Summary
- Starfield's major decisions were primarily directed by Todd Howard, according to former Bethesda developer Bruce Nesmith.
- Bruce Nesmith preferred a more traditional approach of handcrafted worlds, while Todd Howard envisioned a larger scope with "a hundred star systems."
- Despite the restructuring and reduced availability of Todd Howard, his opinions remained highly valuable, shaping the studio's creative decisions.
Bruce Nesmith, the former lead designer of Skyrim, reminisced about his time at Bethesda during a recent interview, revealing that most of the major decisions for Starfield ran through Todd Howard. While Starfield broke several major milestones, a large amount of its playerbase hasn't been entirely happy with the game they ultimately got. Features such as the ship builder have received plenty of praise from the Starfield community, but the lack of proper space exploration, loading screens, and procedural generation have all been openly critiqued by fans.
Nesmith spoke at length about the development of Starfield during his interview with MinnMax, pointing out that Starfield's scope was much smaller prior to his departure. One of the major points of contention even within the team itself was an uncertainty in how much Bethesda wanted to rely on procedural generation to expand the scope of the game. Nesmith preferred a more traditional approach, focusing on just a dozen handcrafted worlds to tell an immersive story. Conversely, Todd Howard had an idea of "a hundred star systems" for Starfield players to sink their teeth into, and it was becoming apparent that these visions were irreconcilable.
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"All decisions run through Todd. He would hate, hate, hate me for saying that because he doesn’t believe it’s true. But unfortunately, it is true. If you want to have anything different other than the Bethesda usual, or something else you want to propose, you somehow have to get the idea in front of him."
The success that Bethesda enjoyed in the past two decades greatly contributed to its growth, as the team had enlarged to an almost uncomfortable size for Nesmith, who candidly shared that the company's restructuring played a role in him stepping away from Bethesda to pursue a career as a novelist. Starfield was the last project Nesmith had worked on, and compared to previous Bethesda titles, Todd Howard's availability had dramatically shrunk. However, despite the lines of communication becoming more rigid, Howard still had final say on Starfield's creative decisions. "All decisions run through Todd," Nesmith said. "He would hate, hate, hate me for saying that because he doesn’t believe it’s true. But unfortunately, it is true."
It's a role that Howard wasn't particularly keen on having, but the studio was nonetheless shaped in that direction because Todd Howard's opinions became highly valuable. Even since Morrowind, Howard was able to put himself in the role of a casual player far better than most of the design team, according to Nesmith, and this ability to see things from "the Average Joe's perspective" played a key role in Bethesda's success. For example, Todd Howard had gone on record to say that Starfield's exploration was much more complicated during development, with a much bigger focus on environmental hazards, and the decision to simplify that system may have been for the better.
Ultimately, Starfield proved to be a learning experience for Bethesda as a whole, and many of its lessons will no doubt be applied to develop the next Elder Scrolls game. Nesmith pointed out that Skyrim's magic system would undoubtedly carry over into the long-anticipated sequel, though hopefully with more inspired, dynamic spells.
Starfield
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 85 /100 Critics Rec: 83%
WHERE TO PLAY
Starfield is the first new universe in 25 years from Bethesda Game Studios, the award-winning creators of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and Fallout 4. In this next generation role-playing game set amongst the stars, create any character you want and explore with unparalleled freedom as you embark on an epic journey to answer humanity’s greatest mystery.
The year is 2330. Humanity has ventured beyond our solar system, settling new planets, and living as a spacefaring people. From humble beginnings as a space miner, you will join Constellation – the last group of space explorers seeking rare artifacts throughout the galaxy – and navigate the vast expanse of the Settled Systems in Bethesda Game Studios’ biggest and most ambitious game.
- Platform(s)
- PC, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S
