Skyrim
Bethesda's open-world fantasy role-playing game, whose mod scene spawned The Forgotten City.
Where Skyrim comes up3 episodes and tests
Gcreator of Game Maker's Toolkit, speaking with The Forgotten City's designer and writer Nick Pearce testHow The Forgotten City Creates The Perfect Mystery
Gcreator of Game Maker's Toolkit testLegend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - An Open World Adventure
Gcreator of Game Maker's Toolkit testThe Magic of the First Legend of ZeldaSkyrim's mod scene produced The Forgotten City, a hugely popular 2015 mod that later became its own game. The sources use Skyrim mainly as a contrast: its split between following quests and exploring is weaker than Zelda 1, where exploring is the quest. The Forgotten City also kept Bethesda's wonky combat. Lesson: avoid quest-versus-explore splits and mismatched carried-over systems.
- Follow the quest
- Or explore freely
- Player must pick one
- All curious exploration
- Never know what's next
- No choice to make
Merging quest and exploring removes the tension between goal and wandering
From Skyrim page, Zelda 1 comparison quote
What was said about Skyrim
Skyrim makes players choose between following a quest and exploring. In Skyrim the player must pick between following a quest and freely exploring. Zelda 1 removes that choice because the whole game is curious exploration where you never know what comes next.
Merging the quest and the exploring removes the tension between goal and wandering. The source quotes: "There's no such choice in Zelda 1 - it's just all curious exploration, never knowing what you might come across next."
Skyrim's mod scene produced The Forgotten City, but Bethesda combat came along. The Forgotten City began as a hugely popular 2015 Skyrim mod. The standalone game kept the wonky Bethesda-style combat, which is its one notable weak point.
The rest of the design is built tightly around talking, exploring and investigating, so the clunky combat jars against it. The lesson is not to bolt on systems that clash with the strengths of the design: "did we really need to bring wonky Bethesda combat over from the mod?"
How The Forgotten City Creates The Perfect Mystery
The Forgotten City began as a hugely popular 2015 Skyrim mod. It kept the wonky Bethesda combat, and its side quests correspond to the game's leads.
Skyrim's mod scene produced The Forgotten City, but Bethesda combat came along. The Forgotten City began as a hugely popular 2015 Skyrim mod. The standalone game kept the wonky Bethesda-style combat, which is its one notable weak point.
The rest of the design is built tightly around talking, exploring and investigating, so the clunky combat jars against it. The lesson is not to bolt on systems that clash with the strengths of the design: "did we really need to bring wonky Bethesda combat over from the mod?"
Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - An Open World Adventure
Breath of the Wild captures its sense of wanderlust, along with its horse bugs.
The Magic of the First Legend of Zelda
Used as a contrast: players must choose between following a quest and exploring, whereas Zelda 1 makes all play curious exploration.
Skyrim makes players choose between following a quest and exploring. In Skyrim the player must pick between following a quest and freely exploring. Zelda 1 removes that choice because the whole game is curious exploration where you never know what comes next.
Merging the quest and the exploring removes the tension between goal and wandering. The source quotes: "There's no such choice in Zelda 1 - it's just all curious exploration, never knowing what you might come across next."
More in Games
GamesNintendo
A Zelda adventure where Princess Zelda copies objects and monsters as echoes to solve puzzles and fight.
GamesThe Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Nintendo's long-running action-adventure series about Link exploring Hyrule, solving puzzles and fighting Ganon.
GamesDead Space
A major video game publisher and the guest's employer.
G
29 sources · 94 tipsMind Over Magnet
A puzzle platformer where you escape a factory using a magnet and a magnetic field.
GamesFar Cry 2
An open world action game where you recruit and play any of London's citizens.
GamesGod of War
A combat-focused action adventure game from Santa Monica Studio with Norse mythology and light puzzles.
Mind Over Magnet
Mark Brown's first game, a puzzle game he made while learning Unity.
GamesDishonored
A first-person stealth action game from Arkane with supernatural powers and the Clockwork Mansion level.