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Why "pre-generated optimization" in a game where the player can build & scrap stuff?


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It's something a guy made during for fun during the last months of the game's creation

 

Do you have an actual authoritative source for that ?

 

Reason I ask is that I find references to workshops and settlement building keyworeds right through the scripts back to early main quest changes and cut content.

 

So I smell an urban legend/myth.

 

 

The No-Clip documentary video on the history BGS (which is likely what Zorkaz is referring to) goes into detail on this starting at about 1:18:28, although it does not sound like Minecraft mode...er, I mean Workshop mode was created during the "last months" of development but rather much, much earlier on.

 

According to the documentary, Bethesda holds "Game Jams" where studio employees (not only game devs) can do "show and tell" for game related things they tinker with in their own time. The video says this is done at the start of every new project so people can showcase their prototypes. Some things get added to the project, some don't. One producer learned how to animate cats, so that's why we have cats in FO4. A physics programmer showed up with what we now know as Minecraft mode...damn, I did it again....sorry, Workshop mode.

 

Todd loved it, so it got added to the game but it almost didn't make it and was under constant threat of being removed. Personally, I wish it had been axed and burned to ashes so more attention could be given to developing actual game content but that's another discussion.

 

The only urban legend is the one where people say Workshop mode (see, I can do it!) was created at the behest of the Zenimax Sith Lords to cash in on Minecraft's popularity. In actuality, a game dev liked base building and figured out how to do it in the Creation engine. People in the studio thought it was cool and it was added to the game. That's all.

 

The video itself is worth a watch, but do keep in mind that it's a puff-piece released around the time of the FO76 E3 announcement. But I think its worth a watch if you're at all interested in BGS or video game history in general.

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Yeah workshop mode is a complex peice of software engineering with hooks into so much core content its not something that could be have been added at the last minute.

 

Cut and cauterized, sure theres not much "buld stuff" dependency quests that could not be worked around (just look for users of WorkshopEventsQuestScript).

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Thanks Red!

 

I have been watching lots of your archived streams on YouTube, so I know how you feel about the "settlement" stuff ...

And I don't want to argue about that ...

(It is the whole "If you want to get more stuff into the game, you need more people working on it, otherwise you will 'not have time' to work on things like the MQ" - thing, if you try to do lots of things with only a few devs, you will end up with lots of "badly done" things.).

 

I probably won't watch that viedo you linked, I'd rather keep working on my own stuff ....

But your explaination of that makes sense.

 

 

Also, I know this is off-topic, but what do you mean with the "Pushbutton modding" - thing?

 

 

(As for the "mincraft analogy": I used to enjoy playing MC, but after a while it felt like "wasted time". I'd rather work on modding "actual games". But that stupid DiMA-FarHarbor-puzzle certainly has a "minecraft feel" about it ...

But I personally like the Settlement system much much more then MC because MC is too "low resolution" and "primitive" for my taste ...)

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I once read that bethesda didn't expect that players are so much into building in their settlements. Guess they thought I'd be just a minor part of the game

so a small part of the game was implemented into numerous main story quest lines and only three of the game settlements (Diamond City, Goodneighbor, Atom Cats Garage) are not controlled by the player in the base game?

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