Skyrim Lead Designer on Todd Howard's Ability to Think Like a Player
Bruce Nesmith said Todd Howard could look at games without a developer's biases and let players have fun where they want.
Bethesda
Bruce Nesmith, Lead Designer of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, described how a large studio operates and what it was like working with Todd Howard, highlighting Howard's ability to think like a player without a developer's biases.
In an hour-long interview with The Examined Game, Nesmith cited Skyrim's team of 150 people as an example of life in a large studio:
"We had a lot of people who were in other studios or who were contractors, but let's look at the core. They're going to have a lot of different opinions. They're going to be pulling in all kinds of different directions. And your job is to listen and then filter through and decide what fits the direction that someone like Todd Howard has given you."
Speaking about Bethesda's Director and Executive Producer Todd Howard, the designer said Howard can put himself in the shoes of a player and let players simply have fun at times – for example, by shooting something or romancing characters:
"Part of what Todd has, historically for Skyrim and Fallout 3 and everything, been very good at is putting himself in the seat of your typical player. As a developer, I sit in an ivory tower. It's inescapable … I have more experience with a wider set of games than your typical player does."
"I think more deeply about games, definitely, than your typical player. And he's able to cut through that and see, 'Oh yeah, they're looking for a little bit of joy here. Don't get in the way with your math and your complex decision here.'"
Nesmith also gave an example from his own work:
"I would try to make things a little more complex, and he was more than willing to say, 'No, no, that's not what the players are going to want. They're going to want something simple and more digestible here.'"
Nesmith concluded that it's important to see a game from both perspectives: to think deeply as a developer and notice issues players don't think about, and to "turn the camera around" and "look through the lens of somebody who is a typical player." He added that "it's good to find other people who have a counterbias to bounce your ideas off of so that you can get the well-rounded opinion."
Watch the full interview below:
Fans have spent months guessing what the next Elder Scrolls would be called, and Bethesda has now answered: the game is titled Sentinel. The reveal came as the studio marked its 40th anniversary.
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