No Escape

​​

This game made use of the capabilities of “The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion” through a program called The Elder Scrolls Construction Set (the wiki for the construction set can be found here). It was designed to be a mod of Oblivion to provide around 15 minutes of gameplay. As a setting, 3 islands were provided, one of which had been textured. The construction set can be used modify the texture and landscape of the locations, as well as adding items and characters into the game. It can also be used to set up dialogues and conversation trees for characters to engage in with NPC’s like in the main game, as well as for prompts within the game. This project provided an introduction to scripting for me through the scripting capabilities available within the construction set through Oblivion’s own scripting language. Various scripts were written to help with the more specific aspects of the game design. There was also the option using the construction set to provide audio for the game, which I used to provide sound for the conversations in the mod with the NPC at the beginning of the game. This was also used for lip synching with the character during his dialogue, so that he progressed the conversation at a satisfactory pace.

I designed a mod that utilised the 3 island setting to inform the objective. In the game you are exiled on one of the islands, which are used as a prison for prisoners who have committed crimes particularly humiliating and crippling to the empire. You begin within a house and come across another prisoner, on the verge of death. The prisoner explains that you cannot escape the islands by swimming off them as there are vicious sea creatures inhabiting the waters surrounding them. The prisoner has been on the island for a while and had found a portal to another of the exiled islands. This island contained the materials available for him to be able to construct a vessel to sail off the island. He enchanted the boat with magic spells to ward off the sea creatures, but after he built the boat he was attacked by other creatures on the land and chased off the island. After he returned to the current island he hid in a dungeon to lose the creatures that followed him back onto the island, but lost the key needed to use the portal somewhere within the dungeon. Now that he is on the verge of death and aware he will never escape, he gives you his club and encourages you to find the boat to get off the islands. After this the prisoner dies. This dialogue you have with the other prisoner provides you with the objectives you need to complete the mod.

To set up the game and provide this initial interaction, I used the construction set to implement a number of things. First, I added the house to the starting island and filled the interior. I also populated the interior of the house with the NPC. I also modified the landscape around the exterior of the house to be more suitable. I added dialogue interactions to the other prisoner with the construction set to provide the background and exposition for the mod. I also provided the voiceover for the dialogue of the other character in order to lip synch the character to the dialogue. I also added a script to kill the other character once the dialogue is complete. Another script I added prompts the character to talk to the prisoner if you wander too far away and haven’t done so yet. In the case that you have, it will equip you will the other prisoner’s weapon in order to use to fight off enemies in the game.

After this, the objectives of the game are clearer. The character needs to use the portal on the island to travel to the other island. To use this portal, the character needs to find the key that is within a dungeon on the island. Once the key is found and can be used to activate the portal and travel to the other island, the character then needs to find the boat on the island and use it to escape. Once this is done, the mod will be completed. And added challenge in the mod is that the creatures that chased the other prisoner away from the boat will be dispersed throughout the islands and will try to kill you. There will also be a more difficult to kill character at the entrance to the portal that the character will have to defeat in order to be able to use the portal. I created the dungeon interior using the construction set to place the key, and placed it at the foot of a rocky hill. Within the dungeon I placed the key that, once equipped, can be used to activate the portal. The dungeon has 2 paths, and the other path leads to a hidden sword beside a corpse that the character can equip to help him defeat the creatures on the island and near the portal. This weapon is an optional extra to find within the mod. I have added a script that will display a prompt if you inspect the sword and equip it.

I placed rocks on the island from the dungeon leading to the portal so that it wasn’t too difficult to find. To make sure the player has to defeat the creature at the portal to progress, I added a script to prompt the character the defeat the creature the character is in combat. A prompt will also appear if the character comes across the other characters to give a bit of a description to what they are. In order to make sure you need the key to use the portal, if you try to use the portal without the key equipped, the game will prompt you to find the key. When the character has the key, the portal can now be used. Another script added checks if the character enters the water around the islands, and if so, will kill the character. I used the construction set to populate and edit the landscape of the second island, and added a script to handle if the character gets to the other island and finds the boat to get off. When the character is within sight of the boat message pops up confirming that this must be the boat the prisoner was talking about and prompts the character to eat the bread on the boat. When the character eats the bread on the boat, the game is over.