Emil Pagliarulo

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Emil Pagliarulo
NationalityAmerican
Education Salem State University
OccupationVideo game designer
Employer Bethesda Game Studios
Known for Thief II: The Metal Age
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
Fallout 3
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Starfield
Awards2008 Game Developers Choice Awards For Best Writing

Emil Pagliarulo is an American video game designer who works at Bethesda Game Studios.

Contents

Career

Pagliarulo started his career writing for the website Adrenaline Vault. [1] He has been working for Bethesda Softworks since 2002. [2] He previously worked for Looking Glass Studios and Ion Storm Austin. [3] He was the lead designer and the lead writer of Fallout 3 , for which he received the Game of the Year award and the Best Writing award at the 2008 Game Developers Choice Awards. [3] He was credited as the senior designer and writer of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and Fallout 4 .

Fallout 76

Pagliarulo worked on Fallout 76 as design director and lead writer. As such, after the game's notoriously bad launch, Pagliarulo took much of the blame in video game media. [4] In 2022 it was uncovered by Kotaku that the development of Fallout 76 suffered massive mismanagement from top level executives, with one developer stating that “During development, our design director Emil [Pagliarulo] didn’t seem to want to be involved with the product at all. He didn’t want to have any contact with it…or read anything that we put in front of him.” Pagliarulo refused to comment to Kotaku when asked to give his side of the story. Additionally, game developers noted that they would often report problems, many of which were the same problems that players complained about on launch, but that senior management was apathetic to fixing the problems, and more focused on polishing the in-game microtransaction store. Pagliarulo, and other senior management, also made a decision to pull developers from Arkane Austin, which was working on Redfall at the time, to work on Fallout 76, while entirely ignoring the Elder Scrolls Online team, as if that MMORPG's success was a fluke, and that the Fallout MMORPG shouldn't be modeled after Elder Scrolls Online. [5]

One of the particular sticking points with the community was the lack of interaction with other players, such as co-op quests, which Pagliarulo stated was a design decision, that the game was meant to be played "Solo but Together" [6] Another issue with the game players had that Pagliarulo celebrated as a feature was the "nuke loop" where high level players make a server unplayable by endlessly launching nukes at other players. [7] The aforementioned mismanagement, combined with a cut-throat human relations department at Bethesda, led to a mass exodus of the senior game developers from the studio. [8] Pagliarulo has gone on record celebrated "fixing" Fallout 76 years after its launch and restoring payer trust in Bethesda, despite his earlier apathy in the project. [4] [9]

Starfield

Pagliarulo worked on Starfield as design director and lead writer. In an interview with Polygon, Pagliarulo stated that Starfield was the most ambitious RPG Bethesda has ever worked on and that the game would enduce religious experience-like events for players. [10] Pagliarulo had also insisted that the game would not have the same disastrous launch as Fallout 76, stating that the development team at Bethesda had learned their lessons and had "restored trust" with the players. [4] After the game's mixed reception after launch and further souring in reviews post launch, Pagliarulo attacked the game's players, stating they were "Disconnected from the Realities of Game Developing." [11] Specifically, Pagliarulo attacked negative reviews asking for features common in more modern RPGs that were noticeably absent from Starfield. [12]

Video game credits

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References

  1. ↑ Gillen, Kieron (June 30, 2010). "Dark Futures Part 2: Emil Pagliarulo". Rock Paper Shotgun . Retrieved April 3, 2022.
  2. ↑ "IGN Profile". December 2, 2010. Archived from the original on June 20, 2011. Retrieved December 2, 2010.
  3. 1 2 Remo, Chris (April 24, 2009). "Exploring A Devastated World: Emil Pagliarulo And Fallout 3". Game Developer . Archived from the original on April 14, 2024. Retrieved April 14, 2024.
  4. 1 2 3 Cryer, Hirun (September 4, 2023). "Starfield director says Fallout 76's "rough" repair job gave players "trust" in Bethesda". GamesRadar+ . Retrieved February 19, 2024.
  5. ↑ Jiang, Sisi (June 8, 2022). "The Human Toll Of Fallout 76's Disastrous Launch". kotaku . Retrieved February 19, 2024.
  6. ↑ Palumbo, Alessio (October 10, 2018). "Bethesda: Fallout 76 Is 'Solo but Together'; Group Quest Progression Explained". wccftech.com. Retrieved February 19, 2024.
  7. ↑ Jeffery, Cal (October 12, 2018). "'The Nuke Loop' is Fallout 76's endgame, lead designer explains". techspot.com. Retrieved February 19, 2024.
  8. ↑ Wales, Matt (June 8, 2022). "New report says Fallout 76 development blighted by poor management and mandatory crunch". Eurogamer . Retrieved February 19, 2024.
  9. ↑ Kuhnke, Oisin (September 4, 2023). "Do you trust Bethesda after Fallout 76? Bethesda thinks you do now". VG247 . Retrieved February 19, 2024.
  10. ↑ Good, Owen S. (August 28, 2023). "Starfield design director Emil Pagliarulo says you may find God in its space — or lose faith". Polygon . Retrieved February 19, 2024.
  11. ↑ Pureza, Gabriel Machado (December 14, 2023). "Starfield Dev Claims Players Are Disconnected from the Realities of Game Developing". Game Rant . Retrieved February 19, 2024.
  12. ↑ Chalk, Andy (December 13, 2023). "Starfield design director calls out unfair game criticism: 'Don't fool yourself into thinking you know why it is the way it is'". PC Gamer . Retrieved February 19, 2024.
  13. ↑ Gamespot Staff (March 30, 2009). "GDC 2009: Fallout 3 lead opens game design vault". GameSpot . Retrieved April 5, 2020.
  14. ↑ Brown, Andy (October 21, 2021). "'Starfield' developer reveals the factions you'll be sharing the cosmos with". NME . Retrieved November 16, 2021.
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