<center>
</center>
- Tell us a little about yourself, what have you accomplished in life?
Well, lets see I can stuff (put together) 1500 of the LA Times Sunday Edition in about 3 hours given all the different pieces, make a Large Pepperoni pizza including tossing the dough in the air in 27 seconds and I amassed 240 credits at UCSD after needing only 190ish to graduate, but still didn't graduate. Other than that I have worked in the computer/video game industry for 13 years now almost all of that time at Interplay. I founded Black Isle Studios while at Interplay and am now the CEO and one of the founding owners of Obsidian Entertainment.
- What are your favorite computer games/board games and why?
How long is the list supposed to be?
Well I'll list a few. There is a strange game that I return to every year or so for some reason. I really don't know why other than I really enjoy it and still haven't beaten it. It's an old Sid Meier game called Colonization. I think I like the game, because it was one of the first games that allowed you to automate a lot of what you did, which means it didn't fall into the constant micro-management period of the game like a lot of other builder type strat games. From an RPG perspective, it's a tough call. I really enjoyed Wizard's Crown from SSI and Ultima 4 - I think both of those created a great world where you felt like you could do almost anything in them. More recently, I think my favorite RPG has been BG2. Again a huge world, but you felt like you were moving the plot forward and didn't lose the plot at points.
As for board games. I really enjoy Settlers, History of the World and Union Pacific. I probably like all of those because you need a certain amount of strategy to enjoy the game, but it's not like trying to pound your way through a game of Axis and Allies Europe.
- What hobbies do you have besides computer games?
Ummmmm.... Board games? That's pretty sad isn't it. I do read a lot though and my favorite kinds of books other than Sci-Fi and Fantasy are books that talk about a specific company and explain their successes and failures. I also read a lot about the Supreme Court - I find how much they really define about our society really interesting particularly because most people don't really know how many things they really do decide for us.
- What are your favorite bands/artists (music) ?
I listen to a lot of different music. A random five of my favorite bands would be Depeche Mode, Paul Okenfold, Trash Can Sinatras, Pogues and the Cure.
- Tell us a little about your role in the making of Fallout 1/2/3 (Van Buren)/Tactics ?
I was put in charge of the TSR division at Interplay in early 1996 which included the Fallout 1 project. Other than helping Tim Cain ramp up the team in 1996, I didn't work a whole lot on the project that year. There were a lot of other fires to put out at the time. In 1997, I started to work on the project a lot more and by May-ish, I was working on the project about 100 hours a week. Other than managing a lot of the QA (playtesting) process, I also straightened up the Hub, made the Boneyard work and designed a number of small things in the game. I also spent a lot of time trying to get the economy to work and re-designed the buy/sell equation. It didn't end up perfect, but it was a lot better than it was a few days before we shipped the game.
For Fallout 2, I ended up being the co-Lead Designer with Matt Norton and the Co-Producer with Eric DeMilt. I worked for about nine months at about 100 hours a week to help get the game done. One of the key things that I designed was the new Companion Control system (the settings you had to define how they acted in combat) including how all the companions could level up. I also designed a couple of the areas, but Chris Avellone was good enough to touch up those areas by completely re-designing them.
The Fallout 3 story is a little stranger. I guess my role on Fallout 3 was to have it launched in early 1999 and then to cancel the development a few months later to put the team on Icewind Dale 1. My next part in the saga was to make one of the requirements of the FR6/Jefferson engine to be that it could be used fairly easily to make Fallout 3. In fact, I had a few of Black Isle's artists (Aaron Brown, Aaron Meyers and Dennis Presnell) do a test in 2001 or 2002 to see what Fallout would look like in the FR6 engine. Incidentally, they all now work here at Obsidian.
- What's your favourite Fallout memory?
That's a tough one. In the development of the game, my fondest memory was when I got the Boneyard put back together and it actually worked and made some sort of sense. I also really enjoyed putting in the quests for the Hardened Power Armor and the Turbo Plasma Rifle - although I was wrong on the stats for the Turbo Plasma Rifle.
- What specifically inspired Fallout for you? What were the biggest influences?
I would have to say some sort of weird mix of 50's/60's Sci-Fi, Mad Max and Cyberpunk. It's possible that my view of Fallout was a little darker than others, which is why Fallout 2 turned out a little darker.
If I were to do further Fallouts - I would probably make the games lighter.
- Pop Culture played a big role in Fallout, what pop culture influences you?
Music and movies to a large degree. I think Jerry Bruckheimer's production company does a great job with their TV shows and the music they include them. I think it really helps them to tell a story without having to say everything.
- How was it to be a part of the Fallout team?
Tiring and fulfilling at the same time. I don't know if I would want to go through another Fallout 2 crunch time, but I am happy that I did it.
- Were there things that you wished you had added to either Fallouts?
In Fallout 1, I wish we had made the invasion make more sense. In Fallout 2, I wish we had made the game a little lighter and a little more directed. I don't mean to make it linear, but just to make it a little tighter and not so sprawling. Oh, and I would have taken out the talking Death Claws - that was bad idea that I either came up with or championed (my bad).
- What were you favourite places in fallout and why?
I really like the idea of the Hub - a huge place that you could return to and get your bearings in the game again. I think we could have made it even better if the Hub evolved more as the game progressed. I guess I would also say I like Gecko - just because I thought a city run by ghouls made them more interesting.
- What is your hope for future Fallout games? Would you like to be a part of a future Fo team?
That's a tough one. Some days I would very much like to make another Fallout and other days, not so much. I think I'm biased because I need to think about running a game development studio which makes me more "realistic" and less "artistic."
- Who would you bring with you in a future Fallout team and why?
It would have to be Chris Avellone for the story and world and Josh Sawyer for rules and balance.
- In your opinion, what are the key ingredients that every RPG should have?
A complex but not overly complex character development and combat system, well written and interesting NPC's and party members, a world that feels like everything fits (cohesive) and a story that pulls you along but lets you get side tracked sometimes.
- Where do you see computer RPGs going?
More Hollywood? Actually, I think the next step for RPGs is that the stories need to become more impactful and the character development/combat systems have to be interesting but not intimidating. I guess another thing I've been thinking about is that even though we can write a million words of dialog and have it all recorded - is that really a good thing. I am not saying to simplify the game here, but rather that we need to get better about telling the story rather than just through dialog.
- How does the fan base hinder/help the projects that you've worked on?
They help by being enthusiastic about the Fallout world and keeping it alive. I think they hinder it by making developers question whether they even want to deal with them.
- 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. I think we try to come up with the world and the story and then make sure that we are trying to say something. If it doesn't seem like we are then we need to go back to the drawing board.
- If you could make any computer game that you wanted, which would it be and why?
I would really like to make a System Shock 2 type of game and/or a more traditional RPG that really feels like the ones that I remember loving. I'm not sure how to do the latter though.
- Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
I still hope I'm the CEO of Obsidian Entertainment and that I have a list of games that I can be proud of.
- Any last word to the Fallout fan base?
Chill OUT! What I mean by that is that you guys might get more of what you want by accepting that Fallout 3 might never be made and to help the developers and publishers make the Fallout games they are working on successful. With a part of that success being that they follow the fell of the Fallout world. If you guys just tell them how dumb Fallout Morrowind will be than it might turn out be less of a Fallout game because people tend to ignore those that call them stupid every third word. If the Fallout games that are being made are successful then that can only increase the chance of Fallout 3 actually being made.