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Todd Howard: Skyrim, Elder Scrolls 6, Fallout, and Starfield | Lex Fridman Podcast #342

feynoob

Banned
TLDW:
- game is a mix of handcrafted content and procedural generated content.
- system in place to create pre-generated planets and environments that look good.
- hand crafted content is clearly labelled.
- resources each planet has are clearly labelled.
- simulation elements, planets rotating etc.
- solar systems each have a specific level range.
- different spacesuits that provide different buffs against gasses and toxicity of planets.
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
TLDW:
- game is a mix of handcrafted content and procedural generated content.
- system in place to create pre-generated planets and environments that look good.
- hand crafted content is clearly labelled.
- resources each planet has are clearly labelled.
- simulation elements, planets rotating etc.
- solar systems each have a specific level range.
- different spacesuits that provide different buffs against gasses and toxicity of planets.
I hope Starfield doesn't become a mining for minerals chore like No Mans Sky, which is among the most bogus marketed games ever. Not only missing tons of features Yes Man Sean Murray promoted, but the game previews showed tons of space flight and exploring crazy planets. Then you watch the videos of gameplay at launch and everyone is walking around mining for minerals with that ray gun.
 

lh032

I cry about Xbox and hate PlayStation.
they are preparing to merge Elder Scroll mechanics with gamepass.
Big money for Microsoft.
 

ProtoByte

Weeb Underling
"Not putting Starfield on PS5 helps with focus."

And rightfully so. Much rather have them focus on a single platform to really make that Xbox sing. This game will be one for the ages.

"The tone is that space travel should feel dangerous and that they have dialed this back and forth during development."

Hope they manage to finetune it but I am positive they will. That possible future hardcore mode sounds enticing.
Agreed. But I don't want to hear from people that exclusive games aren't helped by focusing on one platform ever again.
 

Fess

Member
Small takeaway:

1. The Elder Scroll 6 is in prototype phase. Didn’t outright say it but he said that’s where they usually are once they’re wrapping up another title.

So, once they’re done with Starfield they should go into production on TES6. Then he said production can take 1,2 or more years, then 6 months finishing it up.

So production of TES6 in mid 2023 til maybe mid 2025 at the earliest. Plus the 6 month finishing it til 2026.

If we’re lucky it’ll be out at the end of the generation but I’m thinking it’ll be a nextgen launch title.

2. Starfield will be 30fps on console. Didn’t outright say it but he said they rather sacrifice speed for fidelity and 30 fps was fine.
 

GenericUser

Member
Starfield sounds more and more like game of the generation, Skyrim level beast, hope they don’t fuck it up.
Yeah, really sounds great. I don't understand why Todd gets so much flak anyway. In my opinion, he is one of the best game designers out there. Above Kojimbo and Miyazaki. Did they say which quarter they are aiming for release? Is it Q1 2023? That would be super sick.
 

pasterpl

Member
Yeah, really sounds great. I don't understand why Todd gets so much flak anyway. In my opinion, he is one of the best game designers out there. Above Kojimbo and Miyazaki. Did they say which quarter they are aiming for release? Is it Q1 2023? That would be super sick.
Based on info we have got about the delay I am expecting it q2 next year at the latest. Q1 would be a pleasant surprise.
 

Pagusas

Elden Member
Small takeaway:

1. The Elder Scroll 6 is in prototype phase. Didn’t outright say it but he said that’s where they usually are once they’re wrapping up another title.

So, once they’re done with Starfield they should go into production on TES6. Then he said production can take 1,2 or more years, then 6 months finishing it up.

So production of TES6 in mid 2023 til maybe mid 2025 at the earliest. Plus the 6 month finishing it til 2026.

If we’re lucky it’ll be out at the end of the generation but I’m thinking it’ll be a nextgen launch title.

2. Starfield will be 30fps on console. Didn’t outright say it but he said they rather sacrifice speed for fidelity and 30 fps was fine.
ES6 will 10000% be a cross gen title for "next gen". Too much money to leave on the ground when the user base for this gen will be so incredibly high by that point (especially given this is going to be a 7-8 year generation.
 

LordOfChaos

Member
ES6 will 10000% be a cross gen title for "next gen". Too much money to leave on the ground when the user base for this gen will be so incredibly high by that point (especially given this is going to be a 7-8 year generation.

I guess that makes sense, Starfield in 23, TES6 probably not by 27-28 which is next gen time. Depressing how far off it is though.
 
I'm not actually sure which one you mean by this lol. Todd did take this interview surprisingly serious for such a meme lord. Lex is usually robotic Lex lol.

He’s taking about the host. And yes he is borderline unbearable to listen to. Todd was a trooper to sit through the meandering/ unfocused questions. He’s a pro for sure
 
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IDKFA

I am Become Bilbo Baggins
Small takeaway:

1. The Elder Scroll 6 is in prototype phase. Didn’t outright say it but he said that’s where they usually are once they’re wrapping up another title.

So, once they’re done with Starfield they should go into production on TES6. Then he said production can take 1,2 or more years, then 6 months finishing it up.

So production of TES6 in mid 2023 til maybe mid 2025 at the earliest. Plus the 6 month finishing it til 2026.

If we’re lucky it’ll be out at the end of the generation but I’m thinking it’ll be a nextgen launch title.

2. Starfield will be 30fps on console. Didn’t outright say it but he said they rather sacrifice speed for fidelity and 30 fps was fine.

Sounds about right. Don't know why they bothered to announce ESVI so early if it was years and years away from being released.

Fallout 5 is another one. Todd announced in June this the next game after ESVI, but why bother announcing that when the game is likely a decade away from release?!
 

Pagusas

Elden Member
Sounds about right. Don't know why they bothered to announce ESVI so early if it was years and years away from being released.

Fallout 5 is another one. Todd announced in June this the next game after ESVI, but why bother announcing that when the game is likely a decade away from release?!
I think he did it because of how much pressure he gets about ES6. He mentioned in one of his interviews that basically every non-work related email he gets is asking if ES6 is being made, even in his own family correspondence. That announcement at least shut people up a little bit.
 
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Harlock

Member
LOLOLOLOL
Fi1HoOqaAAI6Ynt
 

Chukhopops

Member
They're taking way too long with TES 6

My guess is that they're focusing on making it a "service" of sorts, as in being able to sell stuff non-stop for some 10 years or so.
There’s already the Creation Club for that though, of course there’ll be some paid mods alongside the free ones.

The reason it’s taking so long is because it’s still in the early concept phase. I don’t think they will change the TES formula much considering how much a behemoth Skyrim was and still is, it’s perfect gold.
 

Kvally

Member
The biggest travesty of all this is that the next elder Scrolls is probably having to be scaled back for the series s, as an x owner this makes me upset.

Nah, S is a next gen machine. The sad part is that PC will be holding back the Series X/S.
 

-Zelda-

Banned
Does he mention Elder Scrolls games, Fallout games, and Sony? Kind of busy at the moment, but this will help me back into the topic later.
 

ChiefDada

Gold Member


He's right. Platform exclusivity yields games that are technically better. The less, the better, imo. Don't try to post a thread about this though; if a self admitted PS fanboy like myself can't bring up the discussion, all hope is lost lol.

Nah, S is a next gen machine. The sad part is that PC will be holding back the Series X/S.

I don't think so. I mean, there's no inherent reason for this to be the case. The way he was talking in the interview made it seem as though he can develope for the S and X quasi-independently and drop features for S if necessary. And that's been my only concern with Series development. Do developers have green light from Microsoft to forgo feature parity in any/all situations? Seems this is true for Starfield. Admitted speculation. I could be wrong. As for PC, the chips will simply fall where they must based on each player's setup.
 

Juza

Member
"Skyrim is 11 years old and still probably our most played game and we don't see it slowing down"

And people still wondering why the fuck they keep re-re-releasing this game over and over.
 

Warablo

Member
Yeah but not 15 years.
It does when you are creating/updating the engine for a new IP. Starfield is gonna be like a beta test for the new Elder Scrolls engine. I wouldn't even be surprised if we end up riding dragons or something because of the space flight tech in Starfield.
 

Ozriel

M$FT
And that's been my only concern with Series development. Do developers have green light from Microsoft to forgo feature parity in any/all situations?

We already have shipping titles with stuff like RT removed from the XSS versions. MS is perfectly fine with that.

So, no bugs?

No such thing as a bug free game.

Literally the only good thing about their games lol

Vanilla versions of their ES games review very well + multiple GOTY awards. So, no.
 
I’m not as sensitive to bugs and framerate stuff compared to many others - I feel like the standards on that stuff has increased to an almost unnecessary level from the time when I started playing videogames. So none of that concerns me.

What concerns me is this idea of them going a sort of “realistic” route with this game vs the fantasy or scifi environments of ES or fallout. I hope there’s a bit more fantastical stuff involved than we’ve seen… also if this ends up being no man’s sky esque - count me out. Even now playing that game after it was supposedly “fixed” I don’t see what the appeal is. Like at all.
 
2. Starfield will be 30fps on console. Didn’t outright say it but he said they rather sacrifice speed for fidelity and 30 fps was fine.

It ain’t fine when your fidelity doesn’t look that great though

Starfield is not any better than the top last Gen games. It should easily have a 60 fps mode like literally every game out right now
 
I’m not as sensitive to bugs and framerate stuff compared to many others - I feel like the standards on that stuff has increased to an almost unnecessary level from the time when I started playing videogames. So none of that concerns me.

There are two of us at least! The few, the proud, the fun-havers.
 

Ozriel

M$FT
I’m not as sensitive to bugs and framerate stuff compared to many others - I feel like the standards on that stuff has increased to an almost unnecessary level from the time when I started playing videogames. So none of that concerns me.

What concerns me is this idea of them going a sort of “realistic” route with this game vs the fantasy or scifi environments of ES or fallout. I hope there’s a bit more fantastical stuff involved than we’ve seen… also if this ends up being no man’s sky esque - count me out. Even now playing that game after it was supposedly “fixed” I don’t see what the appeal is. Like at all.


I share similar concerns. Going with a ‘NASA but In the distant future’ concept for realism might limit them a bit. But we’ll see.


It ain’t fine when your fidelity doesn’t look that great though

Starfield is not any better than the top last Gen games. It should easily have a 60 fps mode like literally every game out right now

Game isn’t out, so you can’t really make a call on release fidelity.
You also have no clue as to what the bottlenecks for 60fps could be.
You can have a game look worse than another and still be more demanding on resources.

There will always be higher framerates on flagship specced PCs, so you can go that route if you want.
 

damidu

Member
Game isn’t out, so you can’t really make a call on release fidelity.
You also have no clue as to what the bottlenecks for 60fps could be.
You can have a game look worse than another and still be more demanding on resources.

There will always be higher framerates on flagship specced PCs, so you can go that route if you want.
nah. or i rather demand 60fps on consoles, which seem to have delivered plenty of better looking games in that framerate

any flagship game launching with 30fps only will get flak for it, happening all the time.
starfield is no exception .
no need for preemptive defence force
 
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I share similar concerns. Going with a ‘NASA but In the distant future’ concept for realism might limit them a bit. But we’ll see.




Game isn’t out, so you can’t really make a call on release fidelity.
You also have no clue as to what the bottlenecks for 60fps could be.
You can have a game look worse than another and still be more demanding on resources.

There will always be higher framerates on flagship specced PCs, so you can go that route if you want.

The bottleneck is Bethesda sucks at graphics and graphics tech
 
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