CALLING ALL DEVS, Im writing a paper for my English class about ESO!

FelixTheGreat · August 2015

For my English class we were assigned to select any topic, so I chose to write about making an MMORPG (ESOTU to be specific)!

I have a couple of questions for the Dev team or anyone working at Zenimax who could answers these questions! (remember its for a paper so the longer the answer the better

)

1: How many people go into creating a game of this scale?

1a: Did you get help from outside companies or did you do everything within Bethesda/Zenimax?

2: How long did it take to get this game to a level that you felt right to sell it to the public for $60.00?

2a: Why did you have mandatory subscription for the first year or so but then make it optional?

3: Do you have a group of dedicated testers, do the devs test it, or do you use the public to test new updates?

4: How long did it take for you to decide on what the art style would be like? (personally I liked the more realistic look of Skyrim but their are some place that are gorgeous in ESO too)

5: Does development of a new features or new areas work like an assembly line or do they bounce around randomly to different departments until finished?

5a: How long do you think you guys will be able to continue updating the game (how long do you think it has left before people get bored of it)?

6: Does each department have a “Boss” and “workers” where once a week all the bosses meet and discuss what everyone is doing and what they’re doing next or how do you communicate with each other?

7: What sort of development tools and programs did you use and if they changed which ones are you using now?

8: When people report bugs how do you go about figuring out what's causing them and how do you fix them?

Cristian5505 · August 2015

Isn't it awkward talking about video games to your teacher? I think they wanted something else like the big bang or something. Though it is an awesome idea I would feel awkward explaining these things to them and to the students. Good luck!

FelixTheGreat · August 2015

Cristian5505 wrote: »

Isn't it awkward talking about video games to your teacher? I think they wanted something else like the big bang or something. Though it is an awesome idea I would feel awkward explaining these things to them and to the students. Good luck!

Well my teacher said ANYTHING and I already talked to her about it so were doing researching right now.

JDar · August 2015

Wow this is like a major interview. They probably won't answer this. ZoS isn't a huge publicly traded corporation. There's like 200 people there and most companies of that nature don't answer questions about their internal structure.

Mitchblue · August 2015

Always best to go with a subject you know little or nothing about so you can learn..

Rikal · August 2015

Good luck. I love your choice of topics! Back in my day teacher's weren't typically so liberal about letting us choose. I do vaguely remember one paper about a great piece of new technology becoming available. The push button phone.

FelixTheGreat · August 2015

JDar wrote: »

Wow this is like a major interview. They probably won't answer this. ZoS isn't a huge publicly traded corporation. There's like 200 people there and most companies of that nature don't answer questions about their internal structure.

Well I figured I would try the forums first and if I didn't get a response then I would try to email them. Hopefully I can get something.

JDar · August 2015

FelixTheGreat wrote: »

JDar wrote: »

Wow this is like a major interview. They probably won't answer this. ZoS isn't a huge publicly traded corporation. There's like 200 people there and most companies of that nature don't answer questions about their internal structure.

Well I figured I would try the forums first and if I didn't get a response then I would try to email them. Hopefully I can get something.

There's got to be a PR person you can talk to. Try press@bethsoft.com, tell them you want to know if anyone there will do a short email interview for a school paper. Lie and tell them you're a U of MD student, that will probably help.

Rikal · August 2015

FelixTheGreat wrote: »

JDar wrote: »

Wow this is like a major interview. They probably won't answer this. ZoS isn't a huge publicly traded corporation. There's like 200 people there and most companies of that nature don't answer questions about their internal structure.

Well I figured I would try the forums first and if I didn't get a response then I would try to email them. Hopefully I can get something.

They won't answer in the forum, but I wouldn't be surprised if someone will answer you personally via email or the phone. I worked for many years in the computer network business for some large companies. These kinds of requests came in once in a while and usually they were granted. Assuming you can convince them you are not a corporate spy;) They may not be allowed to answer every question you might have, but I think chances are good you can get enough for your paper.

RAGUNAnoOne · August 2015

sounds like you have a cool teacher or (s)he is a gamer as well what, they can be. My friend once did a paper on gamer culture but did it lazily. according to my friend he was the last person he would have expected to be a gamer and got marks for not making I forget what the mistake was now I believe it was excluding some popular games that are known only to gamers.

Lenikus · August 2015

I'm not a dev, but i'm sure the answers gonna be liek >

FelixTheGreat wrote: »

1: How many people go into creating a game of this scale?

This many.

FelixTheGreat wrote: »

1a: Did you get help from outside companies or did you do everything within Bethesda/Zenimax?

Probably all inside big Zeni

FelixTheGreat wrote: »

2: How long did it take to get this game to a level that you felt right to sell it to the public for $60.00?

Ethically or economically ? either way, 2 yrs.

FelixTheGreat wrote: »

2a: Why did you have mandatory subscription for the first year or so but then make it optional?

Because Console players already pay for online play. And charge them twice feels wrong.

FelixTheGreat wrote: »

3: Do you have a group of dedicated testers, do the devs test it, or do you use the public to test new updates?

Pretty sure that's what the FAQ team does. lol

FelixTheGreat wrote: »

4: How long did it take for you to decide on what the art style would be like? (personally I liked the more realistic look of Skyrim but their are some place that are gorgeous in ESO too)

Ever since this is an MMO; they made it the idea of a lot of stuff happening in screen, hence why the ultra realistic art/graphics would be way too demanding, and they need the game to be playable on as many platforms as possible (not all pcs are awesome pcs)

FelixTheGreat wrote: »

5: Does development of a new features or new areas work like an assembly line or do they bounce around randomly to different departments until finished?

One dept does it. Then it start bouncing 'till everyone has already had a finger on it.

FelixTheGreat wrote: »

5a: How long do you think you guys will be able to continue updating the game (how long do you think it has left before people get bored of it)?

How old is WoW?

FelixTheGreat wrote: »

6: Does each department have a “Boss” and “workers” where once a week all the bosses meet and discuss what everyone is doing and what they’re doing next or how do you communicate with each other?

Not in that terms, more liek Supervisors and Interns

FelixTheGreat wrote: »

7: What sort of development tools and programs did you use and if they changed which ones are you using now?

Okay, you got me , i can't answer that one lol

FelixTheGreat wrote: »

8: When people report bugs how do you go about figuring out what's causing them and how do you fix them?

first they read the report, then try to recreate the scenario, if they manage to do so, they will test with different items / places / emotes / races / passives / etc. till they determine what is causing it, then tweak that.