If any of you played the game, 'The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion' than you would remember without a doubt the most intriguing (and fun) side quest of the game, the Dark Brotherhood. You are approached by an Assassin named Lucien Lachance who brings you privy to a secret underground group of assassins known as the Dark Brotherhood. You are then tested, and if you have the skills are brought in as a brother. Following this you are given about a dozen quests involving assassinations in the game and it is without a doubt the most fun to be had, the trouble was that it was so short and left so many strings dangling at the end.
My guess is that the developers didn't anticipate it being as popular as it was and opted to focus more on a variety of guilds and content instead of really pushing this one. It wasn't completely unfinished, it had closure of sorts, but it wasn't 100% satisfying to say the least.
The Oblivion game is fun because it allows it's users to 'mod' the game, add scripts and models and animations of their own to customize the game to their liking, add more content, etc. This is great because if there is part of the game you don't particularly enjoy, or find too hard, you can alter it to your whim assuming you have the skills to do so. There are websites abound with game modifications, downloads, libraries even of mods you can try out and use to make your experience more enjoyable. It is here I came across a project known as the Dark Brotherhood Chronicles. (DBC)
Through Google searches and a forum or two, I stumbled upon the DBC and started reading up. A team of tens of people from around the world have come together to build what is certainly the largest expansion to the Dark Brotherhood storyline anyone has made. It is supposedly going to add 15 hours of gameplay, along with tying up some of the loose ends and continuing the story where it leaves off in the current build of the game. New characters, new quests, new items, new buildings and more. This is a modification to the game that players have built completely on their own that is going to add FIFTEEN hours of gameplay. Anyone who has ever tried to design something for another's entertainment knows what a feat that is, and how much hard work went into it.
Over the months, and eventually a year or so I saw they posted a test level for potential beta testers. Beta testing anything usually ruins the experience of immersion and burns you out on a project, but I was still interested and gave it a go. I talked to a couple of the developers during the first test and during this process I found out they were looking for an animator, so I asked and was brought on to the team for a few small jobs.
It's exciting, the mod is almost finished and I'm happy to be helping with it. There are thousands of people waiting eagerly to play this and I'm excited to have a small part in it's production.
More Info:
DBC Website
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