Meet the Devs #4 : V - Skyrim

» Sat Oct 17, 2009 9:07 pm

Where were you 10 years ago from now.?

Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

If you weren't a game developer, what do you think you would be?

You're sneaking through a castle dungeon, when suddenly the stone tile you put your foot on makes a mechanical *click* noise, what do you do?

Just starting to make games.

Still making games.

Depressed.

I would run and spam the jump button like is was track and field.

» Sat Oct 17, 2009 6:40 pm

I'm seeing lots of unfamiliar dev faces here (yay!)

What's your real name?
What's your role at Bethesda?
How long have you worked there?
If you could swap desks with a co-worker, whose desk would you steal?

Jeff Lundin
Systems Programmer - Scripting system, to be specific

Roughly 2 1/2 years? Something like that.
Hmm... I like my desk... but Jon-Paul has all the cool board games and RPG books.

I can't believe no-one has asked this:

Ninjas or pirates?

Ninjas. Unless the pirates copy them... but then that would make them Ninjas... so Ninjas would be all that would be left...

What realm do you play on? Horde or Alliance? Would you like to join a pretty bad guild?

Mostly Kargath as Alliance. But I'm an alt-aholic, so I play both sides. I actually have one of each class at 60+, horde and alliance. :whistling:

If have a question;

Is there a specific reason all my questions up until now have been ignored, or am I just unlucky?

You're just unlucky

And now you can't say all your questions have been ignored! Muahahaha....

» Sat Oct 17, 2009 12:24 pm

My final final was cancelled due to snow today. Do you guys ever miss work because of the weather?

4-hours-later edit: "due to" not "to do" :facepalm:

» Sat Oct 17, 2009 4:23 pm

Alright, I think I could have a good one..

Is there something you did look back on in one of your published games and feel embarrassed about? Something you wish you could go back and fix somehow?

Along the lines of a typo or poorly placed texture seam or something you regret. If you could go back and 'fix' or change something retroactively, what would it be

» Sat Oct 17, 2009 7:42 pm

Can you tell us your ranks in company? Artist, Programmer, what else?

» Sat Oct 17, 2009 7:42 pm

Do you ever get sick of people mistakeing bethesda softworks as bethesda game studios?

How much do you know about the lore of The elder scrolls?

Is there like a definite guide or bible of the elder scrolls?

Any chance we would get to see that bible if it exists sometime in the far future?

» Sat Oct 17, 2009 10:10 pm

I might have two questions before, but please let me ask again, because this springs to mind so randomly.

What do you think of UnOfficial Oblivion Patch? It fixes things that are not supposed to be (for example, the website claims it fixes a texture path in Imperial Library, something that would make the texture artist happy). What do you think of the collective works of everyone involved in it?

» Sun Oct 18, 2009 12:27 am

Is there like a definite guide or bible of the elder scrolls?

Kurt's brain.

» Sat Oct 17, 2009 3:39 pm

Who listens to the Hip Hop in the studio?

» Sun Oct 18, 2009 2:29 am

what is your opinion of trebuchets?

» Sat Oct 17, 2009 12:40 pm

Hm, since we're on lore, how do you go about writing quests? Do you design the quest first and then make it fit with lore or do you look at the lore and design a quest based on it?

What do you think of monkey truth, temple zero, and the other shenanigans of the lore forum?

» Sat Oct 17, 2009 9:36 pm

Branching storylines are fun and crazy. Considering all my writing training is in linear (as is most writers') there's a lot to learn going to non-linear. Luckily I'd played games my whole life so it wasn't a huge knowledge gap.

One of my friends is a TV writer (a very good one) and I started explaining to her "now imagine your main character gets bored and wanders off to do something else" and her face just froze in shock before realizing the difficulty of what we do.

It's hard, but you end up thinking about story more as a series of potentials and possibilities, and really shrinking it down to atomic moments that you then string together. Some animator friends tell me about the difference between animating for games and movies (lack of context, no knowledge of camera angle, small repeatable moments) and I think the transition is anologous.

One thing to know though, is that the role of pure writer doesn't really exist in the industry, at least not as a full-time job. We all have to implement our quests as well as write them, so having a technical background is always a big plus. (There are contract writers who *only* write, like Susan O'Connor, but not many of them.)

I have a couple questions/comments from this. I'm currently a freelance copywriter myself, so I have some vested interest here :wink:

If designers are expected to both write and execute their content, doesn't that take away from the polish of either (the quality of both story and execution)? [edit] What I mean here is that dedicated writers could oversee the entire narrative development process, and ensure continuity and synergy between individuated story arcs and universe lore. Is the rarity of contract writers due to economic considerations more than anything?

Also: who writes all the books, then?

» Sun Oct 18, 2009 1:41 am

Have any of you been to Norway before?

And, do any of you listen to Scandinavian metal?

» Sat Oct 17, 2009 10:18 pm

Do you have some concept art or screenshots? Which of course, are unrelated to TES: Skyrim completely.

You can check out some finished work I did in Fallout 3 or Point Lookout (F3 DLC)! And the best part is that they are completely unrelated to Skyrim, just like you asked! :disguise:

My final final was cancelled to do snow today. Do you guys ever miss work because of the weather?

Last year was particularly bad, but we tend to miss work more often because of lost power than because of bad weather. Every day of development counts!

what is your opinion of trebuchets?

I'm for them. Reminds me fondly of Age of Empires 2.

» Sat Oct 17, 2009 5:13 pm

1
Are you going to give us up or let us down?

Are you going to make us cry and say goodbye?

Are you ever gonna tell us a lie and hurt us?

2
Stalk, charge or cast?

» Sun Oct 18, 2009 12:28 am

I have a question for any programmer on the team, I'm just wondering what you think when you see the games finally released, I mean you've not necessarily contributed to the design/story or content of the game, but you've written some of the underlying technology that made it possible.

When you see the games come off the shelf are you thinking "damn fine piece of technology there" or "sure was good to work on that game" or ???

also, I've sort have made the assumption that as a programmer you don't have input into the game content, is this the case completely? or is it a regular occurrence that you're all sitting in the canteen with some designers and lending your thoughts?

Lastly, question for the team I suppose, the Fable series has a vendetta against chickens, does Bethesda have a vendetta against any small creatures? :turtle:

» Sat Oct 17, 2009 4:27 pm

pink floyd vs led zeppalin?

» Sat Oct 17, 2009 11:53 pm

Lastly, question for the team I suppose, the Fable series has a vendetta against chickens, does Bethesda have a vendetta against any small creatures? :turtle:

Giant Rats XD

or perhaps that's just the Fighters Guild...

When's the latest that one of you has worked? Timewise.

» Sat Oct 17, 2009 7:11 pm

Is there any mathematician in your team? How many? What are they doing?

» Sat Oct 17, 2009 4:23 pm

I'm for them. Reminds me fondly of Age of Empires 2.

So what was your favourite people in AoE2? Japanese had awesome trebuchets ...

» Sat Oct 17, 2009 9:16 pm

Kurt's brain.

What was Kurt doing during the making of Oblivion?

» Sat Oct 17, 2009 2:31 pm

Reposting from this thread:

What gave you inspiration for Whodunit in Oblivion? did you also laugh when you made it?
Thanks you for the hilarious, best quest btw!

and
Have you ever been in Denmark?
What do you think of it?

From the first, second and third thread:

Hello Devs!
1) How did you (either if you were in Bethesda from Arena, or just heard from the others) create the lore? How did you create this whole universe? Language, Bestiary, everything? I find it amazing how people just create new worlds (Tolkein, George Martin etc.) with languages and all!

2) Also are your main sources of inspiration?

3) Were there any hilarious moments while making Morrowind, Oblivion or FO3? If yes (probably you did), what were they, or what was one of them?

4) What is a regular day at the office for you?

and another question:
I know people asked you if you have a Steam account, but what games do you play and does anyone except of socrates have a steam account?

» Sat Oct 17, 2009 6:31 pm

Alliance or Independent?

» Sat Oct 17, 2009 2:03 pm

Is there like a definite guide or bible of the elder scrolls?

Kurt's brain.

Do you ever feel like going on the street and telling people of the greatness of Kurt's brain with cardboard signs and loudspeakers?

» Sat Oct 17, 2009 11:28 pm

Devs do you prefer Marvel or DC?

Follow up question!

Who would win in these fights?
-Hulk vs Juggernaut
-Punisher vs Batman
-Venom vs Omega Red