Development
| Official system requirements | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The game was developed by the United States software company Bethesda Softworks. Ken Rolston, who was Morrowind's lead designer, oversaw a development team of 268. The PC and Xbox 360 versions of the game were co-published by 2K Games and Bethesda. Work began on The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion shortly after the release of The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind in 2002. By mid-September 2004, Oblivion had been officially announced, and its title revealed. 2K Games had aimed for a late 2005 publication so that the game could be an Xbox 360 launch title. The official release date for the PC and Xbox 360 versions was originally November 22, 2005, but developmental delays pushed it back to March 21, 2006. The PlayStation 3 version of the game (ported by 4J Studios) was released on March 20, 2007, in North America and on April 27, 2007, in Europe. This version includes graphical improvements that had been made since the PC and Xbox 360 release, and the PS3 version was subsequently praised for its enhanced visual appeal.
During Oblivion's development, Bethesda concentrated on creating a system with a more realistic storyline, more believable characters, and more meaningful quests than had been done in the past. The game features improved artificial intelligence (from previous titles in the series) from the Bethesda proprietary Radiant A.I. software, and enhanced physics with the Havok physics engine. The graphics take advantage of advanced lighting and shader routines like high dynamic range rendering (HDR) and specular mapping. Bethesda developed and implemented procedural content creation tools in the building of Oblivion's terrain, leading to the expedited creation of landscapes that are more complex and realistic than in past titles.
Read more about this topic: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
Famous quotes containing the word development:
“Theories of child development and guidelines for parents are not cast in stone. They are constantly changing and adapting to new information and new pressures. There is no “right” way, just as there are no magic incantations that will always painlessly resolve a child’s problems.”
—Lawrence Kutner (20th century)
“I hope I may claim in the present work to have made it probable that the laws of arithmetic are analytic judgments and consequently a priori. Arithmetic thus becomes simply a development of logic, and every proposition of arithmetic a law of logic, albeit a derivative one. To apply arithmetic in the physical sciences is to bring logic to bear on observed facts; calculation becomes deduction.”
—Gottlob Frege (1848–1925)
“Information about child development enhances parents’ capacity to respond appropriately to their children. Informed parents are better equipped to problem-solve, more confident of their decisions, and more likely to respond sensitively to their children’s developmental needs.”
—L. P. Wandersman (20th century)