A SKYRIM DOCUMENTARY | You're Finally Awake: Nine Developers Recount the Making of Skyrim

Welcome to a never-before-seen Developer Reunion and Retrospective. In celebration of Skyrim’s 10th Anniversary, I’ve joined with nine of my former colleagues to reminisce about what what we worked on, how we worked on it, and what it was like to collaborate with each other on The Elder Scrolls V. It was so good to see them and catch up - I def got The Feels more than once putting this video together for you - and I hope you like it.

0:00 Intro
1:59 A Special Thank You
2:17 When I discovered the Elder Scrolls
7:00 What is a Programmer?
9:10 What makes Bethesda games so special?
11:09 What is a World Artist?
12:20 From the Lights of Blackreach…
13:17 …to the Icy Cobbles of Windhelm
14:52 What is a Character Artist?
16:00 What made Skyrim so Special?
17:32 How was the Werewolf Made?
19:28 Why is a Healthy Competition good for Developers?
21:56 What is an Animator?
23:40 The Development of Skyrim's Quadrupeds
29:20 The Movement of Skyrim
30:51 An Animation too Gruesome for Skyrim!
31:19 What is an FX Artist?
32:25 The Ants of Riverwood 🐜
33:53 The Critter System!
35:32 How a Bee almost ruined Skyrim
36:38 Hidden Developers secrets of Skyrim
36:49 The Skyrim Giants are modeled after my Father!
37:44 Making the Skillmap
39:00 What is a Level Artist?
40:09 How was Mehrunes' Razor made?
41:40 How were the Dragon Priests' Masks made?
43:04 What is a Video Editor?
45:54 Why was Skyrim a Success?
46:10 The importance of Sticking to the Vision
49:15 Outro


A huge shout-out to ALL of my former colleagues, but most especially the ones I interviewed for this video. Our titles, way back then, were:
Joel Burgess - Level Designer
Lianne Cruz - Animator
Salinee Goldenberg - Video Editor
Dennis Mejillones - Character Artist
Nate Purkeypile - World Artist
Rashad Redic - World Artist
Jean Simonet - Programmer
Mark Teare - FX Artist

The two resources on Adam Adamowicz that I mention in the video can be found here:
Adam’s Skyrim Collection on Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/47857688@N08/albums/72157629321466509/
The Life & Creativity of a Great Bethesda Artist: https://kotaku.com/the-life-and-creativity-of-a-great-bethesda-artist-1740993491

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Ambiance Magic
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