Scape-IT has posted a new development update for his soon-to-be-released retro RPG, Skald: Against the Black Priory. And while the introductory portion of the update does indeed discuss some new media and video content that is being developed for an eventual teaser-trailer, the main body of the post is devoted to the very promising-looking level editor that will be shipping with the game:

If you’ve been following my social media or the Discord, you know that I’ve become enamored with my new level editor (I talked about it in my first devlog of 2022).

The short of it, is that it’s turning out better than I hoped and I’m now super pumped to be able to offer it to the community so you can make content for Skald yourself.

And let me be clear here: The editor I’ll be releasing will be the exact same tools I’ve been using myself to make this game. You’ll be able to create (or edit) any asset in the game from maps to objects (items, characters and props), factions, quests, difficulty settings and on and on. EVERY aspect of the game.

Personally I think the true power of this isn’t creating more Skald content; it’s making your own awesome fan-projects. Ultima 5.5 fan-project anyone?

If you’re curious, you can check out the Fan Content channel on the Skald Discord server. Frankly, this looks like a capable tool, one which will hopefully enable the creation of a number of Ultima fan projects. (Skald itself is heavily influenced by the earlier Ultima games.) And like as not, a full-featured editor such as this will likely help to give the game a measure of longevity; the Neverwinter Nights modding community is still thriving some two decades on, after all.