Starfield was conceived as a project much broader than Bethesda's usual formula, and scale became one of its main production problems.The game's former lead systems designer, Kurt Kuhlmann, said that the team was simultaneously hampered by the complexity of development and the lack of people for the original concept.

There were about 500 people working on Starfield versus about 150 on Fallout 4. The paradox is that a larger team didn't automatically make production faster.

Planet exploration in Starfield
Starfield was Bethesda's first project of this scale.Source: Bethesda Game Studios

The team has grown, but development has become more difficult

According to Kuhlmann, Starfield was Bethesda's first truly multi-studio game.Problems that were previously solved by a small group now went through several teams and approval stages.

He gives an example of coverage: a change might require multiple passes by different people, reassembling the design, and re-testing.A similar problem arose with creature animations - creating new types of enemies took two to three times longer than expected.

Spaceship in Starfield
The developers had to simultaneously build RPGs, space combat, ships and procedural planets.Source: Bethesda Game Studios

For the original plan, even 500 people were not enough

According to Kuhlmann, the staff has grown several times, but along with it the volume of the game itself has grown even faster.

Starfield required new systems for ships, space combat, outposts, procedural planets, and New Game Plus.Many designers were unable to properly flesh out the game while the core systems were still in development.

Because of this, there was less time to manually populate a huge universe, and repetitive procedural elements became more noticeable.

Starfield space scene
The larger the universe became, the more content was needed to keep it from feeling empty.Source: Bethesda Game Studios

“That wasn’t our strong point.”

Kuhlmann does not abandon the very idea of ​​Starfield and considers the result impressive considering the complexity.But in hindsight, he admits that the project forced Bethesda to do things in which the studio had almost no experience, including transport and space combat.

Starfield wasn't just "Skyrim in space."Bethesda simultaneously built RPGs, space combat, ships, outposts, and a huge procedural universe.The larger the project became, the more difficult it was to tie it all into one game.

Kuhlmann's story explains well why the growth of the team did not solve all of Starfield's problems: the scale of the project grew faster than the studio's ability to fill and coordinate it.

Interview with Kurt Kuhlmann.

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