In today's mod highlight we will be featuring "Dragon Belly Home" a mod created by Recon3Y3z, who also kindly agreed to participate in our interview.
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If you're looking for a new player home outside of town, look no further! This mod will add a new home located under the Dragon Bridge. Special attention has been paid to make sure it fits seamlessly in the environment and does not look out of place.
In order to gain access to your new home you'll have to finish a quest first. What also makes this player home mod special is that it includes a new NPC complete with voiced dialog. The home itself offers crafting facilities including an enchanter, alchemy lab and more. Containers for storing your loot are available as well. There is also a garden outside where you can gather ingredients.
Find out more about the creation process of this mod in the interview below.
What inspired you to create this mod?
I love settlement style player homes and the location under Dragon Bridge is perfect. Right on the river, next to the road, and close to town but it still retains that seclusive feeling. Plus, I really wanted a settlement house that felt more like a vanilla house and not standout so harshly by contrast. Ensuring the mod is lore friendly and that things like plants and architecture respect their proper regions completes the experience for me.
How much time went into creating it?
At the time of releasing the current version of Dragon Belly (0.0.9), my Creation Kit usage was at exactly 100 hours. However, that time also included learning Papyrus scripting, navmeshing, and other Creation Kit features. Also, several hours were spent recording and editing audio tracks with Audacity.
Did you come across any problems while working on your mod?
The navmesh bug was going to be a showstopper. If Bethesda had not verified that the issue was going to be addressed, there would be no Dragon Belly. Another problem I had was the NPC facial data exporting issue, which required me to find a work-around to keep the mod Steam Workshop friendly and not have nasty facial texture issues.
How was your experience working with the Creation Kit?
Challenging and fun. I have nothing bad to say about the Creation Kit, it provides the tools needed to add complex custom content to the greatest single player rpg, imho. I'm so thankful that an experience like Skyrim and the Creation Kit exists at all. I’ll be modding till I take an arrow in the knee.
What did you like most about the development process of your mod?
I really enjoyed Papyrus scripting and found the Creation Kit to be an interesting way of developing object-oriented code. The landscaping work was also fun for me to envision natural scenes and apply them. But by far, the best part is all the positive comments and feedback I’ve received. To all my downloaders... hugz!
Could you tell us about any other mods you currently have in progress or planned for the future?
Currently, I'm expanding Dragon Belly to include an optional spelunking mission and offering purchasable home upgrades from an NPC in Dragon Bridge. After which I will start working on a minor faction mod or a unique shop mod I have planned.
Do you have any advice for others who would like to start modding?
Keep good backups, and manage file changes with version control (like mercurial). Test every change you make. Don’t be afraid to just dive in, all the answers are awaiting your questions. Personally, I pretty much relied solely on the Creation Kit wiki. I feel Bethesda is going the distance to provide the support resources needed to keep Skyrim modding alive and well for many years. Here’s hoping.
Thanks to Recon3Y3z for creating this mod and for participating in the interview.
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