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Mystery of Moraglen

Development

Engine: Creation Kit Editor

Game: Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Game Mode: Single Player Quest
Development Time: 5-6 Weeks

 

Responsibilities

  • Wrote and revised various NPC conversation branches.

  • Decorated and cluttered the interior and exterior environments.

  • Developed scripted gameplay events and triggers.

  • Restructured the player/narrative progression and quest layout based on playtester feedback.

Downloads

Level Overview

Set in the Elder Scrolls: Skyrim universe, “The Mystery of Moraglen” quest incorporates the Nordic-inspired atmosphere and fantasy overtones inherent to the Elder Scrolls franchise. However, this single-player journey uniquely emphasizes mystery-based themes and gameplay mechanics. Due to this stylistic choice, the quest relies on exposition to build suspense and drive the plot. Nevertheless, the quest also employs classic role-playing combat and weapon collection. In addition to this main adventure, “The Mystery of Moraglen” contains one optional side quest dubbed “Sweet Dreams.”

Backstory

“The Mystery of Moraglen” initializes when the protagonist, a wandering adventurer of unknown origin, reaches the Riverwood settlement. As the player strolls along the dampened riverbanks, they stumble across a fellow traveler’s campsite. Exhausted and distraught, the owner of the encampment reveals the mysterious woes befallen Moraglen, his hometown. Since the dawn of the settlement’s formation, several Moraglen children have vanished. Frustrated and suspicious, the traveler begs the protagonist to return with him to the village and investigate. Upon arriving at Moraglen, the protagonist speaks to various characters, learning information through whispered rumors and gossip. As the protagonist pieces together the incriminating evidence, the “Mystery of Moraglen” quest leads to a hellish dungeon, a wretched hagraven, and a depressing conclusion.

Level Playthrough

Level Playthrough
Design Goals

Design Goals

Throughout development of the “Mystery of Moraglen” level, I focused on specific elements. With these items addressed, I found success and positive playtester feedback.

 

The following list details the overall design goals:

 

  • Properly convey the context and details of an in-depth mystery narrative.

    • Update dialog and in-game informational text.

  • Aesthetically polish and clutter exterior and interior environments.

  • Re-order the quest to more adequately reflect level flow and narrative.

Walkthrough

Maps and Walkthrough

Level Objectives

Overall Objectives:

  • Speak to Sven, the guardian of Moraglen settlement, near Riverwood Bridge.

  • Accept Sven’s request to investigate the Moraglen mystery.

  • Travel to Moraglen.

  • Speak to Sven about the disappearance of Owen, the most recent missing child

  • Speak to Harold

  • Speak to Eisa

  • Mandatory Sub Quest: Fetch Anna’s missing ring

    • Failure: Death by Skeevers

  • Return to Anna and give her the ring

  • Receive key to mysterious Nordic trapdoor in return

  • Enter the secret trapdoor hidden near the graveyard

  • Traverse the dungeon’s corridors

  • Defeat the skeletal warriors and Skeevers present in the chamber

    • Failure: Death by skeletal warrior or Skeever

  • Enter the final cavern chamber

  • Defeat the transformed Nua

    • Failure: Death by the hagraven version of Nua

  • Exit the dungeon

  • Report discoveries to Sven

  • Collect compensation for completing the “Mystery of Moraglen” quest

 

Side Quest

  • Speak to Alvis

  • Search for suspicious activity near the cemetery

    • Failure: Death by Skeevers

  • Return to Alvis with the discovered hagraven feathers

  • Receive the Pacify spell from Alvis as reward

Area1

Area 1: Overview

Gameplay/Story

  1. The player approaches Sven, the guardian of the Moraglen settlement, at his campsite near the Riverwood Bridge. 

  2. Sven informs the player that two children in the village have vanished over a length of time.  He pleads with the player, begging them to investigate as a neutral party. The player accepts the quest and officially begins the "Mystery of Moraglen." (Objective 1)

  3. At Sven's behest, the player fast travels to Moraglen Mountain Pass ahead of the village leader. (Objective 2)

 

Text

Objective Text

*Objective text prints when the accepts the quest.

  • Objective 1: "Head to Moraglen Pass"

*Objective text prints when the player arrives at Moraglen Mt. Pass.

  • Objective 2: "Speak to Sven in Moraglen" 

 

Design Challenges

Realistic Campsite Aesthetic:

Initially, the player encounters Sven, guardian of the Moraglen settlement, at his encampment outside of Riverwood. His solitary tent, bedroll, and cooking kettle allude to Sven’s purpose. The journey is not for pleasure, but instead to find assistance for the missing Moraglen children.  However, I adjusted the campsite’s layout to reflect a realistic camping environment. For example, the fire-pit originally sat near the river embankment. This placement did not appear logically accurate. Therefore, I shifted the fire’s position, stationing it near the hard, stone cliff instead. The rock wall retains heat and makes for a more probable building site.

Area2

Area 2: Overview

Gameplay/Story

  1. Upon entering the Moraglen Pass, the player arrives at the Moraglen settlement. 

  2. Sven awaits the player near the entrance. He prompts the player to speak to the villagers of Moraglen, in particular Zaida, Joleiv, and Harold. (Objective 1)

  3. The player has the option to complete the following in any order. However, speaking to Harold progresses the main quest:

    • The player speaks to Zaida, a good friend of Nua and Frederick.

    • The player speaks to Joleiv, the father of Owen, the most recent missing child.

    • The player speaks to Harold, who speaks of a growing Skeever infestation. 

    • (Optional and non-prompted) The player speaks to Katrina, the supersticious barmaiden.

    • (Optional and non-prompted) The player speaks to Mandus, a wise old resident who tells of hidden Catacombs.

    • (Side Quest Activation) The player speaks to Alvis, the cowardly gravekeeper. *See Side Quest Section.

  **Insightful Journal pages are littered throughout Areas 2, 3, 4, and 5. They relay hints at the cause of the  children's predicament and the possible perpetrator.

 

Text

Objective Text

*Objective text prints when the player exits the elevator.

  • Objective 1: “Investigate the Disappearances."

    • ​Sub-Objective: "Speak to Zaida"

    • Sub-Objective: "Speak to Joleiv"

    • Sub-Objective: "Speak to Harold"

 

Design Challenges

Moraglen Exterior Layout and Structure:

Shielded by mountains and a sprawling forest, Moraglen remains entirely secluded from the rest of Skyrim. Travelers must make their way through the Moraglen Mountain Pass to access the area. This design decision assists in championing an eerie sense of isolation. With only six houses, the townsfolk readily know of the mysterious disappearances. The large Nordic statues in the center of the square serve as a focal centerpiece.  However, they also hint at the ancient Nordic catacombs hidden beneath the earth.

Area3

Area 3: Overview

Gameplay/Story

  1. Harold prompts the player to enter his sister-in-law Eisa's, homestead. The trickster even goes so far as to provide the key. (Key to Anna and Eisa's House) (Objective 1)

  2. The player enters Eisa and her daughter Anna's home. Upon speaking to Eisa, they learn more of Owen's abduction and its traumatic effect on Anna. The poor girl was playing with Owen near their handmade forest fort when he vanished. Consequently, Anna no longer has the courage to speak. Eisa requests that the player locate Anna's ring. She suspects a nasty scavenging Skeever has it in their clutches. (Objective 2) 

  3. The player searches for Anna's ring and encounters several Skeevers. By killing the creatures, the player collects the ring and returns to Anna. (Anna's Ring) (Objective 3)

  4. After returning the item to the little girl, Anna rewards the player with a mysterious Nordic key. (Mysterious Nordic Key) (Objective 4)

(Optional) The player has the ability to enter Nua's homestead. Nua is the mother of the first missing child, Frederick, and has long since abandoned her residence.  

​

Text

Objective Text

*Objective text prints when the player speaks with Harold.

  • Objective 1: “Visit with Eisa.”

*Objective text prints when the player speaks with Eisa.

  • Objective 2: “Find Anna's Lost Ring.”

*Objective text prints when the player kills the Skeever with Anna's Ring.

  • Objective 3: “Return Anna's Ring.”

*Objective text prints when the player speaks with Anna.

  • Objective 4: “Discover what the Mysterious Nordic Key unlocks.”

 

Design Challenges

Nua's Homestead:

Nua’s abandoned homestead hints at her depressing backstory and unrevealed secret. In comparison, Eisa and Anna’s home, which is warm and inviting, only serves to highlight Nua’s potentially growing madness. Additionally, despite the villager’s fond opinion of her, Nua appears to have littered the table with empty alcoholic beverages and incriminating journal entries. A solitary red book lies near Nua’s bedroom door. Upon collecting the book, the player learns of the “hagraven,” a terrifying bird witch. In later portions of the quest, the player learns that Nua can transform into this creature.

Area4

Area 4: Overview

Gameplay/Story

  1. The player follows the path to the settlement's graveyard. Just beyond the backmost part of the graveyard's fence, hidden amongst brush and foliage, lies a trapdoor. The player proceeds to unlock and enter the mysterious doorway.

  2. Suddenly, the player finds themselves trapped within the rumored ancient, underground Catacombs. A blood trail dots the floor ahead. (Objective 1) As the player proceeds forward, they encounter the ghost of Frederick, the first missing child. He warns of a dangerous creatures ahead but will not elaborate further. 

  3. The player continues through the linear, winding corridor encountering skeleton warriors and Skeevers along the way. 

  4. At the end of the long tunnel, the player enters the final Catacomb chamber. Within lies the body of Owen, the most recent missing child. He clutches his mother's amulet as a form of identification. Nua, the mother of Frederick, unexpectedly transforms into a hagraven and attacks the player. (Objective 2)

  5. The player defeats the powerful bird-like creature. With her death, the ghosts of both Frederick and Owen appear. Frederick elaborates on his mother's descent into madness and Owen comes to terms with his untimely demise. (Mysterious Key) (Objective Text 3)

  6. After speaking to both boys, the player exits the dungeon through an above trapdoor.

 

Text

Objective Text

*Objective text prints when the player enters the dungeon.

  • Objective 1: “Investigate the Underground Passageway”

*Objective text prints when the player enters the final chamber.

  • Objective 2: “Defeat Nua in her hagraven form”

*Objective text prints when the player defeats the hagraven.

  • Objective 3: “Tell Sven of Nua's treachery”

 

Design Challenges

Adding a Victim:

As the blood trail guides the player through the dark, Skeever-filled dungeon, the player reaches the final chamber. Nua resides inside, hovering over Owen’s corpse. Enraged, the woman transforms into a hagraven and promptly attacks. Upon her defeat, Nua’s child, Frederick emerges to inform the player of his mother’s evil intentions. This character exists to reveal the mystery’s backstory, in case the journal entry clues fail. However, upon revisiting the “Mystery of Moraglen” quest, I decided to create Owen’s ghost as well. He also appears upon Nua’s defeat and indicates his shock and horror at his current state. This design alteration helps to reveal the dead child’s identity as well as emotionally provoke the player.

Area5

Area 5: Overview

Gameplay/Story

  1. The player exits the cavern and emerges unexpectedly inside of Nua's abandoned homestead. It appears she utilized the passageways to complete her acts of evil.

  2. After leaving Nua's home, the player returns to Sven’s location to relay their terrible findings. Upon finishing the conversation, Sven rewards the player with $500 gold and completes the quest.

    • ​(Optional) The player can speak to Joleiv to inform him of Owen's passing.

 

Design Challenges

The Big Reveal:

Upon defeating Nua in her hagraven form, the player exits the dungeon area via a ladder and trapdoor. However, when the player teleports outside of the dungeon, they discover a startling scene. They currently reside within Nua’s locked bedroom chamber. Books lie disheveled on the floor, shelves appear thoroughly disorganized, and the beds seem oddly out of place.  In particular, Nua’s large bed is overturned, revealing a trapdoor hidden underneath. Blood trickling toward the trapdoor’s opening, alludes to the evil contained within.  From these environmental clues, the player can conclude that Nua utilized this passageway to move through the catacombs and abduct children.​

Side Quest

Side Quest Overview

"Sweet Dreams" Gameplay/Story

  1. To initiate the side quest, the player speaks to Alvis by Korrina's bar. The player receives information regarding Alvis’ suspicions. They must travel to the Moraglen cemetery and locate any irregular items or activity. (Objective 1)

  2. As the player ventures along the pathway to the cemetery, the player encounters and battles vicious Skeevers. 

  3. Upon arriving at the cemetery, the player discovers bloodstains and scattered hagraven feathers in the location Alvis specified. (Objective 2)

  4. The player returns to Alvis to report and deliver their discovery. In repayment for the player's deed, Alvis bestows them the Pacify spell book, which he claims to have found in the graveyard one night. 

 

Text and Dialog

Objective Text

*Objective text prints when the player speaks to Alvis.

  • Objective 1: “Search near the cemetery”

*Objective text prints when the player grabs the hagraven feathers.

  • Objective 2: “Return the feathers to Alvis”

 

Design Challenges

Making the Side Quest Meaningful:

At the outset of the project's development, the creation of a side quest proved quite difficult. The already established main quest served as a more intriguing and formulated narrative, thereby diminishing the existence of a diverging sub-plot. To account for this challenge, I linked the side quest's objective, purpose, and reward to the main quest's murder-mystery reveal.

 

Alvis, the side quest initiator, tells the player of something strange he heard near the graveyard. When the player investigates, they discover hagraven feathers dropped by the "Mystery of Moraglen's" antagonist. Upon bestowing the hagraven feathers to Alvis, the gravekeeper gives the player a spell book. This magical incantation called Pacify lulls enemies into a false state of calm and non-aggression. Subtle clues in the main quest allude to the fact that Nua utilized this spell on her child victims. 

 

Scripting

Scripting

Hagraven Transformation Script

Alias Creation

In the Creation Kit scripting system, Actors require references or "aliases." These aliases allow the designer to affect or alter the corresponding actor.

  1. To create a reference simply open the quest object.

  2. Select the Quest Aliases tab.

  3. Right click inside the white Quest Aliases section and click Reference Alias.

  4. Name the alias appropriately.

  5. In the Fill Type section, select the Unique Actor option. 

  6. Find the desired actor or object and select it.

  7. Click the 'Ok' button to finish and exit the Quest Aliases window.

Trigger and Property Creation

Next, the designer must create a trigger to initiate the transformation sequence and create the trigger's specific properties.

  1. To begin, select the "Trigger Box" button.

  2. After expanding the created trigger box to an appropriate size, double click on the trigger to open its Reference window.

  3. Use the small black arrows to scroll to the Scripts tab.

  4. Select the Scripts tab and click the Add button.

  5. Select New Script and name the script, preferably something easily searchable/recognizable (ex. aaKW_TriggerHagravenScript).

  6. Click the new script name in the Reference window and select the Properties tab. Properties act as variables in the Papyrus scripting system. Once a new property is created, the designer can then assign it both a type and an alias. 

  7. Create properties linked to the Actors or Objects needed in the trigger script.

Triggering the Transformation

With the "variables" or properties in place, the designer can now implement the connecting script.

  1. Double click the newly created script in the Reference window. Correspondingly, the script opens in a notepad style program, such as Sublime.

  2. Once the program opens, the properties appear at the top of the document.

  3. Add an event to the script called OnTriggerEnter.

  4. Within this event, check if the activating object is the player. (if actorRef ==game.GetPlayer())

  5. Implement a time delay by creating a float variable and setting it to the current real time. (float BeginTime = Utility.GetCurrentRealTime())

  6. The human actor casts a healing spell on herself (ZaidaSpell.Cast(KWZaida, KWZaida)). This creates the magical swirl effect surrounding the character during the transformation process.

  7. Set a while loop to wait for a set period of time based on the BeginTime variable. (while Utility.GetCurrentRealTime() < (BeginTime + 2))

  8. Once the time increment expires, the human actor teleports from the chamber to a specified location (KWZaida.MoveTo(ZaidaTarget))

  9. After the teleporation call, the actor evaluates their package. This evaluation updates their intended AI behavior. In this case, the human actor no longer wanders but instead freezes to her new position. (KWZaida.EvaluatePackage())

  10. With the human actor absent, the hagraven, who was stationed just outside the world, teleports into the chamber. (KWHagraven.MoveTo(HagravenTarget))

  11. The hagraven actor enables its package, gaining the ability to move. (KWHagraven.Enable())

  12. Subsequently, the hagraven casts the designated spell on itself. (ZaidaSpell.Cast(KWHagraven, KWHagraven))

  13. Check for the 'doonce' condition to ensure the trigger fires only once. (If doOnce == TRUE)

Postmortem

Postmortem

What Went Well:

  • Playtesters rarely realized the final reveal and felt it was rather creative when they did discover the culprit.

  • The Moraglen exterior environments met with positive reception. Testers felt it was natural, varied, and realistic. Similarly, I found success with the interior environmental clutter and decorating, including the dungeon and homesteads. 

  • Through trial and error, I achieved the hagraven tranformation sequence in a relatively straightforward manner.

  • Upon revisiting the project, I was able to add polish elements, such as additional child and adult characters, and slightly restructure the quest to support the plotline. 

  • During the course of development, I found success in establishing an air of mystery and supense.

 

What Went Wrong:

  • Throughout development, I struggled with the dialogue creation system. Each dialogue option branches and splits in unexpected and, at times, confusing ways. 

  • Despite various attempts, playtesters struggled to discover hints and clues littered throughout the world.

  • Playtesters did not grasp the overarching plotline while playing. Only toward the quest's conclusion, when Sven and Frederick reveal the solution, did playtesters understand.

  • Undertaking such a large project in such a limited time frame placed restrictions on the quality and scope of the project.

 

What I Learned:

  • Playtest feedback is invaluable to game development, especially when dealing with a narrative or mystery based game.

  • In a short amount of time, I learned the intricacies, particularly involving world-building and scripting, in an unfamiliar engine.

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