The Future of Simonrim, Part 1

When I published Mysticism just over two years ago, I had big plans. I didn't talk about my plans very often, because they were ambitious enough that I felt a bit embarrassed about them. I imagined creating a series of mods that were designed from the ground up to work together, that covered all of Skyrim’s gameplay mechanics, and that remained true to the things I loved about Skyrim.

The idea that a mainstream alternative to Enairim could exist felt ludicrous in 2019. To a lot of people, it still felt ludicrous in 2020. But as we approach the end of 2021, it’s getting harder to deny that Simromim holds its own as a robust gameplay suite when compared to things like Requiem or Enairim (though we’re still the new kids on the block, of course!). Each new mod I publish has reverberating effects throughout the rest of my suite that makes the whole project feel more compelling, and with collaborators like Tate and Delta on board, the work is proceeding faster than ever.

So for the first time in two years, I finally feel comfortable talking openly about my long-term plans for Simonrim. For the rest of this post, I’m going to share the road map that I’ve been using to guide development since late 2019. To make things easier on myself, I broke my whole project into “seasons.” Each season is devoted to overhauling a certain type of gameplay system.

Season One

Season One focused on foundational mods. These mods all cover essential mechanics, and their presence can be felt in every playthrough. The goal here was to get my feet under me, so to speak, and create a solid base that I could use to build on for years to come. The Season One mods are:

- Aetherius – A Race Overhaul

- Mundus – A Standing Stone Overhaul

- Mysticism – A Magic Overhaul

- Adamant – A Perk Overhaul

- Arena – An Encounter Zone Overhaul

- Blade & Blunt – A Combat Overhaul

Season One has the rockiest development, because I was still unsure of my footing. Aetherius and Mundus began as a single mod, which I split into two later. Adamant has gone through four major revisions, although Adamant 5 is now stronger than ever before. Mysticism has been going through one single major revision for almost a year and a half now (though it should be done soon). Blade and Blunt is solid, but it has a few rough edges that I’d like to polish up. And Arena was never supposed to exist—I made it in one sitting in a fit of frustration (which makes it doubly ironic that it’s one of my most popular mods). Still, in their present state, these mods serve as the foundation for Simonrim, even if one or two of them is still in need of repair work.

Season Two

Season Two mods focus on filling out the rest of the “character-facing” mechanics, such as werewolf, religion, and crafting skills. These mods tend to be peripheral to some playthroughs and essential to others. For instance, you either won’t notice that you have Scion installed (if you’re not playing as a vampire), or it will be one of the most important mods in your playthrough (if you are playing as a vampire). The Season Two mods are:

- Scion – A Vampire Overhaul

- Manbeast – A Werewolf Overhaul

- Apothecary – An Alchemy Overhaul

- Gourmet – A Cooking Overhaul (This turned into Apothecary - Food And Drink Addon.)

- Pilgrim – A Religion Overhaul

- Thaumaturgy – An Enchanting Overhaul

- Artificer – An Artifact Overhaul

- Stormcrown – A Shout Overhaul

As you can see, we’re currently about half-way done with Season Two. On the whole, Season Two mods haven’t needed as much revision as Season One mods, so the work has proceeded more quickly. Scion and Manbeast are slated for updates this fall, and Apothecary will probably get a few more effects added to it in the future, but for the most part, these mods basically don’t need any maintenance besides bug fixing and balance passes. Pilgrim may already be released by the time I publish this post, and Thaumaturgy is somewhere between 80% and 90% done depending on how many new enchantments I try to shove in at the last minute. Artificer and Stormcrown will be my next active projects after the release of Thaumaturgy and Mysticism 2 – though I want to be clear that I am not providing any kind of dates or ETA, since school is starting and I may not be able to start either of these mods for a  long time. It was at some point during the development of Season Two that Simonrim started hitting mainstream success.

Season Three

Season Three mods focus on handling the last of the major gameplay elements not covered in Season Two or Three. These mechanics tend to be “outside the player’s control,” although the distinction is arbitrary, and some mods could have been located in other seasons. The first couple of Season Three mods are going to be pretty slim. The last few mods are going to be quite large, and I anticipate that they will have very long development cycles.

- Security – A Stealth Overhaul

- Pestilence – A Disease Overhaul

- Armorer – A Smithing Overhaul

- Mercantile – An Economy Overhaul

- Labyrinthian – An Enemy Overhaul

Season Three is basically Simonrim’s endgame. I have less to say about these mods because none of them are actively in development yet, and I intend to take a long vacation from modding sometime before the start of Season Three. (I’d like to finish Season Two before I take a break, but since work is quickly approaching it probably won’t be possible.) My plan is to be done with all my balance passes and updates to Season One and Season Two mods by the time I start Season Three.

So that’s it. That’s the roadmap. There are a couple of more things I’d like to say—some things I’d really like your opinions on, in fact—but for now, I’ll just say thanks. Thanks for reading this long ass post, and thanks for supporting me. Making mods has brought me a lot of happiness and creative fulfillment for the past two years, and I expect to keep going for a while. Keep an eye on Patreon and Discord, if you’re so inclined. We should have a couple of exciting announcements coming down the pipeline.