Fallout website up and Vision Statement revealed

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Night Watchman
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Well, you might have already been to the new official Fallout 3 website, complete with screenshots (nothing new for now), concept arts (nothing new for now), fact sheets (nothing new for now) and detailed information on the Awards Fallout 3 had garnered to date.

Upon the various goodies there is also a Todd Howard's Diary, which I encourage you to read. One bit that caught my eye was the document Todd references - about what Fallout was to be, originally.<blockquote>Obviously we had the old games to look at, and Fallout 1 became our main model and inspiration. I always preferred the tone of it, and it's the one we focused our time on dissecting. We also went through all the original source material, as well as the "Fallout Bible," put together by Chris Avellone, whose work is always fantastic. But one of my favorite sources, when we received everything (yes, everything) from Interplay, is the original "Fallout Vision Statement", back when it was called "Fallout: A GURPS Post Nuclear Adventure." This is the document detailing what Fallout was to be, and is a 14-point bulleted list. Here they are, in order, with direct quotes (enjoy – I know I did):

1. Mega levels of violence. "When people die, they don't just die – they get cut in half, they melt into a pile of goo, explode like a blood sausage, or several different ways – depending on the weapon you use."
2. There is often no right solution. "Like it or not, the player will not be able to make everyone live happily ever after. "
3. There will always be multiple solutions. "No one style of play will be perfect."

The others are: "The players actions affect the world.", "There is a sense of urgency," "It's open ended," "The player will have a goal," "The player has control of his actions," "Simple Interface," "Speech will be lip-synched with the animation," "A wide variety of weapons and actions," "Detailed character creation rules," "<s>just enough GURPS material to make the GURPSers happy. The game comes first.</s>" That one is actually crossed out in the document, as they dropped GURPS, and lastly:

14. "The Team is Motivated" "We want to do this. We care about this game and we will make it cool."

Ten years later and I don't know that I would change a word of what we want to do today. Especially that last one. We have an incredibly passionate and amazing group here; I've been privileged to work with many of them for over a decade. Hopefully in another 10 years people will look back and say, "Nope, they didn't screw it up." Hopefully.</blockquote>Ten years is a long time, how about you look at the following one to make sure you make the most of it? ;)

Link: Todd Howard's Dev Diary #1 @ Official Site
 
This is very apropos considering how much Brian Fargo, and not Cain/Boyarsky, were involved in the vision statement.

Good pick. Heh

I hope over the next year you'll come to see this website as a good place to get information on the game, right from us.

Don't worry, Todd, we're still going to be better.
 
A little surpised at some of the vision statement bullet points.

"Mega Levels of Violence" was #1 on the vision statement?
 
yeah this has been sticking out for me lately also in the aussie PC Powerplay mag..violence as #1 Fallout franchise hallmark...
 
In other words "Here's the producer's vision statement before the game was made! It obviously fits what we're doing (LOL VIOLENCE!!) so we're staying true to Fallout!!!! What do you mean Tim Cain & co's actual design? Who the fuck are they?"

Also, did Todd dye his hair black? Is it a wish to appear less of an annoying git? Well, I'd say he failed.

Edit: Oh and I love the "we tear the Elder Scrolls down each time and rebuild it". Come on Todd, let Pete do the blatant lies. Every single TES game is a copy of the last with features removed or bolted on.
 
What a great source for the elements of Fallout.
Why look at the mission statement when you can look at the fucking games.

But one of my favorite sources...

Yeah, I can tell... Go collect some eyeballs off the floor, I have "adult" things to do.
 
here is to drinking out of toilets and balancing your health! in a game..
(don't forget to take a dump every once in a while...regularity gets you karma points)
 
It's nice of Todd to post like that, even though that it doesn't change my mind about anything. Interesting that he pointed out that he has been misquoted a few times. If that's true, then I'm sure it's quite a frustrating thing. Especially the "fantasy for us is killing things blabla" which has followed him.
I guess that's just more proof (as if we needed it) that the gaming press sucks.

But meh, nice to see the site up. Some more info wouldn't hurt (nor linkage to fan sites).

So yeah, nice of Todd to speak his mind. But I still disagree with almost anything he says. That doesn't bode well for me when it comes to Fallout 3. It really annoys me that he states that the reviews are some kind of source for the Fallout spirit... such rubbish.

The vision statement doesn't really shock me... Just check out the Planescape: Torment one where you have all kinds of references to graphics and stuff, hehe. :clap:
 
Does anyone else love the irony of how Todd once again repeats the old "we take most of our inspiration from Fallout 1" line?

I mean, let's see... gratuitous humour.. Monty Python references.. the Enclave.. well golly gee aren't those all from Fallout 2?
 
When we started Fallout 3 in 2004, we obviously had big ideas of what we could do with it, and I talked to a lot of outside people, from ex-developers to press folks to fans. What made it special? What are the key things you'd want out of a new one?
Strange thing no one said "conisder Fallout's core"...
 
Autoduel76 said:
The guy who's going to sweep in and save the Fallout style RPG legecy with Wasteland 2?

That's why many of us were doubtful. Never trust Fargo, really. We'll see where he goes with Wasteland.

Edit: Oh and I love the "we tear the Elder Scrolls down each time and rebuild it". Come on Todd, let Pete do the blatant lies. Every single TES game is a copy of the last with features removed or bolted on.

Actually, it's fairly accurate, and it's one of the thing they get criticized one. The only things they don't tear out are things that make sense like the realtime combat and first person view. The rest they pretty much ram over.
 
I wonder if we'll see any "Stop your previous evil groupthink ways! Conform to Brian Fargo! Conform!" posts.

It's possible...
 
as long as its cool :)
fonzie.jpg.w300h378.jpg


excuse my nonsense post.
 
Brother None said:
Actually, it's fairly accurate, and it's one of the thing they get criticized one. The only things they don't tear out are things that make sense like the realtime combat and first person view. The rest they pretty much ram over.

Graphically and in terms of the general feel of combat you're correct, but as an avid TES player over the years let me assure you that many aspects remain basically the same. While they're obviously different games, the feel is very similar.

AlteredEgo said:
Vault 69er said:
Does anyone else love the irony of how Todd once again repeats the old "we take most of our inspiration from Fallout 1" line?

I mean, let's see... gratuitous humour.. Monty Python references.. the Enclave.. well golly gee aren't those all from Fallout 2?

Let me guess...not a Todd fan?

I'm not a fan of anyone who continually does the exact opposite of what he promises, no.
 
AlteredEgo said:
Let me guess...not a Todd fan?

There are people who still are?

But seriously, you should've seen the relief here when it was announced not Todd Howard but Emil Pagiarulo was the lead designer. Big, big relief at that.

Todd Howard, fairly or not, is not seen as a creative visionary by anyone of the circle of sites NMA belongs to. He's usually mentally put under "managing/public relations" not "developers." I've never heard him say anything that sounded good to me, even if he's talking about the exact same things as Emil.
 
AlteredEgo said:
Let me guess...not a Todd fan?

He's a fan of The Todd:
scrubs227lk4.jpg


Just not a real big fan of a Todd:
guns4ph.jpg


Edit: Wait, I just noticed something. Dell keyboard? You guys use Dells? No wonder Bethesda likes consoles so much.
 
Fallout
A Post Nuclear Role Playing Game

Fallout
America's First Choice in Post Nuclear Simulation

Hurrah for reinvention.

Todd Howard said:
When we started Fallout 3 in 2004, we obviously had big ideas of what we could do with it, and I talked to a lot of outside people, from ex-developers to press folks to fans. What made it special? What are the key things you'd want out of a new one? The opinions, and I'll put this mildly…varied. A lot. But they would all end the same, like a stern father, pausing for affect – "but do not…screw it up." Gulp. Let me write that last one down a few times.
Who doesn't remember when Todd Howard opened up to the established fans of Fallout and asked about their opinions?
 
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