Game lead designer talks about Shivering Isles

It looks like it took Bethesda quite a while before feeling comfortable with the announcement of its highly anticipated expansion to Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (for Xbox 360, PS3, and PC), Shivering Isles. Whatever it was that was bugging the devs during those times seems all gone now as the game’s lead designer Mark Nelson freely talked about it with gaming site Firing Squad.

The designer revealed that they actually began working on Shivering Isles right after they released Oblivion. Development took longer than expected because, as according to Nelson, Bethesda wanted to make sure that players will feel the changes. Shivering Isles shed some of the traditional medieval fantasy look and kept the game’s exotic feel. Nelson then added,

Creating a space that big is always challenging, as you don’t want to create a world that’s big and empty. The world needs to be filled with things to see and do. That’s what Elder Scrolls games are known for, though — huge, open worlds that give the player room to explore.

If you already feel okay with the game’s original character creation system, you need not worry as Bethesda didn’t tinker with it. Nelson mentioned though that new clothing, armor, and weapon options have been added. The designer added that more than customization, the expansion is more focused on quests and missions. Aside from the main quest, a ton of new ones await the players.

It looks like it took Bethesda quite a while before feeling comfortable with the announcement of its highly anticipated expansion to Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (for Xbox 360, PS3, and PC), Shivering Isles. Whatever it was that was bugging the devs during those times seems all gone now as the game’s lead designer Mark Nelson freely talked about it with gaming site Firing Squad.

The designer revealed that they actually began working on Shivering Isles right after they released Oblivion. Development took longer than expected because, as according to Nelson, Bethesda wanted to make sure that players will feel the changes. Shivering Isles shed some of the traditional medieval fantasy look and kept the game’s exotic feel. Nelson then added,

Creating a space that big is always challenging, as you don’t want to create a world that’s big and empty. The world needs to be filled with things to see and do. That’s what Elder Scrolls games are known for, though — huge, open worlds that give the player room to explore.

If you already feel okay with the game’s original character creation system, you need not worry as Bethesda didn’t tinker with it. Nelson mentioned though that new clothing, armor, and weapon options have been added. The designer added that more than customization, the expansion is more focused on quests and missions. Aside from the main quest, a ton of new ones await the players.