Fallout: New Vegas developers quotes

[Brother None]

Yes, you can have both. Women can have both their versions too.

 

[K.C. Cool]

I mean, you can't tell your audience that they're wrong.

What a horribly destructive attitude. If everybody started to use the lowest common denominator to determine their artistic decisions we'd eventually revert to a society of toddlers...which is just about the only age group I'd give a free pass on not knowing what that fucking perk is.

I think I need to clarify: I've seen about a 50/50 split of people knowing and not knowing that that perk means; with that I'm seeing quite a few folks not knowing what a "Conformed Bachelor" is. Personally, I'm not sure how I would have interpreted the perk as I read about the confusion first on these forums before I saw it in game. I think a better graphic would have been more clear, I mean it's not like the Fallout universe beats around the bush anyway.

I'm saying that your audience is your audience, when you design for them you have to anticipate how they think and react to whatever it is that you're designing (cause, well, that's apart of design). When you work with a broad audience, that would include people that are stupid as hell. I'm sure everyone at Obsidian knew exactly what a conformed bachelor was and whoever didn't know is pretty out of the loop, but apparently there are quite a few people that just don't know. I'm not saying designers can please everyone in their audience, but to say the audience is missing the obvious isn't exactly their fault when Obsidian made it for them.

A more extreme example is this. To me, the ad looks perfectly innocent: Some IT guy turned his staff into human speed machines as represented by Olympic style sprinters. But, turns out a lot of people saw a racist message: a bunch of black guys bowing to a white guy. Sure, the people that misinterpreted that ad are dumb as hell and it's not Intel's fault that people are stupid. But it is their fault for not anticipating that their audience would misunderstand the message.

I think everyone made some good points on the perk: Even if they didn't know it had something to do with homosexuality, they still understood how the perk affected their player in the game through text and image. So in that case, if it works it works.

 

[TwinkieGorilla]

I think I need to clarify: I've seen about a 50/50 split of people knowing and not knowing that that perk means

No, you don't need to clarify. It is apparently I who needs to clarify:

What I am telling you is that this 50% of the people you've seen are, sadly, never going to be seen teaching T.S. Eliot to a classroom, explaining thermodynamics to their friend or listening to Henryk Górecki on a rainy afternoon. I'm very sorry if this offends you, but somebody too dense to figure out that obvious of a reference in a video-game is lucky to be able to tie their fucking shoes in the morning.

Catering to a crowd this pathetic is going to make all of Mike Judge's horrible, horrible nightmares come true. Is this really what you'd have us defend? There were plenty....PLENNNNNTY of moments of "figure it out, dumbass" moments in the first two games. Please. Don't even get me started.

 

[UncannyGarlic]

I've bumped into it a lot but I'm a USA 50s aficionado.

I think that's the thing, the term is dated. I've heard it once or twice before but it isn't commonly used in the US these days, not amongst young people at least.

I think a better graphic would have been more clear, I mean it's not like the Fallout universe beats around the bush anyway.

Vault Boy massaging a naked guy wasn't clear enough? What did you want, Vault Boy sodomizing the dude?

 

[Little Robot]

I think a better graphic would have been more clear, I mean it's not like the Fallout universe beats around the bush anyway.

Vault Boy massaging a naked guy wasn't clear enough? What did you want, Vault Boy sodomizing the dude?

Ok, although I'd say that the massage was pretty damn clear I know what K.C. Cool means. Take this for example:

Comparatively, the massage seems rather tame and subtle. But I do think that it ought to be def. clear enough for nearly anyone.

 

[K.C. Cool]

I'm very sorry if this offends you, but somebody too dense to figure out that obvious of a reference in a video-game is lucky to be able to tie their fucking shoes in the morning.

Catering to a crowd this pathetic is going to make all of Mike Judge's horrible, horrible nightmares come true. Is this really what you'd have us defend? There were plenty....PLENNNNNTY of moments of "figure it out, dumbass" moments in the first two games. Please. Don't even get me started.

I'm not offended, I just think that if there is confusion where there should be clarity, then there is a problem. About the perk: I don't really care if no one understands it because I do! But if people don't get it, even if they're not "worthy" of designing for, wouldn't it be better if they did get it?

Personally, I agree with you. There are a lot of things I enjoy in life that the majority of people on this planet will not. Does that make what I like less valuable because it's not popular? Nope.

Trust me, if I could go though life designing artifacts to my taste and understanding for people that think and consume like me then life would be cake. Unfortunately I might have to design for middle aged house wives that have never graduated high school; these people might not understand what I, or 50% of people, may clearly understand.

Personally, I'd like for people to muddle though misunderstanding and just figure it out because obviously I don't have to. However, if I could make something that 90% of people understand vs 50% would understand, then I think the 90% one would be the obvious choice.

Vault Boy massaging a naked guy wasn't clear enough? What did you want, Vault Boy sodomizing the dude?

I think that is a question for the people that didn't get it. To me, it's interesting as to WHY these people didn't get it: What graphic will not make people stop and think? Like Little Robot pointed out, it doesn't take much to make it a bit more clear. If we can use a image everyone "gets," then why not use that instead?

 

[TheUnwashed]

I've bumped into it a lot but I'm a USA 50s aficionado.

I think that's the thing, the term is dated. I've heard it once or twice before but it isn't commonly used in the US these days, not amongst young people at least.

like I said, dated, but it wonderingly fits the retro theme of fallout>
Its an example of game-designing taken very far and deep, backed with a good portion of research.

 

[Brother None]

Ok, although I'd say that the massage was pretty damn clear I know what K.C. Cool means. Take this for example:

That said, they didn't show Vault Boy sodomizing some dude because a) that'd be controversial and b) that's crude. Naked manmassage is good middle way of showing it without being crude.

 

[TwinkieGorilla]

However, if I could make something that 90% of people understand vs 50% would understand, then I think the 90% one would be the obvious choice.

And I think this attitude is sad. Which is the first thing I said to you.

 

[gumbarrel]

Not very convincing to me. Especially given that Explosives is not really that viable as a primary combat skill anyhow.

If you had to chose between a skill that lets you unlock stuff and a skill that lets you unlock stuff AND BLOW STUFF too, which one would you chose? There is no logical reason to pick Lockpick in that situation. Unless you are role-playing or something.

 

[Ausir]

Unless I wanted to play a stealthy character, since explosives wouldn't be stealthy. And, as I said, explosives could work well on doors but would destroy the contents of containers.

 

[gumbarrel]

I mean, you can't tell your audiance that they're wrong. If something doesn't make sense to a majority of the audiance then the designer did something wrong.

Yeah, that's why Stanley Kubrick was considered to be one of the worst directors ever. Nobody knew wtf Space Odyssey was about when it came out, bad director is bad.

Unless I wanted to play a stealthy character, since explosives wouldn't be stealthy. And, as I said, explosives could work well on doors but would destroy the contents of containers.

Your first point makes sense, but the second one, well, quick saving. And no, the penalty didn't help with gambling abuse, it wont help with locks either.

 

[Ausir]

How about it always destroying contents of containers except for maybe quest items (which would mean it being crappy for loot hunting), and working properly only with doors?

 

[Stanislao Moulinsky]

Not very convincing to me. Especially given that Explosives is not really that viable as a primary combat skill anyhow.

If you had to chose between a skill that lets you unlock stuff and a skill that lets you unlock stuff AND BLOW STUFF too, which one would you chose? There is no logical reason to pick Lockpick in that situation. Unless you are role-playing or something.

Well, if only C4 and Time Bombs had the ability to unlock doors and containers (like in the old FO) it would be somehow limiting using only those instead of Lockpick. With only one bobby pin you can open countless locks while those explosives are limited in number which is why I don't understand Sawyer's objection. But I guess the game can't recognize if an explosion was made by a C4, an atomic grenade or a simple mine.

Too bad, it would have been nice to have the option.

 

[K.C. Cool]

I mean, you can't tell your audience that they're wrong. If something doesn't make sense to a majority of the audience then the designer did something wrong.

Yeah, that's why Stanley Kubrick was considered to be one of the worst directors ever. Nobody knew wtf Space Odyssey was about when it came out, bad director is bad.

I'm saying that if some one is designing for a specific audience then they're designing for them. That shouldn't to be confused with having the artistic freedom to create good and wholesome things (such as Art). Usually these good and wholesome things aren't very popular (initially or ever) but are critically well received, which is perfectly fine with me. I much rather create something that will be remembered for it's qualities and ideas for years to come rather than it being popular (or even understood) for a short amount of time.

I dislike Bethesda for making changes to the Fallout series because I wasn't their audience, they went for the money and the masses and did very well doing so. I personally like Fallout 1 better than Fallout 3; Fallout 1 isn't for everyone, but I was within the target audience for Fallout 1.