Fallout 3 - Concept Art Dev Diary

Adam Adamowicz has penned a lengthy dev diary for the Fallout 3 official site, describing the process of envisioning the concept art.  It probably feels late in the dev cycle to focus on concept art but it is an interesting piece that gives insight into the artist's thoughts:

The Vault Suit

Designing, or redesigning the vault suit meant adhering to canon, and updating the textures and tactile feel for the detail we can achieve now in games. I opted for a more durable denim like material, something quintessentially American and, suited to carrying out vault tasks involving heavy machinery and crawling through metal pipes.

Overall, the vault suit seems to represent an Everyman/Everywoman uniform of conformity, and a blank canvas for accessorizing once the wearer had escaped into the harsh environment of the wasteland. Preserving the retro 50’s flavor seemed to support this, and I wanted the suit to feel at home in a classic 50’s sci-fi film like Forbidden Planet. The reinforced elbows and knees seemed to introduce a bit of that flair to the otherwise oppressively Orwellian environment.