Todd Howard, director of Bethesda Game Studios’ next big title, Starfield, has announced that although the game will contain more than one thousand planets, only ten percent of them will contain life. As Howard explained in an interview with Kinda Funny Games, the intention behind this percentage is not to reduce the size of the game’s environment, but to provide players with the opportunity to make their own choices in such a massive solar system. Instead of every planet feeling very similar, players will have the opportunity to decide between planets with major cities and settlements or desolate planets with nothing but resources and open landscape.
Howard further explained that the process of world building is procedural, saying each individual planet is not handcrafted. Cities and settlements as well as quest locations are strategically located on specific planets, but other locations, which do not play a role in the main story, are generated or placed when one decides to land on a planet.
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This has all been done for the purpose of making the environment feel more like a believable universe for every player. The more barren planets are not useless, and will still contain resources that drive players to those locations. However, the main story pieces will likely be found in the bigger cities where more of the action is taking place.
Is Bethesda Game Studios Trying to Prevent Starfield From Being Overhyped Before It Releases?
Starfield is easily one of the most anticipated Xbox exclusive titles releasing this year. It has accumulated an incredible amount of hype and has already generated a massive fanbase. One of the game’s main selling points is the large size, with the previously mentioned one thousand planet system, as well as over 250,000 lines of dialogue.
The dialogue alone is four times larger than The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and twice the size of Fallout 4. The title is also set to require consoles to have 125GB of available space. While everything about the marketing for Starfield has been as big as the game claims to be, there have been recent announcements that appear to be mitigating some of the hype.
Aside from that fact that only ten percent of the planets will have life, Bethesda Game Studios recently announced that none of the physical copies of the game will include a disc. Instead, it appears players will simply receive a code, which will allow them access to install the game. Todd Howard also said earlier this year that Starfield will be locked at 30 frames per second. Although these situations may be minor for some fans, others are furious, believing Bethesda’s blunt announcements will ruin the entire experience of the game.
However, these actions may be strategic on the part of Bethesda Game Studios, as a way to lay its cards on the table. If the developer is upfront and open with fans about certain features that are not included with the game, it may prevent an all out video game boycott. Microsoft and Bethesda have a lot riding on the success of Starfield, so these could be calculated risks, which are a means to an end. As for Todd Howard, it appears he believes these decisions are to further the overall quality of the game and to provide the best experience for every player.
Source: IGN
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