The Elder Scrolls 6 announcement is now as old as predecessor Skyrim was when The Elder Scrolls 6 was announced, and developer Bethesda hasn't shared another snippet since.
They update their engine with every game they make, just like everyone else that has their own in-house engine. The problem is that engine is updated by Bethesda.
Ooooh but with Starfield they called it “Creation Engine TWO”, you see.
The least well-kept industry “secret” is that the major version number of a hidden technical component literally doesn’t matter as soon as you hear it because the marketing people will get their grubby little hands on it and force an update whenever they need to capitalize on some kind of wow effect.
“CE2” is clearly barely any better or different than skyrim or fallout’s CE; in fact as far as I can tell the script extender dropped pretty much immediately after the game’s release, which clearly indicates no major architectural change to work around. Also if Bethesda really did enough work to warrant a “version 2” why the hell are there loading screens everywhere like it’s 2008.
Skyrim 32 bit to Skyrim 64 bit was probably a much bigger generational leap than anything Bethesda has done since then.
As a developer I believe “just rewrite it from scratch” is a cardinal sin and a beginner’s mistake in 95 % of cases. Creation Engine though? They are clearly carrying around technical debt that was already very dated 15 years ago, like the constant loading screens. Now the loading screen look soooo bad it’s a complete meme yet they don’t seem capable of fixing that. At least apparently they managed to get rid of the FPS lock with Starfield? Only 20 years too late.
I feel like as games and technology get more complex, the question of “Are we a company that makes an engine or a company that makes a game? Because doing both is hard” becomes more relevant.
I guess they have microsoft money now so they could probably hire a whole team and build a really nice engine to rival unreal, but they probably won’t. They can shovel whatever garbage out the door with “The sequel to skyrim” on it, and it’ll sell.
Also they’re kind of competing with themselves by also making Avowed.
I just played Soma. They, like Bethesda of old, include thier engine with the game. They also have multiple versions of the engine, based on which game is attached to.
It made me realize that no matter how big the game is, as in how well it does, that doesn’t seem to matter at all. It’s when you start doing the multi hundred number of staff that it becomes a problem.
In Bethesdas case they went from a twenty man team in 2002 to whatever the hell they have now, and yet there’s been few tangable gameplay improvements. Imo throwing a fireball while holding a weapon has been the best thing they’ve “innovated” on… in Oblivion.
I had another point, but it’s 2am and I’m tipsy. Some devs are gameplay first, and some are not. And some change between those paragrames.
They update their engine with every game they make, just like everyone else that has their own in-house engine. The problem is that engine is updated by Bethesda.
Ooooh but with Starfield they called it “Creation Engine TWO”, you see.
The least well-kept industry “secret” is that the major version number of a hidden technical component literally doesn’t matter as soon as you hear it because the marketing people will get their grubby little hands on it and force an update whenever they need to capitalize on some kind of wow effect.
“CE2” is clearly barely any better or different than skyrim or fallout’s CE; in fact as far as I can tell the script extender dropped pretty much immediately after the game’s release, which clearly indicates no major architectural change to work around. Also if Bethesda really did enough work to warrant a “version 2” why the hell are there loading screens everywhere like it’s 2008.
Skyrim 32 bit to Skyrim 64 bit was probably a much bigger generational leap than anything Bethesda has done since then.
As a developer I believe “just rewrite it from scratch” is a cardinal sin and a beginner’s mistake in 95 % of cases. Creation Engine though? They are clearly carrying around technical debt that was already very dated 15 years ago, like the constant loading screens. Now the loading screen look soooo bad it’s a complete meme yet they don’t seem capable of fixing that. At least apparently they managed to get rid of the FPS lock with Starfield? Only 20 years too late.
I feel like as games and technology get more complex, the question of “Are we a company that makes an engine or a company that makes a game? Because doing both is hard” becomes more relevant.
I guess they have microsoft money now so they could probably hire a whole team and build a really nice engine to rival unreal, but they probably won’t. They can shovel whatever garbage out the door with “The sequel to skyrim” on it, and it’ll sell.
Also they’re kind of competing with themselves by also making Avowed.
… we should be breaking up these big companies.
I just played Soma. They, like Bethesda of old, include thier engine with the game. They also have multiple versions of the engine, based on which game is attached to.
It made me realize that no matter how big the game is, as in how well it does, that doesn’t seem to matter at all. It’s when you start doing the multi hundred number of staff that it becomes a problem.
In Bethesdas case they went from a twenty man team in 2002 to whatever the hell they have now, and yet there’s been few tangable gameplay improvements. Imo throwing a fireball while holding a weapon has been the best thing they’ve “innovated” on… in Oblivion.
I had another point, but it’s 2am and I’m tipsy. Some devs are gameplay first, and some are not. And some change between those paragrames.