The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim players might not have noticed something strange about the in-game fireplaces.
While I’m not a game developer myself I do enjoy learning more about the creative process that goes into the games we play. There’s so much room for error and when things get complicated or there’s a danger of something not working developers have to think outside of the box.
Looking at Skyrim I’d imagine there were a lot of hoops that needed to be jumped through in order to get it into the state it’s in now, and even then there’s still a large quantity of bugs and glitches, though many of them have become staples of the game.
One trick the developers seemingly played to save a bit of time can be found inside some of the fireplaces, and you won’t have noticed unless you had a really good look at them. This comes from Reddit user VirgilTheWitch who noticed that the fireplaces in Meridia’s Temple actually have tiny houses in them to simulate firewood.
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I hadn’t noticed this myself but upon further inspection you can in fact see some recognisable architecture, it’s just shrunk down to make it look like generic wood.
This was likely done to simply save time, as developers often try to reuse assets for other things rather than make brand-new ones. Why create a model for firewood when you can just reuse another wood-like model in the game instead? It also helps reduce the amount of storage players will need to install the game, because of course if a game has less in it, it’ll take up less space on a hard drive.
Whilst having a read of the comments I noticed one highlight how a potato can be found in the Sovngarde fireplace. I don’t think that had anything to do with asset recycling but it’s funny nonetheless.
Meridia’s Temple isn’t the only example of Bethesda devs getting creative either, as another comment pointed out that the Katariah, the ship you visit if you plan on assassinating the Emperor, has a deck made out of tables rather than a properly modelled floor.
Such simple changes and tricks and yet hardly anyone notices them, which is a credit to how immersive the game can feel.
Even though it’ll be a new-gen title and has been in development for several years, I’d expect Bethesda will still be using the same sneaky development tactics in The Elder Scrolls VI.