So I know a lot of people have thoughts on Starfield and how it is probably too big, should have been smaller, etc.
I agree with a lot of that and while I enjoyed working at Bethesda a lot when we were about 65-110 people on Fallout 3 and Skyrim, I enjoyed it a lot less as it grew and grew. I had a lot of fun building spaces a lot of you have probably seen like Diamond City, Blackreach, Little Lamplight, I was lead artist on Point Lookout and Fallout 76 and more.
Starfield was about 500 people or so and with four different companies involved (BGS, BGS Austin, BGS Dalls, BGS Montreal), and that's not including outsourcing. This just wasn't my style. There were so many meetings and it wasn't the way I liked to build games. I like being able to just move fast and build unique things.
I always loved indie games and I figured, if I didn't do it now, I maybe never would. Unreal 5 looked really cool to me and it had way better open world support. So I quit on April 1st 2021 (seriously haha) and decided to build my own open world game. One that is not procedural, but 100% hand-built. The map is about 5x the size of Skyrim, but I tried something smaller and it didn't work very well. It's very focused on hunting and exploring and some of the creatures are pretty huge. So I needed a lot more space.
It's all about exploring an open world hunting monsters from folklore. Instead of having scary violins for the music, I wanted something with heavy metal. It's a cool blend of primitive instruments and metal. I'm happy with how it's turned out though and the demo is out now if anyone wants to check it out.
I got Clifford Meyer from the band Isis to do the whole soundtrack (I was psyched, I was a huge fan), someone to do the journal drawings and a few writers, but besides that, I built the game myself and I have no publisher. So I went as far indie as you can go haha. People have asked if I would do it again and absolutely, I would. I really enjoy being indie.
I hope you all like it! Let me know! Also I am still excited to see what they do next, I hope TES6 is good (but I am super glad I don't have to work on that, talk about high expectations! haha) and I'm excited to maybe someday play a Fallout game I didn't actually work on, maybe when I'm 80 or something, lol. (I have no clue when it will be)
If you want to see the trailer or check out the demo, it's up here:
18 Comments
I definitely loved exploring all the places you mentioned. {Always farmed mines, only used ‘em against Mirelurks though}.
So… dreaded question… I’m not a PC guy….
Any chance of console release?
Can you play as a stealth archer?
Congrats, can’t wait to see the full game. I’ve sent you a chat message about conducting an interview, give it a look if you have time. Thanks.
Fallout 76 had good art.
Isis. Damn!!! Loved them
Heavy metal is garbage 🗑️
Dude this looks freaking sick.
I love metal, I love ancient myths and folklore and shit, and I loved all those games.
I’m stoked for this and am gonna download that demo.
Since it is in Unreal 5, any chance of adding VR support? Or at least make it as compatible as possible with UEVR 🙂
That title is definitely the way to get attention here lol
I hope this does well enough to drop on console because this sounds amazing good luck
Do you have a bow in real life? Maybe even with LEDs? 🙂
The inside of the bow [and maybe the left glove as well?] acting as the HUD is a nice touch. Always appreciate it when the HUD can be integrated into the game instead of a screen overlay.
Good for you! This is amazing
I just watched the trailer.
Skyrim Stealth Archer – The Game
I wish listed right away.
Yo it’s Purkey! I’ve been following your work for a while. I actually have a friend who still works at BGS. A few years ago I actually got to a second round interview at Bethesda but unfortunately, I didn’t get the job. Anyways, I’m really looking forward to your new game!
Neither of the trailers have any metal in them, was that a purposeful choice? You do lead with it being a heavy metal horror game, but where is that emphasized in the trailer or gameplay? If it’s not a core feature, you probably don’t even need to point it out. Lots of games have metal as part of the soundtrack, shit Halo had Misha Mansoor from Periphery and Steve Vai, and Doom has Alex Terrible, the game Metal Hellsinger has metal music as part of the gameplay, rhythm based shooter. If metal isn’t heavily featured it seems like a weird thing to emphasize. The game looks amazing btw, you did an incredible job.
Looks cool wishlisted
Why is it always heavy metal? What about a small game where you hunt monsters?