Bethesda’s Xbox RPG Starfield could have way too much dialogue

At Tokyo Game Show yesterday, Bethesda Creative Director Todd Howard told an audience that the upcoming space RPG Starfield will have more than 150,000 lines of dialogue. If that sounds like a lot, that’s because it is. In response to the announcement, some developers from other AAA studios expressed shock at the volume of dialogue.

Howard already has describe Starfield like Skyrim in space. ”For context, however, Skyrim “Only had 60,000 lines, less than half of Starfieldthe number of lines projected from.

Wyn Rush, Senior Narrative Designer at Weaponry of war developer The Coalition, spoke to Kotaku why they and their narrative peers were so concerned with the news. Implementing such a large script, they say, involves long hours on the part of the game’s writers.

“A huge game script isn’t just a ton of work for the writing team… it’s work for the audio department, engineers, animators, maybe even level designers. .. A giant script means a parcel time to do the VO recording, processing the recording and [script] line management.

It wasn’t just the heavy lifting that surprised Rush. According to them, there are potential pitfalls for quality. They cited editing, maintaining consistent creative direction and precise localization as pain points in a great script.

“In a sea of ​​VO lines this large, I can only understand how much has been lost, mixed up or [improperly] controlled quality. Even the best processes and the most vigilant teams will lose a few in the cracks. “

It’s not just the Starfield project itself that could be affected, but potentially the lives of developers. According to game writer and narrative designer Anna Webster, the sheer size of the company could have an effect on development work. “Dialogue is a labor of love, and the cost of this labor increases in proportion to its quantity! And if you’re not careful on the production side, it can lead to a squeeze. ”

Crunch refers to the extended overtime it is endemic to game development, which can have negative effects on employee health. Todd howard recognized in 2019 that Bethesda had had crisis issues in the past, but said that “we’re at the point where we can really handle [crunch] … I think that’s why people stay here.

There is still no denying it StarfieldThe script will be a huge undertaking in terms of developer work. Robert Brookes, a narrative designer at Bungie, noted on Twitter that the amount of work in a 150,000 word script could equal 500 voice recording sessions. Assuming the actors have experience, “… it’s a little less than a full year of nonstop recording if you are not using multiple recording studios and audio directors.

Brookes also recognized Kotaku that it was entirely possible that Bethesda would be successful. “It also might not take as long as I had estimated,” he said. “Someone pointed out that Disco Elysee I think I recorded some 300,000 lines of voices in 8 months.

Starfield represents the first new Bethesda IP in 25 years. The game is currently slated for release on November 11, 2022 on Xbox and PC.

Correction: October 1, 2:20 p.m .: this article has been updated to correct a respondent’s pronouns.