'We just kept geeking out': Skyblivion devs were invited to Bethesda HQ and ended up spending the whole day talking about modding with the team and Todd Howard
In the build-up to Skyblivion's release Bethesda has been rather normal. It's not only let the modders carry on with their competing Oblivion remaster without any legal qualms, but has also been quite supportive—handing over Oblivion remaster keys and inviting them over to Bethesda HQ for tea and sweet rolls.
The trip actually started as something rather impromptu with the project lead for Skyblivion giving Bethesda a call just because he was in the area. "I was gonna go to Boston for Pax East," Skyblivion lead Rebelzize tells PCG's Joshua Wolens in an interview. "When I go there for work, I also take a few days of vacation, and this year, I was going to go to Washington and New York. Washington is kind of close to Bethesda, so I just asked, like, 'Hey, I'm going to be in the area. Could we come and say hello?'" And that was all that was needed for the Skyblivion team to be invited over to Bethesda for the day.
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"They invited me to the office," Rebelzize continues. "They were fantastic. I didn't see a single person that didn't look like they absolutely loved being there. I spoke to a lot of people that worked on Oblivion, that worked on Skyrim, and that worked on Fallout. People that have been there for years and years and years."
But it wasn't just a facade or a PR stunt, at least it didn't feel that way to Rebelzize. They ended up chatting about all things Oblivion and modding for hours: "We arrived at 11 am and we didn't leave until 6 pm. People had been going home for a while, and we just kept geeking out.
"It's so fun to be able to talk with people that have used the tools that are on your level, like you use all these terms that no one ever understands, but these people understood, and they had so many interesting questions that no one ever asks."
The aspect that the devs at Bethesda were most interested in was how the Skyblivion modders got on with the tools they had, and whether things could be improved in any way. "Bethesda is a company that has a really strong connection to mods and modding, and the folks there were really interested in hearing our perspective," Rebelzize says. "How we experienced using those tools, what kind of issues we run into, and what we'd like to see in terms of documentation."
A wish that Rebelzize did share was how he missed the video series that would accompany the release of a creation kit, as they did with Skyrim: "They had one of the designers make a dungeon with us, stuff like that is something I would love to see for every game that they make."
But a day at Bethesda wouldn't be complete without an appearance from Todd Howard. It's clear that Howard is no stranger to talking someone's ear off or just wanting to be really involved. Nevertheless, Rebelzize was still surprised by just how enthusiastic he was.
"He could have stopped by for 10 minutes, shook some hands and then walked off," Rebelzize says. "He's in a position to do that, but he was genuinely so interested in talking to every single person that was there and about what they do in real life, and what they do in the project. It was just a really fantastic culture all around. There's a lot of lot of passion and love in that company."