Progress Recap and Future Direction

I can’t believe it’s December already. The Holiday Season will be upon us before we know it. I also can’t believe Daggerfall Tools for Unity has only been in development a few months. If you’ve just started following this project, here’s how it looked on August 16th this year after wrangling import of a single model.

Now it looks like the below and can do all this stuff. Check out the Direnni Tower Demo page if you would like to play the demo this video was created from.

In less than 4 months, this Unity Asset has gone from loading a single untextured model to full locations with dungeons, enemies, weapons, combat, sound, building interiors, and a fully streaming overworld system is on the way. I am very proud of what I’ve accomplished so far. But more importantly, I’m having fun.

And to my great pleasure and surprise, others have taken an interest in what this project signifies. You guys understand these tools represent freedom to do creative things with Daggerfall, beyond just remaking the game. The simple demo above is only a taste of what’s possible.

For the first time all content and gameplay of Daggerfall can be recreated using a modern, powerful game engine. An engine which supports more than a dozen platforms and provides an entire development ecosystem backed by an enthusiastic community. It’s now possible to create entirely new Daggerfall experiences and share your creations with other Daggerfall fans. For example, community member Eric managed to get a city build running on Android.

If you’re interested, you will even find great tutorials and documentation to help you get started. And of course, everything is 100% open source.

If you don’t have development skills, you can still help by letting others know about these tools. The sky’s the limit for Daggerfall now, we just need more interested people to help reach those heights.

So that’s the last four months. What happens next? Obviously my first priority is to release version 1.2 with streaming overworld features. But that’s only a short-term goal, I also have plans for 2015 to share with you.

I want to keep growing and refining these tools, and encourage other developers to get on board. I believe the time is finally right to build a small game with Daggerfall Tools for Unity. This not only shows what is possible, it provides a starting point for others and helps critically evaluate suitability of these tools for larger projects. Part of the process will be tightening up loose screws and adding features to solve problems encountered on a real project. The result will be a new Daggerfall-styled game for you to enjoy, and a more refined version of the tools. I will talk more about this project in early 2015.

I also need to provide a support hub for Daggerfall Tools for Unity. Beyond just documentation and tutorials, support means engaging with new developers and giving them a place to cooperate and share information. This hub will be a new site attached to dfworkshop.net with a community focus. I want to make the emphasis all about you and what you create, no matter how large or small. There’s no reason we can’t build a microcosm of the lively mod scene enjoyed by later Elder Scrolls titles. I am planning out the beginnings of this site now and should be ready to launch in first half of 2015.

So that’s the tools in review, with exciting new things to come. I’m feeling very positive about next year and look forward to meeting new Daggerfall fans in the future.

One more thing. If you’d like to keep tabs on my daily progress, I try to tweet small updates as frequently as possible. You will find me on Twitter @dfinterkarma.