Dragons, trolls and pine trees

Outside/In

NHPR

Society & Culture, Documentary, Natural Sciences, Nature, Science

4.7 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 28 December 2023

⏱️ 37 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Even though you can explore its entirety from the comfort of a living room beanbag, the world of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (commonly just referred to as 'Skyrim') is vast. The video game contains cities, villages, high waterfalls that cascade into deep pools, and packs of wolves that roam the edges of misty alpine forests. Skyrim is celebrated for the intricacy of its environment and is one of the top-selling video games of all time. But if you spend enough time in a fantasy, it might change how you relate to the real world. In this favorite Outside/In episode, first released at the start of the pandemic, producer Justine Paradis speaks with the environmental artist tasked with creating one of the video game world’s most iconic landscapes, the limits of environmental design, and how Skyrim shaped his view of the actual outdoors. Featuring Megan Sawyer, Ana Diaz, and Noah Berry. SUPPORT Outside/In is made possible with listener support. Click here to become a sustaining member of Outside/In. Subscribe to our newsletter (it’s free!). Follow Outside/In on Instagram or join our private discussion group on Facebook. Submit a question to the “Outside/Inbox.” We answer queries about the natural world, climate change, sustainability, and human evolution. You can send a voice memo to outsidein@nhpr.org or leave a message on our hotline, 1-844-GO-OTTER (844-466-8837). CREDITS Host: Nate Hegyi Reported, produced, and mixed by Justine Paradis Editing help from Taylor Quimby, Erika Janik, Sam Evans-Brown, and Felix Poon NHPR’s Director of On-Demand Audio is Rebecca Lavoie Music by Blue Dot Sessions Our theme music is by Breakmaster Cylinder. Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	When you're just starting to get to know your plants and herbs, it can at first feel pretty bewildering.
0:12.0	How are you supposed to get to know all these different species, where
0:15.0	they grow, what they're good for? Personally, I started small, with the flowers that grow in
0:20.9	town, maybe in the garden or along the side of the road, you know, garlic, lavender.
0:26.5	And sometimes as I got to know a specific plant, I'd try a little, learn some of its properties.
0:32.4	And gradually I started to level up, learning wilder plants like mountain
0:36.2	flowers, which are pretty widespread, giant lichen, often found in marshes, and Nernroot, easiest to harvest at night since it glows
0:45.5	and emits that loud ringing sound.
0:47.5	We didn't used to be able to make plants glow, but we were very insistent that, you know, for specific plants, they had to glow. That was a thing we needed.
1:00.0	This is Megan Sawyer. She's an environment artist at Bethesda Game Studios, and the creator of the Nernroot.
1:06.0	And in case it's not yet clear, I'm talking about plants in a video game.
1:10.0	Megan's particular specialty is ingredient plants.
1:14.0	She designed the herbs that I spent so many hours learning about and collected
1:18.0	in the world of Skyrim.
1:20.0	We used to joke that we spend an inordinate amount of time making the most perfect tree
1:28.0	so that you will run by it in five seconds and not notice it.
1:32.0	And if you don't notice it, then our job is done. I don't currently own a video game
1:37.6	console, but I can't tell you how many times I've wished that I could escape into Skyram right now. I really wouldn't call myself a gamer,
1:45.6	although I do think that these days that's kind of an arbitrary definition.
1:48.8	Like, I think of myself as spending most of my childhood outside, but when I list the number of games I've played,
1:55.0	I realize it is not short.
1:57.1	Bugdom.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from NHPR, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of NHPR and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.