Todd Howard: Worldbuilding in Tamriel and Beyond

The newest addition to our Influential Video Game Designers series explores the work of Todd Howard, executive producer at Bethesda Studios, known for how he consistently pushes the boundaries of open-world gaming and player agency.?

Howa' s games create worlds in which players can design their own characters and tell their own stories. While many games tell the story of the gam' s main character, Todd Howar' s worldbuilding approach to game design focuses more on telling the story of the gam' s world, whether it be the high fantasy environments of th?Elder ScrollsFallo?series. This focus on sculpting the world allows for remarkable amounts of player freedom and choice in an expansive game environment by creating a landscape rich with open opportunit?

Drawing on both academic discussions of narrative, world design, and game design, as well as on officially released interviews, speeches, and presentations given by Howard and other designers at Bethesda Games, Wendi Sierra highlights three core areas set Howa' s design perspective apart from other designers- micronarratives, iterative design, and the sharing of design tools. Taken as a whole, these three elements demonstrate how Howard has used a worldbuilding perspective to shape his games. In doing so, he has impacted not only Bethesda Studios, but also the landscape of game design itself.

The newest addition to our Influential Video Game Designers series explores the work of Todd Howard, executive producer at Bethesda Studios, known for how he consistently pushes the boundaries of open-world gaming and player agency.?

Howa' s games create worlds in which players can design their own characters and tell their own stories. While many games tell the story of the gam' s main character, Todd Howar' s worldbuilding approach to game design focuses more on telling the story of the gam' s world, whether it be the high fantasy environments of th?Elder ScrollsFallo?series. This focus on sculpting the world allows for remarkable amounts of player freedom and choice in an expansive game environment by creating a landscape rich with open opportunit?

Drawing on both academic discussions of narrative, world design, and game design, as well as on officially released interviews, speeches, and presentations given by Howard and other designers at Bethesda Games, Wendi Sierra highlights three core areas set Howa' s design perspective apart from other designers- micronarratives, iterative design, and the sharing of design tools. Taken as a whole, these three elements demonstrate how Howard has used a worldbuilding perspective to shape his games. In doing so, he has impacted not only Bethesda Studios, but also the landscape of game design itself.

Wendi Sierra?is an Assistant Professor at St. John Fisher College, USA, where she teaches courses in rhetoric, digital media, and game studies. Her most recent publications include a case study of intergenerational gaming ?Pokemon Go