In Starfield, there are many planets to explore, but not all of them are inhabited and hence appear rather empty. A former developer from Bethesda believes that the game would be better if there were fewer planets.
Not every planet should “be Disney World”, says Managing Director Ashley Cheng. It is even intentional that many of the planets are empty. The fact that you can’t land on some of them is considered sensible by many fans.
The former Bethesda developer Bruce Nesmith talks in an interview with Ben Hanson from MinnMax, which was released on YouTube on October 23, 2023, about the development of Starfield and its scope. There were many discussions in the developer studio about the size of the game and especially about the number of planets.
For exploration, you obviously need a spaceship. In the video, you can find out where to get one of the best:
The number 100 was “practically pulled out of thin air”
This was the discussion: There had been many discussions in the developer studio about the scope of Starfield. In the interview with Ben Hanson, former Bethesda developer Bruce Nesmith remembers:
At one point I said: “I bet this game would be much better if we limited ourselves to about two dozen solar systems and focused on those.” Well, you have to know how to build a planet so that people can walk around on it.
Todd [Howard] practically pulled the number 100 for the number of star systems out of thin air. But the further we progressed, the more it became clear that all core activities would take place in these two dozen inhabited systems, and the rest is open space. But people love our big games; they love these open areas to explore.
And then it came down to how we could make exploration meaningful. And once again, you have to succeed on a planet. Once you have this formula, you have the formula for all planets.
Bruce Nesmith via YouTube
Game Director and Executive Producer Todd Howard explained at the end of September that Starfield was deliberately designed to be filled with content long-term and played for years.
When it came to how the studio could make exploration in Starfield meaningful, tough decisions had to be made. Nesmith says in the interview:
I think some of the exploration elements did not turn out as well as they could have because they chose to pursue other options.
In every game studio on this planet, people know what decisions they make. They know what won’t be included, and they know what players will complain about. But you have to make hard decisions.
Bruce Nesmith via YouTube
The fact that players feel drawn to the “option of building their own ship” makes Nesmith very happy personally because he has “worked very hard on it.”
Here’s how Bruce Nesmith worked on Starfield: Bruce Nesmith created the astrophysical data for the planets, conducted research, and selected systems. He was responsible for the design of the spaceships, concerning both combat and construction.
Previously, Bruce Nesmith worked on many other games from Bethesda, including Fallout 3, Fallout 4, and The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim.
Recently, one of the most well-known faces of Bethesda left. Many know him as the PR head of the developer studio: One of the key figures at Bethesda is retiring: “After Starfield, it feels like the time is ripe”
