Idea for Hearthfire stemmed from Skyrim's crafting system, Minecraft fandom

The idea for Hearthfire, Skyrim's upcoming DLC which lets you build your own house, came from the first "Game Jam" session Bethesda developers held at the studio.

Speaking in the latest developer diary, environmental artist Robert Wisnewski and lead designer Bruce Nesmith recalled how the two worked together on Hearthfire before presenting it to the rest of the development team.

Wisnewski said the general idea for the DLC came about due to his "enthusiasm for Skyrim's crafting systems."

"It started as a small idea to expand on the crafting element of the game because alchemy, smithing and enchanting were things I was interested in when we were playtesting the game," said Wisnewski.

Nesmith, who is a fan of Minecraft, wanted players to be able to create more content in the game

"We even were able to add a wine cellar!" Wisnewski continued. "Anything you can think of that you'd want to have in a Skyrim house is here."

Hearthfire also allows the player to adopt children. This idea came about due to level designer Steve Cornett pondering what became of the children in the orphanage after the Dark Brotherhood questline Innocence Lost was completed.

You can read the entire entry through the link, and re-watch the trailer for Hearthfire here.

Skyrim: Hearthfire launched on Xbox Live September 4 for 400 MS Points. Dates for PC and PS3 have not been announced.