Fallout Developers Profile - Brian Freyermuth

[SimpleMinded]

Cool info Jesse and it makes a lot more sense. Sneak is pretty hard to fit into a lot of quests unless you stick with a very generic list of options. Adding science/barter/doctor into the mix made it more interesting.

And as for the list on the page, could we just have ALL Developers on it instead of just the ones interviewed?

It's neat to see how far along it is.

 

[Brother None]

How about Fallout 3 (if any of them agree to answer the questions)? Or is it too early for that?

I'd love to.

But they won't. I don't even need to ask to know that. They won't.

Late in development of Fo1 we moved the formula more toward "three solutions of different types" without necessarily always leaning on fight, talk, or sneak - some puzzles would be approached with Repair, Science, or even Gambling. The core idea was always that you had several ways to handle any problem.

Makes sense. And to be honest, the original idea sounds great but also sounds very rigid; it's a bit artificial to have fight-talk-sneak as solutions to every quest. Main quests, sure, but sometimes the nature of the quest just doesn't allow for it; how would it make sense to be able to solve the Thieves Guild quests by fighting?

And as for the list on the page, could we just have ALL Developers on it instead of just the ones interviewed?

Mobygames lists about 80 people that would be eligible for Fallout profiles. So...no.

 

[jero cvmi]

Makes sense. And to be honest, the original idea sounds great but also sounds very rigid; it's a bit artificial to have fight-talk-sneak as solutions to every quest. Main quests, sure, but sometimes the nature of the quest just doesn't allow for it; how would it make sense to be able to solve the Thieves Guild quests by fighting?

i dont know if it was an exploit, or it was intentionally designed that way, but in my "combat boy" playthrough, i
[spoiler:616c367604]
got into the thieves guild by dynamiting the doors, and retrieved the necklace during the "dispose of merchant" quest after killing them all. and loxley still rewarded me.
[/spoiler:616c367604]
So it's possible.

anyway it's true that fallout's quests had always multiple solutions, and not always in the mechanistic "speech or fight or sneak" design, and i've yet to see similar brilliance in ANY game.
hence my semi-joking proposal in the previous page.

Mobygames lists about 80 people that would be eligible for Fallout profiles. So...no.

i wish you to interview all of them and finally complete the list!

 

[Ausir]

I don't think there's any point in interviewing each and every QA tester.

 

[zenbitz]

Late in development of Fo1 we moved the formula more toward "three solutions of different types" without necessarily always leaning on fight, talk, or sneak - some puzzles would be approached with Repair, Science, or even Gambling. The core idea was always that you had several ways to handle any problem. I suppose it was a way to implement some more role-playing notions, in that you could decide how you wanted your character to approach various problems, but the consequences might vary depending on your resolution style.
Certain quests or problems, though, were just buggy in scripting and wound up having some of their alternative approaches damaged or cut, unfortunately. Still, I think it was cool that the original idea managed to stay mostly intact all the way to release!

What's interesting about this approach is that it minimizes the "obvious" character design. There are still issues, because as you level up, you become less and less of a specialist (something that rarely happens in PnP RPGs, because... uh, there is more than 1 PC in your party).

In an online game, of course, you could force quests to be solved only by 2 or even 1 path.. you just have to find someone to team up with you.

 

[4too]

Stage Whisper

Stage Whisper

I don't think there's any point in interviewing each and every QA tester.

SSHHhhhhh.


Don't let Per read that! He be won stone countin' mutha ... mon.

An intuitive chi-squared of B-Ilse and B-soft QA dyslexic dialectics might be a buzzin' in his pre frontal.


SSHHhhhhh.



4too

 

[Jesse Heinig]

Even the QA testers were important to the game. Remember the multi-tool, which you can use as a bonus to Repair on certain items (just, not all of them, because of inconsistent scripting)? Came from a suggestion from a QA guy.

 

[UncannyGarlic]

I'd love to.

But they won't. I don't even need to ask to know that. They won't.

I'm not so sure, there are a few that seem like they might go for it. For example I actually saw Dan Ross post responses to some of the more cautious folks on their forums every now and then so he'd be one I could see maybe going for it. I'd assume that the questions would be similar to those in the other developer interviews so it's not like you'd flambes them, right?

Even the QA testers were important to the game. Remember the multi-tool, which you can use as a bonus to Repair on certain items (just, not all of them, because of inconsistent scripting)? Came from a suggestion from a QA guy.

I personally think that a good QA team is an extremely important aspect to the design process (I've played my share of games with ideas that sound good but don't work out and should have been cut in QA) but I'd imagine that they'd be a different type of group to interview than the rest of the development team and I'm not really sure that they could answer all of the questions (or at least not differently from one another).

I thank all the QA guys out their for their hard and important work, I just don't see how an interview with one (or many) of them could really give an interesting interview about a specific game when compared to the developers involved in designing the game. I could be wrong here or maybe it'd just be best to interview their manager (assuming everything went through him to the rest of the development team).

All that said, I wouldn't want them to be turned down if they if they approached you guys for an interview.

 

[Brother None]

It's a pretty academic discussion, since we don't really have the pick of who we interview and don't. It's always depended on people who happen to pop up, or who are tracked down by either me or Ausir. That's why the selection is so eclectic, including people like the Mac programmer, sound designer and voice director, but still excluding some of the six original game designers.

I'm not so sure, there are a few that seem like they might go for it. For example I actually saw Dan Ross post responses to some of the more cautious folks on their forums every now and then so he'd be one I could see maybe going for it. I'd assume that the questions would be similar to those in the other developer interviews so it's not like you'd flambes them, right?

It doesn't matter if individuals go for it, Bethesda (and most gaming companies) don't work that way; all interviews discussing a game from the company has to be checked and approved by PR. For some companies this is a fairly trouble-free process (like for Blizzard, the PR there's had to approve every talk with Leonard Boyarsky I've had, including the retrospective interview for NMA).

 

[UncannyGarlic]

It's a pretty academic discussion, since we don't really have the pick of who we interview and don't. <snip>

That's pretty much what I figured. I'd imagine that some of those folks would be a pretty big effort to track down, especially if they've moved on to a different industry.

It doesn't matter if individuals go for it, Bethesda (and most gaming companies) don't work that way; all interviews discussing a game from the company has to be checked and approved by PR. For some companies this is a fairly trouble-free process (like for Blizzard, the PR there's had to approve every talk with Leonard Boyarsky I've had, including the retrospective interview for NMA).

Right, don't know why I didn't think of that as that's pretty obvious. Since that's the case I'll have to agree with you that the chances are slim to none at best. I'd say that it'd be good to try once, to confirm or discredit the theory, so that you've got the high ground when people wander in here over the next few years complaining that there are no Fallout 3 dev interviews.

All that said, I'm far more interested in Fallout 1&2 dev interviews.

 

[Ausir]

I'm actually trying to get Fallout 3 dev profiles from freelancers (like Craig Mullins and Inon Zur) and people who no longer work at Bethesda.

 

[UncannyGarlic]

I'm actually trying to get Fallout 3 dev profiles from freelancers (like Craig Mullins and Inon Zur) and people who no longer work at Bethesda.

Awesome! Out of curiosity, has anyone who had a major role in designing the game left Bethesda yet?

 

[Ausir]

I only know of one level designer.