It may be hard to believe that development is right on track, especially considering the brand new Creation Engine powering the latest installment of The Elder Scrolls. A brand new game engine is always a serious undertaking, and all the details on Skyrim’s updated technology to this point have shown massive potential.

Howard had previously confirmed modding tools would be enabled for Skyrim on PC, sending the minds of the PC community into a frenzy of imagination yet again. But since then the game in question has only grown in size and scale, and there’s always the possibility that when push came to shove, offering the Creation toolkit on day one might need to be placed on the backburner.

But Howard has come forward to remind us all just how important creative tools are to game design, from the game developer down to the player. In an interview with Gamasutra, Howard revealed that at Bethesda, it seems the paths to the official game and player mods actually start in the same place:

It’s always nice to hear that giving players the opportunity to use their game as a playground is a priority for developers, especially when other teams claim their technology is beyond modders. There’s a good chance that TES fans have already begun to imagine the changes they’ll be making to Skyrim once they buy their copy, and we can’t wait to see what they come up with.

“…we put a big premium on our editor, which we then ship with the games. It’s going to come out again with Skyrim, the Creation Kit. So when it comes to content creation, we just have so much of it that we have to put a lot of development time into the tools, because the game is so big.

“We’re hoping [the Creation Kit] will be available as a download on launch day. I don’t know if I can promise day-one, but it will be very close.”

There’s certainly no shortage of gameplay being offered with Skyrim, so having modding tools pushed back to make sure the game reaches release in the best form possible wouldn’t be the worst thing. But as of now, all signs point to the Creation Kit being made available at or close to launch.

Are you excited to hear that the modding community is once again being highly considered by a game’s developers? Any particular details on the new Creation Engine that has sparked your inner modder?

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim will be released on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 on November 11, 2011.

Follow me on Twitter @andrew_dyce.

-

Source: Gamasutra