Gaming website Rock Paper Shotgun has published an interesting new article that deals with open world games, what works and their shortcomings. The team interviewed former and current members of the Elder Scrolls team to get their thoughts on modern open world games since Skyrim is considered a classic in the genre. They also look at what’s to blame for open-world fatigue, which occurs in many open-world games. Here are some of their thoughts on the divisive topic of open world gaming:
Nate Purkeypile former designer of Fallout and Elder Scrolls:
“I think a lot of it has to do with the way some open-world games are designed, where it’s very much that checklist. These games can be a lot of fun, and I’ve had fun with them, but I have the same tiredness…That feeling of not knowing what’s out there and being surprised—you don’t really feel like you’re exploring the world if you’re not actually surprised.”
“When you have literally thousands of people working on a game, sometimes you have to have these little ‘do this, go there’ portions,” notes Purkeypile. “It’s very difficult to run things at that level without all those checks and balances and stuff.”
Nate Purkeypile on working on Skyrim:
“At that time there were about 100 of us and there was a lot of trust in the team, where you could simply take something and make it your own. Like Blackreach – that wasn’t on the schedule at all. We did it as a skunkworks side project, and people saw it and said, oh, that’s really cool – I guess we should keep it. To this day, I have people who say it’s one of their favorite things, because they go into that deep, dark dungeon to find something that we never tell you about. It’s like, vaguely hinted at, but it’s a surprise.”
President of ZeniMax Online and Director of Elder Scrolls Online Matt Firor on Morrowind and the future:
“If you play it now – there’s no compass, there’s no map, literally the missions are like ‘go to the third tree on the right and walk 50 steps west,'” says Firor. “And if you did it now, nobody would play it. Very few people would play it. So now you have to give them tips and hints, because no one wants to spend so much time solving problems. Like they want to go and tell them a story, or enter or interact with another player, or interact with an NPC.
“Morrowind is obviously a great game,” he continues. “It’s one of my favorite games. But the way he told his story with an open world is a little dated for the type of players we have now, where not everyone is hardcore, not everyone is a PC or first-gen console diehard, right, who will go out and put as much time into the game as possible. Now [that there are] so many other options for players, you really want to make sure it’s interesting and fun, and wandering around a field trying to measure 50 paces from a tree isn’t part of it anymore. Which is kind of sad, because I’m old school.”
“[We now] I have to support those types of hardcore players as well – I say hardcore, that term is full – but people who really want to take their time and live everything and make it difficult, and then the wider audience who really only have 20 minutes to burn.”
“It’s to make a space and then just fill it with things to do, and the players can do it in any order. And sometimes it’s a bit chaotic. And sometimes you can’t figure out what the players will come up with, because they are smarter than you. But the world is like that too. And it’s so much fun, just to create a space and let the players into it and then see what they do.”
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