| Powerplay Magazine: Ted Peterson on Daggerfall | |
|---|---|
| (link) | |
| Medium/Format | Physical Magazine |
| Date | November 1995 |
| Interviewee(s) | Ted Peterson |
| Hosted By | Powerplay |
[UESP Editor's Note: This a machine translation of the original magazine interview, which was in German. All rights to the content belongs to Powerplay.]
"Arena" consists of an extensive game world that welcomes novices and veterans alike with open arms. As a result, hardly anyone notices that there is actually no story. Except for Ted Peterson...
Ted Peterson worked with Vijay Lakshman as a co-designer on "Arena" until Vijay left Bethesda to work for the competitor Magnet Studios. Ted, who was in control of the "arena" concept from then on, started working day and night on a story for this world that he wanted to call "Daggerfall".
In this issue of POWER PLAY, Ted Peterson gives you exclusive insights into the world he creates.
PP: Before you went to Bethesda, you were a writer. How did you get started in the gaming industry?
Ted Peterson: I replied to a job posting in the Washington Post. I had previously applied two dozen times for other, very dry jobs, terrible things like technical editor and secretary for public relations. I didn't want to apply for Bethesda's ad at first. First of all, there was nothing about Bethesda. It was a small, three-line ad with the approximate wording: "Wanted: experienced sci-fi or fantasy writer. Send your documents to the mailbox: blah blah blah." That’s it. I didn't take it seriously at all.
PP: But then you obviously applied.
Ted: Yes, I was tired of writing these long application letters forever and saw my answer to the Bethesda ad as a little reward for me, something I wanted to have a little fun with. So I write: "Dear mailbox! Actually I don't like to write to mailboxes because I don't know which company hunter is hiding from you. I also don't think that I am rich with writing fantasy and science fiction stories and can become famous. And yet, against all logic, I applied and enclosed a sample of my literary outpourings. I should also mention that I have just graduated from college and is actually very normal in every respect, except when the moon is full. Then a third eye and butterfly wings grow for me. Your devoted Ted Peterson."
PP: Honestly?
Ted: Yeah, I'm not cheating, we still have the letter lying around here somewhere. Bethesda called me the next day. There were about three hundred applicants for this job, but I ended up getting it because I was the craziest of them.
PP: Now you get paid for being crazy. Did you have good ideas for games before you started working on "Daggerfall"?
Ted: It's not about whether you have a good idea for a game or not. I mean, the good idea has to be there, but you have to be a damn good thinker and writer to make it happen. The idea is only one percent of the total output. Everything else is the hard part. What makes this industry so exciting and schizophrenic is its unpredictability. Some projects require a designer who is a film director, others a programmer. I think designers should be good thinkers and good writers. Of course, there are examples among designers that are not the same and that have been extremely successful in creating unoriginal, stupid programs. I remember an article in which someone said to a famous novella writer about a tip for young writers: "If you can't write at least as well as Tolstoy, we don't need you."
PP: Would that be the advice you would give to people who want to follow your trail?
Ted: Not necessarily, but ninety percent of all games are crap and the only people I would encourage are those who are able to produce good games. I would advise people who really enjoy playing games and who would like to design them to learn to write clearly, expressively and correctly from scratch. What do you think, how many letters I get from wannabe designers who are riddled with misspellings, careless mistakes and bottomless nonsense! If someone is not even able to correctly write the sentence "I want you to give me a job", I will not give them a chance to prepare instructions, documentation or cards.
PP: You only worked as a co-designer on your first projects, "Arena" and "Rampage". Were you afraid of completely designing Daggerfall by yourself?
Ted: But yes. Fortunately, I was able to look over Vijay Lakshman's shoulder at the time. The old idea of the master and his apprentice really has something to offer. I also worked a lot with Julian LeFay, the main programmer of "Arena". We also became good friends privately, so I was treated well in my job and introduced gently. But I was probably more excited than scared. The possibility of creating my own world overwhelmed the fear that this world might not please anyone other than me. I had read all of the letters from players about Arena on the Internet and Compuserve, so I knew exactly what they didn't like about the game. For the most part I was able to conform to these opinions, which showed me that I was on the right track.
PP: What exactly makes you a "senior designer"? What are your tasks?
Ted: First of all, you have to outperform all other designers in your company. If you can do that and the Big Boss believes that you are able to supervise and lead other designers, you will be promoted. My job is to oversee all projects that I am not working on as a main designer. I have to be careful that no things like "if I click here, 30 pages of text appear and then I fly out into the DOS Prompt".
PP: "Arena" was well received at the time. Still - and I think you agree with me - people missed a gripping story. What's your opinion?
Ted: I agree - with one caveat: there was a story. Not terribly original, but that could be said about most of the other games. We wanted the player in "Arena" to enjoy absolute freedom. The easiest way to do that was to write a story that has no swinging story. According to the motto: "Eliminate the evil wizard, but take your time."
PP: Isn't it difficult to write a story now that gives you the same freedom, but is still gripping and linear?
Ted: I didn't feel pressure. I've been writing pen and paper role-playing games for years and when you interview my players they will tell you that my best ability is to write really complicated, wacky and original stories. If I have enough time to explain, I tell people who ask me about the Daggerfall story that it has no plot. If Julian is present for an interview at this point, he usually passes out. It's a good thing he's not there now.
PP: Your job is to give the game a good story and you say that the story has no plot?
Ted: Yes, that's right. A plot (Ted takes a lexicon at this point) is an "arrangement of events in a play, a novella, a poem, etc.". When I come across an arrangement as a writer or designer, I mean a linear storyline. If the player should be free to decide when he can do something with whom, then it makes no sense to force him into a story like "You have to save the princess first, otherwise you can't go on". The task in "Daggerfall" is to first find out what is happening in this world. Only then is it decided whether you want to change something in this state. There is no big showdown. Rather, the attraction is to give one of the five political factions of this game, through their own participation, the power they are all striving for.
That will change the world of Daggerfall afterwards. For example, ask the question: "Who is the good, the king of Daggerfall or the emperor of Tamriel?" How do you not know? Then investigate, talk to your enemies and friends. But I tell you the same: in Daggerfall there is no black and white painting. You will be faced with very difficult decisions, more difficult than "Am I using my bow or wand now?"
Julian must be afraid that people might think the Daggerfall story might be pointless just because it doesn't have a real plot. But imagine that you are suddenly entering the Middle Ages. Where should the plot be? There will be people with certain intentions there, alliances, hatred, epidemics and good harvests. Of course there will also be a history there, but the future is always uncertain. Well-crafted characters who can respond appropriately to changing conditions make a good game. A predefined sequence of actions, in which the part of the player has been determined in advance, in which there is no freedom for decisions and real role-playing, makes no sense to me.
PP: Then what is the, um, "non-plot" from Daggerfall?
Ted: Let's just call it setting instead of plot or story. In this world, the player is asked by the emperor to travel to Daggerfall, since the former king of this city-state now insults the court and swears vengeance. The region around Daggerfall is called Iliac Bay and is still desperately fighting for independence. The now deceased King Lysandus was the emperor's only ally in this area, so the player should now ensure that his soul rests contentedly. When examining the king's cause of death, the player will notice what is really going on in Daggerfall. It's about centuries-old forces that different groups fight for, but the player is the hero in this fight. All he has to do is find out who to join to give this group power.
PP: Will you have the same freedom of action in this world as in "Arena"?
Ted: Definitely yes. Only this time the characters will react to the player's actions much, much more than in "Arena." You will be able to play groups against one another, cheat people, spy, go through a career as a knight or favor the outcast.
Then you can start the game again and do everything differently. If you and I started playing Daggerfall independently, we would be in two completely different worlds after 15 minutes.
PP: I know that Julian changed a lot about the engine. What effect will this have on "Daggerfall"?
Ted: "Daggerfall" will use a brand new 3D engine that we call Xngine. It is, with all modesty, the most variable and fastest of its kind. We will also use it in our new "Terminator: Future Shock" and in "X-Car", our new racing game. Buildings are no longer just rectangular; in the interiors, fretted stairs and domes are now feasible. This engine is also extremely fast. I play "Daggerfall" on my 486 with 33Mhz.
PP: Well, players are now used to hearing things like "the fastest engine on the market" or something like that. About 40 other programmers say that with you, and frankly, the engine vow "arena" was rather slow compared to other 3D games. Do you mean to say that Xngine is faster than the id software engine or the descent engine?
Ted: Absolutely! Many people who have seen "Daggerfall" say that our engine is as fast as that of id software and as variable as that of Descent. In addition, Xngine has the ability of true light sourcing and the 3D effects.
PP: What languages did you program in?
Ted: Assembly and C ++
PP: Apart from the story and the engine, what else can we expect in "Daggerfall"?
Ted: Well, the graphics are outstanding. We have excellent graphic designers working on Silicon Graphics workstations, the effects are amazing. The monsters are better than anything I've seen so far, as are the weather effects and buildings. The sound now comes from multiple channels, which allows you to perceive a waterfall in the distance, which then becomes louder as you approach. At the same time you hear the call of a wild animal and the background music.
PP: What about character generation? It was one of the most powerful features of "Arena".
Ted: You will be able to import the characters from "Arena". But I recommend creating new characters. In addition to the regular, 18 different classes, there is a "class generator" with which you can create any kind of character.
PP: How exactly does this class generator work?
Ted: Suppose you want to create a spy class. You enter higher values for strength, flexibility and personality in the class generator. Then you choose the most important skills for your character, in this case stabbing, sneaking, climbing, behavior, adaptability and handguns. Now you add additional benefits such as marksmanship or a higher healing rate. In order to balance the character, it may be necessary to add some disadvantages, such as the inability to put on heavy armor. And voila, a new class is born. You can also set a kind of resume for your character. You answer questions about your character's likes and dislikes until you finally have a kind of life story in the logbook. This may have an effect on your baseline values or inventory, or there may be enemies in the game that you have had since childhood. I am most proud of this feature.
PP: In addition to your experience with paper role-playing games, you can look back on a few years as a writer. What did you do exactly? When did you start writing?
Ted: I've always written excessively. If I should write a brief outline of my summer vacation, it would not end under four pages. I have written horror, mystery, sci-fi, fantasy stories, also novels in which nothing happened, plays, television games, poems, comics and columns in newspapers. Fortunately, little of it was published, just enough to call myself a writer. Don't bother looking for copies, the number of copies was about 5.
PP: Since you have a degree in English literature, you must have read a lot of books. Which of these books would you think would be a good template for a game?
Ted: At the moment I read a lot of historical biographies. I just finished Richard III's, now I'm starting with Eleanor of Aquitaine's. The problem that would arise with the implementation of a book is the aforementioned plot. You would like people to talk to Grandmother Jones to hear the cruel fate that happened to the black cat after the boat accident, but people would much rather buy marbles in the city. Unless it's a graphic adventure, you can't force people to do anything. But this compulsive plot is necessary for a good book.
PP: Since you are only a designer, not a graphic designer or programmer, did you have to find that your visions were distorted by the other Bethesda employees?
Ted: No, not disfigured. Modified or filtered, that's for sure. "Daggerfall" is based on teamwork. All people who work on it are involved in this vision, they have the freedom of interpretation. There is no room for king size egos in this project.
PP: On the other hand, has it ever happened that one of your ideas has been decisively improved?
Ted: Sure, it happens all the time. The dialogue system and the way in which probation tests take place are based on discussions that Julian and I had at the beginning of the project. When one of our graphic designers, Mark Jones, suggested that we render all monsters with 3D software, we declined because we were afraid of these origami-like polygon figures. We wanted everything to be done by hand. Well, he still rendered the monsters behind our backs and the results knocked me and Julian out.
PP: The artifacts in "Arena" in particular were well received by the players. How does it look like in "Daggerfall"?
Ted: You can't predict these things that people like in particular. Perhaps success is due to the fact that people like it better to say, "I am Deathstroke, Ivory Blade Swinger" than "I am Deathstroke, who has just escorted the King's daughter to the Magicians' Guild in the Illesan Hills." There will be all the old artifacts in "Daggerfall" - plus 15 new ones that cannot be obtained in the normal way. I can't say more, except that the players should try to get Namira's ring. It is particularly difficult.
PP: Is it true that you couldn't even turn on a computer when you started working at Bethesda?
Ted: Hmm, the old joke. Well, I wasn't very familiar with computers. Yes, I now know where the button is to turn on, at least on my computer, but unfortunately this space is lost from PC to PC. I have meanwhile become very good at switching off (grins). My UPS is under the table and around two o'clock every day, I accidentally kick my foot against it, losing the work of the past few hours, and then decide to go home. It is true that during my first week at Bethesda I switched on my computer and nothing happened. I figured something should be loose and crawled under my table to fix it. At that moment Julian came in and asked me what I was doing down there. I said I wanted to turn on my computer and he pushed the power button again. The computer went on immediately, probably because I had plugged in a loose cable again. This is how my reputation came about as the "game designer with the least computer knowledge in the world".
PP: What are the five worst traits of a game designer?
Ted: Lack of originality, a preference for blaming others, a monstrous selfishness, an infantile temperament and the complete inability to buy a drink at trade shows.
PP: Do you talk a lot to other designers? Do you compare ideas?
Ted: Sometimes that happens, but I don't really enjoy it, except for a really professional collaboration. Probably because of the five characteristics of the designers mentioned earlier. For example, if I'm tinkering with a dialog engine and want to know how it works in other games that I haven't played, I'd rather ask my beta testers about Compuserve. That seems to me to be much more effective.
PP: Suppose we were writing 1895 instead of 1995. How would you make your money?
Ted: Of course I would like to say: I would write short stories and plays, hang out with George Bernard Shaw, travel to Paris to visit Oscar Wilde in exile and blaspheme with him about exaggerated Victorian morals in essays. It would be more likely, however, that I could hardly stay afloat. I don't see myself as a railroad tycoon or anything. If it were now 1888, I would surely be on the Jack The Rippers trail.
PP: What is your favorite game ever?
Ted: I would probably run a pen and paper role-playing game like "Gurps", "AD&D" or "Vampire" or even a board game like "Cosmic Encounter". I have always preferred games that are played in groups of two, because I love human contact and interpersonal conflicts.
As far as computer games are concerned, I liked "Ultima IV", "Crusaders of the Dark Savant" and both "Ultima Underworld" parts. As you can see, I clearly prefer role-playing games. I understand very well which elements have made such games like Id's action shooter, Myst or Civilization famous, but they cannot interest me for more than five minutes. I need a story.