From New Hire To Total War Architect
Starting a new job can feel overwhelming, especially when you are thrown straight into deep water. That is exactly what happened to Scott Pitkethly, now a battle architect at Creative Assembly, the studio behind the iconic Total War series.
In a conversation with PC Gamer, Pitkethly looked back at his early days at the company, all the way back in 1999. Fresh out of university, he walked into his dream studio hoping to work on epic historical strategy. Instead, he was put on sports games, a genre he admits he did not care about at all.
He remembers seeing Shogun Total War and thinking that it looked incredible. That was the kind of game he wanted to help build. But game development is rarely a straight path from dream to reality. For a while, his day to day was focused on projects that did not match his interests.
Even so, that experience laid the groundwork for what came next. When Creative Assembly decided to move forward with Rome Total War, Scott finally got the opportunity he had been waiting for.
Building Rome Total War From A Fresh 3D Codebase
By the time Rome Total War was starting up, Shogun Total War was out and Medieval Total War was underway. Rome was not just another sequel. It was a major technical and creative leap for the studio.
Rome Total War was built on a completely new codebase. Everything was moving into full 3D. That meant:
- 3D character models filling the battlefield
- A fully 3D campaign map instead of a simpler strategic view
- New systems and tools to handle large scale armies and environments
For a programmer straight out of university who had never written game code professionally, this was an intense challenge. According to Pitkethly, the attitude at the time was basically: here is the project, now go make the game.
There was no long ramp up period. No slow on boarding. It was very much a sink or swim environment. Yet that pressure also created space for fast learning and big contributions. The team was pushing into new technology territory for the series, and everyone had to figure things out as they went.
The result speaks for itself. Rome Total War quickly became one of the standout entries in the franchise. Fans still look back on it as one of the best strategy games on PC, combining cinematic battles, a memorable campaign, and an impressive sense of scale for its time.
That achievement is even more striking when you remember how new many of the technical foundations were, and how green some of the developers were when they started.
Legacy, Remasters, And A Long Career At Creative Assembly
Rome Total War did not just win over players. Its technology reached beyond PC gaming in a surprising way. The engine behind Rome was used for the BBC television show Time Commanders, where contestants appeared to command historical battles using what looked like Total War gameplay on screen.
Later reporting revealed that the show was not exactly what it seemed in terms of how the battles were controlled and presented, but it still shows how far the influence of Rome Total War stretched. A game engine that started as a risky new 3D codebase ended up on television, shaping how viewers imagined historical battles being simulated by computers.
Rome’s reputation stayed strong for years. In 2021, it received a remaster, bringing updated visuals and improvements to modern systems while still leaning on the core that made the original so beloved. That remaster reminded a new generation of PC players why Rome Total War mattered so much in strategy gaming history.
As for Scott Pitkethly, that sink or swim beginning turned into a long running career at Creative Assembly. He has worked on almost every project since those Rome days. The one major exception is Medieval 2 Total War, which many fans often point to as their favorite in the series. He jokes about that gap, but his influence runs through a huge part of the Total War timeline.
The nice part for him is that there are no more sports games on his plate. Instead, he has spent decades helping to build the large scale battles and systems that define Total War as one of the key PC strategy franchises.
For anyone interested in PC gaming, especially strategy fans, his story is a good reminder of how these games come together. Behind the grand campaigns and massive armies are developers who sometimes start out not entirely sure what they are doing, but who learn fast under pressure and help shape titles that become classics.
Today, Total War sits alongside other top PC games across genres, from first person shooters and role playing games to co op titles and free to play hits. Rome Total War remains an important part of that history, and the story of its development shows just how much ambition and risk can pay off in the world of PC game development.
Original article and image: https://www.pcgamer.com/games/strategy/the-guy-responsible-for-the-whole-battle-engine-in-total-war-since-rome-1-had-never-worked-writing-game-code-when-he-got-the-assignment/
