I'm afraid I have a confession to make. I am, for what it's worth, a massive RPG-head. I love 'em. Ye olde ones, shiny space ones, spy ones, pirate ones, zombie ones, I love 'em all! (Hang on... has anyone actually made a zombie RPG yet?)
Anyway, not only do I play RPGs, but the game designer in me just can't resist cracking 'em open with an editor and seeing what makes them tick. I spent 2 years working on a mod for Morrowind (people liked it - it won awards), I dabbled a bit with Oblivion and now I find myself staring at the editor for Fallout 3 thinking of all the beautiful post-apocalyptic possibility before me.
And then I suddenly realised...
These games all have exactly the same editor!
Oh sure, Fallout has some shiny new whistles and bells, but essentially the interface, capabilities and scripting haven't really changed from Morrowind seven years ago.
And then I got thinking - if you keep your tools the same, gently evolving them across three product iterations, your design team must build up one hell of a technical aptitude for your tool.
And that's how Bethesda have made Fallout 3 the success it is - not just by sticking with one genre of game to master it totally and utterly, but by investing long-term in a robust tool that they can use from project to project to project, thus ensuring that their designers can not only leverage their experience for all eternity, but are also empowered with a kick-ass construction kit right from the start of pre-production.
A kit so easy to use that they can even release it to the public!
So... am I just stating the obvious? Would anyone like to see Bethesda diversify and make, say, an FPS? Or should a development team pick one genre and own it completely?
Monday, March 2, 2009
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