J.E. Sawyer was the project director and lead designer on Fallout: New Vegas(he was also a lead designer of Interplay's Fallout 3/Van Buren). It has been over 5 years since that game's release and J.E. Sawyer still finds time to answer questions on his Tumblr page. Here is a selection of his answers:
On 'letting go' being a theme:
The future of the NCR:
Why Caesar's Legion isn't grey:
On skill consolidation and differentiation:
On New Vegas being flat:
I would just like to thank J.E. Sawyer for his time talking about Fallout minutiae with fans. Check out his blog for more New Vegas answers as well as a ton of Pillars of Eternity/general rpg answers.
On 'letting go' being a theme:
John Gonzalez (F:NV’s lead creative designer) had developed the idea of “rigging the game” as the theme of the main plot, but as we developed more of the Mojave Wasteland and its factions, I recognized that another theme was emerging that felt much more pervasive: recreating the new world in the image of the old. Once we talked about that, it became something we emphasized intentionally. Chris Avellone continued with variants on this theme in the three DLCs he directed (Dead Money, Old World Blues, and Lonesome Road).
http://jesawyer.tumblr.com/post/134279887646/something-ive-recently-noticed-as-a-recurring
The future of the NCR:
Characters like Chief Hanlon certainly spell out some dark times ahead for the NCR, but I don’t think any of the characters makes an airtight case that those problems will definitely lead to the collapse of the republic. It’s worth noting that the biggest doomsayers are people like Hanlon or Followers of the Apocalypse who are inclined to believe that the NCR’s mission in the Mojave Wasteland is inherently flawed, immoral, or plain ol’ bad. Confirmation bias can lead people to view the state of things through a strangely-tinted lens.
http://jesawyer.tumblr.com/post/134167520966/looking-back-on-the-endings-to-fonv-doesnt-it
Why Caesar's Legion isn't grey:
So, the Legion is the way it is because Caesar is a warlord who maintains control through his cult of personality and the fear of his disapproval (with severe consequences). The historical Caesar was known for being unusually merciful, but he was playing to societies that were much more accepting of mercy. Caesar taught the Legion mercilessness, so that is what they expect, what they consider strong.
There’s nothing really morally grey about Liberia’s Charles Taylor, but he’s a real guy who did astoundingly terrible things for the sake of maintaining power. In the context of F:NV, I don’t think Caesar and the Legion need to be thought of as “grey” like the player’s other options. I think they can be what they are, as they are, because the lie of their fiction is intended to provoke thoughts about truth, i.e. the nature of humans who rise to power in such circumstances. When we say “war never changes”, we’re talking about things like this.
http://jesawyer.tumblr.com/post/133867000061/3-disclaimers-i-love-new-vegas-love-the-legion
On skill consolidation and differentiation:
I did consider that, but I considered it late in the development cycle. Deciding what skills to combine or separate can be tricky for a number of reasons. A distinguished play style or use between them is a good reason to separate them, e.g. Explosives plays pretty differently from Guns, but Guns doesn’t play dramatically different from Energy Weapons. On the other hand, in a skill-based game, folding too many skills together can make characters feel overly similar. If Melee and Unarmed were to remain separate in the future, I think they should feel more distinct in play.
http://jesawyer.tumblr.com/post/113518237841/at-any-point-in-making-fallout-new-vegas-did-you
On New Vegas being flat:
Most of the vertical elements in F3 were found in the ruined sections of DC. When we developed the parts of New Vegas away from the strip, we tried to reflect the building style of Las Vegas itself, which is flat in overall topography and relied heavily on Usonian/ranch-style houses as it expanded. The Strip wasn’t the place to have vertically-oriented combat because those were population hub areas.
In retrospect, we should have partitioned the different neighborhoods of New Vegas into their own world spaces (data/load-wise) and found ways to emphasize more vertical elements. When we worked on the various DLCs, we did emphasize vertical elements much more in both exploration and combat.
http://jesawyer.tumblr.com/post/102192397996/is-it-me-or-even-with-3d-games-like-fnv-or-alpha
I would just like to thank J.E. Sawyer for his time talking about Fallout minutiae with fans. Check out his blog for more New Vegas answers as well as a ton of Pillars of Eternity/general rpg answers.