General:Brian Chapin: Team Profile

This is a developer diary for The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. The diary was originally posted to the old elderscrolls.com website on 17 December 2004.

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Brian Chapin -- Designer

1. So what's your role on the Elder Scrolls team?

I'm a Designer, one of the folks responsible for all those words on the screen while you play. Specifically, I'm responsible for the Mages Guild quest line.

2. What's your typical day like on the team?

I get in early, before most folks are here. Usually I'll fire up the forums for a while, to see how things are going, and check for any problems that need addressing. After 15-20 minutes, I'll get down to business on whatever my task is for the current milestone, which inevitably requires lots and lots of writing. Meetings and impromptu conversations about design issues are mixed in during the day, often distracting me from my original goal for a while, and when I get back to it, I'll have some new idea that will often require I start writing all over again. Eventually there's a review process, where I look back over my work with the other designers, and decide how to improve it (or re-write it again if we don't like the direction in which it's heading.)

3. What's your favorite development tool?

There can be only one answer: The TES Construction Set. The editor we use to build the game has become even more powerful and versatile since Morrowind's development, making my life easier and giving me the opportunity to try all sorts of new things while focusing on telling a good story.

Quests now have their own section in the editor. For each quest, I can view all the dialogue associated with it, the scripts that are connected to it, the journal updates the player gets for it, and any conditions that may be placed on it (such as whether it's available at the beginning of the game, or triggered later on.) Having everything available in a single window makes it much easier to keep track of the quest's flow, as well as find any problems down the road. It's also easier to handle avoid problems in the game: an entire quest can be turned on, enabling all new dialogue, AI schedules, and objects with a single command. When the quest is done, everything can be turned off, making sure that quest dialogue doesn't accidentally pop up later on, or that quest items are still appearing in the world after you've already received them.

4. So what do you spend your late nights and weekends doing?

Most nights and weekends, I'm still adjusting to being a parent. (You'd think after over a year, I'd be used to it). Otherwise, I'm often doing what I like to call "research". This translates to playing lots of games well into the night, long after I should be in bed. I've also just purchased a guitar, which I intend to practice for a while before completely abandoning as "too difficult".

5. What's your favorite game?

This is a tough one. I think, of all the games I've played, Star Control II holds the spot nearest and dearest to my heart. It was just the perfect blend of witty, irreverent humor, spaceship combat, exploration, and resource gathering/management. Simple systems, great characters, and a huge universe to explore - it was one of the first games I played that made me think "wow - I'd love to be able to create something like this."

6. What games are you playing now?

This is possibly the worst time to ask that question, considering all the games that have been released in the last few months. I'd only just finished Fable and Doom 3 when I suddenly had to shift my attention to GTA: San Andreas, Half Life 2, and most recently, World of Warcraft. I've actually been dreaming about dwarves lately, which is disturbing.

7. What game do you hate that everyone else seems to like?

"Hate" is a strong word. There's nothing that I truly can't stand, though most sports games these days have little appeal for me. Aside from the current iteration of NHL Hockey, you won't catch me playing them.

8. What's the craziest game idea you've had?

There was a brief period where I contemplated the idea of a game that heavily involved music. Not just using music as background flavor; something like a party-based RPG where combat literally played out using series of musical notes. Each character could play certain notes, and characters could be combined to form chords and harmonies as "combo"-like moves. When I tried to start thinking about a setting and plot to back this up (as in: how on Earth does music kill your enemies? Would the characters use instruments, or sing, or would it be based on some weird fantasy concept using magical staffs, or crystals, or stuff found in the crates that always seem to show up in RPGs?) it made my brain hurt, so I put the idea away. It's still back there, though, and every now and then rears its head when I'm trying to concentrate on something else.