Tim Cain, Pete Hines, and Todd Howard remember their experience with Fallout 3.
The Fallout series recently turned 25, which implies that in another ten years it will be old enough to run for president of a hydrogen America. Fallout 2 was released the very next year after the original 2D isometric turn-based RPG, created by Black Isle Studios and Interplay Productions, debuted in 1997.
However, it would take another ten years for Fallout 3 to be released. Bethesda Game Studios would create the game this time after acquiring the Fallout license from the insolvent Interplay and converting it into a real-time, open-world, first- and third-person shooter. The remaining is Fallout lore.
Members of the Fallout 3 crew, including Todd Howard, the game director for Fallout 3, shared their memories of taking over the development of the series in a video that Bethesda released this week and is linked below. It turns out that Howard learned the startling knowledge that Bethesda had bought the Fallout license in the same way that I remember to take my vitamins: using a Post-It note.
In the video, Howard says, “I remember this.” “When I returned to my desk, Todd Vaughn, our Bethesda vice chairman of development, had placed a yellow sticky note with the words “Fallout’s yours” on it. It only stated that. I’ll always remember that.”
Not as subdued was Howard’s reaction. He claims, “I think I yelled and ran around the studio.” Because word had spread throughout the crew that this might be a possibility.
In 2008, Fallout 3 made its public debut at E3 in Santa Monica. According to Pete Hines, senior VP of global marketing and communications, Tim Cain, the creator of the first Fallout, had to approve of the new course Bethesda was taking with Fallout 3. Hines adds, “We have to make sure the Fallout guy enjoys the Fallout we’re producing.
But Cain had some concerns. So according to Cain, “I kind of felt like my baby had been adopted by another family.” “I didn’t necessarily dislike the family, though. Simply put, I was going to raise my baby in a different way than I was going to raise this baby.”
Hines worried unduly about Cain’s response, but he didn’t need to. “It was captivating. It was fascinating. It was amazing, “Cain describes his first-person experience with Fallout. I particularly liked the time when you were able to exit the vault and saw the Wasteland in the morning light.
In some ways, that was a big turning point, according to Hines. Going to the individuals that came up with this material and saying, “Hey, here’s what we’re doing,” was important if you wished to treat Fallout with respect.
