I'm a senior-level technical writer. I've written admin guides for $2 billion a year databases. I like to think I'm no dummy in things technical. However... I'm not a coder. I've taken classes out at my local community college in Javascript and C++, and while I *passed*, it was like puling teeth. I still can't write my own code from scratch; just copy ones out of the book and debug them until they execute. I simply don't have a head for it. I've tried.

There's plenty I'd like to do in Skyrim. I'd like to rebuild Winterhold. I'd like to put a boarding school in town and turn the College into Hogwarts, with kids running around and practicing spells on each other. But I'm wondering if the Skyrim Creation Kit is going to be something I can grasp. Is it aimed more at the techno-geek crowd that eats and breathes Java applets? Or can an educated layman teach himself to use this new suite of tools?

No,

To do really advanced stuff you'd need scripts, but just adding stuff ot the world, creating buildings/dungeons etc you dont need an ounce of coding skill.

Scripting for Oblivion and Morrowind wasn't terribly complex, though it did require a good deal of trial and error, not to mention practice.

Skyrim's scripitng seems a little more complex, but not terribly so. I'm certain that anyone who put their mind to it could pick it up.

Failing that, as long as you're willing to world build and make NPCs, other modders are usually willing to write code so long as you credit them.

Once the CK is released, there will likely be a forum for questions, and you can take any trouble ypu're having there.

Fortunately for you, none of that involves coding. The most complicated part of your plan will likely be AI. And if Skyrim is anything like Oblivion, NPC AI will be handled by AI Packages which are assembled via a GUI.


::EDIT:: Here is a Google page with videos demonstrating Oblivion's Construction Set. Skyrim's Creation Kit should be similar. https://www.google.com/search?q=oblivion+construction+set&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a#q=oblivion+construction+set&hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=NZS&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&prmd=imvns&source=lnms&tbm=vid&ei=wvApT5SvDsWsiQKay83FCg&sa=X&oi=mode_link&ct=mode&cd=4&ved=0CA0Q_AUoAw&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&fp=ab700a64e2c042b3&biw=1410&bih=1444

Learning to script would be a good thing. The best way is to check out the scripts attached to core game elements and see how the magic works. Then try using what you learn from studying them to your own work.

I never considered myself to be particularly skilled with scripting. But the mod I was working on for Morrowind required special handling that only scripting made possible. So I studied the scripts associated with elements that did stuff similar to what I wanted to happen, and with a little trial and error, got satisfactory results.

It's not hard. Just time consuming.

Thanks for the feedback, everyone. That is welcome new to my ears.

I do hope we'll be able to create our own quests. I can dragoon both male and female friends into recording voice roles, so long as I have NPC's to assign them to. A new NPC appears; the new liason between the College and the Jarl... it'd all happen through her. Talk to her to get different quests done -- rebuild the docks, go talk to ship owners in Solitude to generate traffic for them; cut houses into the sheer cliff face and stairways, almost a la Markarth, to reach them... build the boarding school, hire a courier to dispense scholarships... and every time you complete a quest, something *changes.*

It'll be beautiful. If I can understand how.

Oh, we can definitely create our own quests. heck, we can do giant quest lines-notable examples are Lost Spires and Kvatch Rebuilt

It should be even easier to put together int/exteriors; I saw x/y/z arrows in the trailer that you can click and drag to move objects, rather than having to hold down several buttons. I think there was also a free-camera mode. To make NPCs to "idle" sort of things (like cross arms, lean on wall, etc.), there's little markers that you place where you want them to do the idle. In short, after the initial jump of getting used to the interface, it should be pretty easy to learn (what you mentioned in the OP, that is.)