Bethesda has once again featured a senior member of its development. Previously, it was Kris Takahashi, and now it’s David Pierce! Like Kris, David had started his professional career at Bethesda as a step up from being an independent modder working on The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind.
In an interview with Bethesda’s PR team, David revealed that he had been at work designing his tabletop RPGs as a kid. When Morrowind came out, he had just built his own PC and had felt inspired by the game’s intro to try and recreate its events to take place at night in the middle of a thunderstorm.
That, David explained, was when he realized how great it felt to have created something for a game and got it working. “I was hopelessly hooked,” he added, indicating that the rest was history.
When asked what he enjoyed most about creating mods for games like Skyrim and others, David said that he highly appreciates the near-instantaneous feedback loop from the users. Describing it as “incredibly fast,” the former hobbyist modder-turned-senior designer said that you’ll know immediately if people like your mod.
David admitted that he initially feared that he might not enjoy modding anymore once he transitioned to it as a full-time employment instead of a hobby. However, he said that seven years as a part-time contract Designer through the Creation Club cemented designing as a full-time career.
David closed the interview by advising people who are aspiring game designers to work on their portfolios as early as now. “Just start, and start small,” he said, and soon enough, they’ll realize that they have a solid portfolio to present to any interviewer.
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The Elder Scrolls