Re: Your thoughts on other TES games.
Postby Julian ? Thu Sep 30, 2010 7:11 pm
Hello all,
Being the programmer of the original Daggerfall, Arena, and Battlespire, here are my two cents.
Arena was a stealth RPG (long story) but never really got the effort it merited. It did have a bunch of firsts, though, that I am proud of, like dynamic lighting with proper drop off and such. It was a small team and it was not bad given the conditions.
Daggerfall was horribly understaffed and many features were dropped or cut short. It was buggy but this was mostly due to pressure to release the game prematurely. It was done with only one main programmer (me, although I had an assistant occasionally) which is absurd on a project of this size. Especially considering that I was also the main designer (Ted was phenomenal and deserves at least equal credit but left before the project was done) and project leader and the Chief Engineer in charge of all other Bethesda development. Consequently, the project suffered and I consider it one of the great missed opportunities in my life, seeing what the game could have been but having to fall short. Had the dedication of the company been there, it could have so much better while retaining the feel it has. Ah, well... It has always had a dedicated following, strangely enough, even during development and testing. Most of the gods a named after some very dedicated testers, one exception being Julianos, God of Logic, whom I named after me!
My favorite (if I can use that word, considering my viewpoint) must be Battlespire. While it, too, suffered from a complete lack of resources and support, it was the best controlled project and the one where I had complete control of all aspects of the game and its development. If it had had hardware rendering support it would have been a much bigger success, I think. But, then again, I am rather biased.
I only just found out about this project today, much to my surprise. I am still not sure what it really is... I am intrigued, of course.
All the best,
Julian LeFay
Posted: Tue Dec 06, 2011 9:21 pm