Falskaar Mod - Interview @ PCGAMER

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PCGAMER has an interview with the mod author Alexander J. Velicky. If you recall he wants a job with Bethesda, and used his first try at modding Skyrim to get their attention.

I organized everyone involved, but the voice actors themselves recorded all the dialogue and submitted it to me,” Velicky told me. Though over 100 people contributed in some way, including composing an original soundtrack, Velicky took their contributions and plugged them into Falskaar himself. “I had some people help me out with a few models and textures, someone wrote a book or two for me… But otherwise all content was implemented, written and developed by me.”

So how does a 19-year-old take the helm of a creative project of this size? Velicky wants a job. He graduated from high school over a year ago, and instead of finding a design school, he turned Bethesda’s Creation Kit into his classroom, spending 2,000 hours over the last year building Falskaar.

“[My dad] was incredibly supportive and allowed me to live here, paying for living expenses and charging no rent,” Velicky says. “I was able to not go to school and not have a day job. Meaning, more or less, that Falskaar was my day job.”

The mod is fully voice-acted by 29 voice actors playing 54 characters (Velicky held auditions), and the quality is much higher than most community-made content. “I’m still kind of shocked at some of the talent I got on the project… and every single one of them surpassed my expectations by leaps and bounds.”

A massive dungeon, “Watervine Chasm,” may be Falskaar’s crowning achievement. It took Velicky three weeks to build and players report it takes an hour or two to complete. The community response has been overwhelmingly positive.

“Falskaar isn’t perfect,” Velicky says. “I’m not an expert who’s been crafting game experiences for the last 20 years, so I certainly still have a lot to learn, and I always will. I’m always looking to learn and improve, and Falskaar was a huge chance for me to do this.”

According to Velicky, Bethesda is aware that he’s out there, and he isn’t shy about putting his goals right out on the table. “The best way to show Bethesda Game Studios that I want a job there and should be hired is to create content that meets the standards of their incredible development team.”
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Maybe they have internships?
I have seen many modders get a job faster then an intern does. Showing your work beforehand gets you in faster also.

The kid created something by himself that matched the official DLC that takes a team of 10-15 people. He better get that job.
 
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How's the actual quality?

Is it any good?

Forgive me for being a sceptic - but a 19-year old kid creating something like this by himself smells of powerful enthusiasm more than quality content made with love and care.

The workload required to produce 25-30 hours of stable/polished quality content as a single person with limited experience is ridiculously massive.

So, either the kid is a super talented genius - or this mod is full of mediocrity.
 
Forgive me for being a sceptic - but a 19-year old kid creating something like this by himself smells of powerful enthusiasm more than quality content made with love and care.

I'm a developer myself. I'm technically much better now than I was 25 years ago.
But I developed some of my best, creative and innovative programs between the age of 16 to 25.

I think not knowing rules and problems can be an advantage at young age.
 
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I'm a developer myself. I'm technically much better now than I was 25 years ago.
But I development some of my best, creative and innovative programs between the age of 16 to 25.

I think not knowing rules and problems can be an advantage at young age.

I'm not saying you can't be creative or innovative at 19.

I'm saying the workload involved is rather extreme - and enthusiasm alone is not a substitute for talent and experience.

Basically, I'm just asking if the kid has done well or not.

I'm curious whether or not I should include the mod in my next playthrough. If it's good - it would be a great addition.

But if it's amateur-hour - I'd rather not waste my time with it.
 
I'd also be interested in feedback, if anybody is playing this.
 
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The kid created something by himself that matched the official DLC that takes a team of 10-15 people. He better get that job.

That kid is giving DLC for free. And tried his best to nail every single bug in it.
He better get the job. In CDprojekt.
 
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Talented or not, it's very difficult to get any white collar job these days with simply a high school diploma. I've seen job listings requiring degrees for 25k/yr sales positions...
 
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It's not just about having the ability... it's how well you work with the rest of the team. That's why an internship can be a useful stepping stone that lets everybody see whether it's going to work out.
 
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I have it installed on my new run through of Skyrim...haven't seen it yet but by all accounts I have read it is awesome.
 
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