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New menu system for Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim detailed

by Steven Williamson on 31 January 2011, 15:41

Tags: Bethesda Softworks, Action/Adventure

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Having recently voted Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion as one of our favourite games of all time, we found little reason for critisism. However, one area that had significant room for improvement was the menu system, which was the over-complicated and slow to navigate.

The good news is Bethesda is developing a new style of menu system for the latest game in the series, Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, which takes some of its inspiration from Apple's iTunes interface.

"You know in iTunes when you look at all your music you get to flip through it and look at the covers and it becomes tangible? One of our goals was, 'What if Apple made a fantasy game? How would this look?' It's very good at getting through lots of data quickly, which is always a struggle with our stuff," Skyrim producer Todd Howard told Game Informer.

The old menu has been scrapped and totally revamped for Skyrim and will now feature "a simple compass interface that offers four options."

Press left and you can access magical equipment. Press right and you'll access the main inventory. Press up and you'll be presented with a view of the sky, whose stars represent your hero's development across different areas. Finally, press down and you'll gain access to the main map. It's a much simpler system, which should mean that you'll spend less time fumbling around trying to pin-point items.

Another major addition is a bookmark system, allowing you to choose your favourite spells and weapons so that you can quickly access them - there won't be an eight-item limit like the previous game.

More details on Skyrim should start to pour out over the coming months. In the meantime, check out Game Informer for more details on the new menu system.


HEXUS Forums :: 5 Comments

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I'm looking forward to TES:V, but a press release just for the menu system? That's ridiculous!
kalniel
I'm looking forward to TES:V, but a press release just for the menu system? That's ridiculous!

i really hope its good but it always worries me when a publisher will use any excuse to drum up hype.

they should take a leaf out of valves book tell us nothing and we build our own hype half life 2 episode 3 anyone or half life 3!!
Hype for HL2EP3 is building?

I thought it was nearly dead as a dodo.

In other news

What if Apple made a fantasy game? How would this look?

I just vomited a little
TBH, it sounds like they've fallen into the trap of making a console RPG, and thus dumbing down the franchise to cope with having just a handful of buttons. Just you watch, we'll end with a character creation system based on 3 archtypes and endless “variety” of gear that's all randomly generated in a non-sensical fashion!
Touch wood Bethesda won't put a foot wrong with Skyrim. The interface is *looks* more console based than PC based but still a good idea i think :)