Programming in Open World Games

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You have to rely on some systemic level of creation and a lot of systems that are robust enough so that when they touch another one, things aren't breaking apart. We put a big premium on the ones that can be interacted with and touched,. One of my favorite things is when NPCs will go pick up weapons in the world, but you don't see in other games. You can drop like a crazy weapon, being a fight and an NPC runs over, picks it up and uses it on you. It's not something you would expect; I love that stuff.

Todd Howard is a legendary video game designer at Bethesda Game Studios. He led the development of the Elder Scrolls series and the Fallout series, and an upcoming game Starfield. Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors:
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OUTLINE:
Here’s the timestamps for the episode. On some podcast players you should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that time.
(00:00) – Introduction
(05:53) – Simulation
(07:49) – NPCs
(16:40) – Daggerfall and Arena
(24:53) – Bethesda
(33:18) – Video game graphics
(39:37) – The essence of a video game
(44:25) – Redguard
(49:25) – Creating open worlds
(57:04) – Superintelligent NPCs
(1:01:58) – Starfield
(1:21:40) – The Elder Scrolls 6
(1:41:01) – Fallout
(1:48:09) – Character creation
(1:53:11) – Quests & items
(2:06:57) – Xbox
(2:12:22) – Greatest game of all time
(2:22:38) – Day in the life
(2:30:32) – Advice for young people
(2:34:00) – Fallout TV show
(2:38:32) – Indiana Jones game
(2:44:44) – Meaning of life