With Skyrim's latest game add-on, players can build their own home from the ground up. Beginning with a small, one room cabin in The Pale, Falkreath, or Hjaalmarch, players can eventually construct a fully functioning home with more features than you could possibly expect.
In many ways, this house-building process is analogous to the evolution of Hearthfire's development.
Like Dawnguard, Hearthfire's inception came out of Bethesda Game Studios' first-ever "Game Jam", a weeklong exercise where members of the team shared in-game ideas for expanding Skyrim.
"When the Game Jam invitation arrived, I was looking for something different from what I'd traditionally do as a designer," lead designer, Bruce Nesmith recollected. "To make it a reality, I knew I needed an artist to tag team, so I approached Robert [Wisnewski] and we collaborated on the project that was presented to the team."
Wisnewski, an environmental artist for Skyrim, was inspired to expand upon the game's housing options in large part because of his enthusiasm for Skyrim's crafting systems.
"It started as a small idea to expand on the crafting element of the game because alchemy, smithing and enchanting were things I was interested in when we were playtesting the game," said Wisnewski.
Meanwhile Nesmith, a fan of the popular game Minecraft, wanted players to have more ways to create content in the game. "Being a fan of [Minecraft], I asked, �Why can't I build things in our game?'"
In its Game Jam reveal, the house-building feature was simple � a small cabin that included a forge for players to create objects that would then become part of the house. Even in a preliminary state, the concept was lauded by the team and became a clear candidate for future Skyrim content.
"Soon after the Game Jam, the [Skyrim] add-on ideas were being reviewed, and this was one that Todd definitely wanted to see put in the game somewhere," added Nesmith.
As 2011 came to a close, Nesmith's focus shifted to Dawnguard, and co-lead designer, Kurt Kuhlmann took an interest in further developing the project with Wisnewski.
"It was essentially the first thing I started working on for Skyrim after the Game Jam," recalls Kuhlmann. "I was actually working on it on my own time in December and throughout vacation. I just continued on with my own experimenting to see how elaborate we could get with this."
In the new year, Kuhlmann and Wisnewski continued to flesh out ways players could trick out the houses they were building: a greenhouse for growing new alchemy ingredients, mannequin displays to show off weapons and armor, and even the ability to add multiple porches to the home.
"We even were able to add a wine cellar!" Wisnewski stated with excitement. "Anything you can think of that you'd want to have in a Skyrim house is here."
Like Wisnewski, Kuhlmann enthusiastically speaks about some of the content's features.
"I love the room with all the trophies that Robert made. He went a little nuts on that. The greenhouse is also cool, since you can grow plants inside your house, and little critters start to appear," continued Kuhlmann, "You can also get a bard. You can hire him and have him sing songs in your house. That is, until you get tired of him and then you can fire him."
Beyond creatures and crooners, Hearthfire presents players with the ability to adopt children � an idea demonstrated by level designer Steve Cornett during the Game Jam.
"The idea of adoption came to me after the Dark Brotherhood questline was presented," Cornett recalled. "After first seeing the [Innocence Lost] questline, I asked, �what happens to the kids? What happens to the orphanage after the quest is completed?'"
Hearthfire provided an opportunity to answer these questions, as the concept of adoption seemed a natural fit with the idea of creating a household.
"Build your own house lets you make a house and adoption lets you make it a home," explained Cornett.
The end result of Cornett's work provides a new dimension of immersion to the game, as players can find various ways to interact with their children.
"Steve did a great job designing the adoption [system] and making kids in the game really come to life. Simple things like having them ask for money or playing a game with them. While these things don't necessarily have implications to my character's adventure, they do make the children feel so much more alive," added Nesmith.
The evolution of both house building and adoption through time has made Hearthfire a project the whole team is proud of.
"The actual scope of Hearthfire blows me away. It's one thing to say you're going to add these things, and it's another to see a small team build something that's so complex and rigorous and have all those pieces, " concluded Nesmith.
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