Tim Cain on Fallout, Bloodlines and His Ups & Downs. The House of The Dev Podcast S2E4

Raphael Colantonio and Peter Salnikov talk to programmer and game designer Tim Cain, co-creator of Fallout, Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines, Outer Worlds and other cult classic RPGs.
- How to understand your professional limits and what to do next;
- Reactive worlds: when the game strikes back everytime the player does something meaningful;
- 40 years in the game industry: what's changed for the better, and what got worse;
- How do modern-day monetizing mechanichs affect game design?
- Peace between the creative and the entrepreneurial;
- Nobody's got time to read that fancy manual. The availabilty of modern games.
This and much more - only in the new episode of The House of The Dev podcast.
Watch full season 1: • [eng] The House of The...
Or listen anywhere: podcast.ru/1573401071

[@ko4evnik36]

I live in a simple provincial town in central Russia. And year after year I watch how on one small street a person painted a house number in the form of a gear with a shelter number on his gate and constantly updates this drawing. This is the Fallout cultural code.

[@8Paul7]

That's awesome. Fallout really is huge in central/eastern europe. Here in Czechland Fallout got translated and covermounted in 1998 and everyone of my friends played it.

[@BlessMePadre]

@@8Paul7 yeah, same in Russia, it was instantly translated in very cool quality

[@gunxxter]

а можно на это где-то посмотреть (в интернетах)?

[@ko4evnik36]

@@gunxxter Привет. Если ты про мой пост то сомневаюсь. Но если интересно могу сфоткать на выходных. Я там часто мимо езжу.

[@gunxxter]

@@ko4evnik36 интересно! присылай потом ссылку на облако)

[@NecroFkz]

Wow! Great guest! Thanks a lot, Peter, Raphael and Tim!

[@8Paul7]

Oh wow that hour just flew by. The "it's sad that we have to quit" caught me completely by surprise. Such a fun talk, really wish it was like, five hours long. Fallout and Fallout 2 (and to some extent New Vegas) are still the golden standard in RPG design really. So much player agency. Arcanum too, although somehow I never managed to get into it, sadly (if I had Notch level money, I would fund a faithful AAA remake). Bloodlines is also one of the best, most atmospheric games ever. Activision of course being activision, mangling what they could.

[@zb3485]

what an awesome interview

[@Shushpo]

Me, sitting here and realizing that there could have been a LotR game from the creators of Arcanum: ಠ_ಠ

[@jakedill1304]

It makes me so happy that both Ron Perlman and Cty of Lost Children have been brought up independently in this...

[@alexanderchurakov2641]

Thank you! Tim is a living legend😃

[@dandi47]

Thank you so much for continue to invite amazing guests and sharing their unique experiences with us.

[@alyasya8226]

Please don't stop making those cozy and smart and so! so interesting interviews! I watch every podcast 2 times in Russian and in English, such a great time and a thought-provoking material. Thank you so much!

[@danilafoxpro2603]

Thank you, I enjoyed the discussion very much. Your discussions continuously inspire me and provoke my thoughts.

[@Elmirill]

Okay, and now I'll rewatch it in English :)

[@ivanaksenov2829]

Thanks for podcast. That's really interesting!

[@dazt6h]

What an awesome episode and podcast, I found you after seeing Tim's video on his channel and damn this are some amazing chats, would also recommend Matt Barton since he's also into the topics with RPGs

[@manterprise]

Thank you!

[@hldave]

Interesting to hear about the patching situation with Bloodlines. Now I'm curious how painful the Source Engine was for Sin Episodes. Publishers can still really sound terrible between the info here and the Mick Gordon situation. I would love for him to be on since there's some connection with Prey.

[@cykeok3525]

Insane that one of the main guys behind the creation of the Fallout franchise was on a subsistence wage back in the 90s, I guess publishers didn't compensate devs fairly back then. I mean this guy is literally beyond being a rock star in terms of the revenue his brainchild IP has generated (albeit changing owners etc).

[@rabbitcreative]

> I guess publishers didn't compensate devs fairly back then Open your eyes just a little wider...

[@cykeok3525]

@@rabbitcreative When you're ready to say something, go ahead.

[@pitchforker3304]

Wonderful interview. Fallout 1 was the first video game I really got into. It set a high bar for any game that came after it.

[@AlexanderPugachev-ky3rv]

Legend

[@DrRESHES]

I'll just want to add that prodeus has the settings to swap 3D moddels to sprites, like inold school FPS.

[@batguy39]

🐐🗿

[@jakedill1304]

I feel like default mapping, and controller standardization and the 20 year time loop of the standardized dual analog peripheral has done more damage to the game design mechanically then probably anything else.. especially as a PC player it's incredibly frustrating to know what you used to be able to do, and could have become a standard that has now completely regressed to a point where games are glorified QuickTime events with extra steps.

[@perdurabo56]

Good point

[@jakedill1304]

That was always my reaction to people that considered the GTA series a game about killing hookers.. it's just like I can kill all the cops in Morrowind.. I won't cuz that's a hassle.. but I can, just like I wouldn't in GTA LOL.. although I might be some what unique in that regard judging from how people play a lot of these games LOL.. I reload saves if I accidentally run somebody over... But it is kind of funny how there's a certain disconnect between the content in simulation, and the user, and its perception.. for some reason I feel like parenting might actually be one of the solutions to some of these but obviously that is not the case.. because I mean, don't these things exist so that you don't have to parent?

[@snakeplissken111]

Russian Fallout: Atom RPG.

[@donPabloEskobar]

The are also Fallout Nevada and Fallout Sonora from Nevada Band, which are made on the same engine as Fallout 2

[@BlessMePadre]

‘Planet Alcatraz’ fits it way better

[@SanctusSusanin]

WTF was that "we have to quit"? You should not break interesting conversations like this. Dislike to this. Like to Tim Cain.