Teen builds huge Skyrim expansion in hopes of landing job at Bethesda

Shawn Knight

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If you’ve ever played Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim for more than a few hours, you’re well aware of just how expansive the in-game world is. There’s no shortage of things to see and do but in the event that you’ve “been there, done that”, you may be interested in checking out a new fan-made add-on called Falskaar.

The expansion adds nearly 25 additional hours of gameplay and comes packed with new areas to explore. And by new areas, I mean a land mass that is a third the size of the original game. It’s essentially a whole new game as there are new characters, new voices and dozens of quests to complete.

More impressive than the mod itself, however, is the person that put it all together: 19-year-old Alexander J. Velicky. The aspiring teenager invested some 2,000 hours into the project since finishing high school more than a year ago. Tasks included building content, rounding up contributions (like an original soundtrack) from more than 100 people and putting it all together.

Instead of heading off to college or a design school, he used Bethesda’s Creation Kit as his own personal classroom. His father supported the effort, allowing him to live rent free at home and helping out with living expenses.

Velicky isn’t shy about the reason for creating the mod – to gain the attention of Bethesda with the hopes of landing a job there. He noted the best way to show them that he wants a job there and should be hired is to create content that meets the standards of their development team.

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Now that is dedication if I was a ceo or a game dev at a company I would definitely give him a apprenticeship or scholarship.
 
I see some ppl gong to be fired in Bethesda
especially among the designers :D
 
With a skill set like that, I am sure he'll get the job and very good starting pay! I look forward to playing the expansion when it finishes downloading :D
 
Kids these days are really pushing it, developers, designers and all around other professions pushing the bar on what it takes to be the "best" - So many 16 year olds who are doing free work for community projects (private servers, gaming communities and so forth). Amazing. +1
 
Yep - grabbing it now before it becomes paid DLC ;)
I was thinking about it, even though I don't actually have the game yet. But when the link said "Please login to download", I swatted my hand at the screen and said forget it. I have enough sites I login to, and try to keep the numbers minimized. If anyone knows where I can get this Mod without logging in, I'd be more than happy if you shared the link.
 
That actually pretty amazing stuff for someone who's 19 and lives with his parents.
But this: "His father supported the effort, allowing him to live rent free at home and helping out with living expenses."
Who pays his father for living at home? Where's this guy from actually? Because it seems like an odd thing to not pay the parents for rent where he lives as indicated in the article.
 
That actually pretty amazing stuff for someone who's 19 and lives with his parents.
But this: "His father supported the effort, allowing him to live rent free at home and helping out with living expenses."
Who pays his father for living at home? Where's this guy from actually? Because it seems like an odd thing to not pay the parents for rent where he lives as indicated in the article.

I don't think it's meant to sound like it is weird, so much as it is intended to show that his parents were very supportive of his decision to do this instead of a summer job or continuing education right away... A bit of a play on the "OK, you are 18, now go out and get a job and start being an adult" mentality. I was out of the house and working full time less than 2 weeks after I graduated high school...
 
That actually pretty amazing stuff for someone who's 19 and lives with his parents.
But this: "His father supported the effort, allowing him to live rent free at home and helping out with living expenses."
Who pays his father for living at home? Where's this guy from actually? Because it seems like an odd thing to not pay the parents for rent where he lives as indicated in the article.

Where the hell do you live where you don't have to pay to live? Since I was 18 I've paid some kind of rent, whether I lived at home or not is irrelevant, I also live in the UK and no, I'm not the "odd-one-out" either, pretty much everyone I know has had to pay some kind of rent to their parents / Land Lord every month. From my perspective, its pretty weird you don't have to pay rent :/ Wish I didn't though!
 
Clifford - if you don't have a nexus account yet and you're thinking about getting Skyrim then you might as well do it. You'll need it for Nexus Mod Manager - which is great for modding many different games and keeping track of it all. You should at least take a peak at this
This video is 1 ½ years old but it's still very informative and NMM has evolved quite a bit since this video so it's only better. Here are the games that this app can help you mod - http://www.nexusmods.com/
 
But when the link said "Please login to download", I swatted my hand at the screen and said forget it.

Clifford mate, you are truly missing out if you don't create a Nexus account. It's one of the easiest signups I've ever done, and once you are logged in, you can download as many mods as you want (at very good speeds, considering I'm in Australia).
 
Kids these days are really pushing it, developers, designers and all around other professions pushing the bar on what it takes to be the "best" - So many 16 year olds who are doing free work for community projects (private servers, gaming communities and so forth). Amazing. +1

You should SEE some of the young kids in my local hackerspace, it makes me feel stupid! Although, we all learn from eachother - that's the point.
 
That actually pretty amazing stuff for someone who's 19 and lives with his parents.
But this: "His father supported the effort, allowing him to live rent free at home and helping out with living expenses."
Who pays his father for living at home? Where's this guy from actually? Because it seems like an odd thing to not pay the parents for rent where he lives as indicated in the article.

errrr... I assumed everyone in the world out of education would pay rent to there parents past 16-18 . Least every person I have ever known does/did.

Hope the guy gets a job with them. I've often been surprised some mod makers haven't been offered jobs (especially twallan for the sims ) .
 
Reminds me of Game Director Todd Howard, although he didn't get a job at Bethesda until he was a college graduate.

Kudos to this kid. :)
 
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