ConquestOfSkyrim
patreon
An explanation
🕑 Added 2024-05-07 16:33:53 +0000 UTCGreetings Conquerors!
I want to sincerely apologize for the prolonged silence and the delay in updates. I understand this might have been frustrating for you and I appreciate your patience and support during this time.
The Explanation
I feel you all deserve an explanation for the now months of radio silence coming from me regarding the process of this mod. While I wish I could shift the blame to the fact that my IRL work and responsibilities escalated these past few months, at the end of the day it was still my fault with the methods I used to develop the mod as I did so in a way that made it extremely hard to make any quick progress on it when life's responsibilities started piling up.
For context, I have a bad habit of working on a lot of things at once instead of prioritizing and finishing one thing at a time. This mindset seeped into this update for the mod.
Instead of focusing on creating/optimizing one whole feature at a time, I did a little bit of one feature, moved onto another, and kept doing that based on what I felt like working on that day. Doing it this way would have been fine had I consistently had the same amount of time to work on it.
However, when life started picking up I found I didn't have as much time to work on the mod, and with most of the features being incomplete, there wasn't really anything I can showcase. Additionally, a lot of limited time I had these past months were spent optimizing existing scripts, as my priority for the mod has shifted a bit to focus on making it as stable as possible first.
Either way, what ultimately was the root cause of the delays for the next update was how my inefficient decision on how to work on the mod, resulting from poor contingency planning in how I would be able to work on it when IRL responsibilities came up. Additionally, I am not the most socially-skilled person and I should have informed you all of this sooner rather than waiting until now to tell you.
Moving Forward
Now you all are probably still wondering when the update will actually come out. Because of the above issues, I have made the decision to scale back update 0.4 in terms of features since it has already been way too long since the last update. I am planning for it to be a re-optimized version of the mod that runs a million times better than the current version. (A lot of the improvements so far are refreshing including the economy updating and faction military movements only taking a few seconds at 30 fps, meaning if your Skyrim runs faster than 30 fps then the scripts will run even faster) Additionally, Settlement Building is close enough to completion that I can add that into the update as well. Due to these cutbacks I estimate getting the update out at some point within the next couple of months.
I also want to make a few changes to how updates will be released on here moving forward. You all have stuck through with this mod despite the radio silence and I want to make sure I am providing for you. A lot of you have expressed interest in beta testing updates for the mod. In order to do this, as well as address the root cause for the delays in this update, once 0.4 is released I am planning on releasing 0.5 and subsequent updates incrementally here instead of in one big update.
What this means is that while I am developing 0.5, I will focus on one feature at a time. Once I finish working on each feature, I will describe the feature to you in detail and release a new update to the mod with the new feature on Patreon as soon as it is completed. You can all try out or test each new feature as soon as I upload them and give me your thoughts. This will allow the mod to continuously improve and get me out of the habit that put us here in the first place. When I finish all the new features for that particular version, I will wait a week and then release it to the general public on the Nexus.
Please let me know what you think of this new method of keeping the mod and this page alive! You all are truly amazing for the interest and dedication you've shown for its continued development and I want you to know that I have never stopped working on it will continue to do so until it is complete.
Comments
JavaThought
I believe that this new idea, posting finished features as standalone add-ons on Patreon for patrons to use, is the correct way to go about this, as it would greatly reduce content drought as well as rewards patrons for their donations. It would also help combat your bad habits of trying to work on everything at once, rather than one feature at a time. Now onto the big issue plaguing the mod, that being the content drought. Everything both you and Archannad is 100% true, in that many people, whether they be patrons or discord members or what have you, do not have a positive view on the status of the mod. Many are frustrated by how long it's taking, some believe that the project has died, and others are losing hope and leaving, whether it be leaving the discord or pulling their support on Patreon. But the majority who haven't quit have one thing is common: They're expecting a lot from 0.4. Taking this post at face value, the only features coming will be the script revamp and the Settlement system. While I believe that cutting back the amount of features in 0.4 is the right thing to do, and that these feature alone are suitable additions for a standalone update, people are wanting a lot more out of the update for how long it has taken to come out. Before this update, top patrons were mentioning various features believed to be coming with this update in the Discord, from interactions with enemy guards, banquets, and the features posted below in the progress updates like the citizens revolting against Jarls, which has certainly resulted in a lot of people having high hopes for this update. To have not even a quarter of these features present after over a year of no updates would cause disappointment and anger among many, but I believe that most would be relieved that there was finally new content to be enjoyed and that the project was alive. So my advice to you, as a game designer, would be to release with these features and add the others overtime in minor updates (0.4.2, 0.4.3, etc) which you already have planned in the form of the add-ons. However, I must emphasize that before the release, you fix the major bugs in 0.3, such as the inability to sentence prisoners as High King/Queen, as not only should they be simple fixes requiring little to no scripting, but them combined with the new scripts and Settlement system would, in my opinion, be more than enough to satisfy the most amount of people.
Idlewanderers
Thank you for all of your hard work and dedication to this mod. I look forward to the update.
Conner Coates
I had to unsub for a time, but I would check in on the page, I did resub to read this update and I am hopeful to see further developments.
Christina Dohan
In whatever form it takes, this mod is a gift.
Moe crusader
I was mainly hoping for the settlement feature above anything else anyways so this is a perfect method.
SparaticSpartan
Appreciate the progress update! Like others have said, this mod could really change the game in a revolutionary way, so more than happy to contribute and support to seeing it through to completion. I like the sound of the new way you'll be doing updates as well. It's sure to keep the hype alive!
Kilted Whispers ASMR
Thank you for this update, I think that sounds like a really great way to approach the mod. To put into context, I only play Skyrim because of your mod - it has literally made the game so much more fun and interesting. I will support the mod as long as I can (finances allowing) as I know that what you have already released, and what you intend to release are absolutely brilliant. You should be proud!
Archannad
I appreciate you taking the time to write this up. I wouldn't say it is a "wrong" way to develop the mod, we all work differently. I have the same problem, trying to do everything at once and getting stuck in a vicious cycle. As someone that has been quite critical of late, I'd personally like to see a more concrete release date. Whilst I can't speak for everyone, I can almost guarantee that people have cancelled their subscriptions or lowered their Patreon tiers due to the prolonged waiting times. The truth of it is, we are paying a subscription to help fund the development, to hopefully give you financial reason to spend more time working on it. On a more personal note, I'd be a lot more receptive to this update if we had an immediate, broken release. I can almost guarantee it would help barter more good faith from the rest of the community. Perhaps I'm being overly critical, but with it being over 4 months since the last post, and over a full year since the last release, I sincerely hope it is taken on board. I'll keep supporting as long as I can, as the work you are doing is phenomenal. I just wish the communication was better. Just drop a message in the Discord every now and again. Please keep going.
Simdrew1993
Sounds like a solid plan, best of luck with everything! I can actually relate, I'll start working on a project, then do something new for it the next day and not finish what I started previously, I drive myself crazy by doing this. I eventually go back and finish it all, but it's so easy to get sidetracked with the next thing.
Christina Dohan
This mod is absolutely revolutionary and has so much potential. Don’t get burned out or stressed trying to pump out updates, the game is like 12 years old it’s not going anywhere, truly a masterpiece a ya got here.
Wanderer 2019
Thank you for being so forthright. I'm "game" for trying out features as you complete them and am very excited to see what you come up with. Since it's been awhile, I hope you won't mind if I reiterate a couple of prior requests. It would be great to have the ability to port custom troop equipment settings from game to game (as in the dress up lovers mod) since it can take a lot to gather the pieces and give them to the blacksmith. It would also be cool to have the possibility of using a mod castle as HQ. How this would work with the jarlmoot, I don't quite know, unless there's a separate, self-contained cell for this.
Ordinn
❤️
