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Fallout: New Vegas - Blog, GDC Online Panel

by Dhruin, 2010-10-06 20:00:05

Chris Avellone has penned a Fallout: New Vegas blog entry titled What's Old is New Again:

It translates into our work day as well -- we live with that every day working on Fallout. Obsidian's worked on a number of franchises over the years, and it's part of the training as a designer that you have to boil down a franchise into not only its game mechanic elements, but the more abstract aspects of what makes a franchise what it is and how to represent it in-game. It's not only the 1950s-view-of-the-future-then-drop-bombs-on-it feel of Fallout, the dark humor, the SPECIAL system, Vaults, Ron Perlman's narration and end slides... Fallout's also about being able to design for choices, about a world where all the options you use to build your character are viable and carry reactivity, where the simplest of actions can make the rounds and be mentioned by people you meet – you'll see that in the reputation system, and the consequences of your actions in the Mojave wasteland.

It's also a testament to Josh Sawyer as project director that he went back through the Fallout games and analyzed what mechanics and hooks that could be incorporated into New Vegas. Traits, certain weapons, caravan companies, character descendants, familiar faces, creatures from the West Coast, the remnants of older factions... seeing them all play out in New Vegas has been a fascinating process, and seeing these older elements in a new light in the Mojave Wasteland has been great to watch and experience.

...and GameSpot reports on a GDC Online panel with lead writer John Gonzalez, describing some of the processes and preparation:

With all the research conducted and the goals set, Gonzalez set about creating the story brief, an overview of the game's events and characters that gets heavily commented on by other members of the team. Those comments in hand, it was time to revise the story, creating pockets of side quest content, drawing out recurring themes. Gonzalez said it's best not to settle on themes too early. While some are obvious (New Vegas would doubtlessly deal with greed), others may seem right but wind up not fitting on further reflection. For example, Gonzalez said he stayed away from the theme of luck.

"New Vegas isn't about luck," Gonzalez said. "It's about having a rigged game."

Information about

Fallout: NV

SP/MP: Single-player
Setting: Post-Apoc
Genre: RPG
Platform: PC, Xbox 360, PS3
Release: Released


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