Today we've been taken inside the vault with interface programmer Dan Teitel. Here are some highlights from the interview: What’s your job at Bethesda?
I am a programmer. I am largely responsible for portions of the interface but have also worked on the weather system for Oblivion and other aspects of the game, as well. My prize claim in Fallout 3 is the Hacking minigame which I was primarily responsible for implementing and also helped design... What is the best part about working as a programmer? The worst part?
The best part about being a programmer is the opportunity to be creative and to touch people’s lives. Working on games such as Oblivion and Fallout 3 that are played all around the world really gives me a sense of purpose....The worst part is fixing bugs. Bug fixing is the very epitome of tedium and will turn your hair gray and wrinkle your skin. They are thankless, unrelenting, glamourless little tasks that have the capacity to challenge your sanity. Every time you step on one, two more have spawned on either side of you. Even the ones you swore you squashed can find a way to gather themselves together and reappear. Bug fixing is the large majority of what you do toward the end of a project, so it can be easy to become convinced that they will never end. How did you get into the industry? Do you have any tips for breaking in?
From my experience, it takes talent, passion, perseverance, and luck. So put all your points into those four stats. What would you say is your personal favorite game of all-time?
That is a difficult question. I can’t say I have a single favorite game but there are a few games that stand out because they changed the way I thought about games. The earliest was probably Atari Adventure... After that it was probably the original Legend of Zelda. That was the first game I played that really let you just explore a huge game world with few restrictions. And then, truthfully, nothing really did that for me again until Oblivion.
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