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- Tell us a little about yourself, what have you accomplished in life?
Damn, where to start… Before getting into the gaming industry (which I’ve been in for 5 years now), I was an exciting Materials Analyst Manager at a well known HMO. I always wanted to get into the games industry as a designer, especially after playing Fallout. So when my wife was making enough cash to support the both of us, I quit the manager job and took a job as a tester at Interplay. I eventually got promoted to Black Isle Studios as a junior designer working on Icewind Dale II. After that, I got moved onto Baldur’s Gate 3 – which got cancelled – and then to Fallout 3 – which also got cancelled. When I was fortunate enough to be laid off from Interplay/BIS, along with most of the Fallout 3 dev team, I got hired at Electronic Arts to work on a AAA title. This title won’t be cancelled.
My greatest accomplishment is raising my daughter, Jillian. Everything else pales in comparison, except my marriage to my wife, Dianne.
- What are your favourite computer games/board games and why?
Fallout: The world was unique, fascinating, funny, and horrifying all at once. The characters were intriguing and the overlapping stories made me want more. So, I naturally replayed the game several times.
Wing Commander 2: Aside from being a fun space sim shoot ‘em up at the time, I really thought it had the best story of the WC series and the most intriguing subplots.
Planescape: Torment: Very unique setting and compelling story. A lot of people did not like all the reading in the game, but I enjoyed it immensely (go figure). Every character was interesting and well written, and I always felt compelled to find out more about my character (The Nameless One), his back story, and where the story was going.
Master of Orion: Simple and deep and all wrapped into one tight little space 3X game.
Half-Life: Best combination of story, FPS action, AI scripting (the marines were legendary), and environments (except for Xen – uhg).
Deus Ex: I get to be a spy, with nano-technology augmentations, adjust my skills, think of different ways to solve situations; what’s not to like?
System Shock 1 & 2: Do I really need to answer why?
And here are some more I’ll list but not describe because I’m getting lazy right now: Civilization II; Ultima 3 & 6; Jagged Alliance 2; X-com; Max Payne 2; Battlefield 1942; Unreal Tournament; Quake 2 multiplayer; Dark Age of Camelot; City of Heroes; Harpoon; Empire; Legend of Zelda (NES); Grand Theft Auto 3; SSX Tricky; Knights of the Old Republic (good campaign); Crusader: No Remorse & No Regret.
- What hobbies do you have besides computer games?
Well, before I had my daughter, I did weight lifting/power lifting, grappling (Brazilian and Budoshin, Samoan Bone Breaking Techniques, and a touch of Judo), short story writing, reading, and PnP gaming (primarily GURPS and 3rd Edition D&D).
Now, besides my PC gaming habit (I also have a GBA SP and PS2), I still weight lift (though backed off a bit on the power lifting), read, and spend as much free time as possible with my daughter and wife. Once I get my heavy bag stand up (I still have to put the thing together – got it last Xmas. DOH!), I will hit the heavy bag and reminisce about my sparring days.
- What are your favourite bands/artists (music) ?
I would have to say “Queen” is my all time favourite band, with “Sheer Heart Attack” being my favourite album from them. After that, I’d have to say “Metallica” (toss-up between “Ride the Lightning” and “Kill Them All”), “Queensryche” (“Operation Mindcrime”), “Nirvanna” (“Bleach”), “Prince” (“1999”), “Motley Crue” (“Shout at the Devil”), “The Beatles” (“Sergeant Peppers”), “Elton John” (“Madman Across the River”), “Stone Temple Pilots” + “Guns & Roses” = “Velvet Revolver”, and there’s more, but can’t think of them at the moment.
- Tell us a little about your role in the making of Fallout 1/2/3 (Van Buren)/Tactics ?
Other than playing Fallout 1 & 2, absolutely nothing. However, in Fallout 3 I was in charge of designing 3 major areas, including the end game.
- What’s your favourite Fallout memory?
Talking The Master into self destruction. Greatest Captain Kirk moment EvaR!
- What specifically inspired Fallout for you? What were the biggest influences?
I think Mad Max and the Road Warrior had a big impact (duh), but I also got some inspiration from “Apocalypse Now,” the mutants from the original “ Beneath the Planet of the Apes,” “Fail-Safe,” “Dr. Strangelove,” the novel “Lucifer’s Hammer,” and most importantly, the first Fallout game.
- Pop Culture played a big role in Fallout, what pop culture influences you?
I don’t think any pop culture influences me. I’ve always been a bit “out there” and never one to follow trends. Of course, there are things in pop culture that I enjoy, but I’ve enjoyed them before they were “kewl” to like them, like shaved monkeys… what, that’s not pop culture?
- How was it to be a part of the Fallout team?
It was awesome. Fallout was the main reason I wanted to be a game designer. And to have the opportunity to not only design some of the bigger areas of F3, but also be in charge of the end game, it was like a dream come true. It still pains me that the game we were working on will never see the light of day.
- Were there things that you wished you had added to either Fallouts?
Take the interface and its options from Fallout 2 and make it work in Fallout 1. I would have liked the main story timer taken out in Fallout 1 as well. I wanted more time to explore (of course there were plenty of things to do to extend the time, but I just do not like to have a timer on a main story arch. Sub-quest timers are fine.)
- What were you favourite places in fallout and why?
The Cathedral: There was a definite creepy factor to it because of the religious zealots and their propaganda monitors mixed in with the science fiction horrors that took place below the structure. Plus the Night Kin were pretty damn cool.
Vault 13: It was just an interesting place to scurry about and get some back story.
- What is your hope for future Fallout games? Would you like to be a part of a future Fo team?
My hope is that the license goes to a developer who really “gets” Fallout and is passionate in wanting to not only honour its legacy, but do it justice by adding to the Fallout world. I think Troika might be the best choice, since there are still a few of the original, Fallout 1 guys there and I know Tim would want to maintain and improve the Fallout world. If they did get Fallout, it would be very tempting to join them (if they’d have me), but I’m still a bit scarred by what happened with Van Buren (F3).
- Who would you bring with you in a future Fallout team and why?
That’s a loaded question. If it were up to me and I had time shifting magical powers, I think I would like to bring all the original designers together on the project. Short of that, I’ll just keep quiet since I don’t want to offend anyone I’ve previously worked with.
- In your opinion, what are the key ingredients that every RPG should have?
Choices. Give the player plenty of choices on how they can develop their character. Good, evil, neutral, kinda good, not so evil, etc, should all be choices the play can use in the game. Let the player choose how they want to progress through the game, be it through violence, cunning, charisma, stealth, manipulation, etc.
Freedom. Give the player the freedom to go where they please, even if that means they might die prematurely (but give them fair warning before they venture into suicide).
In depth, multi-threaded story lines. Keep the player’s interest by giving the player a story, or stories, that have a lot of intrigue, twists, and depth.
Game play. Make manoeuvring within the game world fun. Make the interface easy to use and intuitive. Make getting around the world quick and fun. Make combat intuitive and in-depth (tactics). Make the dialogue meaningful and with plenty of response choices the player can use to fit their play style.
- Where do you see computer RPGs going?
The current trend is towards temporary extinction with the major publishers. I see true CRPG’s, like Fallout for instance, relegating back to very small, niche developers and European developers. Companies like Spiderweb Software will most likely maintain the torch for hardcore CRPG’s. Also, I do see some European developers attempting to capture the CRPG niche, and hopefully one will take off enough to wake up the big publishers and start a resurgence of new, quality CRPG’s. It’s a dream I have.
- How does the fan base hinder/help the projects that you’ve worked on?
Like any fan base, there are good ideas that spawn from the fans, and very bad ideas. The thing is, everyone thinks their idea is the bestest idea out there, so there is no convincing them their idea will not only not work, but also pretty much blows. It’s not hard to convince someone that their good idea is good – less chance of flaming. But overall, I’ve had very positive experiences with the fan base and enjoy interacting with them. There’s a lot of great people out there.
- When planning the story how do you go through the process of integrating themes and story with the constraints on software?
That’s a tough one to answer. I basically just create characters within the setting I’m assigned or have created, then create motivations and history for those characters. That usually bleeds into creating interactions and stories between those new characters. After I make the stories, quests, interactions, etc., I take a realistic look at our tools and engine and see if I can make it work. Sometimes I can, sometimes I can’t. When I can’t, I improvise and work my way around the problem.
- If you could make any computer game that you wanted, which would it be and why?
Well, it was Fallout 3. That wound is still mending. At this time, I want to make a true Super Hero CRPG, complete with the player creating their character, choosing their powers, coming up with their origin, secret identities, and ultimately becoming the game’s true hero or ultimate villain. It’s a concept I’ve been toying around with since I left BIS. I want it to also be very contemporary. We’ll see what the future holds.
- Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
No freakin’ idea. I try to keep my goals in 2 to 5 year stints. I’ve reached my goal of being a game designer, but now I’m focusing on becoming a lead designer or design director. I have no clue what company I’ll be working for, though. This industry can be shaky, as we all know.
As far as outside the industry, my goal is to provide for and raise my daughter to the best of my ability, and enjoy my life with my wife and daughter. And get a bigger house.
- Any last word to the Fallout fan base?
Thanks for all the great support you’ve given us (even the ones who hated us) and keep up the fight to preserve the integrity of a great franchise. Who knows what the future holds, so maybe, one day, we’ll all see a quality Fallout product released in the future – hopefully not too distant future. Cheers! And remember, life’s too short to be drinking crappy beer.