General:Mark Nelson
| Mark Nelson | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Role(s) | Designer, writer |
| Years active | 2000—Present[1] |
| Alias(es) | BlueDev[2] |
| Game credits | The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind[3] The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion[4] |
Mark E. Nelson is a video game designer and writer who worked on Morrowind,[3] Tribunal, Bloodmoon, Oblivion,[4] and Shivering Isles.[5]
The Elder Scrolls[edit]
After being contacted by Mike Lipari, a former colleague,[6][7] Nelson joined the Morrowind team in January 2000, his first job in the video game industry.[1] With Douglas Goodall,[8] Nelson spent his first few months working on building interiors in the Construction Set—which he reflected he was terrible at[7]—before being moved on to quest design, dealing with miscellaneous quests not related to the main story or factions, including the Daedric Quests.[6][7] He was also the creator of Morrowind's vampires, designing their mechanics and quests.[9][10] Nelson played a larger role for Tribunal, being responsible for designing the story and creating the main quest.[11] He also played a key role for Bloodmoon, including devising the original concept for the expansion,[12] designing the game area of Solstheim[13] and designing the implementation of werewolves,[14] recalling that he once had a long and agitated argument with producer Todd Howard over how high werewolves should be able to jump.[7][15] Nelson was a designer on Oblivion and his work included designing the dialogue system,[16] and he was the Lead Designer of the Shivering Isles expansion.[5]
Nelson is noted for his sense of humor, and was behind the appearances of Fargoth, Tarhiel, and The Lusty Argonian Maid in Morrowind.[7][8] He wrote other books for Morrowind, as needed for the quests he designed.[7]
Outside of The Elder Scrolls[edit]
Nelson attended Duke University where he earned degrees in English and Spanish,[1][17] and his online handle "BlueDev" and the Morrowind easter egg Eltonbrand are references to the Duke Blue Devils.[18] Before joining Bethesda Softworks, Nelson was an editor for various publications, including humor magazine Washington Wit,[1] and designed multimedia training at Raytheon[1] where he met programmer Mike Lipari.[7]
In 2007, Nelson left Bethesda Softworks and joined Ken Rolston, whom he regards as his "best friend in the industry",[7] at Big Huge Games as Lead Narrative Designer,[17] working on Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning as Creative Director.[1][19] He subsequently joined former Big Huge Games CEO Brian Reynolds at Zynga East, directing design on CityVille 2[20] and working on a further title[1] before the studio was shut down in 2013.[21] Alongside roles at other game design companies, Nelson has been an independent game design consultant since 2013.[1]
Outside of gaming, Nelson has been a Design Director at robotics company Sphero.[1]
Texts authored[edit]
This list is non-exhaustive and includes only texts of which Nelson is known to be a primary author.
Morrowind
Out-of-game
Credits[edit]
| Indicates The Elder Scrolls titles |
Video games[edit]
| Year | Title | Credit(s) | Studio |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind | Writing & Quest Design[3] | Bethesda Softworks |
| The Elder Scrolls III: Tribunal | Writing & Quest Design[23] | ||
| 2003 | The Elder Scrolls III: Bloodmoon | Writing & Quest Design[24] | |
| Pirates of the Caribbean | Additional Writing and Design[25] | ||
| 2006 | The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion | Quest Design[4] | |
| 2007 | The Elder Scrolls IV: Shivering Isles | Lead Designer[5] | |
| 2008 | Fallout 3 | Additional Quest Design & Editing[26] | |
| 2012 | Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning | Additional Design[27] | Big Huge Games |
| CityVille 2 | Design Director[20] | Zynga East | |
| 2019 | Ultimate Rivals: The Rink | Studio[28] | Bit Fry Game Studios, Inc. |
| 2021 | Cris Tales | Writer[29] | Dreams Uncorporated
SYCK S.A.S. |
Interviews[edit]
- Sep 2001: VoodooExtreme: Elder Scrolls 3 Morrowind Dev Diary VII
- Oct 2001: RPGVault: Morrowind Developer Q&A; #10 Special Places
- Nov 2001: RPGVault: Morrowind Developer Q&A; #11
- Dec 2001: RPGVault: Morrowind Developer Q&A; #12 Interesting Opponents
- Dec 2001: RPGVault: Morrowind Developer Q&A; #13 Surprise!
- Dec 2001: RPGVault: Morrowind Developer Q&A; #14 Favorite Skills
- Jan 2002: RPGVault: Morrowind Developer Q&A; #16 Off The Beaten Path
- Jan 2002: GameSpy: Morrowind Developer Profiles #3
- Jan 2002: RPGVault: Morrowind Developer Q&A; #17
- Feb 2002: Developer Vampire Q&A
- Feb 2002: RPGVault: Morrowind Developer Q&A; #18
- Feb 2002: Developer Vampire Q&A; #2
- Mar 2002: RPGVault: Morrowind Developer Q&A; #19
- Mar 2002: RPGVault: Morrowind Developer Q&A; #20
- Mar 2002: RPGVault: Morrowind Developer Q&A; #21
- Oct 2002: RPGVault: The Elder Scrolls III: Tribunal Interview
- Nov 2002: GamingInvasion: Morrowind: Tribunal
- May 2003: Bethesda Team Diary: Dunces with Wolves
- Apr 2004: ElderScrolls.com: Most Memorable Elder Scrolls Moments
- Feb 2007: OXM: Shivering Isles Interview
- Mar 2007: PC Zone: The Daedric Encounter... The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Shivering Isles
- Mar 2007: Games for Windows: Shake, Shiver, and Role(play)
- Feb 2008: GDC: Collaborative Writing and Vast Narratives: Principles, Processes, and Genteel Truculence
- Aug 2014: RetroGamer: A History of The Elder Scrolls
- Mar 2019: Polygon: Morrowind: An oral history
See Also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Mark Nelson. LinkedIn.
- ^ Mark Nelson's Posts, The Imperial Library
- ^ a b c Morrowind:Credits
- ^ a b c Oblivion:Credits
- ^ a b c Shivering:Credits
- ^ a b Nelson, M. (5 September 2001). Elder Scrolls 3 Morrowind Dev Diary VII. VoodooExtreme. Archived from the original on 6 October 2001.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Kane, A. (27 March 2019). Morrowind: An oral history. Polygon.
- ^ a b Douglas Goodall Interview
- ^ [ZZOTH]. Developer Vampire Q&A;. Morrowind After Dark. Archived from the original on 12 Feburary 2002.
- ^ [ZZOTH]. Developer Vampire Q&A; #2. Morrowind After Dark. Archived from the original on 24 Feburary 2002.
- ^ [SubSonic]. (6 November 2002). Morrowind: Tribunal. Gaming Invasion. Archived from the original on 12 January 2003.
- ^ Douglas Goodall's Posts
- ^ Nelson, M. [BlueDev]. (27 October 2022). My son found an old notebook from my @bethesda days. Included a map of Fallout 3's Vault 101 and my original map of Bloodmoon's Solstheim. (Also, these are indistinguishable from my 5th grade D&D maps. Sigh.) #Fallout3 #Morrowind #Bloodmoon. Twitter.
- ^ Nelson, M. (April 2003). Dunces with Wolves. The Elder Scrolls website. Archived from the original on 10 April 2003.
- ^ Bethesda Softworks. (26 April 2004). Most Memorable Elder Scrolls Moments. The Elder Scrolls website. Archived from the original on 29 April 2004.
- ^ The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Team Q&A; #1. RPG Vault. Archived from the [http:/rpgvault.ign.com/articles/701/701931p2.html original] on 21 April 2006.
- ^ a b Mark Nelson - Lead Narrative Designer. Big Huge Games. Archived from the original on 6 October 2007.
- ^ Morrowind:Easter Eggs#Eltonbrand
- ^ Cunningham, M. (7 March 2011). Five Reasons You Should Care About Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning . RPGamer. Archived from the original on 10 March 2011.
- ^ a b Lien, T. (1 November 2012). Taking a chance on CityVille 2. Polgyon.
- ^ Conditt, J. (25 February 2013). Zynga East shuttered, studios in Texas and New York consolidated. Joystiq. Archived from the original on 2 May 2013.
- ^ Who Did What?, The Imperial Library
- ^ The Elder Scrolls III: Tribunal credits (Windows, 2002). MobyGames.
- ^ The Elder Scrolls III: Bloodmoon credits (Windows, 2003). MobyGames.
- ^ Pirates of the Caribbean (Windows, 2003) credits. MobyGames.
- ^ Fallout 3 (2008) Windows credits. MobyGames.
- ^ Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning (Windows, 2012) credits. MobyGames.
- ^ Ultimate Rivals: The Rink (iPhone, 2019) credits. MobyGames.
- ^ Cris Tales (Windows, 2021) credits. MobyGames.
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