Zachary Wilson Discusses Starfield’s Space Encounters, Modding, and More

Bethesda have been posting interviews with members of their Starfield development team, and the latest interviewee is Zachary Wilson, Senior Level Designer. You may have seen Zachary Wilson in the game’s Developer Direct showcase a couple of months ago. Zachary is responsible for most of the areas related to the United Colonies questline as well as a lot of the space encounters, among other things.

Wilson gives a few insights into what we can expect to come across in our exploration of Settled Systems space: Legendary Ships, massive high level enemy ships that will pose a major challenge to players; derelict ships that exemplify the perils of space travel; and a tourist ship with a hapless tour guide.

The article mentions a couple of popular Skyrim mod makers who have been hired to work at Bethesda: Kris Takahashi, best known for his Interesting NPCs mod, and David Pierce, aka Chesko, who made the Campfire and Frostfall mods. Wilson goes on to encourage anyone who’s interested in a job in the industry to download Bethesda’s modding tools and get creative. He cites the success of two other Skyrim mods, The Forgotten City and Enderal, which each spawned their own development studio.

Asked about his favorite games, Wilson named Satisfactory and Baldur’s Gate 3, which he says he’s deep into at the moment. Aren’t we all!

You can read the full interview on Bethesda’s website, here.