04-06-2019, 02:11 PM
How Fallout almost didn’t ship with its key SPECIAL system
<div style="margin: 5px 5% 10px 5%;"><img src="http://www.sickgaming.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/how-fallout-almost-didnt-ship-with-its-key-special-system.jpg" width="200" height="200" title="" alt="" /></div><div><blockquote><p><strong>“We were all working together to go in the same direction. There was very little clash of egos or desire to pull the game in a different direction. That is rare in development.”</strong></p></blockquote>
<p><em>– Interplay’s Brian Fargo disussing the development of </em>Fallout<em>. </em></p>
<p>There’s no mistaking the brutality of 1997’s <em>Fallout</em>. The game was unforgiving, painting a bleak picture of life post-nuclear war. There was a lingering sense of uneasiness, knowing that one wrong move could result in death– and there were plenty of ways to die.</p>
<p>Devs interested in learning more about its origins should check out an interview <a href="https://www.pcgamer.com/the-complete-history-of-fallout/">PC Gamer published last year</a> (only now making its online debut) in which a few developers across the various <em>Fallout</em> games discussed the early days of development, and how the game evolved into what it is today. </p>
<p><em>Fallout</em> was developed by Interplay back in 1997. Brian Fargo, executive producer on the game and founder of the company, described how <em>Wasteland</em> (a science fiction role-playing-game developed by interplay in 1988) served as initial inspiration. </p>
<p>“I had been a post-apocalyptic fiction fan since I was a kid,” Fargo explained. “<em>Wasteland</em> was my first attempt at bringing something to the genre. Shortly after finishing the game, Interplay became a publisher and we no longer created games for other people.”</p>
<p>“I tried to get EA to license me the rights back, but I was unable to succeed despite trying for many years. I finally decided we’d do our own post-apocalyptic game and call it <em>Fallout</em>.”</p>
<p>And so Fargo got some developers together to sit and analyze what made <em>Wasteland </em>tick. “It was a matter of getting a small team to start bringing the project to life,” he continued.</p>
<p>“We created a sensibilities document that spoke to points such as moral ambiguity, tactical combat, a skills based system and the attributes system. After we nailed down what was important, development went off and began working on ideas that hit the touch points.”</p>
<p>Tim Cain, who is credited as being the creator of <em>Fallout</em>, created the engine used to build the game and went through several design ideas– one of which was a GURPS (Steve Jackson Games’ “Generic Universal Role-Playing System”
ruleset that was implemented but later abandoned.</p>
<p> “<em>Fallout</em> was originally a GURPS game,” said Chris Taylor, lead designer on <em>Fallout</em>.</p>
<p>GURPS was a tabletop system made to be used across all forms of role-playing, but Interplay’s attempt to license it didn’t work out, and Fargo needed a replacement ruleset. </p>
<p>“I wrote my own RPG system on the back of three-by-five cards, in notebooks and on scraps of grid paper. My game was called MediEvil. It was not good. So [my friend and I] played <em>D&D</em> instead,” Taylor said. </p>
<p>“But I kept those notes and would work on the game every now and then for a decade—when it came time to replace GURPS, I had something to work with.”</p>
<p>“The team took the system and made it work. We took it and adapted it; it had the statistics and skills we needed, but Perks were created specifically for <em>Fallout </em>to replace the GURPS advantage/disadvantage traits.”</p>
<p>For more dev insight and historical perspective on the <em>Fallout </em>franchise, be sure to read the entire piece over at <a href="https://www.pcgamer.com/the-complete-history-of-fallout/">PC Gamer</a>. </p>
</div>
<div style="margin: 5px 5% 10px 5%;"><img src="http://www.sickgaming.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/how-fallout-almost-didnt-ship-with-its-key-special-system.jpg" width="200" height="200" title="" alt="" /></div><div><blockquote><p><strong>“We were all working together to go in the same direction. There was very little clash of egos or desire to pull the game in a different direction. That is rare in development.”</strong></p></blockquote>
<p><em>– Interplay’s Brian Fargo disussing the development of </em>Fallout<em>. </em></p>
<p>There’s no mistaking the brutality of 1997’s <em>Fallout</em>. The game was unforgiving, painting a bleak picture of life post-nuclear war. There was a lingering sense of uneasiness, knowing that one wrong move could result in death– and there were plenty of ways to die.</p>
<p>Devs interested in learning more about its origins should check out an interview <a href="https://www.pcgamer.com/the-complete-history-of-fallout/">PC Gamer published last year</a> (only now making its online debut) in which a few developers across the various <em>Fallout</em> games discussed the early days of development, and how the game evolved into what it is today. </p>
<p><em>Fallout</em> was developed by Interplay back in 1997. Brian Fargo, executive producer on the game and founder of the company, described how <em>Wasteland</em> (a science fiction role-playing-game developed by interplay in 1988) served as initial inspiration. </p>
<p>“I had been a post-apocalyptic fiction fan since I was a kid,” Fargo explained. “<em>Wasteland</em> was my first attempt at bringing something to the genre. Shortly after finishing the game, Interplay became a publisher and we no longer created games for other people.”</p>
<p>“I tried to get EA to license me the rights back, but I was unable to succeed despite trying for many years. I finally decided we’d do our own post-apocalyptic game and call it <em>Fallout</em>.”</p>
<p>And so Fargo got some developers together to sit and analyze what made <em>Wasteland </em>tick. “It was a matter of getting a small team to start bringing the project to life,” he continued.</p>
<p>“We created a sensibilities document that spoke to points such as moral ambiguity, tactical combat, a skills based system and the attributes system. After we nailed down what was important, development went off and began working on ideas that hit the touch points.”</p>
<p>Tim Cain, who is credited as being the creator of <em>Fallout</em>, created the engine used to build the game and went through several design ideas– one of which was a GURPS (Steve Jackson Games’ “Generic Universal Role-Playing System”
ruleset that was implemented but later abandoned.</p><p> “<em>Fallout</em> was originally a GURPS game,” said Chris Taylor, lead designer on <em>Fallout</em>.</p>
<p>GURPS was a tabletop system made to be used across all forms of role-playing, but Interplay’s attempt to license it didn’t work out, and Fargo needed a replacement ruleset. </p>
<p>“I wrote my own RPG system on the back of three-by-five cards, in notebooks and on scraps of grid paper. My game was called MediEvil. It was not good. So [my friend and I] played <em>D&D</em> instead,” Taylor said. </p>
<p>“But I kept those notes and would work on the game every now and then for a decade—when it came time to replace GURPS, I had something to work with.”</p>
<p>“The team took the system and made it work. We took it and adapted it; it had the statistics and skills we needed, but Perks were created specifically for <em>Fallout </em>to replace the GURPS advantage/disadvantage traits.”</p>
<p>For more dev insight and historical perspective on the <em>Fallout </em>franchise, be sure to read the entire piece over at <a href="https://www.pcgamer.com/the-complete-history-of-fallout/">PC Gamer</a>. </p>
</div>