Skyrim celebrated its ten-year anniversary in November with yet another re-release of the game and a new fishing minigame.
Now, a video by character artist Jonah Lobe, featuring himself and eight other Skyrim developers, gives a fresh retrospective on the game’s development process while sharing some cool insights.
The panel includes Joel Burgess (level designer), Lianne Cruz (animator), Salinee Goldenberg (video editor), Dennis Mejillones (character artist), Nate Purkeypile (world artist), Rashad Redic (world artist), Jean Simonet (programmer), and Mark Teare (FX artist), all of whom formerly worked at Bethesda.
A SKYRIM DOCUMENTARY | You’re Finally Awake: Nine Developers Recount the Making of Skyrim Watch on YouTube
Some of my favourite highlights from the video include the fact Skyrim is full of artificially lit windows because the game didn’t have global illumination capability at the time: “It kinda killed me we didn’t have full illumination, so I figured out how to fake it, and that’s why Skyrim has lit windows, you’re welcome,” Redic said, in jest.