TheSerialPlagiarist
First time out of the vault
Hello everyone, I am new to Fallout 2 modding and wanted some advice. I wanted to make a Fangame based on The Terminator (1984) using the Fallout 2 Engine. I will call it "Fallout Vs. Terminator" and while not a literal crossover, I thought the idea was cool. I wanted to stand out from a lot of the Fallout Expansion/Overhaul/Total Conversions by setting this in a different franchise. I thought the Terminator Universe fit the bill quite well for Fallout 2's gameplay. I've been looking at Quantum Apprentice's tutorial series and am installing new tools as we speak.
I wanted to give an overview of my rough plan for this game.
THE LORE
Fallout Vs. Terminator exists in my own version of James Cameron's Terminator films (T1 and T2) that continues off the original theatrical cut of Terminator 2: Judgement Day. Despite Sarah and John Connor's best efforts to destroy Skynet for good in 1995, they were only playing into the future seen in the openings of both films. Skynet became self-aware on August 29, 1997, and launched nukes at Russia who struck back, which ended in mutually assured destruction, culling 3 billion lives in the process. Skynet then proceeded to build machines to protect itself (in Colorado), and expanded its reach across the world, intending to wipe out the remnants of civilization.
The game will start on February 28, 2003 (6 years after Judgement Day and John Connor's 18th Birthday) in which you play as a Resistance Fighter from the year 2029, sent back in time by John Connor to prevent yet another attempt on his life by Skynet via time travel. It's basically the same setup as most of the films, except in game-form and post Judgement Day instead of before. Skynet tried sending another T-800 Model 101 (Arnold Schwarzenegger) to 2003 to both terminate John Connor and once again try to alter the future. The map will be practically the same as Fallout 1, but in the Terminator Universe.
THE STORY
The game will start the second after you arrive. You will be completely naked and have no equipment. You were transported to a ruined junkyard, and most of the early enemies will be wolves and other real animals. This will be the tutorial section where you gather up XP and whatnot. Typical of the movies, you confront a three-man scavenger gang to steal their equipment and clothes. Whether or not they antagonized you first, you are given 150 days to find John Connor across the wasteland. Since I want the geography and areas to be parallel to Fallout 1, one of the early game areas will be a human settlement akin to Shady Sands, maybe hidden out or underground.
Whatever the case, you will get a lot of early quests here. I also intend to make one of the companions be John Connor's friend from Terminator 2 (Tim Cookey). He will be a rookie mercenary desperate for work, and if you tell him you're looking for John Connor, he will reveal the last time he saw John and potentially join your party, given what John told him about the machines rising in 1997 (although at the time, John thought his mother was insane). A lot of the stuff that was in Fallout 1 will also be in this game, because of my desire to give a familiar experience.
So, for example, Raider Gangs. I intend to make this game more grounded than Fallout, so there won't be any super mutants or ghouls. It'll mostly be humans, wild animals, and terminators. Since this is 2003, the machines will be a lot more primitive than they are in 2029. The T-600 with rubber skin wouldn't even be invented until 2011, so most of the killing machines and patrols Skynet has, are less advanced and most of them don't even fire laser weapons first (first generation laser weapons will be a late-game item)
You will find John Connor in the Necropolis parallel area, and provided you get to him in time before he's ambushed by the T-800, said T-800 will then show up seconds later and initiate a boss battle, where you have to go up against his tough endoskeleton. Afterwards, John Connor becomes a permanent companion, and you set out to initiate you second priority mission. You will be given 400 days to destroy two of Skynet's Facility (One in the Mariposa Military Base and one in a facility built in Los Angeles)
I don't know if you remembered or knew, but the T-800 in T2 actually had its arm severed in the climax, but it was forgotten about when taking into account what to throw into the molten lava (it was likely a film error) but I want to make that arm a crucial plot point in my game. Skynet discovered the arm after it went online, and it's trying to reverse engineer the technology early and develop a prototype T-800 Terminator before it was supposed to (in 2026). So basically, like how you're supposed to destroy the Master and the Vats, it will be a similar deal here.
Provided John survives and you get the best-case scenario ending, I wanted to have an open-ended ending just like Fallout 1. John slowly reveals that the code-phrase you said to him when you two met, was actually code for "you have to die after the mission is over" that he and his mother came up with Pre-Judgement Day, and so he realizes that provided you survived, he has to kill you to prevent the future from being butterfly effected. He draws his gun and shoots you dead, then he sadly walks off into the desert, and the credits roll.
I have a basic outline for the story, but I think it's enough to make itself stand out from the cliche Terminator premise.
CHANGES AND GAMEPLAY
1. I intend to make VATS and the Map Markers Red instead of Green to emulate Terminator vision.
2. The game will cease to have over-the-top, gory deaths, given Terminator has a more serious tone.
3. Luck will mostly be based around critical hits and stuff instead of having any story affecting abilities.
4. As stated before, no super mutants, ghouls or mutated animals. Sticking to humans, real animals, and Skynet's Terminators.
5. The sand and environment in general will be tinted dark blue to fit the aesthetic of the Future War scenes
6. The Pip-Boy will probably be replaced with a portable wrist computer developed by Cyberdyne Systems in early 1996 and proved extremely popular pre-judgement day. The scavengers you confront found it first and you take it off them.
CONCLUSION
So that's where I'm at. I intend to write a game design document soon going over all of the above and more. I was looking for other people more experienced than in this field, both for writing and for design. I don't know if my game proposal sounds interesting enough, or if it has any real potential, but I'd like to hear your thoughts on my pitch. Thanks.
I wanted to give an overview of my rough plan for this game.
THE LORE
Fallout Vs. Terminator exists in my own version of James Cameron's Terminator films (T1 and T2) that continues off the original theatrical cut of Terminator 2: Judgement Day. Despite Sarah and John Connor's best efforts to destroy Skynet for good in 1995, they were only playing into the future seen in the openings of both films. Skynet became self-aware on August 29, 1997, and launched nukes at Russia who struck back, which ended in mutually assured destruction, culling 3 billion lives in the process. Skynet then proceeded to build machines to protect itself (in Colorado), and expanded its reach across the world, intending to wipe out the remnants of civilization.
The game will start on February 28, 2003 (6 years after Judgement Day and John Connor's 18th Birthday) in which you play as a Resistance Fighter from the year 2029, sent back in time by John Connor to prevent yet another attempt on his life by Skynet via time travel. It's basically the same setup as most of the films, except in game-form and post Judgement Day instead of before. Skynet tried sending another T-800 Model 101 (Arnold Schwarzenegger) to 2003 to both terminate John Connor and once again try to alter the future. The map will be practically the same as Fallout 1, but in the Terminator Universe.
THE STORY
The game will start the second after you arrive. You will be completely naked and have no equipment. You were transported to a ruined junkyard, and most of the early enemies will be wolves and other real animals. This will be the tutorial section where you gather up XP and whatnot. Typical of the movies, you confront a three-man scavenger gang to steal their equipment and clothes. Whether or not they antagonized you first, you are given 150 days to find John Connor across the wasteland. Since I want the geography and areas to be parallel to Fallout 1, one of the early game areas will be a human settlement akin to Shady Sands, maybe hidden out or underground.
Whatever the case, you will get a lot of early quests here. I also intend to make one of the companions be John Connor's friend from Terminator 2 (Tim Cookey). He will be a rookie mercenary desperate for work, and if you tell him you're looking for John Connor, he will reveal the last time he saw John and potentially join your party, given what John told him about the machines rising in 1997 (although at the time, John thought his mother was insane). A lot of the stuff that was in Fallout 1 will also be in this game, because of my desire to give a familiar experience.
So, for example, Raider Gangs. I intend to make this game more grounded than Fallout, so there won't be any super mutants or ghouls. It'll mostly be humans, wild animals, and terminators. Since this is 2003, the machines will be a lot more primitive than they are in 2029. The T-600 with rubber skin wouldn't even be invented until 2011, so most of the killing machines and patrols Skynet has, are less advanced and most of them don't even fire laser weapons first (first generation laser weapons will be a late-game item)
You will find John Connor in the Necropolis parallel area, and provided you get to him in time before he's ambushed by the T-800, said T-800 will then show up seconds later and initiate a boss battle, where you have to go up against his tough endoskeleton. Afterwards, John Connor becomes a permanent companion, and you set out to initiate you second priority mission. You will be given 400 days to destroy two of Skynet's Facility (One in the Mariposa Military Base and one in a facility built in Los Angeles)
I don't know if you remembered or knew, but the T-800 in T2 actually had its arm severed in the climax, but it was forgotten about when taking into account what to throw into the molten lava (it was likely a film error) but I want to make that arm a crucial plot point in my game. Skynet discovered the arm after it went online, and it's trying to reverse engineer the technology early and develop a prototype T-800 Terminator before it was supposed to (in 2026). So basically, like how you're supposed to destroy the Master and the Vats, it will be a similar deal here.
Provided John survives and you get the best-case scenario ending, I wanted to have an open-ended ending just like Fallout 1. John slowly reveals that the code-phrase you said to him when you two met, was actually code for "you have to die after the mission is over" that he and his mother came up with Pre-Judgement Day, and so he realizes that provided you survived, he has to kill you to prevent the future from being butterfly effected. He draws his gun and shoots you dead, then he sadly walks off into the desert, and the credits roll.
I have a basic outline for the story, but I think it's enough to make itself stand out from the cliche Terminator premise.
CHANGES AND GAMEPLAY
1. I intend to make VATS and the Map Markers Red instead of Green to emulate Terminator vision.
2. The game will cease to have over-the-top, gory deaths, given Terminator has a more serious tone.
3. Luck will mostly be based around critical hits and stuff instead of having any story affecting abilities.
4. As stated before, no super mutants, ghouls or mutated animals. Sticking to humans, real animals, and Skynet's Terminators.
5. The sand and environment in general will be tinted dark blue to fit the aesthetic of the Future War scenes
6. The Pip-Boy will probably be replaced with a portable wrist computer developed by Cyberdyne Systems in early 1996 and proved extremely popular pre-judgement day. The scavengers you confront found it first and you take it off them.
CONCLUSION
So that's where I'm at. I intend to write a game design document soon going over all of the above and more. I was looking for other people more experienced than in this field, both for writing and for design. I don't know if my game proposal sounds interesting enough, or if it has any real potential, but I'd like to hear your thoughts on my pitch. Thanks.
certainly, but the timelines would seem incompatible (Fallout's great war began in 2077, Terminator's began in 1997). In Fallout, Skynet would have been an organic brain (like the kind seen in Frank Herbert's novel, Destination Void). To have the Terminator sent back from their eccentric future seems almost interdimensional. The T-800 would almost need to be like Liberatore's RanXerox to fit the Fallout setting.
