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Todd Howard is one of the most recognisable names in game development, yet despite this, the Bethesda director's overarching thoughts on game design remain something of an enigma. Howard has admitted that he doesn't like talking about his games. As such, we rarely get much insight into his broader design philosophy.
Yet according to Bruce Nesmith, lead designer of Skyrim, Howard certainly has a specific set of skills when it comes to game design. In a wide-ranging interview with The Examined Game, Nesmith discussed his time working with Bethesda. During the chat, Nesmith was asked what it was like working with Howard, and he credited Howard with a knack for seeing things from the player's point of view:
"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," Nesmith explained. "As a developer, I sit in an ivory tower. It's inescapable … 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'".
When working up close with code and the day-to-day design of things, Nesmith pointed out that developers can overcomplicate things. "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 clarifies that this isn't Howard's only talent and that he "thinks very deeply about games", while Nesmith himself can also "think from the player['s perspective]. But he says that both designers had a "bias" to see things from a particular direction, and in game development, it's often good to "find other people who have a counterbias to bounce your ideas off of so that you can get the well-rounded opinion."
On this subject, Nesmith cites an example of working with an artist who had an issue with the way The Elder Scrolls' 'detect life' spell worked in Oblivion. "He said, 'Look, this spell is cool. It does this really functional thing, but do you realise it ruins all the art? We take all this care in making these creatures and people and whatnot and making them highly detailed and look really great, and all you see is this smudge when you turn on that spell.'
"Well, in Oblivion it just stayed on for long periods of time. Look what we did in Skyrim. We made it a really expensive-to-maintain spell, so the way to use that spell properly was just keep it on for a second … we listened to what the artists were saying because they had a perspective we hadn't considered before."
This approach of seeing things from the player's perspective has certainly worked for Bethesda in the past. While it may not be everyone's favourite game in the series Fallout 3 did an excellent job of making the RPG more approachable for players unfamiliar with the workings of oblique CRPGs. I do wonder, however, whether Bethesda took this design philosophy too far by the time Starfield rolled around, as the sci-fi adventure had such a simple roleplaying core that it lacked much of the dynamism and emergence that made the studios' previous RPGs so appealing.
2026 games: All the upcoming games
Best PC games: Our all-time favorites
Free PC games: Freebie fest
Best FPS games: Finest gunplay
Best RPGs: Grand adventures
Best co-op games: Better together
Continue reading...
Todd Howard is one of the most recognisable names in game development, yet despite this, the Bethesda director's overarching thoughts on game design remain something of an enigma. Howard has admitted that he doesn't like talking about his games. As such, we rarely get much insight into his broader design philosophy.
Yet according to Bruce Nesmith, lead designer of Skyrim, Howard certainly has a specific set of skills when it comes to game design. In a wide-ranging interview with The Examined Game, Nesmith discussed his time working with Bethesda. During the chat, Nesmith was asked what it was like working with Howard, and he credited Howard with a knack for seeing things from the player's point of view:
"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," Nesmith explained. "As a developer, I sit in an ivory tower. It's inescapable … 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'".
When working up close with code and the day-to-day design of things, Nesmith pointed out that developers can overcomplicate things. "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 clarifies that this isn't Howard's only talent and that he "thinks very deeply about games", while Nesmith himself can also "think from the player['s perspective]. But he says that both designers had a "bias" to see things from a particular direction, and in game development, it's often good to "find other people who have a counterbias to bounce your ideas off of so that you can get the well-rounded opinion."
On this subject, Nesmith cites an example of working with an artist who had an issue with the way The Elder Scrolls' 'detect life' spell worked in Oblivion. "He said, 'Look, this spell is cool. It does this really functional thing, but do you realise it ruins all the art? We take all this care in making these creatures and people and whatnot and making them highly detailed and look really great, and all you see is this smudge when you turn on that spell.'
"Well, in Oblivion it just stayed on for long periods of time. Look what we did in Skyrim. We made it a really expensive-to-maintain spell, so the way to use that spell properly was just keep it on for a second … we listened to what the artists were saying because they had a perspective we hadn't considered before."
This approach of seeing things from the player's perspective has certainly worked for Bethesda in the past. While it may not be everyone's favourite game in the series Fallout 3 did an excellent job of making the RPG more approachable for players unfamiliar with the workings of oblique CRPGs. I do wonder, however, whether Bethesda took this design philosophy too far by the time Starfield rolled around, as the sci-fi adventure had such a simple roleplaying core that it lacked much of the dynamism and emergence that made the studios' previous RPGs so appealing.
2026 games: All the upcoming games
Best PC games: Our all-time favorites
Free PC games: Freebie fest
Best FPS games: Finest gunplay
Best RPGs: Grand adventures
Best co-op games: Better together
Continue reading...
