New Vegas tidbits, for sale, Fallout architecture article

Brother None

This ghoul has seen it all
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There's some post by Obsidian's J.E. Sawyer on Something Awful. One spending more time on Fallout: New Vegas DLC Honest Hearts.<blockquote>I think it's less about what else I would have included and what more we would have tried to do, overall. Before HH even started development, I looked at the larger team's overall schedule. The core game had an announced release date and we knew the first DLC was supposed to be out before Christmas, so that was an informal (but very important release date). However, that was only the Xbox version, and there would likely be additional work required for the PS3 and PC versions. Also, we knew there would be patching for the core game.

With the expectation that work on core F:NV (patching) and DM (PS3/PC) would extend beyond the Christmas window and the understanding that many folks on the DM team would then roll on to OWB, it was clear to me that HH was not going to get a luxurious amount of time. Everything on HH (with the exception of the opening fight, which took a little longer than expected and generally was my bad idea) was designed to be extremely straightforward and simple in execution. It's not that the team didn't have interesting ideas, I just summarily relegated anything with complexity to the back end of development. The idea was that a solid core, if plain, was still solid. If we had time to experiment around that core later, we could do so.

Surprise! More time didn't come. That might seem strange since there was a large delay between DM and HH, but HH stopped development well ahead of OWB. In the meantime, we were developing a code fix that was necessary for both HH and OWB -- but the content in HH was locked fairly early. HH has, effectively, fetch quests because as soon as we started implementing new and zany things, a mental hourglass was draining in my imagination with a laughing skeletal figure looming over it.</blockquote>On how much New Vegas DLC sold.<blockquote>On a related note, the perceived quality and user/press ratings of the F:NV DLCs had no discernible effect on how they sold. To the best of my knowledge, Dead Money sold the most, followed by Honest Hearts, followed by Old World Blues, followed by Lonesome Road.</blockquote>There's an interesting sale going on over at Green Man Gaming. Among the titles for sale is Fallout: New Vegas for $7.50/€5.00, but be forewarned this appears to be the vanilla version without DLC. That said, our audience might also be interested in sales like Dishonored, TES V: Skyrim and Dead Island GotY at 50% off, or Jagged Alliance: Back In Action and Hard Reset (our very own Wooz worked on that game as a concept artist) at 75% off. Many titles can or must be activated on Steam. To sweeten the deal, use the voucher code GMG25-G4VDR-0ZL4Q to get an additional -25% off.

And finally, Pete Worth let us know on twitter he's penned a writeup on the architecture of the Fallout franchise on Thunderbolt.<blockquote>New Reno is certainly a highlight - hapless junkies and graffiti tarnished the streets as you pass under the iconic Reno Arch warning you that shady shenanigans and outright lawlessness lie ahead. The crime-families’ bases of Salvatore’s Bar, the Shark Club and the Desperado all featured extravagant personalised entrances, emboldened with boastful neon signage - used to both entice feckless addicts and display their owner’s affluence and power to outsiders.

Fallout 3 not only takes the series’ locations to superior numbers once again, it also realises them in a fully 3D environment courtesy of the Gamebryo engine. Fallout 3’s architecture is far more prevalent than before, with a multitude of power stations, shacks, depots, diners, stores, towers, train stations and many other buildings all serving to bring the wasteland to life. A prominent example of Googie architecture found in the game is the numerous Red Rocket refueling stations. The main structure of the station comprises a Space Age-inspired metal rocket fixed onto elongated, acute-angled supports which feature protruding horizontal tailfins – coming together to create a familiar sight as you traverse the game’s topography.</blockquote>
 
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