If you’ve ever played a Bethesda Game Studios title, you’ll know that, for the most part, they boast some of the most incredible worlds you’ll ever see. From Fallout’s post-apocalyptic wastelands to the far-reaching expanses of space in Starfield, the tech titans at Bethesda have long focused on making expansive, immersive experiences for tens of millions of players to enjoy.
I recently had the chance to catch up with Bruce Nesmith, a former Bethesda veteran who was the lead designer on 2011’s Skyrim and contributed a hefty amount to every Fallout game developed by BGS in the last twenty years. Naturally, I grilled him about what it took to bring these worlds to life.
Fallout Has Fewer Limitations
Bruce Nesmith’s impact on the Fallout universe is very tangible. If you were to boot up the legendary Fallout 3 and head over to Rivet City, which you’ll need to do anyway if you follow the core campaign, you’ll be walking into a location that he designed and built with his bare hands!
When I connected with Nesmith via the fine folks at AI humanizer GoHumanize, that was a tidbit he gave up right away:
I think the idea of living on an actual aircraft carrier is a very cool little moment. That felt good to me, and I tried to make that city have some of that Elder Scrolls magic compared to other settlements in Fallout.
It’s got a lot of people who are living on a schedule, they do move around a bit more…
At one point, Nesmith and his colleagues would have been working concurrently on Fallout and The Elder Scrolls games. I asked him what that looks like, and which he preferred developing and designing for.
He was straight in there with his justification:
I think Fallout has fewer limitations. The world is crazier. You can do more with that science fantasy. The Elder Scrolls is more constrained by its lore and its fantasy settings. The Fallout universe is not as constrained.
Everywhere you go is insane. People are building cities in baseball stadiums and on aircraft carriers.
You can do comparable things in The Elder Scrolls, but not to the same level.
The balance between these two vastly unique universes was a tough thing to maintain, but given that Fallout 3, Skyrim, and Fallout 4 represent a generation run for Bethesda Game Studios, I’d say the team absolutely smashed it.
Do you prefer The Elder Scrolls or Fallout when it comes to world-building elements? Let us know your thoughts on the Insider Gaming Discord server.
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Grant has been gaming for 30+ years and in the industry for 10+. You'll probably find him playing a post-apocalyptic game or an extraction shooter somewhere.
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