Interview Skyrim Dawnguard Interview

[VentilatorOfDoom]

Tags: Bethesda Softworks; Dawnguard; Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

It appears the new expansion pack for Skyrim - Dawnguard - has been released on the XBOX, with other platforms to follow in July. Rejoyce Codex, more Skyrim goodness to be had! I'm pretty sure Bethesda can be very, very proud on that one too. While waiting for the first enthusiastic reviews we can enjoy ourselves reading this interview with lead artist Matt Carofano.

Did Bethesda Game Studios learn anything from the development of Skyrim proper that was incorporated into the production of Dawnguard?

Well I guess the focus was “Hey let’s tell a new story and sort of react to the game”, so a lot of the additions to Dawnguard are things we thought we should add to Skyrim. We have some new encounters like the addition of the new high level dragons and the Dragon Bone weapons you can forge. We really wanted to expand the high level stuff too. Skyrim just took off way more than we expected and people are still playing it a ton, so we just wanted to give them some additional content.

Plus we’re looking at the Vampire Lord form because that would offer a way to play the game differently. So now you can jump into the story and play as a Vampire Lord or join the Dawnguard hunters. So you can experience the rest of the game as a Vampire or with crossbows. So yeah we added a lot of new content to the game.

 

[Jashiin]

So you guys might build up from the existing Creation engine? Is it modular in design so you guys can just pull out different systems?
Yeah, I mean it’s sort of all up to what kind of things we want to focus on to change, but we have a lot of control over this engine and what we would like add it to. Every system was rewritten when we went from Fallout 3 to Skyrim so we could develop it further if we needed to.

oh gamebryo, when will you die.

With the development of The Elders Scrolls Online, I’m curious if there were any stipulations made by Bethesda Game Studios to make sure it wasn’t too much like your Elder Scrolls games? Did you sit down at all with Zenimax Online Studios and say “Ok you cannot do X, Y and Z” or “Do not make it a first-person game”? I imagine you folks would like The Elder Scrolls to retain its identity right?
Honestly we gave them complete freedom to develop the game the same we would want to work on our game, so we could make the choices we would like to make. They’re a really talented group of guys and they know MMOs really well. MMOs are a really different type of game than the ones we make, so we’ve given them the freedom to make the kind of game they think is going to be a great game. We’ve kept in contact with them along the way. They’ll ask us about lore or things like. You know “Hey does this fit the art style for this race?” In general we answer a few questions here and there, but we let them make their own decisions. I think it’s going to be a really good game.



So no real guidelines were given?
No, not too much.

well that explains how that went to shit.

 

[Metro]

Yes but is there horse armor?!?!

 

[abnaxus]

Apparently, Jiub is in.

 

[Manjuice Nutella]

Apparently, Jiub is in.

Yeah, I've seen a Let's Play of it. He's in

Spoiler

the Soul Cairn

, and he's also voiced by that guy who originally voiced him, and other Dunmers in Morrowind.

 

[Whisky]

I don't give a shit about Skyrim or Dawnguard.

Jiub though was my fuckin' bro in Morrowind. Sure, he was only there for a minute (Unless you get one of the million Jiub companion mods), but he was still a bro.