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rocket-69 · 2 years

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Tim Cain and Leonard Boyarsky Q&A 10/23/22

Tim Cain and Leonard Boyarsky joined the Fallout Wiki discord server to answer a few questions. Jason Taylor could not attend, but all three of them answered some questions in text sent ahead of time.

Interviewer: On a different note, we’ve been having a lot of questions about the idea of the US being divided into 13 commonwealths, and why. In the Fallout Bible Tim, you said that it was Leon’s idea to use a 13 star US flag, and had an idea for 13 super states, but didn’t finish it. LeonB: I picked that flag because it looked cool, I’d never seen it before Interviewer: Which is a guiding principle for a lot of great choices, that gut feeling. LeonB: Definitely

Tim Cain: Not to backtrack too much, but did I find a note from our marketing dept with two suggestions for a name for the game: "No Man's Land" and "The Deathlands". We politely declined.

Interviewer: To elaborate a bit: A lot of fans seem to believe that everything was pre-written and pre-made, and you just rotely executed that brilliant design. As I understand it, it was closer to how Deus Ex was made, with plenty of gut feelings and bold work with the box cutters to remove what didn't work (Warren Spector mentioned cutting a 500 page design bible to just 270 pages)? LeonB: We didn't have a huge design bible, per say. Not to the detail level it sounds like he was talking about We were flying by the seat of our pants Tim Cain: I remember when I was asked for a vision statement for the game. I was surprised because the team KNEW what we were making. Then I was told it was for admin and marketing. I tried twice and failed twice, then Chris Taylor wrote an amazing one. LeonB: Certain aspects of game dev never change - no matter how carefully you think you're scoping you always have to cut content and stitch what's left back together

Interviewer: Speaking of content that wasn't cut: An interesting question comes up from time to time, that is, when implementing special encounters (aliens, the police call box, dinosaur footprint), did you ever consider them as anything beyond a cool little Easter egg? A more direct part of the story? Tim Cain: No, I don't think so. Special encounters were tied to luck and meant to be fun and a potential source for cool items. No story elements, since they might never be encountered by some players. LeonB: Mostly we made those because we thought they were funny Interviewer: (and they were, plus the increased critical chance is awesome) Tim Cain: Although it would have been funny to comvince the Master to give up his plans using a velvet Elvis painting as a bribe

Interviewer: Speaking of the Master, he (it?) seems to have gone through many iterations. The Vault 13 timeline suggests he could have been an ambulatory foe - or was he always intended to be this glorious mess that they probably carted to the Cathedral in a barrel all the way from Mariposa? (For those who don't know what I'm talking about.) LeonB: I may be misremembering, but I felt he was ambulatory enough to get to the Cathedral on his own, especially depending on what he fed on/subsumed into his body, and then he became part of the overseer's chair over time I don’t remember him ever being planned to be ambulatory in the game, though

Interviewer: Were there ever intentions of integrating more eldritch or extradimensional aspects into Fallout, such as Old Gods, Elders, and more Lovecraftian things, or was Fallout always more intended to be like Buck Rogers than Lovecraft? It certainly had the Master, his corridor of revulsion, the psykers mentioned by Avellone to be closer to Childhood's End than just spoon benders… LeonB: I love Childhood's End, but I don't think I'd read it back then It was mostly supposed to be more Road Warrior/Buck Rogers, I just loved the aesthetic of the Thing movie Tim Cain: I think the more elements you throw into an IP, the more diluted it becomes. I regret adding the ghost to the Den (and yeah, that was me) because Fallout is so rich and has so much to explore that it doesn't need the supernatural elements to be creepy Interviewer: Uh-oh, this confession will not go down well with some fans. 😉 Tim Cain: I think the IP as a whole is better when it has limits

Interviewer: we had a question about Rhombus, do you remember this take on the T-51 talking head model? It definitely looks different from the end talking heads, but a lot like the in-game sprite.

LeonB: That looks like a badly lit and textured version of the digitized clay head. Not sure what's up with that armor, we used the same armor model for all the talking heads wearing power armor, taken from the model I made for the intro Interviewer: It's from an ancient German preview for Fallout GURPS, which included a shot of the process of digitizing the models. LeonB: Weird

Interviewer: Now, while I dig that up, a question. A big question. Do ghouls poop Or rather: Do ghouls need to eat and drink? Or is ghoul biology something that was written differently whenever it needed to work a certain way (Fallout 1 has Necropolis and endings tied to water, but later on it got confused; VB design docs even have a note "do ghouls even poop") Tim Cain: To quote my favorite book title "Everyone poops" LeonB: Jason and I bout that for Tim for his birthday Tim Cain: I always thought they ate and drank and breathed. They just aged slower (but sometimes things fell off or grew weird) Thank you again, Leon LeonB: any time Interviewer: Found it. And Tim Cain won't believe what the thumb is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=haKOhyUqk4c LeonB: Timmy! Tim Cain: Oh. My. God. I’m 12 Interviewer: What about Woody and Coffin Willie? Woody spent several weeks as a 'mummy' exhibit, and Willie was buried alive for a couple of months. Are they just a fun joke, or? Tim Cain: They remind me of The World's Smartest Orc in Arcanum. Someone was making some money…

Interviewer: And getting him to break character... Now, back to questions, since we're in the final stretch: Talking about limits, what's something either of you don't ever want to see in Fallout? Or something you could remove from Fallout like it never existed? (We already have the ghost thing on record, sir) Tim Cain: I am not a fan of the talking Deathclaws. They were meant to be the biggest baddest scariest thing ever. Not librarians. LeonB: Hear hear

Interviewer: Random question: Did the Overseer ever have a solid name? We have "Jacoren" from the concept art, but beyond that.… (for those who wonder)

LeonB: No Tim Cain: Internally, he was always referenced as Overseer LeonB: He was originally named that (obviously), but after that drawing I don't know that I ever referred to him that way again Tim Cain: That sketch really captures his eyebrows

Interviewer: Oooh, this is good. How did the original designs for the original robots (ie the floating Eyebot) come around? Was its design based on something specific that existed? LeonB: I honestly don't remember We were just trying to make robots that looked like they belonged in 50's b-movies Tim Cain: Wasn't a floating one pitched to reduce needed animations? LeonB: That's a distinct possibility

Interviewer: Given that we're slowly, but inevitably approaching the end of our roundtable, did either of you have questions you wished were asked, but never were? Aside from the ones I received and filed under cool-stuff . Alternatively, any message to the community at large? Tim Cain: Thank you all for your support. I don't go to conferences much, but when I have, I have met some of the nicest fans I could ever hope to have. Also, Fallout fans are just smarter and better looking than average, don't you think? LeonB: I can't think of any questions we missed (here or in any of the other interviews we've done), but I again want to thanks everyone for being such loyal fans to something we made as a labor of love We were hoping people would love it as much as we did, and it seems like it worked out Interviewer: Meeting you today, I believe I speak for everyone that we can see why it came out the way it did. Tim Cain: Talent (Leon) and Luck (Tim) LeonB: Aww, thanks But I've always said I cranked my Luck up to 10 It really was lightning in a bottle

Interviewer: Alright, so here's a popular question. Zusk asks; "Hey! There is this question I always wanted to ask you two. At the start of Fallout 2's development Fred Hatch proposed a outline for Fallout 2's story that didn't end up getting made. A few developers have talked a little about this in the past, but I was wondering if you could perhaps share a little more about your rationale at the time and what Fred's story entailed? Included is an excerpt from Honouring the Code: Conversations with Great Developers that goes into it a bit. Thank you for taking the time to reach out to the community like this."

Tim Cain: Fred's team's story started with the player getting amnesia and losing their memories (i.e. levels) and then wandering into a town that is colorless (just shades of grey). It turns out a computer is running it based on old episodes of Leave It To Beaver. That's mostly what I can remember LeonB: Tim has a waaaaay better memory than I do Tim Cain: Also I take LOTS of notes

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Tim Cain Text Q&A

Q: Was Fallout at any point going to be real-time like Diablo or real-time with pause? Or was it always designed with turn-based combat in mind? A: Fallout was always designed to be turn based. At one point, when Diablo had shipped and several higher-ups at Interplay were enamored with the game (or its sales figures), we were asked to consider a real time version. The projected time and money costs to change the design persuaded them that it was bad idea.

Q: Did you have the idea of the GECK while developing Fallout 1 or is that a later idea the game during the conception of Fallout 2? A: The GECK was conceived during Fallout 1's development. The proof? Page 5-34 of the manual for Fallout 1.

Q: Do you remember who came up with Nuka-Cola and why it was named as such (not wanting to tangle with the world's biggest soft drink corporation aside)? A: It was either Chris Taylor or Scott Campbell. And only they can reveal the secret behind its name.

Q: In the Building a Better RPG talk, post-mortem part you said that your past games (like the OG Fallouts and Arcanum I assume) had systems that were too complex and that it was okay to simplify or change them. Would you go back and redo Fallout with that in mind? What is your philosophy when designing? A: I don't think I would simplify Fallout's systems. In fact, I think they have been oversimplified in recent games, but I would consider simplifying their presentation. I would keep skills and traits, but I would change character creation and advancement to make it more casual friendly. This might seem like splitting hairs, but I believe that initial presentation is a huge part of onboarding players to your IP. It's possible to make rich and deep system mechanics without throwing a page of numbers at the player early in the character creation process, when many players have no idea of what character they want to make or what traits/skills/perks are important. As I showed in The Outer Worlds with skills, you can delay some decisions until the player has experienced the game and decided what they would like to explore in terms of player characteristics.

Q: When you created Fallout, did you view humanity from a cynical or hopeful perspective? On one side, the game has raiders and plenty of human flaws, besides nuclear war. On the other, humanity perseveres in the face of adversity, and changes, and tries to break the cycle through the Master/NCR/Brotherhood. A: Fallout represents many viewpoints. Some people on the team were cynical and liked to explore the darker side of human nature, while others were optimistic and hopeful that people would emerge from a cataclysmic event with a desire to make sure it never happened again. I always liked that Fallout showed that blend of perspectives.

Q: What were some setting ideas/content/artwork you considered for Fallout, but never publicly talked about or revealed publicly? A: We always wanted an equivalent to GURPS disadvantages in Fallout, but the closest we could come were traits, which were a blend of advantages and disadvantages. I eventually made flaws in The Outer Worlds.

Q: Did you establish that the Fallout timeline diverged from ours during Fallout's development? If so, did you establish when it more or less occurred (i.e. the timeline went in the Fallout direction and the transistor never caught on etc.? A: We always thought there was a divergence, but we never thought it was a single event where the timeline diverged, i.e. the invention of the transistor. Instead, Fallout represented a future that the 1950s thought might happen.

Q: Fallout was originally a sequel to Wasteland (according to Campbell) and many references remain in it. Did you see it as feasible to integrate it into the Fallout series, or at least made Fallout compatible with it? A: We made Fallout with ideas that were independent of Wasteland. It might be possible to merge the two, but I would always wonder what the point was. Why are you trying to force these two disparate IPs together?

Q: Do you remember why the Jackals and Vipers were cut? Were there any plans to involve them in the later development stages, or were they cut early on? A: I am not sure, but they seemed to be included as background information for characters like Ian. They weren't cut as much as they weren't explored.

Q: Were there any notable technical limitations, where the creative solution became an important part of the game's identity? A: So many. We explored making Fallout a 3D game, but the limitations of 3D games at the time pushed us back to an isometric game. Similar technical issues removed height features from the game. I am not sure what people consider part of the game's identity, but we surely wrestled with technical limitations.

Q: What is the one question you never get asked but wish it was? A: Why are you so awesome? :) No, seriously, fans have asked some very insightful questions over the years. Some of our answers have been "I don't know. We just kind of went with our gut feelings on that." I know it's not what people want to hear, but it's true.

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Leonard Boyarsky Text Q&A

Q: What were some of the setting ideas you considered for Fallout, but never talked about publicly? A: I think we’ve talked about all of them publicly at this point Q: What would you name the aesthetic design of Fallout 1 and 2? No, it can't just be called "Fallout style". A: I originally called it retro future fifties, I think, but the kids call it atompunk these days :P Q: What were the rules made regarding what did and did not fit Fallout's art style? A: We were very loose with our rules, especially since we started out as a non-retro fifties Road Warrior-centric inspired RPG. We also had to work with what we had in terms of time and budget, so we were a lot more flexible about what fit the setting than we would be now Q: Does the original artwork that you made (especially the unplugged television) still exist in a higher quality medium than what comes with the CD? If yes, will there ever be a book that is the Art of Fallout? A: I don’t know if the original 3d art files exist anywhere, and, if they did, what would have to be done to use them since they were made in PowerAnimator on Unix SGI machines. I have some of my original sketches in a sketchbook, but that’s about it. I wish I knew what happened to the clay heads, though, I made the Overseer’s and would love to have been able to keep it Q: What's the significance of the giant heads all over Fallout? Is it just Art Deco or something more eldritch/mysterious? A: We just thought they looked cool Q: I know that the talking heads were made with clay models and then digitized. Were the overworld sprites clay models too? A: The only other clay model was the Deathclaw, everything else was modeled in 3d programs Q: Many of Fallout's inspirations are worn on its sleeves, Mad Max, for instance, but are there any sources of inspiration which do not get enough love? A reference that you hoped everyone would pick up, but nobody did? A: The Hard-Boiled comic book mini-series by Frank Miller and Geoff Darrow and the City of Lost Children movie Q: Were there any notable technical limitations, where the creative solution became an important part of the game's identity? Specifically in terms of artwork. A: The whole reason the intro was on a TV was so that we could add noise and have a reason for any people to be fairly small in the frame but still have impact due to the difficulty of making realistic human beings back then. Also the reason for the clay heads. We also used the pixelization that was inherent in the color palleting process to make everything look dirty, which I was always very proud of but no one noticed... Q: Did you ever elaborate on your idea of the commonwealths? Tim Cain mentioned you came up with the idea while designing the alternate US flag (which DOES look cool and distinct), but did anything come out of it? A: Not that I remember Q: What's the one question you are never asked, but would like to be asked? A: I can’t think of any offhand (I’ve done a lot of FO interviews over the years 😝). If I think of any I’ll bring them up during the chat

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Jason Taylor Text Q&A

Q: What is the one thing you are particularly proud of in Fallout, but never seem to get proper credit for? A: When working on the original design we had quite a few brainstorming sessions. I remember coming up with these ideas: suggested game tile: Vault 13, reason to leave the vault: faulty "water purification chip", source of mutations: genetically engineered virus call FEV (Forced Evolutionary Virus) Q: Were there any notable technical limitations, where the creative solution became an important part of the game's identity? Or any other solutions that involved non-obvious resolves? A: Because we started out with the GURPS ruleset, we necessarily had hex-based maps. I don't know of any other CRPGs that did that. Q: Many of Fallout's inspirations are worn on its sleeves, Mad Max, for instance, but are there any sources of inspiration which do not get enough love? A: Brotherhood of Steel (designed by Scott Campbell) always felt like a nod to Pure Strain Humans in Gamma World. Ask him though! Q: Fallout was originally a sequel to Wasteland (according to Campbell) and many references remain in it. Did you see it as feasible to integrate it into the Fallout series, or at least made Fallout compatible with it? A: My understanding was Interplay did not have the copyright to Wasteland, and we weren't willing to pay for it, so we had to be careful to "not be too close to it and get sued". Q: What is the one question you never get asked, but wish it was? A: I'm not as famous as others, so I never get asked anything. :) So I would like to be asked, "What did you work on?" After Tim Cain I was the first member of the team, joining as Lead Scriptor. Because there was nothing to script (because we didn't yet have a game engine), I designed and coded a number of foundational data structures used by engine/map editor (e.g. 6 different types of map objects). Also, I wrote a number of tools including Framer, which imported Maya-rendered GIFs, allowed you to adjust offsets and animation speed, and exported .frm files containing animation and game data.

#fallout 1 #fallout #falloutfun #tim cain #leonard boyarsky #jason taylor

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vozdodeserto · 3 years

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OS ARTISTAS EVANGÉLICOS SÃO UNS CAGÕES (tenho disco novo para breve)

Esta sexta-feira sai um som novo chamado “Bato Palmas na Igreja”. Nele participa o LEONB e a Carol Bazzo. É uma canção especial porque as vozes deles levam-na para lugares onde sozinho não chegaria. Se Deus quiser, esta canção vai integrar um álbum que planeio para breve, também chamado “Bato Palmas na Igreja”. De certo modo, é o meu primeiro disco assumidamente cristão.

Explico: acho que não acredito em música cristã mas apenas em música. Ela pode ser feita por cristãos ou não—é isso. Mas, por outro lado, não posso ignorar que se convencionou chamar “música cristã” a algo que se desenvolveu sobretudo a partir dos anos setenta, com a conversão de muitos hippies americanos ao cristianismo (rock cristão, diziam na altura). Nos anos oitenta a coisa cresceu (era então habitual falar em “Christian Contemporary Music”), chegando até aos escassos adolescentes evangélicos de Portugal, como eu.

Cresci numa relação complicada com essa música, dita cristã. Por um lado, ela consolava-me quando os Iron Maiden eram demasiado inseguros para uma audição que se queria pia. Os Petra não eram tão pesados mas os Stryper, quando descobertos, encheram-me as medidas. Era pouco o que chegava cá mas o suficiente para me marcar a mim e aos meus amigos da Igreja Baptista de Queluz: One Bad Big, quando o punk nos piscou o olho; The Crucified, quando nos tornámos mais hardcore; Bob Dylan (na fase evangélica) quando a Faculdade nos exigia alguma erudição; e isto sem esquecer os clássicos que eram a Amy Grant e o Michael W. Smith, apropriadamente ostracizados pela nossa teenager necessidade de sons mais agressivos.

Por outro lado, a minha vaidade sempre me fez sentir superior aos rótulos seguros de uma música certinha para consumir. Era óbvio para mim que o cristão mais talentoso era aquele que era ouvido por não-cristãos. Play it safe sempre foi uma banhada para quem, como eu, queria ter jogo de choque. A verdadeira conquista é atingir quem está do outro lado, certo? As guerras ganham-se assim e, também por isso, nunca me interessou pregar para o côro ou receber o reconhecimento de quem já acredita no que acredito. A nossa editora, a FlorCaveira, foi construída nessa mistura complicada entre não querer negar as nossas raízes religiosas ao mesmo tempo que procurava os corações dos ímpios. Religião & Punk Rock, right? Johnny Cash uber alles, cantando sobre Jesus ao mesmo tempo que dava o middle finger aos guardas-prisionais de Folsom.

O que tem mudado então? Entre muitas coisas, muda-me o facto de ser pai de quatro miúdos que hoje vão dos 18 aos 12 anos. Getting to the point: quando és pai de quatro miúdos evangélicos, tendes a amá-los. Os meus miúdos são os miúdos evangélicos que menos vergonha tenho de amar e que me levaram à conclusão de que amar mais miúdos não-evangélicos do que miúdos evangélicos é uma estupidez do caraças. Na prática, era isso que durante anos fazia, perdido no meu narcisismo. E é agora para mim um credo: os artistas evangélicos são uns cagões da treta (pardon my french) porque ainda não assumiram a acepção de pessoas que fazem ao preferirem pessoas não-evangélicas sobre as evangélicas. Os artistas evangélicos são cidadãos em estado de negação, que não sabem lidar com as suas origens, que tendem a querer ignorar para conquistar as pessoas mais sofisticadas que são as não-evangélicas, e por isso é que tresandam a cobardia e se andam a “desconstruir” (como os saloios agora dizem).

Já estão a ver onde quero chegar: quero que os artistas evangélicos se rebentem todos nos seus diversos dilemas de auto-estima. É por eu seu um deles que falo com tanta paixão nisto. O que sei é que a arte que será verdadeiramente eterna é aquela que, por ser fruto do verbo divino, declara Cristo. Por isso, e por muito subtilmente sofisticada que possa ser uma música que alude sem escarrapachar na nossa cara uma mensagem evangélica directa (como tanto tento fazer), é que, das duas, uma: se ela não estiver firme no “fiat” original, será desfeita. Deal with it.

Pior do que ser um artista evangélico, é ser um não-assumido. Este é um assunto que não dá para elaborações simples e bonitinhas. Temos de encarar que é um negócio quebrado. Se nos Estados Unidos já sabemos topar à légua a mania que os artistas evangélicos não-assumidos têm, vinda desses conflitos internos que os entopem em angústias infantis, no Brasil também já nos estamos a habituar (os artistas evangélicos andam a descobrir aos trinta anos causas que vaporosamente os devem redimir como a “brasilidade”—céus! Quem quer saber de brasilidade? O Brasil em si já chega!). Em Portugal, ainda somos demasiado insignificantes para merecer alguma real atenção mas a tentação para nos armarmos em profissionais da aflição artística já cá mora. É preciso ter cuidado.

Enfim, dei uma grande volta para expurgar os meus próprio vícios… O que me anima aos 44 anos é chegar a um ponto onde já deveria ter chegado há muito: não ter vergonha da minha fé e assumi-la. E se ela não cair bem aos miúdos não-evangélicos que durante décadas preferi aos evangélicos? Azar o deles. Hoje, graças aos meus filhos, sei que qualquer geração de hipsters passa (os meus filhos são totalmente indiferentes aos críticos musicais que durante anos quis convencer). A vantagem de ser um has-been artístico, como sou, é que quem é esquecido já está mais no futuro do que aquele que é lembrado. Seremos todos poeira na terra, já dizia o Tom Waits. Se algum dos nossos refrões louvando Cristo chegar às bocas futuras, aí sim: teremos conseguido alguma arte.

Eu, músico evangélico que faz uma música que não é bem evangélica, assumo-me: venha daí um álbum novo que meta medo ao Diabo (e aos filhos dele). Que invoque o Deus trino com a religião e punk rock que ao longo dos anos tem sido a casa da FlorCaveira. Se sentirem o som, tanto melhor. Se não, paciência. O louvor, finalmente começo a ver, não será para mim, de qualquer modo. See ya in the pit!

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