Headgear

[Wooz]

I've been drawing a few character/equipment concepts for a post-apocalyptic, wasteland setting. One thing that struck me while doing so, is that as far as I remember, the huge majority of NPC's and generic characters in Fallout and Fallout 2 don't wear any kind of headgear whatsoever.

Most people are walking in the full blast of a desertic wasteland sun, with no protection. Some NPC's even stroll around with their bald skulls shining like a dog's testicles in Spring. First hand experience tells me that a person that's stupid enough to do so collapses after roughly fifteen minutes due to insolation.

Far from wanting to turn Fallout into a 'Postapoc Barbie' dressing game, I thought this aspect might have been thought over, as was the late Troika's character for their PA game, which clearly had a shawl, a hood, and protective goggles.

Thoughts?

 

[Serbaside]

I understand what your talking about. The typical dress would be close to what people wear in our desert climates.

But I also see that just because the enviroment looks like a desert doesn't mean the temperature is such. We do not have a vantage point to see how the sun shines day to day.

 

[Kahgan]

I'm fairly sure that there is supposed to be desert most places you are in Fallout. About the headgear, I would say that the developers just didn't think of it.

 

[Morpoggel]

Maybe headgear is considered a luxury. I mean, it's only on the Combat Armor and the Power Armors. Those are kind of a luxury...

 

[DirtyDreamDesigner]

Ummm... having a hat is not a luxury. If push comes to shove you can always tie a piece of cloth 'round yer noggin', Yasser Arafat style...


And, yeah, it was most likely just an oversight on the game designers part.

 

[Duckman]

But if all/most of the people had headgear on, it may have been difficult to recognise certain players/characters...maybe...

 

[Wooz]

Well, I'd agree with you if the vast majority of Fallout's world wasn't populated uniquely by people who seem to wear the exact same set of clothes all over the place

Yet and still, the image on Shady Sands' location screen depicts a peasant with a hood. Yet the only one who wore a hood in Shady Sands was Aradesh.

Who spent all day indoors. Heh.

 

[Ratty Sr.]

I imagine most "headgear" would be old pre-war stuff, or similar to old pre-war stuff - baseball caps, trucker caps, sports helmets and improvised headscarves.

Mercenaries, well-equipped raiders and the like would likely be wearing old military helmets. Particularly elite groups might even stumble upon high-tech headgear, but with distinct '50s look (study the helmet of the normal Power Armor, then draw something new, but in similar style).

Here are a few pictures for inspiration:

(just make it dirty and greasy)

(this is a nice find - a football helmet from the '30s)

 

[Wooz]

Why, thanks, Ratty. Got quite a collection of helmets by now, actually.

And a zillion Riot Gear armour pics from all around the world.

As for the headgear, turbans, cloaks and hoods are cheap and easy to fabricate.

 

[zioburosky13]

Don't forget gas-mask too.

Helps when skinning a gecko.

 

[citizenkhan]

Gotta love the gas mask. My feeling is that they would be pretty rare, though. I liked the costumes in "A Boy and his Dog" specifically for their simplicity.

 

[Ratty Sr.]

An old gas mask:

This picture is pretty awesome - it shows a WWII soldier:

I love the looks of this gas mask. It looks very simplistic and worn, as if it was crudely stitched together out of pieces of pre-war gear.

 

[Ashmo]

An old gas mask:

Hey, I got one of those!

 

[Morpoggel]

Ugh... those remind me of that episode of the new Dr. Who where they went back to the second world war and there was this evil kid who's face was one of those gas masks... and if he touched you, you'd die and also get a head like a gas mask... pretty lame background story though, but freaky kid.

Anyhoo, I'd love to see a raider with a Wehrmacht helmet, with Born To Kill on the side

 

[Karandras]

Apart from random encounters the majority of people are encountered in towns and other settlements. I suppose you might not need to wear head gear unless you were going to be exposed to the sun for long periods. I have a feeling that there wasn't the time or inclination to pay that much attention to detail. Besides, style is more important.

Take the bald guys as an example. Well they simply look like hard bastards don't they? Who cares about a few melanomas if you can make people shit themselves by merely looking at them?

Besides, the graphical sytle of the first two Fallout games did require a bit of imagination to fill in the blanks. Some things were clearly merely representative.

 

[Duckman]

Apart from random encounters the majority of people are encountered in towns and other settlements. I suppose you might not need to wear head gear unless you were going to be exposed to the sun for long periods. I have a feeling that there wasn't the time or inclination to pay that much attention to detail. Besides, style is more important.

Take the bald guys as an example. Well they simply look like hard bastards don't they? Who cares about a few melanomas if you can make people shit themselves by merely looking at them?

Besides, the graphical sytle of the first two Fallout games did require a bit of imagination to fill in the blanks. Some things were clearly merely representative.

My thoughts exactly, well close enough...

Take style for example. Would you really wear the leather armour for protection?? Of course not, its hot and doesn't allow ease of movement, but it looks stylish!