Bethesda Softworks Inside the Vault Q&A

[GameBanshee News]

It's been a while since Bethesda provided an inside the vault developer Q&A, now with world artist Rafael Vargas.

What is the best part about working as a artist? The worst part?

The best part for me is the creative freedom. In Bloodmoon, I pretty much had an open canvas to do what I wanted; I was told to do a Nord city on an icy landscape. I created it from early concept work all the way to the final product. It was quite a challenge, since at the time I had recently moved from the sister division of ZeniMax to Bethesda. The creative freedom continued in the development of Oblivion and much into Fallout 3. In Oblivion, besides making the interior and exteriors buildings, I played “master planner” in some cities. I got the chance to create a few cities: a destroyed one, a very poor one, and a nice, well-kept city. In the making, I would place myself in each city to try to get the right feeling and contrast. We have quite the amazing team of leads who not only allow us to grow in what we do best, but also make the entire development process transparent. Also, from the growth of new hires, we have some amazing new artists that make the team even more competitive. I think the challenge ahead is how to integrate the team better to keep pushing the quality bar even higher.