«The father of Elder Scrolls», who was behind the creation of the first installments of the cult series, is retiring from game development. Julian LeFay leaves the gaming industry due to cancer.
Unfortunately, the creator is forced to leave his latest project The Wayward Realms before the release of (we will tell you about it at the end)says his colleague and friend Ted Peterson of OnceLost Games. Julian LeFay had been battling cancer for the past few years, but realized it was time to focus on himself and his family. According to Peterson in the video, LeFay resigned from his position as CTO at OnceLost Games «for the sake of his health and to live his last moments surrounded by his loved ones».
Julian LeFay — the main driving force behind the first part of Elder Scrolls
His friend recalled how their story together began. Their first meeting took place more than 30 years ago, when a young Ted was looking for a job. He managed to arrange an interview for a junior writer position at Bethesda Softworks when he was barely out of college.
«I had never been in a game development company before, and when I left Julian said, ‘If you get the job, you have to lose the suit’», — Ted Peterson recalls.
Julian LeFay spent his career at Bethesda as a chief engineer and was considered the main driving force behind the first part of Elder Scrolls — Arena. He also worked on The Elder Scrolls 2: Daggerfall and Battlespire before leaving the studio in 1998. That is why he is often called the «father of Elder Scrolls» in the community, although to the hit Oblivion and Skyrim it has nothing to do with.
Peterson describes LeFay as a «eccentric figure», very tall and slender, with a hairstyle that was funny at the time and a cool hacker vibe. He recalled that Arena was originally conceived as a fight game, but thanks to Lefey, it turned into an RPG. And now the Elder Scrolls series is a world-famous game that has millions of fans from different generations and even continues to be developed (at a snail’s pace).
«I could tell stories about our friendship and how we’ve worked together recently with our team on Wayward Realms as creative and technical directors, but I need to come to the point of this. Julian has been courageously battling cancer. His doctors have informed us that his time with us is limited, and we are preparing to say goodbye to a true legend of the industry», — he adds.
Even in this state, Lefey continued to work on The Wayward Realms until the end. But now he has to step away from OnceLost Games for the sake of his health. Peterson urges the community to leave words of support: «Your words of support mean more than you can imagine, not only to Julian, but to all of us who have had the privilege of working with him».
The developer also said that the team had already had the opportunity to say goodbye to Lefay. He sat at his hospital bedside and read messages from his colleagues out loud, while Julian dictated the answers, «which is quite difficult to do through tears». The video ends with Lefay’s own words to the team during their last meeting:
«It is personal. And if it’s not personal, then you’re just doing work for hire and you’ll never have the motivation to accomplish a significant goal», — Lefey summarized.
A little bit about The Wayward Realms — the latest creation «the Father of Elder Scrolls»
Now, as promised, let’s tell you a little bit about The Wayward Realms. This is a large-scale fantasy RPG that takes place on a large archipelago with hundreds of islands. The protagonist finds himself in a place where dozens of factions compete for power, and his choices will have real consequences.
However, the gameplay (shown in the video below) is designed to be a spiritual successor to Daggerfall, combining the classic RPG structure with modern graphics based on Unreal Engine 5. The player can explore the world, interact with characters, cast spells, climb buildings, drive boats, and influence the plot through their own decisions. The game features classically available humans, elves, and gnomes, as well as a reputation system, classes, and a procedurally generated world.
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