Project Serpent: Reign of Venom :: A mod project for The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

Friday November 21, 2008 Last update: Friday September 21, 2007

News Archive


Game Over?

08/09/07

While we are aware that this is not the news you wanted to hear, it must be said. Project Serpent is on the edge of survival. The mechanics behind our team are failing and if it is not fixed, the only choice will be to discontinue the project. We do plan to complete the teaser, as it is close to being finished. A few aspects planned may not make it into the release of the teaser. We are not completely giving up however. After long and heavy discussion, we have decided to give it all a final chance. Likewise and myself are in the process of cleaning out the forums and reworking the structuring of the entire team. The big part of this is that we will be posting new recruitment threads. We have figured out what roles we really need and how many people we need to fill them. We will first be going through our own ranks and seeing who will remain. After that we will open up the remaining positions for any to apply to. However, if these positions remain empty for too long, key spots will not be filled forcing us to cancel everything. Thus we ask that when these positions are opened, those with the dedication and skill to perform these tasks to join us.

More information will become available in the Recruitment section of our forums soon.

We do not want Project Serpent to come to an end, but things cannot continue as they are. A change must take place, and a big part of that is the need for restructuring and for new members. We hope to hear from you soon and that you do not lose faith in us just yet.

- Serpent of Shadow


Weekly Update #41

25/08/07

Hi all! Things are still in full swing at Project Serpent, but at the moment we're largely working on scripting, quests, stuff like that, which isn't really material we can show to you on the site obviously. So, in light of this, rather than just announcing every week that we've got nothing to show you, we've decided on a 3 week site update blackout.

Now, this is just for weekly updates; the progress page will still be updated as we go along, and things are still functioning as normal... feel free to discuss on our forums, and we're still accepting applications. Things will just be quiet on the news front for a bit.

See you in a few weeks!

- Switch

Previous News

Old Site Archive



Weekly Update #40

18/08/07

New screenshots this week! Dipodrsc has been busy working on the new Winnowing Hall exterior textures, and Karkarinus has pretty much finished the Sapphire Wand textures. Looking spiffy!

We also have a new location added to the ruins page: The Fallen Chapel. And lastly, the progress page has been updated. The teaser is coming along nicely!

- Switch


Weekly Update #39

13/08/07

First of all, sorry for the delay - partly my bad, partly the server playing up. As you may have noticed we were down for most of yesterday, but we're back up now! So, welcome to 3ernardo, our new texture artist, Defiance Master, our new Build Tester, and mboy99, our new scripter, who have all been added to the team during last week.

As for the update, we have two screenshots of the new Fire Gargoyle for you. And... that's it. On the bright side, SerpentofShadow is now unemployed once again, so progress should speed up!

- Switch


Weekly Update #38

04/08/07

Screenshots aplenty this week! We have pics of the new redone Gargoyle for you - the original texture was by Serpent of Shadow, then retextured by Dipodrsc, and finally the horns were added by threedees. We also have shots of the Spider Demon for you, which has been retextured by Dipodrsc as well, and looks quite spiffy!

- Switch


Weekly Update #37

28/07/07

We have two new interviews for you this week - the first with Noobkiller at Pariah's Guild (thanks for that Noobkiller!), and the second a testimony from one of our own Build Testers.

The next Serpent Chronicle is up too - just one more to go! And the progress page has also been updated. That's all for this week I'm afraid!

- Switch


Weekly Update #36

21/07/07

I updated the progress page earlier this week with all the latest focus information, but apart from that, we haven't really got anything ready for public release this week. Sorry!

We are looking for someone to fill the AI Designer position on the team at the moment though, as well as a Quest Programmer, but the AI Designer position especially. We're also still looking for both a HUD Artist and Build Testers for the team. If you're interested in any of these positions, please consider joining us. Thank you!

- Switch


Weekly Update #35

14/07/07

The third instalment of The Serpent Chronicles is up courtesy of our Glorious Leader (of course). I've also fixed the races page as apparently it's been missing just about all its text for some time now. I'm still not sure how that happened. If anyone spots other problems with the site, as ever, please do email me!

We have pictures of the new Winnowing Hall shrine exterior for you as well! Courtesy of HunterjWizard. No more Nine Divines substitute for us. It's still WiP and not in-game yet but should be soon.

We're working on some changes to how the progress page works right now. Expect to see that soon!

Lastly, we're still looking for build testers, which is basically a beta testing position. If you're interested, please sign up.

- Switch


Weekly Update #34

08/07/07

We have quite a sizable update for you today - hence why we've delayed so we can stuff it all in. Firstly, Mateo89 joined us this week as a new concept artist! Welcome.

Next up, we have seven new screenshots of the new nice 'n rusty retextured iron weaponry (courtesy of Karkarinus), and the Power Tome (courtesy of VaultFifteen). And, still more! Dipodrsc and HunterjWizard have been working on some new snow-free buildings for WH which are also being shown off today. No longer shall we be plagued by out of season rooftops!

Ninken has been working hard on his new concept art for the Forsaken, and Serpent of Shadow has written the next part of the Serpent Chronicles as well.

Finally, (yes, almost done!) we have a new position available on the team: Build Tester. It's basically Project Serpent's own Quality Assurance team! So you can expect the quality of Project Serpent to be, well... assured. Yep, I think that's it. Until next time!

- Switch


Weekly Update #33

01/07/07

We're sorry that this update is a bit late! I forgot all about the update yesterday - I was rather busy. My bad!

Okay, first things first. HunterjWizard has joined us during the week as a 3D Modeller, so welcome to him! Also, Ninken has done a new concept art: the Corrupted.

Another thing we're doing today is releasing the first part of the new Project Serpent background story! You can read the first section here. The Storyline page has been removed and replaced with The Serpent Chronicles. You can find the contents of the old Chronicles page under "Whispers in the Night".

Last but not least (to use a cliché) we really need a quest programmer to join the team. If you have the skills and can give us some of your time, we'd appreciate it if you'd consider joining us.

Thanks,

- Switch


Weekly Update #32

23/06/07

First of all welcome to Dipodrsc our new retexture artist! I've added him to the team page.

Also, Serpent of Shadow is creating the new position of Icon Designer that we will be needing for the project. So if you happen to know how to create and modify decent icons for Oblivion, please consider joining!

That's all for this week. Hopefully we'll have some new site content for you next update. See you then!

- Switch


Weekly Update #31

16/06/07

This week's update is small, but an update none the less. We have a concept art of the Ledras region, the first area being created. The progress page has been updated in many areas, showing that we are in fact hard at work.

- Serpent of Shadow

Previous News

Old Site Archive



Weekly Update #30

09/06/07

We haven't really got anything for you this week - sorry! The mod is still progressing as well as ever but there's nothing new ready for public release right now. Also, SerpentofShadow is currently carrying out a temporary move for a summer job, which means we may see a slight slowdown over the next two months as the job is full-time. Things will be back to normal after that though!

The progress page should hopefully be updated again soon. More news for you next week.

- Switch

Previous News

Old Site Archive



Weekly Update #29

02/06/07

We have some new shots for you this week. There's one shot of the Icon of the Defender from VaultFifteen, and three shots of the Afrit from forterés.

I've also added a new Order race to the monsters page. Enjoy!

- Switch


Weekly Update #28

26/05/07

We have quite a few tidbits for you this week. Ninken has created two new pieces of concept art for your viewing pleasure: the Ophidian and the Soul Sphere. Also, I've updated the teaser features with all the latest info. It's starting to sound pretty juicy!

Lastly, I've added a dropdown menu to the world page as a handy alternative option to clicking on areas of the image. Enjoy!

- Switch


Weekly Update #27

18/05/07

Surprise! We're here a day early this week due to a somewhat busy weekend coming up for me. I took a look at the Winnowing Hall world page and realised something... it's full of obsolete screenshots! So I've given it a bit of a spiffying up.

Er, and I'm afraid that's it for this week. Sorry it's such a small one, hopefully we'll have more for you next time.

- Switch


Weekly Update #26

12/05/07

Firstly, threedees has been hard at work animating the Ettin, and has compiled a showreel of his work for us! You can download the video here, or watch the YouTube video:

Looking good eh? Hopefully it'll all be in-game soon enough. I've also updated the progress page with the latest dungeon progress as Serpent of Shadow hasn't had time to do it what with exams and all.

That's all for this week. Enjoy!

- Switch


Weekly Update #25

05/05/07

First of all, welcome to ecksten our new Voice Actor, and Sniperbob99, our new Interior Designer. I've added them to the team page. Also, the class information page has been revised today. I've added new class spell/power lists. But get this: they're partial! So you'll have to wait and see what they all are. Suspense!

In other news, we have yet another new page added to our already bulging repertoire: the fan art page! Thanks to Mortimer of the forums for submitting our first piece.

Lastly, the progress page has been updated with Dungeon, Cave, and Ruin information. The actual progress of those will be added later by Serpent of Shadow.

- Switch


Weekly Update #24

28/04/07

Hi there. Those in the team who are at school are in that finals/crunch time at the moment so there's a slight slow in working speed. Nonetheless, we have a new screenshot of the Fire Tome this week, created by threedees. Also, Omnitroph has done a spiffy new piece of concept art. An interview was done with Povuholo at TESSource a couple of weeks ago as well that I meant to get up in the previous update. I've added it to the new interviews page.

From that piece of concept art by Omnitroph I've created our first Project Serpent wallpaper! You can pick it up on the downloads page. Lastly, the progress page will be updated by Serpent of Shadow soon, so keep an eye out for that.

- Switch


Weekly Update #23

21/04/07

Things are still going full pace with the project. Progress on Winnowing Hall has been very good this week as we continue to work on getting it finished off.

I'm afraid we don't have anything to show you this time as the material would either spoil things for you or it doesn't pass SerpentofShadow's standards for showing to the public. So, this is a media dry update. Sorry! Maybe we'll have something for you next week. Still, the progress page is due to be updated soon, so keep an eye out for that.

- Switch

Progress Page has been updated

- Serpentofshadow


Weekly Update #22

14/04/07

Firstly, we have two new members this week! Welcome to Omnitroph, our new concept artist, and spectreofreality, our new 3D modeller.

Next up, we have created a rune system, and have decided to give them out to be used as avatars by our fans. We won't tell you what they mean as you will have to find out ingame. I've put these on the downloads page. It's being hosted here temporarily until it's up on Mod DB.

We also have some screenshots for you of the new crime system (yes, it's working) and a few miscellaneous shots of WH too. Last but not least, we have two new pieces of concept art for you, fresh from the desks of Omnitroph and Ninken. Enjoy!

- Switch


Weekly Update #21

07/04/07

Things are continuing to progress at Project Serpent. For starters, we have two new members: tigershark13, our new (and first) voice actor, and Omnitroph, our latest concept artist. Welcome guys!

We have some new screenshots for you too. The silver armour texture has been finished, work on the Sapphire Wand has begun, and the mana stones have had a makeover.

Lastly, we're looking for a texture artist right now. We need someone who can actually paint textures from scratch. If you can do this and would be interested in joining us, please let us know. Thanks!

- Switch

Previous News

Old Site Archive



Weekly Update #20

31/03/07

Well, this has been an interesting week. We've had three new members join: Threetrey, our new Interior Designer, Jumonji, our new A.I. Designer, and forterés, our new 3D Modeller. Welcome guys!

Some progress has been made with the problem the project has been experiencing, mostly due to TESSnip and some hours spent by Serpent of Shadow pasting things into a new master file from what I understand. Things are back together enough to take some screenshots of the new Winnowing Hall exterior, and so I have! Hope you like.

So, the news is somewhat less glum than last week. Hopefully it'll only get better from here!

Oh, also, the website has had over 10,000 hits! Thanks for all your interest.

- Switch


Weekly Update #19

24/03/07

Our new concept artist Ninken has been busy at work for us this week. I've added his latest work to the site's concept art. Also, Smoothy has done a model of the Chaos Device, which has been added to the screenshots page. We've had a ton of questions asked this week as well (thanks mostly to lod95 and to Povuholo as well for those) which I've added to the FAQ, complete with answers. As ever, if you have any questions about the mod, feel free to ask in our forums.

Lastly, some not-so-good news from Serpent of Shadow:

"I regret to inform everyone that we have run into yet another potential setback. Believe me, if we could avoid these we would. It is unsure how hard this is going to hit us (and how much time we will need). However, we refuse to let this mod die. A very warm 'Thank You' goes out to Vagrant0 for helping us look for a means of fixing things easier. We had hoped to get you a ton of screenshots this update, but that won't be possible, we're sorry. More information will be made available when progress is made."

So watch this space for additional news on our progress with getting past this latest roadblock.

- Switch


Weekly Update #18

17/03/07

We have some screenshots for you today, including healing items and a remapped red mana orb. Shiney. Also, we have a new concept artist! Welcome to Ninken.

Finally, we're switching to Saturdays for the site updates from now on, Friday is proving to be awkward. That's all for this week.

- Switch


Weekly Update #17

10/03/07

The update is here, finally. I've added a new dungeon to the site, and we also have some new Winnowing Hall interior shots for you. The exterior isn't quite finished yet, but it should be any day now.

Finally, we're looking for an additional concept artist right now. If you're interested, please apply in this thread. Thanks!

- Switch


Weekly Update #16

02/03/07

More screenshots for you this week! And I'm afraid that's about it. No other news. Still... shiney screenshots!

Heh, well, see you next week.

- Switch


Weekly Update #15

23/02/07

Yet more screenshots this week! Shiney. Also, we have information about how travelling works in Project Serpent. Finally, we're revealing our leveling system, which will be XP based as opposed to Oblivion's skill based system.

Enjoy!

- Switch


Housekeeping

20/02/07

I've been doing some general updates to the site today. Here's a rundown:

  • Updated links page with all things Project Serpent, thread links etc.
  • Added our IRC Channel to the links page.
  • Added a new page called "Contact Us" with information about how to get in contact with me or Serpent of Shadow.
  • Added "Current Focus" and "Status" to the progress page.
  • Added a note to the top of the lore page and added clear dividing lines between each of the games.
  • Added six new questions and answers to the FAQ.

Phew. And that's about it. There will be an update this Friday as per usual. It seems the whipping golems have turned on me now!

- Switch


Weekly Update #14

16/02/07

Hi again, time for more models! Those new whipping golems are really doing the trick. The Ettin model is pretty much finished now, just needs a texture and some animations. We've also got a new chronicle for you.

Finally, we've had yet another new member joining this week, The_Terminator, our new dungeon designer. Welcome!

Well that's about it for this week. Hope you like!

- Switch


Weekly Update #13

09/02/07

Well! This has been an eventful week for Project Serpent. We've acquired three new team members: VaultFifteen, Necro55, and threedees. Welcome! Threedees has already started on a couple of spiffy models that we're going to show you today, and we also have the finished retextured set of leather armour, courtesy of Karkarinus.

We've also got a new piece of concept art for you, and some new information regarding the method of travel in the Project Serpent world, which could prove interesting. You can discuss these changes and ask any questions you may have in this thread.

Phew. There was quite a bit to cram in this week. Hope you like!

- Switch


Weekly Update #12

02/02/07

Hi there, it's that time of the week again... I'm afraid we haven't been able to deliver on the HUD concepts I promised but we have got screenshots of the new Winnowing Hall, as well as the new leather armour. Enjoy!

- Switch


Weekly Update #11

26/01/07

We've got some new concept art for you this week, courtesy of Stampede. Also, Smoothy has been hard at work on the Chaos Serpent, which now has a few screenshots up. Enjoy!

We're already working on material for next week's update, where we hope to have some screenshots of the new restored Winnowing Hall for you, as well as perhaps a new model. Also, we'll have some new HUD concepts for you. We are working hard on the restoration of the interiors. Of the 31 we originally had in Winnowing Hall, we have restored 5 of them. Also, during the process we have created 1 new one. So still a ways to go, but we're getting there.

Also, last but not least, we've gained some new members! Welcome to Rhaenys, our new Spanish translator, and Tom-tom, our new writer. Also, welcome back to Weaver.

As ever the forums are there for all to post. Perhaps some may choose to go and discuss in our General Discussion forum. Which I may or may not be suggesting you do...... do it. Now.

See you next week!

- Switch


Weekly Update #10

19/01/07

It's our tenth weekly update and I'm afraid we don't have so much for you this time. But we do have two screenshots... of curtains! Evil curtains at that. The town description for Albassa has also been finished.

As for the project itself, we've been having some, er... fun? Basically due to some merge issues we've been having (see my previous news post) we've had to rebuild the mod from the ground up, transferring all that's been worked on into a new file system. Thankfully a lot of this could be copy and pasted, but some of it can't, such as interiors and exteriors. The interiors are currently being reconstructed by Miche and Serpent of Shadow, while Septim741 is hard at work rebuilding the exterior of Winnowing Hall.

So yes, the project is currently recovering from a bit of a setback, but hopefully we should be back to where we had got to previous to the problem soon, and we shouldn't run into any new problems in future thanks to our new system.

- Switch


Weekly Update #9

12/01/07

Another week, another bucketload of screenies from the modellers! It seems they're hard at work right now. We've got the Deathbone Helmet (still a WiP) and the Silver Cuirass for you, as well as a few other bits and pieces:

Enjoy!

- Switch


Weekly Update #8

06/01/07

Well it's one day late, but we have new screenshots for you today - Karkarinus has been busy retexturing the Orcish armour to create our Warblood armour, though we're only showing the cuirass and greaves right now. A couple more city layout concepts have been done by Serpent as well, and added to their respective city descriptions. Finally, short descriptions of nearly every armour have been added to the new Equipment page.

We hope you're having a great new year thus far!

- Switch


Issues

05/01/07

I'm afraid Project Serpent has run into a few problems, that while fixable, will take a little while to fix. Our esteemed leader basically has to redo more than half of every interior in the game, putting objects back where they were... and we have some pretty detailed interiors. The joys of merging errors! However, when everything is fixed we will have a new system in place that will make it so we don't get merging errors ever again.

We might just have something for you tomorrow... watch this space.

- Switch


Weekly Update #7

29/12/06

Well, it's the last update of 2006, and we've managed to put together some more literature for you. Take a look:

A Happy New Year from all of us at Project Serpent!

- Switch


Weekly Update #6

22/12/06

Hi there. I wish I could say we've got a big Christmas present for you this week, but alas, Serpent of Shadow hasn't been around due to real life constraints, so not so much has been done this week. Still, we have got one thing for you: additional info on the Gununga region! And I'm afraid that's it. Still, better than nothing, right?

Anyway, all the team and I wish you a Merry Christmas! And hopefully we'll have a bigger update next week to see the year out.

- Switch

Weekly Update #5

15/12/06

Yes, we're definitely making up for last week today... I've added Caves, Dungeons, and Ruins to the World system, and torn down the rest, incorporating it all into a new world image map system. There's also a bunch of other new stuff for you to chew on. Behold!

Enjoy!

Update: It turns out the text for The Outcast Part 3 and Thrimblewick wasn't the final version! Whoops. This has now been corrected.

- Switch

Weekly Update #4

08/12/06

It's a fairly small update this week I'm afraid. Our illustrious leader, Serpent of Shadow, has been extremely busy this week with other things, but progress will resume around mid next week. We have managed to scrape together some literature for you though, as well as a couple town concept sketches:

- Switch

Weekly Update #3

01/12/06

It's weekly update number three, and we have some new information for you, as well as the first version of our world map! (Warning: it's kind of huge). I've added this as a link ("World") under the More button in the navigation. There's still some tweaking to be done, but it gives us a base to work off of for the landmass. Anyway, here's the new content:

- Switch


Expandable List Clean-up

25/11/06

I've gone through the expandable lists in the various More Info sections today and given them a more attractive style. Also, it's now easier to tell which items have content and which don't. [+] means there is content, whereas [+] means there is none. This should make things a bit less confusing hopefully!

- Switch


Weekly Update #2

24/11/06

Our second weekly update is here, and we've got some new content for you:

Hope you like it!

- Switch


First Weekly Update

17/11/06

Hey there! The first of our promised weekly Friday updates is here. We've added some new content to the site, including the progress page, which will allow visitors to view the current percentage progress of the various areas of the mod, as well as our overall progress. The percentages will be subject to change as this section is kept up to date by Serpent of Shadow himself. Anyway, here's a list of our updates this week:

Enjoy!

- Switch


Uber Update and New Look!

10/11/06

Hi all! The site has been spruced up by yours truly, and plenty of content has been added for you to chew on, including *deep breath*:

As you can see, rumours of our death have been greatly exaggerated. The site layout has changed quite a bit - you can now find all the Chronicles info under the new "More..." heading in the navigation. Just click it to expand the menu. There is also now a page called The Serpent Chronicles (just to confuse you!), where you can view various random short stories written by different members of our team.

As for the mod, it hasn't progressed quite as far as Serpent would have liked, but the addition of some new modellers has certainly helped! Winnowing Hall is well on its way to completion, and there are plans for constructing the overall landscape in place.

From now on, I will be updating with a news post at least every Friday to let you know how things are going. So watch this space!

- Switch