#185 - Jeremy Bryant Interview (Animator On Skyrim, Fallout 4, 76 & Starfield)

Jeremy Bryant was an animator at Bethesda for over 15 years from Skyrim to Starfield. This is his first interview!

#starfield #fallout #skyrim

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Intro

00:26 - Jeremy Commuted To Work By Plane

04:07 - Working With Dennis On The Werewolf

06:26 - How The Animation Tools Evolved From Skyrim To Starfield

08:43 - Mocap Use On Skyrim/Jeremy Used His Own Mocap On Skyrim DLC

10:35 - Animating Hands/Hardest Things Animating

11:54 - Jeremy Was Known As The Gun Reloader Animator Guy

14:06 - Non-Combat Animations 15:20 - Non Humans Were Key Framed Not Mocapped/Only 7 Animators On Skyrim

16:55 - Bethesda’s Management System In The Old Days Doesn’t Scale Well

18:50 - Bethesda Expanded Too Fast For The Culture To Remain The Same/Team Sizes

20:15 - Starfields Roadmap Required A Massive Team

21:45 - Rockstar’s Level Of Polish/Downsides Of Large Teams

24:00 - Animating Procedural Generated Content

25:00 - Jeremy’s Thoughts On Todd Howard

28:50 - Jeremy Changed From A Full Time Employee To A Contractor Part Way Through Starfield

30:00 - Pros & Cons Of Remote Work/How Covid Impacted Starfields Development

32:15 - Microsoft Acquisition

33:15 - Modding Community 35:20 - Bethesdas Feature Creep Culture

36:30 - Why Jeremy Left Bethesda

39:10 - Games Are Costing Too Much To Make/Layoffs/Dev Salaries

43:15 - Larian Studios/Growing Studios Gradually

44:45 - Q+A - Why Slo Mo Kills Were Removed From Starfield

45:45 - Q+A - How Does An Animator Go About Animating A Mythical Creature

47:00 - Game Jams At Bethesda/Originally There Was A Mad Max Motorcycle In Fallout 4

50:00 - Many Vehicles Made For Starfield That May Still Be Added/Vampire Lord In Skyrim

51:30 - Pros & Cons Of Bethesda Migrating To Unreal Engine 5/Creation Engine

57:52 - It’s Easier To Make Realistic Graphics Than Stylized Graphics

1:00:25 - Elder Scrolls VI/Gameplay Is More Important Than Anything Else

1:02:10 - Bethesda’s Culture Is Great/Game Devs Who Have Never Shipped A Game Due To Layoffs

1:04:30 - Jeremy Asks Kiwi For His Thoughts On Xbox Multiplatform Strategy/Gamepass & Game He Played Most In 2024

1:08:30 - Closing Comments/LinkedIn Is Facebook 2.0