So they built a brand new engine and a massive new entry in the elder scrolls since oblivion and they also developed fallout 3? How is that even possible. That's a massive undertaking. Creating a new elder scrolls is a big enough project but simultaneously developing a new engine and then having to create a massive game like elder scrolls as your very first game on that engine!?!? How? How could they even begin to develop the game when they couldn't be exactly sure what the new engine would be capable of? Not to mention they developed fallout 3 all the while!

No, it isn't possible. Skyrim is a hoax.

They made a lot of money from Oblivion, so now I think they have a larger team.

Thats why they do it for a living, and we just play them. ITs an undertaking for sure, and impressive, but they have resources, money, and talent. Thats how.

agreed

I'm guessing they view it as an investment. This thing isn't going to be open source, and wont have been developed solely for Skyrim. Skyrim will be their chance to showcase it to the rest of the gaming industry, and sell it on to rival studios for a healthy profit. Not to mention the engine will probably be used in more of their game too. I mean, look at the Oblivion engine. Look at all the games it's been used in. Like I said, it's an investment. A time consuming bulky investment, yes, but they have to be made at some point. And they're certainly worth it long term.

Besides, it's not like they haven't taken their sweet time... :tongue:

A lot of the initial development of a large game like this doesn't involve any programming or testing....instead it is more brainstorming, planning, and writing. Also, even though they didn't know the exact final capabilities of the engine, I'm sure they had a pretty decent idea. Also, FO3 was completed a while ago, so those team members working on that game were able to move on to Skyrim. Finally, they have about 100 people on their team now, which is massive!

No bethesda didn't build an engine from scratch like the Cryengine or IdTech. What they did was piece it together from various middleware just like they have done since Morrowind.

So that's why the screen shots look so good! They were just photoshopped! This explains why we don't have any game play yet too...

Little worrisome that the first game on the new engine is skyrim though? Oblivion was the first elder scrolls on next gen platforms and the coding wasn't perfect to say the least. Now that they know the hardware inside and out they are using a brand new engine that might hinder it a little bit as well. Maybe it will never be as optimized or fully realized because of this?

Rockstar created their RAGE engine from the ground up and gta iv was the first game on it. Now look at red dead redemption. Difference is night and day. Hopefully skyrim doesn't suffer from "first game on new engine" disease.

apparently its got quite a few components from gamebryo so it would be pretty similar
EDIT - take that information with a grain of salt

Plus this time, they have the advantage of knowing what next-gen equipment is capable of, on the PC and the consoles. With Oblivion, when they started on production, they were literally guessing at what they could or could not do. Imagine what they'll be able to do now, with a complete and intimate knowledge of all the technology available. Not to mention experience from FO3 and NV.

Pretty much this. The concept artists and script writers, anyone who isn't actually building stuff in the game was probably working on the basic outline of Skyrim while the rest of the team finished Fallout 3

They don't know what the engine is capable of? Funny, that, seeing as they're the ones writing it. They know exactly what it's going to be capable of, because they know their requirements and are building the engine to fit.

That doesn't neccesarily mean that they know what it CAN do- take the internet, for example. It basically started as a file-sharing system accross different computers. Who would've thought that it could handle real-time data exchange at high volumes for multiplayer games? In fact, it handled so well that only now are we saying "hey, it needs to be upgraded!'"

They've designed it with certain requirements, but they don't know exactly how far above those requirements the engine can go, can it barely be pushed beyond what they wanted it to do, or can it easily handle the load that they want it to handle? Any time you make something completely (or near completely) new, you're not going to have anything but an educated guess of what it will eventually end up doing.

The internet had no (real) precedent, game engines have plenty. Obviously you won't have any exact figures, but level designers and modelers don't need exact figures, they need general abilities, which you most certainly *can* predict. There doesn't need to be any pushing above and beyond.

impressive references and history so for the last 1 total games they used an old engine and just filled the rest in with middle-ware? What a pattern! Seriously did you even read your post?

No, I'm pretty sure they were clear they coded it from the ground up.

Indeed. Plus you can't really compare the two anyways as they are entirely different things used for entirely different purposes. While we're at it why don't we throw in that no one knew what was going to be done with bread and then bam! Now we have toast lol.

While it is true that they can't get a perfect estimate on engine power there are limits based on the machines that will use the engine have. The only way to improve the engine capabilities after it is built is to either change the hardware that is using it or tear down the engine and rebuild it.

Who the heck knows.


Hope for the best.

Doesn't most new games have new engines as well?

You make it sound as if it's the world's biggest accomplishment and that Bethesda are alone with it.

Sure it's impressive, just saying that it's not the world's biggest accomplishment that only Bethesda has done by a miracle.
I mean... just look at Red Dead Redemption.

Darn, look at Crysis as well. Even though that game can't be fully compared... as it's not an RPG. Still, that's the most impressive engine-work to date, despite it being from 2007.

You do realize that redemption is the second game on rockstars RAGE engine right? Gta iv was the first and the difference between the two is night and day. That's exactly why I'm worried that skyrim won't be all that it can be because its the first game on the new engine just like gta iv was the first on RAGE. Will fallout 4 be to the new engine what red dead is too the RAGE engine?

i thought Obsidian made Fallout 3 Bethesda is only the Publisher.
afaik a team works since Oblivion on Skyrim.

Obsidian developed new vegas. Bethesda was at the helm of f3.

Did you read the OP or just mine? read down.


Nope, nothing clear stating anything of the sort.

All that was said was "it's an all-new engine" which taken by itself might indicate that is was just that. If you take into account all things said in the past it becomes a little more clear how they are doing things.



We know that Morrowind, Oblivion and FO3 engines were all built from a middleware kit and since the new engine is based off of the last one they built then it stands to reason it TOO was constructed from a middleware kit.