Interview Tim Cain interviewed by DAC

[VentilatorOfDoom]

Tags: Tim Cain

There's a <a href="http://www.duckandcover.cx/forums/viewtopic.php?t=23766">new interview up with original Fallout creator (and former Troika founder) Tim Cain over yonder at DAC.</a>
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He talks about the Fallout series, as well as about his own unreleased design for a sequel to Fallout. In addition, he talks about Troika's mystery post apocalyptic game.
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<p style="margin-left:50px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;border-top-color:#ffffff;padding:5px;border-right-color:#bbbbbb;border-left-color:#ffffff;border-bottom-color:#bbbbbb;">DAC: What are your thoughts and opinions on Fallout 3 and its various DLCs from Bethesda? Did you play/finish the game?
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Tim: I played and finished Fallout 3 as soon as it came out. I really enjoyed the game, and I think Bethesda’s designers had really done their homework. The game showed they had a deep understanding and knowledge of the key aspects of the original games. I even replayed it a few times to see how I could have different experiences, and I had fun with that.
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Of course, I would have done things differently if I had made it.
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Of course.
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This news item was brought to you by King of Creation (DAC). Thanks!
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Spotted at: <A HREF="http://www.duckandcover.cx/forums/viewtopic.php?t=23766">DAC</A>

 

[Deleted member 7219]

Now I want to see all you little faggots cry

"Waaah Tim Cain doesn't think Fallout 3 is irredeemable shit like we do waaah!"

 

[Droog White Smile]

Just so you know, Tim was an avid Quake 2 player back in the day, so he has no problems with the FPS gameplay.

 

[Shannow]

Ooh great, Matt is back

Didn't Cain already give an interview where he said pretty much the same thing?

EDIT:

I really enjoyed the game, and I think Bethesda’s designers had really done their homework. The game showed they had a deep understanding and knowledge of the key aspects of the original games.

Damn, I wish interviewers actually made follow up questions. As in: Would you be so kind to give a few examples of Bethesda's deep understanding and knowledge? What would you say showed the deepest level of understanding: the feral ghouls, crap people or the scavenging?

 

[Derper]

Now I want to see all you little faggots cry

"Waaah Tim Cain doesn't think Fallout 3 is irredeemable shit like we do waaah!"

He's very polite.

 

[Droog White Smile]

Heh, I still have this interview where he talks about Quake 2 and the sandbox gameplay.

Imagine if you had Quake II (I loved Quake II and I played it to do death), but instead of playing it that you go through a level, then a new zone, new level, new zone, imagine the whole map is laid out once and you know the big bad guy is in the central area. But the closer you get to that area, the harder everything gets. You might attack some of the fringe outlying areas first; pick up some good items and some good armour, learn tactics, then slowly move your way in. And there'd be several different ways you could attack that base. You might go underground, you might fight your way across the surface, and you could pick which zones you wanted to go through.

It's weird. I had an idea for a game about six or seven years ago that was like Quake II , only you chose which direction, or how to approach the big end boss. I think it was a tank game. Everybody was getting into neural nets, which I didn't think really applied. The whole game was predicated on a genetic algorithm that controlled how the enemy created units to attack you. Basically it would inspect your style of play and create units that would be good to function against you. I wouldn't mind making that game, but I think people would superficially look at the game and say, "This is no different. This is not a game at all like I'd expect Troika to make." But I think after you played it, you'd go, "Oh, there's lots of ways of playing through it and it's non-linear..." And I'm sure Leonard would add all the angst [laughs]. It would have that Troika feel, even though it wouldn't be an RPG at all.

No wonder he likes Fallout 3.

 

[relootz]

But in the end, they made a good game, and I went to a great company to make MMOs, so all was well.

A great compagny doesnt make MMO's. How many years will the MMO this MMO that hype continue?

I dont want to play a game which involves doing the same thing 100000 times while paying every month. What a ripoff

 

[ghostdog]

Nice interview, but too short.

 

[Lingwe]

Damn, I wish interviewers actually made follow up questions. As in: Would you be so kind to give a few examples of Bethesda's deep understanding and knowledge? What would you say showed the deepest level of understanding: the feral ghouls, crap people or the scavenging?

The problem with most of these interviews is how they need to be 'vetted' and 'okayed' by the PR head. The people answering the questions have heaps of time to draft their answers and then they get checked again. It all ends up being a very stale and uninformative. Compare them to live interviews, the interviewee doesn't have time to come up with all this PR cruft and instead has to answer off the top of their head, which usually reveals a lot more about the person, if not the game. How many television news bulletins do you see where they send the interviewee a list of questions and expect a response 3-4 weeks later? In those formats you get the answers the very moment you ask the question. Somehow these game developers are sooo busy that they can't take the time to answer a few questions. Meanwhile politicians and other news makers are able to find time out of their busy schedule to get the interview done they day they are asked.

Just goes to show what a joke the gaming press is.

 

[Monocause]

How many television news bulletins do you see where they send the interviewee a list of questions and expect a response 3-4 weeks later? In those formats you get the answers the very moment you ask the question.

You actually believe that? People who get interviewed on TV have to agree to it beforehand. On most occasions the interviewee knows the questions and has answers ready. On many occasions the host must sign an agreement that he won't ask questions that weren't agreed upon during a live show, a breach of which would mean a serious shitstorm for both himself and his parent company.

Real n' tough interviews happen, of course, but not as often as you seem to think. They're also pretty much limited to politics and rarely does any good come of it apart from entertaining the people who're always amused with throwing shit at politicians.

 

[Shannow]

How many television news bulletins do you see where they send the interviewee a list of questions and expect a response 3-4 weeks later? In those formats you get the answers the very moment you ask the question.

You actually believe that? People who get interviewed on TV have to agree to it beforehand. On most occasions the interviewee knows the questions and has answers ready. On many occasions the host must sign an agreement that he won't ask questions that weren't agreed upon during a live show, a breach of which would mean a serious shitstorm for both himself and his parent company.

Real n' tough interviews happen, of course, but not as often as you seem to think. They're also pretty much limited to politics and rarely does any good come of it apart from entertaining the people who're always amused with throwing shit at politicians.

Depends on the country you live in, what medium interviews you and what party you are part of.

Lingwe wasn't really off the mark concerning gaming interviews. I'd just like to add, that most interviews are conducted via e-mail. Which is another reason for the lack of follow up, in depth questions.
Doesn't change the fact that I wish it were otherwise.

 

[Fat Dragon]

Tim Cain is the fucking commander.

 

[entertainer]

Of course hes gonna say he loved fallout 3, if he said he hated it publicly he'd have a good chance of loosing his job

 

[Shannow]

Of course hes gonna say he loved fallout 3, if he said he hated it publicly he'd have a good chance of loosing his job

And?

 

[jagged-jimmy]

Of course hes gonna say he loved fallout 3, if he said he hated it publicly he'd have a good chance of loosing his job

And?

Become a full time codex hero, yeah! Seriously, thats a faggy question.

 

[Awor Szurkrarz]

DAC: What are your thoughts and opinions on Fallout 3 and its various DLCs from Bethesda? Did you play/finish the game?

Tim: I played and finished Fallout 3 as soon as it came out. I really enjoyed the game, and I think Bethesda’s designers had really done their homework. The game showed they had a deep understanding and knowledge of the key aspects of the original games. I even replayed it a few times to see how I could have different experiences, and I had fun with that.

Of course, I would have done things differently if I had made it.

DAC: Looking back, is there anything that you would have changed about the original Fallout games?

Tim: Oh, there is so much that I would have done differently based on what I know now. The interface could have been improved, and there are ways to speed up and balance the turn-based combat system to make it more comparable with modern games. I also wished our budget could have been larger, not only to make a bigger and longer game, but also to have a real marketing campaign. Sometimes I feel that Fallout 1 was basically an advertisement for Fallout 2.

Better interface? Ways to speed up and balance the turn-based system to make it more comparable with modern games? Fallout would sell better with marketing campaign? What? No FPS/RT on the wishlist? But everyone knows that TB games are outdated and certainly can't be improved because Fallout was outdated!

Just so you know, Tim was an avid Quake 2 player back in the day, so he has no problems with the FPS gameplay.

And who here has problems with FPS gameplay as such? Also, it only proves the need to preserve the Fallout-like cRPG subgenre. If FPS fans make games like Fallout, Arcanum and ToEE, then all that propaganda about the "inferiority" of TB Isometric cRPGs is pure bullshit.
Also, I'm an FPS fan too. I love Operation Flashpoint and Seal Team. I liked Quake and Quake II when they came out.

 

[Tails]

Well once Tim Cain said:

Things were a little different on Fallout 2.(...) The team members that remained and those that joined for Fallout 2 were all extremely talented, and Fallout 2 turned out great.

So it's not surprising he talks kindly about FO3.

 

[Shannow]

Of course hes gonna say he loved fallout 3, if he said he hated it publicly he'd have a good chance of loosing his job

And?

Become a full time codex hero, yeah! Seriously, thats a faggy question.

While I fail to see the connection between "and?" and an unnatural attraction to other men, I'm sure you have first-hand experience on the topic and as such will bow before your expertise.
But to teach you some basic morals that you clearly lack I will kindly explain why "Of course hes gonna say he loved fallout 3, if he said he hated it publicly he'd have a good chance of loosing his job" is no excuse for lying. Or to put it another way: It doesn't make the lying "all right".
Always keeping in the back of our minds that the whole lying part is just entertainer's assumption.
Now, 1. postulation:
Lying is amoral. It even says so in the ten commandmends and is a pretty basic rule in every culture I know of. If you cannot agree with that, move along. No point in arguing.
2. Nobody forced him into his job. That was his decision.
3. Now it gets a little fuzzy. Nobody forced him to make that interview. He could have declined.
4. Nobody forced him to answer every question. He could omitted the ones he didn't feel comfortable with answering truthfully.
5. Nobody forced him to lie about what he liked about FO3. He could have chosen to be tactful but not overboarding with his praise.

He made a moral decision between lying for Bethesda (whom he doesn't even work for), simply being tactful and saying the truth, risking whatever a pissed off Beth could have done to inconvenience him in the future. According to entertainer he chose lying.
And according to you the only alternative to sucking Beth-cock is becoming a co'xer. Choices and consequences.
Choose the truth and become a respected member of a pretigious magazine.
Or
Suck Toddler's cock and become a cocksucking industry whore.
Or
Choose tact and make this whole discussion even more ridiculous

He didn't commit a wrong to prevent a bigger wrong. He didn't choose the middle road. He behaved completely selfishly so "excuses" are irrelevant.

(Of course, I think he just said what he really felt. *shrug*)

 

[jagged-jimmy]

Of course hes gonna say he loved fallout 3, if he said he hated it publicly he'd have a good chance of loosing his job

And?

...

While i fully agree on your "was his choice"-points, i fail to see all those insightfull stuff in your previous "And?"-post. For me it just sounded like an idealist "fight the good fight" agenda, which kinda sounds right, but is a tricky thing to actually pull off, if aplied to yourself.

And, i also think that he's just telling a tactful version of the truth, without any cocksucking involved. And he also mentiones, that he "would've done it differently".

 

[bhlaab]

Of course hes gonna say he loved fallout 3, if he said he hated it publicly he'd have a good chance of loosing his job

And?

Become a full time codex hero, yeah! Seriously, thats a faggy question.

While I fail to see the connection between "and?" and an unnatural attraction to other men, I'm sure you have first-hand experience on the topic and as such will bow before your expertise.
But to teach you some basic morals that you clearly lack I will kindly explain why "Of course hes gonna say he loved fallout 3, if he said he hated it publicly he'd have a good chance of loosing his job" is no excuse for lying. Or to put it another way: It doesn't make the lying "all right".
Always keeping in the back of our minds that the whole lying part is just entertainer's assumption.
Now, 1. postulation:
Lying is amoral. It even says so in the ten commandmends and is a pretty basic rule in every culture I know of. If you cannot agree with that, move along. No point in arguing.
2. Nobody forced him into his job. That was his decision.
3. Now it gets a little fuzzy. Nobody forced him to make that interview. He could have declined.
4. Nobody forced him to answer every question. He could omitted the ones he didn't feel comfortable with answering truthfully.
5. Nobody forced him to lie about what he liked about FO3. He could have chosen to be tactful but not overboarding with his praise.

He made a moral decision between lying for Bethesda (whom he doesn't even work for), simply being tactful and saying the truth, risking whatever a pissed off Beth could have done to inconvenience him in the future. According to entertainer he chose lying.
And according to you the only alternative to sucking Beth-cock is becoming a co'xer. Choices and consequences.
Choose the truth and become a respected member of a pretigious magazine.
Or
Suck Toddler's cock and become a cocksucking industry whore.
Or
Choose tact and make this whole discussion even more ridiculous

He didn't commit a wrong to prevent a bigger wrong. He didn't choose the middle road. He behaved completely selfishly so "excuses" are irrelevant.

(Of course, I think he just said what he really felt. *shrug*)

are you serious

 

[FeelTheRads]

No wonder he likes Fallout 3.

That's a very smart remark.

He also maybe likes football games, so no wonder he would've liked Fallout 3 if it was made like one!

 

[Awor Szurkrarz]

Well once Tim Cain said:

Things were a little different on Fallout 2.(...) The team members that remained and those that joined for Fallout 2 were all extremely talented, and Fallout 2 turned out great.

So it's not surprising he talks kindly about FO3.

This is my favourite Tim Cain interview. He seems to be most honest there.

 

[Mattresses]

Tim Cain is a gigantic faggot. What happened to Fargo's rumored revival of Wasteland, the market has been primed for any post-apoc shit since FO3's release, his window is rapidly closing.

 

[FeelTheRads]

This is my favourite Tim Cain interview. He seems to be most honest there.

But he likes Quake 2 LAWL!!!! Means he must like Fallout 3!

Retards like Drog always need their tastes confirmed by EVERYBODY.

 

[Tails]

This is my favourite Tim Cain interview. He seems to be most honest there.

Yeah, in this one he is more honest then in other, different time thought.

Mattresses, you won't get KKK points in this way, just saying.