redemption, and Michael Johnston and River Kanoff who have both appeared in Xbox Live Arcade games!

I mean FULLY voice acted. No Vanilla voices are used! While in the land of Falskaar, every single bandit, guard, farmer, or townsperson you meet will be custom voiced for this project by my cast.

FAQ

When is the project going to be finished?
My current goal for release is September of this year! That's right, no 5 year wait for this mod!

Are you adding new weapons, creatures, or foliage?
Possibly new weapons, but no new creatures or foliage! I'm focusing on other areas like level and quest design for this one.

How big is your team?
It's mainly just me! I do have a small group that does QA testing, and some people have helped by writing one or two books, then of course there's the voice actors. But, I do all the CK work! I've written all the dialogue, quests, every script, implemented everything, designed all the levels and worlds and managed the team! Yes it is a lot to do, but I manage by working 6-10 hours every single day! I sure love doing this.

How big is the land?
Falskaar is about the size of 2-3 holds in Skyrim. Take Whiterun hold, The Rift, and Falkreath Hold and you get something roughly the size of my land.

Where will the mod be available at?
As of right now it will be a SkyrimNexus exclusive. The Steam Workshop currently would not support the mod, but if it does at the time of release, it will be on there as well.

How long have you been working on this?
I started writing the story/lore in October of last year, shortly after releasing Deimos. I then started putting it all together the instant that the Creation Kit came out on Feb 7th!

Why do you do this!?
I'm here modding so I can get a job at Bethesda Game Studios. I think they are the best game design company in the world and I want to be right there working with all of them! That's why I may come off a bit 'showy'. I'm here to gain support so they can see my work and I can get a job. But of course I wouldn't be doing any of this if I didn't also have an absolute blast doing it!

Hey Bethesda, hire me. I want a job, please.

For more frequent updates and details, please subscribe to my http://www.youtube.com/user/AlexanderJVelicky, and make sure to like my http://www.facebook.com/pages/Alexander-J-Velicky/215460455198174! (That's where I post the most often)

I hope you can all get as excited for this as I am! It's coming along great so far. Special thanks to my QA Testers who's input on what's completed so far has been priceless!

Thanks,
Alexander J. Velicky

Awesome!!

Looking good!

I'm really looking forward to this!

Looking forward to it, I wonder where dovahkiin fits in this story

"Mod" is too small a term for a work of this magnitude and magnificence.

I think we need a new category... "World Extensions" might just about cover it!

(Think 'Shivering Isles')

If Bethesda don't beat a path to your door, talk to Hollywood. You've got a bright future ahead of you, Alexander

I seem to remember from old comments on the Oblivion or Fallout forums that Bethesda don't head-hunt modders - but they do advertise job openings on Bethblog. Alexander's portfolio of mods would make for a stand-out CV !

Falskaar looks like it's going to be absolutely amazing ! I am so looking forward to this. Thanks Alexander!

This sounds awesome! I bet once it's finished, there will be some beth devs trying it out.

I am enjoying testing this.

This looks so promissing! Good Job!

This looks and sounds fantastic, but a quick few questions I'm interested in asking?

Will this be availiable on the Nexus?

Will you be able to travel to this new land straught away or will there be a few quests in Skyrim to even activate this quest?

And what level recommendation would you be recommending before stating this mod? I find Skyrim to easy and am hoping you are going to say level 75 or something


I am very impressed that you are doing all the script work etc by yourself. It seems like an impossible amount for one person

I'm not sure about a minimum level. I get creamed at level 20 to 25 and sometimes even 45 if I'm not careful.

Looking good, man. By now you know that I'm looking forward to it, but this increases the anticipation.

At least I've got my code to keep me busy until then. XD

+1

My Lvl 45 BattleMage has been vanquished a couple of times, when I was being 'too casual'. I'll roll up a super-high, probably a heavy-armour hack and slay type, and see what happens.

(TTL for 'Levellers' Tower'!)

Congrats it's finally there ... well if u get hired get a word there for me too ^^ ...

True, that's why I'm not counting on them throwing a job offer at me. Once I release this and it gets some feedback, I do certainly plan on applying there. Then they can't ignore me! And thanks! I'm super excited to keep working on this and see what it developes into!

Yes it will be on the Nexus, and actually only the Nexus. Unless they patch ESM and >100mb filesize support in the workshop, it will be Nexus exclusive. Otherwise I'll be throwing it up on the Workshop as well.

The first time you go to the land there is a very short quest and dungeon intro type thing. But you can beat it and be able to freely roam the land within about 15-30 minutes. Then there is a boat that takes you back and forth from there on out.

I wont have a minimum level for a number of reasons. I'm doing entirely my own bandits and various other enemies, so there's no point in me limiting it to higher levels, however I will try my best to make it support levels above 50.

And thanks! It's certainly challenging, I just spend a rediculous amount of time each day on it, and I have 3 years of experience so I'm very proffecient at most of what I have to do.

Thanks everyone! It's really encouraging to see all the support!

You might want to consider mirroring it on Fliggerty's site http://www.tesvskyrim.com/ as well.

absolutely beautiful. cant wait for this

Damn, AV. I think the rest of us should probably surrender right now

GL getting through it all; I look forward to playing it

(a little shout out to your voice actors ... man that's some good stuff ... you're very lucky to have them)

Looks awesome, AV

Thumbs crossed, but I see the world has already greeted the mod with tons of excitement ^-^

Yeah I was worried that this would just fall off the grid and nobody would realize, but the community actually seems to care. :tearsofjoy:

I don't think it will go unnoticed once it hits the Nexus and I can see me donating towards this mod, something I have only done towards one other so far.

I love these kinds of mods and I can't wait for it because as far as I know there is only one other mod so far that adds a new world space to the game that is of really good quality and that is Moonpath to Elsweyr. Which leads me to one more question.

Will this new land have completely original enemies/monsters/animals that inhabit the land?

Maybe I am hoping for too much but after playing Moonpath and fighting against a Sload and Raptors etc it was a real breath of fresh air to face something different

A whole new game!

Thanks!

No, the land won't have any new creatures/enemies. Not only because I don't have a modeller to do so, but the lore of the land doesn't have other animals. Plenty of people will add new creatures to the game, so that's one area I have no desire of affecting. However, in a way I will, as all the bandits and generic enemies will be entirely my own setup. Seperate from the Skyrim bandits. They'll be voiced with brand new voicetypes, and will be setup slightly differently. (Mainly to support past level 50)

Not quite, but close. I prefer 'expansion', like the Shivering Isles.

And Shivering Isles was $30 and worth it.

Looks fantastic.