There was never any reason to believe that The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim wouldn't be continuing the Bethesda tradition of offering players the chance to tweaks and modify the game as they wished, but now we have a better idea of just how long we'll have to wait. Skyrim's director Todd Howard has given a recent update on the game's production, explaining that while the team still intends to have the Creation Kit ready to download on the game's launch day, the team doesn't foresee any massive delays.

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:

"We like to remain very flat as a studio. One of the reasons our games end up so big is we put a high premium on tools, and then we let people run wild. We think that gives us the best game. So the main thing that we try to instill in people is really the tone of the game, and then they'll create content that matches that. And the work will be checked by lots of people, and it won't be me all the time. It often isn't.

"...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."

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.

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.

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Source: Gamasutra