One of those rare "not Pete or Todd" interviews, NotesOnGameDev.net interviews character artist Dane Olds.<blockquote>That sounds like a lot to look forward to though. What was the inspiration for character art in Fallout 3?
A lot of the inspiration for the character art in Fallout 3 came from the original games. We drew heavily from those Retro-Future roots and you’ll see that throughout the character art in the game. With the weapons we always referenced the old art from Fallout. Sometimes the weapons are very close to the originals, other times they’ve been overhauled to fit specifically to the game we’ve created. A good example of this would be the Flamer. It’s functional, and is inspired by the real flame throwers used in World-War II. We take the real military designs, and then see where we can make them more interesting, what we can embellish on, and what we might need to remove. When the modeling and texturing is done we have to have something that is visually interesting and functional. Another great example is the ever-popular Power Fist. The original Power Fist was kind of an electric gauntlet. The new one has a pneumatic piston mounted on a thick steel framework that looks like an engine block. This weapon visually feels like it packs a punch, and it certainly does in the game.
Aww yeah I bet. Speaking of which, what are you most proud of on Fallout 3 so far?
I’m really proud of the game as a whole. I’ve put countless hours into it already and there’s always something fun to do and a new place to explore. It’s the combined effort of the whole team that has gelled to form a game that is a blast to experience.
Personally I have a couple of favorite individual weapons I created which I probably like the most. The Power Fist really was a challenge to create. It had to act like a piece of armor that could be worn like a glove. The fingers had to articulate and the pneumatic piston had to function the way the player would expect. Creating a model that could actually animate believably and would still look cool was a pretty daunting task. I think the results speak for themselves though, a lot of people think it looks really cool and in game it really is a blast to use.
The other weapon I really like is the Flamer. I’m just happy with the way it turned out in the game. It looks great, fits right in the world and is a lot of fun to take to the battle field.</blockquote>Spotted on Blue's News.
A lot of the inspiration for the character art in Fallout 3 came from the original games. We drew heavily from those Retro-Future roots and you’ll see that throughout the character art in the game. With the weapons we always referenced the old art from Fallout. Sometimes the weapons are very close to the originals, other times they’ve been overhauled to fit specifically to the game we’ve created. A good example of this would be the Flamer. It’s functional, and is inspired by the real flame throwers used in World-War II. We take the real military designs, and then see where we can make them more interesting, what we can embellish on, and what we might need to remove. When the modeling and texturing is done we have to have something that is visually interesting and functional. Another great example is the ever-popular Power Fist. The original Power Fist was kind of an electric gauntlet. The new one has a pneumatic piston mounted on a thick steel framework that looks like an engine block. This weapon visually feels like it packs a punch, and it certainly does in the game.
Aww yeah I bet. Speaking of which, what are you most proud of on Fallout 3 so far?
I’m really proud of the game as a whole. I’ve put countless hours into it already and there’s always something fun to do and a new place to explore. It’s the combined effort of the whole team that has gelled to form a game that is a blast to experience.
Personally I have a couple of favorite individual weapons I created which I probably like the most. The Power Fist really was a challenge to create. It had to act like a piece of armor that could be worn like a glove. The fingers had to articulate and the pneumatic piston had to function the way the player would expect. Creating a model that could actually animate believably and would still look cool was a pretty daunting task. I think the results speak for themselves though, a lot of people think it looks really cool and in game it really is a blast to use.
The other weapon I really like is the Flamer. I’m just happy with the way it turned out in the game. It looks great, fits right in the world and is a lot of fun to take to the battle field.</blockquote>Spotted on Blue's News.
